Planification 10: YPI
Planning your interview questions
Visit Your Chosen Charity
In order to make your meeting with your charity as successful as possible:
Take a list of all your interview questions, as well as a list of anything else you would like to collect during your visit. Take any equipment you will need (camera, video camera, cell phone). Be sure to ask a charity staff member for permission before photographing or filming anyone.
Make sure you know the exact address of the charity and how to get there.
Make sure an adult knows where you are going, how they can reach you, and when you are planning to return.
Write down the full name of the person/people you are due to meet with at the charity and their title so that you know what they do at that charity.
Arrive about 5-10 minutes before the time you have arranged to meet.
Take detailed notes during the interview – you will need to include the information during your presentation.
Send a Thank You Note
Remember to thank the charity rep for sharing their time and knowledge with your team with a thank you email or even better, snail-mail a handwritten note.
Example:
Dear […], (use specific names when you know them)
Jack, Julie, Juan and I (make it personal) would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time, and for providing us with all the useful information about the great work you do in ExampleCharity. We were so pleased to learn more about how your organization works, and just how far the work you do goes to making a positive impact in our community (tell them your reasons why you are thankful).
We are happy to tell you that we have put together an engaging presentation based on the information and experiences you shared, and we will be presenting it to our classmates and community members on (date). We look forward to spreading the word about what makes ExampleCharity such a great organization, and why you deserve the support of our community. We will tell you how our presentation goes, and whether we make it to the Final Presentation Assembly! (Tell them what you are doing with the information and how you plan to follow up)
Thank you,
(your names)
Show the people you are meeting that you appreciate and respect their valuable time:
• Find out as much background information as you can, first, and review what you already know.
If the charity has a website, make notes on what you can find out ahead of time.
• Be organized, and be prepared to take good notes.
• Be flexible. It is more polite for you to adjust scheduling to visit the charity, if possible, than to expect the charity to adjust scheduling to accommodate you.
• Arrive on time. If possible, arrive early to make sure your team is fully ready to make the most of the time.
Demonstrate to the charity that your team cares about the social issue that it is addressing.
• Be sincere. Show real interest.
• Refer back to what you’ve already thought through: What you’ve already researched about this social issue; why you’re interested in this social issue; how your values connect with it.
Explain to your charity why you’ve chosen them, and why you want to learn more about their work.
• You can also describe how your values may relate with the charity’s values/vision. (Visit charity website.)
Prepare effective questions that will help you to learn more deeply about the issue and the charity’s work
• Build on any background information that you’ve found interesting about the charity.
• Prepare as many questions as possible; then choose the most effective and engaging questions.
• Open-ended questions are more effective; they can start conversations and get you more information.
Close-ended questions are not effective, since they lead to shorter answers and less information.
Leading questions are not effective, as they can assume or hint at a certain answer, or sound judgmental.
Close-ended / leading questions (not effective) / Open-ended questions (more effective)Do you think people know about the charity?
Why don’t you get more funders and donations? / Do you think people know enough about the charity?
Why don’t you get more funders and donations?
How does the charity raise awareness about what it does? What challenges do you face, fundraising?
What else could we do to help you raise
awareness and help address the social issue?
Find out first-hand how the charity would use $5,000 to help people in your local community.
Be prepared to listen carefully, interact sensitively and pay attention to details when you visit the charity.
• If you hear interesting things that you want to know more about, ask follow-up questions. Prepare to draw out interesting new ideas and information, and find out as much detail as possible.
• Find out if you can record part of the visit. Ask politely about rules or limitations on confidentiality.
• Be prepared to be respectful and sensitive if you have a chance to interact with people the charity helps.
Thank the charity for their time. Follow up with a card or gesture thanking them for what you’ve learned.
Review the following prompts; this will help you formulate your questions:
- What’s the social issue? Why does it matter?
- Who is the charity? How do they help?
- What impact is the charity making?
- How can we all help to change things for the better?
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