Suriname American Network Inc.

Operations · Events · Fundraising · Fractional COO (ongoing)

THE SITUATION

SANI has carried its mission for decades: preserving Surinamese culture, connecting the diaspora, and holding space for a community spread across continents. The commitment was real. The infrastructure to match it was still catching up. Events happened, but there was no website, no CRM, and no easy way to turn the people who showed up into members who stay.

Then came a milestone that only happens once: SANI's 50th anniversary, alongside 50 years of Suriname's independence. Leadership wanted to meet it with an organization that could hold the weight of the moment.

THE WORK

I came in as SANI's Fractional COO and I'm still working alongside its leadership. We started with the foundation. I designed and launched SANI's first website, built for longtime members, diaspora members finding SANI for the first time, sponsors, and cultural partners. I built a CRM with automations, replacing scattered email lists with something that can grow.

Then the events. Legacy Night, a 150-person award ceremony, and Suriname Day, a 300-person cultural festival, ran 48 hours apart. I built the run of show, managed every vendor, wrote the MC scripts, designed the program materials, oversaw the budget, and ran both days on site. For Suriname Day I coordinated food vendors representing each Surinamese ethnic group, plus the performances.

In parallel, I built the fundraising infrastructure for the Elisabeth Samson House restoration, a cultural preservation project in Suriname. That meant donation systems, campaigns, and storytelling that connect diaspora members to work thousands of miles away.

Now we're building the year-round version. SANI's 2026 plan has seven goals: a membership program, operating funding, five major events, museum funding, a stronger public presence, community partnerships, and documented systems. It runs in ClickUp with quarterly tasks and a content calendar. The aim is an organization that no longer depends on a few volunteers carrying everything.

WHAT IT BECAME

450+ community members across two back-to-back events. SANI's first website. A CRM that works. Fundraising infrastructure for cultural preservation. And an organization moving from event to event toward year-round engagement, with systems that keep working between the events.

Entry point: Nonprofits → Diagnose · Build · Run (ongoing)