Tuesday we got to celebrate the best part of the semester, which involved meeting all of the executive directors and officially giving away the big checks to our local non-profit partners! The electric jolt of excitement that filled the atmosphere of the North Village Community Center was tangible and created a real level joy in every party present. This was the cherry on top of what has already been a truly phenomenal semester.
I remember when I first found out that I’d been accepted as one of 21 students to participate in the Philanthropy Lab at Baylor for this fall semester I was so excited that I googled anything I could think of relating to Baylor Philanthropy and read every news article or press release I could find just in eager anticipation for what I was going to be able to take part in. There was one specific photograph of the men and women from the first semester this program was offered in which everyone was dressed up, grinning from ear to ear, and held huge white checks over their heads. That image was seared into my mind from that moment forward and was not only something I looked forward to at the end of this journey, but acted as a guiding framework for my decisions along the way. The look of joy on their faces was encouraging when I hit challenging or discouraging spots along the way, like when one of the organizations I was extremely passionate about was not approved by the rest of the board in one of our final vetting stages. Seeing the teamwork evident in those founding members of this incredible program helped me better understand why what we did along the way was so worth it, especially the difficult sacrifices.
I felt like Tuesday was the first time I’ve really been able to see the sheer magnitude of the efforts that the 21 of us have made throughout this semester. Each of us have worked hard and given our best to this program, but the efforts made by a few undergraduate students at Baylor pales in comparison to what each of our partners are already doing on a daily basis. I think that yesterday each of us was really able to experience the shared aspect of this philanthropic endeavor in a profound way.
Inscribed on Baylor’s campus at the memorial to the Immortal Ten, a group of ten Baylor basketball players that died in a bus crash in 1927, is the phrase, “For They are We of Us.” Since hearing this phrase during my freshman year, I’ve ruminated several times on the idea behind this particular sentence. Although simple on the surface, this phrase has deeply shifted my view of teamwork and the role that simple acts of service can play in making a lasting, sustainable, and wide-reaching impact.
In looking back at this semester, I cannot claim that “I” gave away $50,000 to Waco-area non-profits. Neither can the 21 members of the Philanthropy Lab claim that “we” accomplish the tremendous amount of work that our 501(c)(3) partners are able to do. Annually, the 7 groups we were able to fund change thousands of lives and do more work than we ever could alone. They have taught us so much and have patiently walked with a group of college students tasked with the weighty challenge to steward and invest $50,000 into our local community. I think what we were able to experience yesterday was an intimate understanding that not “I” nor “we” but the combination of “us” as student leaders at Baylor and the wonderful leadership teams at non-profits in Waco were able to share in something really, really special.
Together, “us” did something pretty neat, and lives have been changed as a result of it.
About the author: Justin Downey is a Junior from Richardson, Texas. He is a third-year Business Fellow studying Non-Profit Marketing and Religion. Justin is at Baylor preparing for ministry and feels called to a life-long career in development & fundraising for ministries and is passionate about catalyzing church-planting movements and leadership development around the world.
P.S. Here are some links to local news reports about the ceremony yesterday. Thanks for joining us on this journey!
http://beta.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view?18303230/token/4e7c6d7b-9145-4c86-8c77-8a2e410c2294
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/higher_education/baylor-class-distributes-to-local-nonprofits/article_2d6a8b6b-c7bd-538c-a408-a037c2015139.html
http:http://www.mycentx.com/news/waco-news/baylor-students-give-grant-to-new-nonprofit- organization/
www.kwtx.com/ourtown/home/headlines/Waco–New-Program-Created-To-Help-Homeless-WISD-Students-361099701.html