By: Hallie Hillebrand, BBA/MAcc 2018
This past week we have been intently focused on decision-making. These are very important decisions because they will determine the organizations that we will be moving forward to perform site visits with. Our group has narrowed down our pool of 11 to 4 and to do so, we had to make a lot of tough choices. There are so many great organizations doing such great work in Waco and other places but we know we only have a limited amount to allocate. In making our decisions, we focused on a number of key concepts, detailed below.
The first thing we were looking for in an organization was passion. If the person running the organization doesn’t have a passion and a drive for their organization/cause and the energy to ensure it runs smoothly, how can we except it to be very effective? A second critical item is determining whether they are an effective leader and if they are able to clearly communicate their mission and vision for the organization/project. Again, if they cannot do this, it’s a sign that they might not be very effective. A third thing was how permanent the project is. We were still very open to proposals that were temporary in nature, but the projects we all seemed to be most drawn to were ones that will have a more long-lasting effect for the population they serve and the community as whole, along with a proven track record of success in this area. Keeping this in mind, we still had to eliminate some that met all of these criteria due to our limited funds.
This week we also turned in the next chapter of our Briefing Book, in which we provided information on the organizations we met with on Pitch Day as well as an answer to the topic of what obligations are implied in a grant giver/receiver relationship. Our answer drew heavily from readings that demonstrated both positive as well as negative obligations/relationships. A quote that kept coming up in these readings was “He who has the gold makes the rules”, also known as the “Golden Rule of Grantsmanship” according to some. This is in stark contrast with what our team views as the type of relationship we are seeking with the organizations we are moving forward with. We are interested in eliminating any sort of power dynamic that is common in this type of relationship, and instead desire to have an intentional partnership in which both our team as well as the organizations are clear on each other’s focuses and desires. We plan to dedicate ourselves fully to the partnership, whether we are able to fund their project or not, and hope that they will do the same. We don’t want to be the ones making the rules, rather, we hope to collaboratively eliminate any “rules” and go at it together, with passion and a clear vision for their project.
We will be going to our site visits this week with this in mind and hope to learn more about each organization’s passion and vision as well as their goals for our partnership.