By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
Mali Rising Foundation's volunteer board guides our work and provides legal and financial oversight. These dedicated volunteers make sure we are on track to do the best job we can for Mali's children and to be responsible with your donations. Interested in joining our board? Read on...
Do you think education can change a child's life for the better? That it can even change the world? Mali Rising thinks so too. We're looking for board members to serve as ambassadors for our work and our students.
Mali Rising has a fun and engaged board, but we're growing and so should our board. The main trait we seek: an eagerness to serve as an ambassador for our work and students by sharing stories with others.
We are also particularly looking for candidates with several specific skills:
- Education: We need educators to help ground us in the realities of education and school management. Don't worry if your skills aren't in international education -- we can translate your advice into strategies that will work in Mali.
- Accounting & finance: We are dedicated to sound management of our donations, and we need several new board members to help us take our accountability and transparency to a new level. Experience with non-profit financials is a plus, but anyone with sound experience in managing a business, accounting, or banking would be a welcome asset.
- Communications, marketing, media, story-telling: We have great stories to tell, and we need your help to do it in fun, fresh, and exciting ways. We're expanding our story-telling and trying new, fun online approaches that need you to help bring them to life.
“The main trait we seek: an eagerness to serve as an ambassador for our work and students by sharing stories with others. ”
Board members commit to attending bi-monthly meetings and participating on a board committee. Board members also commit to making a financial contribution at a level that is personally meaningful (that might be $25 or $25,000) and helping to engage others in both the work and fundraising efforts (e.g., our annual gala, etc.). Most importantly, board members are ambassadors in the community -- sharing our work with their friends, families, and networks.
What do you get in return? The knowledge that you're making a real difference with real children -- we connect you with the work. You also get to work with a fun group of board members, network at events, and learn a lot about a place you might never have otherwise known (Timbuktu!).
Interested? Contact me for a discussion and, if appropriate, next steps. If the board feels like too big of a commitment right now, you might consider joining the Council of Advisors or even volunteering.
