The last two days have been delightful:
* Six hours of interviews with students eager to join TNKR.
* Meeting a professor visiting from the USA.
* Getting prepared for this weekend's orientation sessions.
The only thing that was not enjoyable: Visiting potential locations for a different TNKR office.
www.lovetnkr.org/donate
***
Anna Martinson has been one of the most delightful volunteers in TNKR history! She joined us in the summer of 2017, volunteering at our office. She was ready to help in whatever way possible, such as:
* Making marketing materials, such as flyers and brochures.
* Bringing an optimistic can-do spirit, which is really important with a start-up, while always being willing to do what was needed.
* Tutoring in her spare time.
* She has remained committed and connected, still donating to TNKR monthly.
Most importantly, she gave me someone to talk to about fundraising. With most volunteers, I must be careful about mentioning fundraising, some even get offended. But Anna? Never got tired of it. She came to TNKR for that reason.
Today, TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee and I met with one of her professors. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in their department!
Prof. Muthusami Kumaran encouraged us to be more aggressive about fundraising, that an organization like ours needs funds to grow, and to be unapologetic about it. He praised our approach about engaging volunteers in fundraising, that volunteers with "fund phobia" shouldn't see it as a choice between "time or a dime", that fundraising is "the gateway to giving" in helping an organization grow.
He has given advice to many non-profits around the world, so he has seen many thrive, and he has also seen many die from a lack of financial support.
I should have asked him if he could hold a fundraising workshop with our volunteers.
***
We heard many great things from students visiting TNKR the last few days. We asked one of the students about his response to tutors using Korean with him. He was baffled. "Why would they do that? This is a great opportunity for me to use English!"
Another student responded: "It will be so boring for me if the tutors try to use Korean. I already speak Korean, I need to be challenged by English. There are many YouTube videos of teachers using Korean, I can watch those if I want to learn in English with the use of Korean."
It was fun meeting a student who saw me in many YouTube videos, she seemed to be starstruck that she was actually sitting in the office talking to the guy she had seen on the Internet.
I have also been checking with students about the use of Skype. Some had already tried others, and others said they were aware of opportunities--but they were coming to us for face-to-face, in-person English. I know some people get disappointed when I tell them that we no longer use Skype, but when 90% of the students in our program say they don't want it, and that they come to us to meet tutors in-person, then should we spend our time developing a part of the program that is requested by people around the world but not the students who come to us?
I used to say that TNKR is looking for a new office--but I have realized that some people envision a high-rise tower with our office taking up the entire floor, like something in a TV drama.
So now I say that TNKR is looking for a different office.
The short version: TNKR is seeking to move to a different office within the next few months, the sooner the better.
Suzi (TNKR staffer) and TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee have taken the lead in finding a different office for TNKR. I also realize that people mistakenly think we look forward to moving and get excited about anything with a move. Some of our fans even got excited about our current landlord upgrading and painting the steps, although I did manage to kill their enthusiasm by reminding them that the owner was doing it to make this office space more attractive for potential buyers.
Have I done a good job at curbing enthusiasm about the process of moving? We have so many challenges related to the move.
We found a location earlier today that would have required a $20,000 deposit and monthly rent of $1,500. I was already wondering where the money would come from, but then the landlord decided he didn't want us because he doesn't want classes at the location. There are restrictions on locations that have classes at them, and it isn't worth the hassle for him.
We have looked at about 20 different locations, but none are a good fit.
The short version: TNKR is seeking to move to a different office within the next few months, the sooner the better.
* Six hours of interviews with students eager to join TNKR.
* Meeting a professor visiting from the USA.
* Getting prepared for this weekend's orientation sessions.
The only thing that was not enjoyable: Visiting potential locations for a different TNKR office.
www.lovetnkr.org/donate
***
Anna Martinson has been one of the most delightful volunteers in TNKR history! She joined us in the summer of 2017, volunteering at our office. She was ready to help in whatever way possible, such as:
* Making marketing materials, such as flyers and brochures.
* Bringing an optimistic can-do spirit, which is really important with a start-up, while always being willing to do what was needed.
* Tutoring in her spare time.
* She has remained committed and connected, still donating to TNKR monthly.
Most importantly, she gave me someone to talk to about fundraising. With most volunteers, I must be careful about mentioning fundraising, some even get offended. But Anna? Never got tired of it. She came to TNKR for that reason.
Today, TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee and I met with one of her professors. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in their department!
Prof. Muthusami Kumaran encouraged us to be more aggressive about fundraising, that an organization like ours needs funds to grow, and to be unapologetic about it. He praised our approach about engaging volunteers in fundraising, that volunteers with "fund phobia" shouldn't see it as a choice between "time or a dime", that fundraising is "the gateway to giving" in helping an organization grow.
He has given advice to many non-profits around the world, so he has seen many thrive, and he has also seen many die from a lack of financial support.
I should have asked him if he could hold a fundraising workshop with our volunteers.
***
Interviews with incoming TNKR students
Another student responded: "It will be so boring for me if the tutors try to use Korean. I already speak Korean, I need to be challenged by English. There are many YouTube videos of teachers using Korean, I can watch those if I want to learn in English with the use of Korean."
It was fun meeting a student who saw me in many YouTube videos, she seemed to be starstruck that she was actually sitting in the office talking to the guy she had seen on the Internet.
I have also been checking with students about the use of Skype. Some had already tried others, and others said they were aware of opportunities--but they were coming to us for face-to-face, in-person English. I know some people get disappointed when I tell them that we no longer use Skype, but when 90% of the students in our program say they don't want it, and that they come to us to meet tutors in-person, then should we spend our time developing a part of the program that is requested by people around the world but not the students who come to us?
Looking for a different office
I used to say that TNKR is looking for a new office--but I have realized that some people envision a high-rise tower with our office taking up the entire floor, like something in a TV drama.
So now I say that TNKR is looking for a different office.
The short version: TNKR is seeking to move to a different office within the next few months, the sooner the better.
Have I done a good job at curbing enthusiasm about the process of moving? We have so many challenges related to the move.
We found a location earlier today that would have required a $20,000 deposit and monthly rent of $1,500. I was already wondering where the money would come from, but then the landlord decided he didn't want us because he doesn't want classes at the location. There are restrictions on locations that have classes at them, and it isn't worth the hassle for him.
We have looked at about 20 different locations, but none are a good fit.
The short version: TNKR is seeking to move to a different office within the next few months, the sooner the better.
* * *
The long version:
* The owner of our current location let us stay through the
last lease, but that time will surely be coming to an end July of this year.
Before anyone denounces the landlord for the various reasons people do on
Facebook without knowing details, he is a big fan of TNKR and the last two years he gave first preference for a buyer who would let us stay in this office. But for this year, he will sell
it to the person who wants to buy it, without any consideration of what happens to the current tenant (TNKR).
* The landlord and Eunkoo agreed that he would
give us two month’s notice if he happens to sell it, which sounds short to me, but anyway, that’s the
deal they worked out.
* One complicating fact is that TNKR will soon be
applying to reach the highest level of NGO status within South Korea. So it
will be better for us to move to a different office before we reach that
status. If we move after that, then there will be a lot of paperwork, we’ll have
to spend money on various paperwork that needs to be processed, and it will be
an unnecessary complicating factor shortly after we move.
* The rent: We clearly got lucky two years ago, this location had been abandoned. The landlord fixed it up, and we got a great deal. Everything similar to what we have now is more than double the deposit and more than double the rent. And for locations that a step down would be something like $20,000 deposit and about $1,500 monthly rent. People who ask why we need money clearly have never run an NGO or had to find a location for an office. I try to remain patient when people ask why we need money, I need to remember that TNKR is a gateway to giving.
TNKR Building Fund
TNKR Building Fund
