Dineshi Burchi has joined the WUWM team as the institutional giving officer. She comes to WUWM from Gateway Technical College and has extensive experience in grant writing.
After three months on the job, she sat down with President and General Manager David Lee to introduce herself.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at WUWM.
My name is Dineshi Burchi, and I'm the institutional giving officer, and I'm working on getting some grants in for WUWM and working on partnerships and writing and developing a system for grants here. And I'm very excited about it.
So, what's the one thing that has surprised you the most about working at one of the largest public radio stations in Southeast Wisconsin?
I think I like how fun and creative the people here are. It's a very different environment from what I worked in before because I did mostly federal and state grants and worked with deans and people like that who are not as creative, and they're a lot of fun.
What are you most excited to take on in the coming months and in the new year?
I'm excited to build a system and work with funders. We haven't worked much with grants before. So, I feel it's entirely kind of starting from scratch and building a system and then a reporting system and also developing relationships, lots of relationships with funders so they know who we are and make that connection. They’ll see how great we are and decide to fund us for a grant.
So, last question. We have seven core values here at WUWM: trust, integrity, inclusivity, collaboration, creativity, respect and care for community these values, as most organizations do that drive the ways in which we show up together how we work. Which one speaks to you the most and why?
I think, to me, the care for the community speaks the most. I’m a big believer in the community and giving back and community development, and I feel that the more people learn about the community, the more they understand the problems, the more they understand how they can help. And to me, that's the most important factor. Personally, I was an immigrant and a foreign student who came for college in 1995 here, and this country has given a lot back to me—the opportunities that are available. And personally, I volunteer a lot in any way I can and any extra time I have. I usually volunteer, so I think it's a great fit.
