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Volunteering ideas, Proposal feedback and Collaboration

Shailja Singh PublicSeen by 131

Hello Everyone!

My name is Shailja and I've recently joined Biotech without Borders as a volunteer after connecting with Danny and understanding the ongoing operations of the organization. I'm a Biotech Engineer and I recently graduated with a Master's in Biotechnology (Enterprise) from Northeastern University with a background in Biotech Management and Operational Excellence. I currently have the capacity to devote 20+ hours per week to BwoB's current efforts as a remote volunteer (I'm currently based in Boston), beginning with developing proposals and strategizing on ways to expand the community's awareness, and what it has to provide, by connecting with more students, universities & biotech organizations. I'm hoping to come up with propositions, and get feedback and suggestions from the members through this thread, followed by executing the result. We're looking forward to using Loomio's elaborate decision making tools to make the process creatively organized. Additionally, I would also like to find ways to collaborate with our community members and contribute to any ongoing biotech projects, research or otherwise, and would appreciate inputs from everyone here. I'm hoping to receive more ideas on how I can contribute further through this thread as well as to receive feedback on future proposals!

Looking forward to connecting with all of you!

Ellen Jorgensen

Hi Shailja! Thanks for you interest in BwoB. It is very generous to offer so much of your time to us as a volunteer. I am just wondering how remote work could help our small local organization get more lab members or donations of equipment and supplies. These are the two needs we have.

A bit more about us:

Our goal is to keep the lab funded through lab memberships and not fall into a cycle of being mostly a science education program where the income from classes is our major funding source. We run classes and workshops because they bring in folks who can see the lab and hopefully imagine themselves doing a project in it.

We have no paid staff and no capacity to run programming that involves 9-5 weekday mentorship at this time. Booting up a program like this would require a major investment of time and resources and the participation of qualified mentors.

We cannot run programming for anyone under the age of 18 unless I or another fully vetted and qualified person is supervising.

Our space has a maximum capacity of 12 people for hands-on classes, and this is stretching it. For lectures we can hold maybe 25-30 people.

We are less interested in creating online communities- there are plenty of those! Online research collaborations can be facilitated through sites like JOGL(Just One Giant Lab) who have already built out the infrastructure.

Let me know if you have any further thoughts about volunteering.

Shailja Singh

@Ellen Jorgensen Hi Ellen, it's a pleasure connecting with you! Thank you for providing more information about the current goals and capacity of the organization! Since the primary goal is to gain more lab memberships in order to keep the lab funded, I believe that connecting with individuals from the biotech community in NYC would be a helpful way to welcome new members who're looking to get access to a lab space for individual projects or to simply support the organization's mission. I am hoping to volunteer by networking with biotech professionals (students, professors and independent researchers) and getting the word out to individuals who would be interested in being a part of BwoB as members & donors.

Please let me know if you're open to chatting about the details of how I can contribute to the funding initiatives remotely, and I'm sure that we can come up with a structure! Hoping to speak to you soon!

Danny

@Ellen Jorgensen I'm interested in listening in on this conversation and in my discussions with Shailja I thought it would be helpful to have these on Loomio so if others wanted to share feedback they could do so. Also I didn't think that the project of creating a strategy to increase membership would be something that would take up all the time she was willing to offer us and perhaps there were needs that she could fulfill with some of her other expertise. Ultimately my hope is that Shailja will propose her role in this thread and anybody working with her can voice their consent on that proposal.

Ellen Jorgensen

In that case Shailja please post more detailed specific proposals on this s thread for comment and review.

Shailja Singh

Thank you for your patience, Ellen and Danny, a family bereavement led to a delayed response on my end. Thank you for the clarification, Danny! My goal is to support BwoB's current needs in a structured way and with the time I currently have to devote towards it, I'm hoping that I could help accelerate current processes in addition to proposing new ideas. Here are some ways that Danny and I discussed through which I could potentially contribute after receiving feedback from the members:

  • Connecting with student-led biotech committees that are looking to get access to a professional biotech lab environment and gain exposure to the broader biotech community beyond the academic atmosphere. Based on their needs, we can connect with them regarding what BwoB currently has to offer from a learning point of view (classes, workshops, space to execute novel projects). Being a recent university student myself, I can personally vouch for the number of biotech students and clubs looking for an opportunity to connect with organizations like BwoB!

  • Find funding opportunities: I understand that the lab requires some amount of funding to sustain, from a rent perspective. Workshops and renting the space out is a great way to give back to the organization; additionally exploring individual and organizations with a passion to fuel biotech initiatives would help enhance the current lab operations whether it's for rent, adding/replacing equipment or expanding the lab's capacity in the future.

  • Existing projects: From what I can comprehend, there are some active group projects hosted by BwoB. While I understand that parts of those projects need physical presence and wet lab expertise, I am extremely interested in collaborating with the members of these projects and contributing by conducting remote research. My background in biotechnology has equipped me with efficient technical knowledge, whether it is to answer questions regarding a certain technique or reviewing existing research papers to explore future prospects of a project.

These are some ideas that we came up with but I'm hoping to hear everyone's thoughts on the above as well as additional ideas on how I can contribute further!

Danny

@Shailja Singh Those are all great suggestions for areas you can work on. I think you are more than ready to write any or all of these into a more formal proposal on Loomio (using decision > proposal > consent OR consensus OR advice) that indicates for each area:

  1. How many hours you intend to spend on the area

  2. What is the proposed deliverable (if any) for area OR what specific responsibility you intend to take on in order to advance the area

As I had mentioned on our last call I'm happy to spend time checking on the first area. It intersects with a networking event that I'm helping to organize at another location and I'd like to work with you to better integrate this event into the BwoB strategy for getting new members. Additionally I am willing to provide guidance in any area on how to interface over Loomio (as I am doing here) so that other members may benefit from your assistance. Lastly, the way you are talking about the second area makes me think you may be able to help with onboarding or recruiting instructors from leads or from cold outreach if that is of interest to you.

The first step to moving forward with a work plan would be to propose it. If you want to include all three areas in your proposal that's fine or you can break it up into just one area for your first proposal. Thanks for your continued engagement with BwoB and hope to start to work more closely with you once we have more consensus over your role.

Ellen Jorgensen

Please keep me in the loop with any activities you do. As president, I kinda need to know how you are presenting the organization to people, which if any grants you are focusing on, etc. Since you are volunteering remotely please keep in mind that the capabilities and limitations of our space may preclude some activities (we cannot rent kab space or handle a typical class size of students for example).

Volunteering responsibilities: Student-outreach, Networking, and Funding Opportunities

proposal by Shailja Singh Closed Sun 2 Jun 2024 5:00PM

Outcome
by Shailja Singh

Thank you for your responses!

As a result of the responses and the lack of objections, I will be happy to begin getting more closely involved with the current networking, recruiting and onboarding efforts, in addition to connecting with individuals & organizations regarding new memberships as well as funding prospects. The check-in structure would be bi-weekly with Danny and Ellen with one or both individuals involved as per preference. Moving forward, before beginning any activity, the first plan of action would be to decide a meeting time with Ellen and Danny to discuss the details of the upcoming networking events, come up with a mutually decided agreement around the check-in structure, and for Shailja to gather important information during the meeting to keep in mind before reaching out to external contacts on behalf of the organization. I would be happy to discuss any other activity that I can get involved in beyond the scope of this proposal as well!

I will be setting-up a time poll to meet with Danny and Ellen together for our first meeting shortly.

What is the decision you need to make?

Volunteering Plan Approval:

  1. Connecting with students, student-led biotech communities and individuals in the biotech field:

  • I plan to present opportunities that BwoB currently has to offer (events, workshops, lab space, member benefits) by connecting with individuals via mediums like Linkedin and email, followed by meetings, and discussing detailed requirements of both parties involved. In case of dealing with an organization/committee for an event or use of lab-space, approval regarding capacity and resources shall be gained from Ellen, Danny and other members before finalizing a decision.

  • As mentioned above by Danny, organizing networking events could be a big part of getting new members, discussing ideas and assisting new members with the Loomio interface.

Number of hours: 8 hours per week

Check-in & deliverables: Bi-weekly check-in sessions with Danny to maintain supervision, discuss leads, meetings with potential members, progress and details regarding future plans.

  1. Exploring funding opportunities, instructor-outreach, recruitment and onboarding:

  • Finding funding opportunities would require reaching out to potential donors/sponsors interested in supporting biotech non-profit initiatives, gathering leads and directing them to the BwoB management team to discuss details and answer any questions or concerns.

  • New instructor recruitment/onboarding: gathering leads through cold-outreach and networking.

Number of hours: 7 hours per week

Check-in details: Any leads will be discussed in the bi-weekly check-ins with Danny, during which time discussion regarding the future plan of action and engagement with other members if needed will be considered.

* Since the above mentioned tasks include potential meetings, research and collaboration which would differ on a weekly basis, some time has been kept aside as buffer for these activities.

Why is this important?

A consensual defined plan around the volunteering initiatives to drive BwoB's strategy would help provide more structure and make room for feedback and amendments. The mentioned proposal revolves around creating awareness about the organization, addition of new members, and active initiatives to gain funding for the lab-space sustenance & potential future expansion.

What are you asking of people in this proposal?

A vote stating whether the presented proposal is acceptable or requires changes would be really appreciated. The feedback received and the results from the first few weeks would consistently help make the plan more structured and improve continuously.

If you have an Objection, please say why and propose a change to the proposal that makes it safe.

Remember we are seeking consent for a ‘good enough’ decision that is 'safe to try', so we can make a good decision for our organization.

I look forward to gaining some insight from the BwoB team and beginning to work on the above-mentioned ideas at the earliest! Thank you!

Results

Ellen Jorgensen
Consent

I have reservations about Danny being your sole point of contact. All of the work related to the physical actualization of hosting events, onboarding new members safely, making sure the lab is in good shape etc falls on other people's shoulders. Total transparency throughout the process is key. Although I appreciate and approve if the spirit I am wary of the process. It also needs to be coordinated with my efforts to do similar things.

Shailja Singh

@Ellen Jorgensen Thank you for your response, Ellen! I understand that the process needs coordination between multiple people and I plan to collaborate with everyone involved in event-related and onboarding activities as we move forward. Danny being a point of contact was only suggested for check-in purposes and the plan is to keep you in the loop/get approval from you about any decisions that are to be made. However, I'd be happy to have these check-in meetings with both, you and Danny if that would make it easier.

Danny
Consent

I'm happy to trade off the duty of checking in with Shailja with Ellen. I think I good structure might be to set a regular bi-weekly check-in meeting then for the first one Ellen and I will both attend but for the subsequent one only one of us would be required but the other is welcome to attend. Excited to get started with this! After you summarize the outcome Shailja, it would be great to create a time poll to find our mutual availability.

Volunteering discussion

time poll by Shailja Singh Closed Wed 5 Jun 2024 7:07PM

Outcome
by Shailja Singh

Thank you for providing your availabilities!

Meeting Date & Time: Friday, June 7, 2024, 4pm EST

Please follow the zoom link mentioned below or in the location section. Let me know if you have any trouble accessing the link. Looking forward to the meeting!

Shailja Singh is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: BwoB Volunteering Discussion - Shailja

Time: Jun 7, 2024 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://northeastern.zoom.us/j/92878522630?pwd=8b133K7SiTp4KV5H4RqRPg2DcxOU3f.1

Meeting ID: 928 7852 2630

Passcode: 974250

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What is the meeting or event?

Meeting involving Danny, Ellen and Shailja to discuss Shailja's involvement in networking, event organization, new member onboarding, recruitment and funding activities.

Why is this important?

This meeting will allow a formal introduction between Shailja & Ellen and provide transparency around Shailja's roles and responsibilities as a volunteer, in addition to receiving suggestions from Danny & Ellen . It will also help in building a solid check-in structure with Danny and Ellen as preferred and agreed to by both individuals.

What are you asking people to do?

Please provide your availabilities for our first meeting and do let me know if you have any questions and concerns. Thank you!

Mark the timeslots you are available with the green 'thumbs up' icon or leave the red 'thumbs down' in place when unavailable.

Use the 'thumbs sideways' icon to say you are available 'if need be'.

Results

Ellen Jorgensen

I work a full-time job and may have to reschedule this if my job request my attention during business hours

Shailja Singh

@Ellen Jorgensen Thank you for providing your availability Ellen! I completely understand, we can reschedule to a later date or time if need be.

Danny

@Ellen Jorgensen please tag @Shailja Singh when you complete the above poll so she knows she can close it early and share in the outcome when we will be meeting

Ellen Jorgensen

@Shailja Singh have you been able to do any work on this yet? We are running our Genetic Engineering class next week and it would be great if you could spread the word. It is on our website and has been promoted on our mailing list, Instagram and Facebook page. There are seven spots left.

Shailja Singh

@Ellen Jorgensen Hi Ellen, sounds like an exciting event! Certainly, I have developed some outreach templates, I'll incorporate information about the GE class asap and start spreading the word. Thanks for the info!

I also wanted to know if you might find some time next week after work-hours post 6.30pm to meet and chat. Let me know if this time works for you and I can create a time poll for the three of us to get on a primary call if possible. Hoping to get the spots filled soon!

Reviewing the volunteer role

time poll by Danny Closed Tue 17 Sep 2024 2:00PM

Outcome
by Danny

Looks like we're all available Monday night for this meeting. Looking forward to chatting with y'all about what the volunteer role has entailed up to this points, what it could entail in the future and adjusting our agreement if required.

Remote Volunteer Role Check-in

Monday, September 23 · 6:00 – 7:00pm

Time zone: America/New_York

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/exh-yxkg-tdq

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 315-599-0149‬ PIN: ‪596 696 680‬#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/exh-yxkg-tdq?pin=9708487246575

What is the meeting or event?

I'd like to meet to discuss the role that Shailja is performing for BwoB and get a sense of what sort of tasks she is helping us with.

Why is this important?

There are some comments on the thread asking for help as well as updates but no further communication. I reached out to Shailja by email and I learned that she indeed helped with promoting the Biotech Crash Course as well as secured herself employment (yay!). I'd like to hear more about these things and adjust her role with us accordingly.

What are you asking people to do?

Mark the timeslots you are available with the green 'thumbs up' icon or leave the red 'thumbs down' in place when unavailable.

Use the 'thumbs sideways' icon to say you are available 'if need be'.

Results

Ellen Jorgensen

I have classes I have to work around

Danny

@Shailja Singh As discussed in our meeting here is a link to the public events calendar that (usually) syncs with Eventbrite postings. If the calendar app you use supports ics files then you should be able to add the calendar with this link.

Ellen later texted me to express her regret she could not come to the meeting.

I look forward to reviewing your report-back on the promotional work you did for the Crash Course as well as a preliminary sheet of contacts we can begin to do CRM-aligned work with. Great to catch-up yesterday and looking forward to continuing our work together!

Anastasiya Yatsuk

Hey Shailja, I saw your message on Loomio welcome board and wanted to reach out to see if you are still around. I just joined the lab and have been researching GFP purification to use the pigment produced by protein in bioplastics and bioyarn. I have some wet lab experience but would love a buddy and someone to trouble shoot things with. Would love to meet you in person in the lab and excited to see/hear about your work for outreach efforts!

Nastya