Difficult Decisions

By: Jared Stuart, BBA 2018

With the semester now past the halfway mark, our Philanthropy & the Public Good course continues to develop and progress towards the end objective of awarding grants to several of the incredible non-profit organizations in the McLennan County area. Chapter Two of the Briefing Book assignment is due at the end of this week, and this point in the semester necessitates much research, deliberation, and discussion about the organizations we met with on Pitch Day. The progress we have made up to this point is certainly exciting. However, as a team we are now faced with the difficult task of choosing which organizations to conduct Site Visits with as well as which organizations we will unfortunately have to part ways with at this time. This is an important week for our class as we transition into this next stage of the philanthropic process.

My team’s focus is specifically on health-related philanthropy, and each of the organizations we have researched and met with are doing impactful and impressive work as they meet urgent, important needs in the greater Waco area. Learning about these organizations and their purposes has been a very enjoyable and educational experience that has taught us a great deal about the widespread needs that exist in the surrounding community. My perspective of McLennan County has evolved over the course of the semester as we have gained a deeper understanding and awareness of these critical issues. The opportunity provided by this class to assist these organizations in meeting these needs is both a privilege and a humbling experience.

Early on in the semester our team established three general areas in which we would like to focus our philanthropic efforts within the broad spectrum of health: medically underserved populations, women and children’s health, and nutrition/healthy living. In tackling the challenge of determining which organizations to support, one of our primary objectives is to fund projects or causes that align with one or more of these target areas. Beyond this, we have also endeavored to discuss and evaluate a number of other criteria in order to differentiate between the organizations. The following are a few of the elements we have been taking into consideration: an organization’s specific plan for using the grant money as expressed in their Pitch Day interview, their overall mission and goals, their most urgent needs and challenges, and how they plan to measure the progress and results of their projects. We have truly enjoyed meeting with and learning about each organization and are greatly impressed with the work that all of them are doing. However, evaluating each organization through the lens of our team’s specific criteria and areas of focus has enabled us to begin narrowing them down. Although choosing between excellent organizations is challenging, this is definitely an exciting time as we move further along in our semester-long experience in philanthropy. Without a doubt this course’s influence has already inspired me to stay closely involved with philanthropy throughout my career and life.

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