Finished off the full proposal today, and emailed a complete copy to the entire inner circle.

I am SO happy to have this step behind me!

Had a very successful inner circle meeting at Julia's Bistro. Though I was a bit jet-lagged, the group's enthusiasm was more than enough to make up for it.

Joining me were: Patricia Harrington, John Gorczynski, June Deadrick, Russ Frank, Jeff Stys, and Shannon Bishop.

We tweaked the project plan and timeline, discussed the budget, and strategized on the required letters of support.

We also made tentative plans about the expanded project team, anticipating that we'll require each inner circle member to recruit five to seven additional individuals for that phase. We discussed diversity...but realized that it's second-nature to all of us anyway. Since we're all young professionals, age is the area where we'll need to be really deliberate.

As if the deadline for the full proposal wasn't short enough, I was invited to spend nine of those days in Israel.

I had hoped that the trip would give me a chance to focus and reflect a bit on the project. But the federation had such a packed agenda for our time there, that I never had a second to think about the project!

I did meet a wonderful woman (Genine Barel) who hosted us in her home for Shabbat dinner. She and I discussed some of her pet projects. I've been reading Momentum, and promised to mail it to her as soon as I finish it. I think she'll get every bit as much out of it as I have.

Cheers!

I sent out an invite for the Inner Circle to get together over lunch on Wednesday, November 7th to brainstorm and help flesh the proposal out. Wish it could be sooner, but my unexpected trip out of the country is necessitating a VERY abbreviated planning schedule.

Time/location to be determined...I can't wait to see everyone!

I participated in a mandatory Proposal & Widget Review session this afternoon; all of the Top 100 are required to do so to get geared up for the submission of the full proposal.

Widgets: Who knew! While I'm not even thinking about raising money get, this technology is WAY COOL!

Had a quick conversation with my assigned proposal coach this morning. Her name is Casey LaCore; she's the director of the Office for Civic Engagement with the University of Minnesota Duluth. Casey gave me some really positive feedback. She said this was exactly the kind of thing that Case was looking for under the Make It Your Own program. I found that pretty encouraging!