Post-Pitch Day

Yesterday was our first class meeting after Pitch Day, and while we each had had some time in the past few days to process the experience individually, yesterday was our first opportunity to gather as a group and discuss the day together. I can’t help but think of this class now in terms of before and after Pitch Day, because Pitch Day made the class “real” in a way that no other class I have taken before has felt. Hearing first hand about the extensive work nonprofits in Waco pour into our local community, and knowing that we were exposed to only a small fraction of the incredible service work being done in Waco, was extremely sobering (considering the deep rooted issues these organizations have set out to address), but ultimately very hopeful. These feelings were only compounded as, for the first time, I garnered a true sense of the breadth and depth of the philanthropic world at work throughout communities across the country, and the world, and how this class allows us to engage with that extensive and vibrant space.

During class yesterday we were advised to come together as funding teams and develop a team giving metric, to identify the pitches we heard that most closely aligned with our teams’ giving priorities. As awe inspiring as it was to see the extensive philanthropic work being done within our community through Pitch Day, it was equally as emotive to now come back to class and face the next step in our class journey– the hard realization that we only have a limited amount of funds and the difficult road ahead entails making tough, collective choices on how to allocate those funds.

To begin this process, we used some of the time we had together as a class to  exchange the names and information of organizations teams met with on pitch day, and did not find the organization’s pitch in direct alignment with their team’s funding goals, but thought that organization may present a good fit for another team. The parallels between class and “the real world” became apparent through this exercise. We’ve explored the communal nature by which philanthropy must take shape in our readings and the compilation of our briefing books’ first chapter. We’ve also seen the interconnectedness of issues and organizations through the profiles and pitches we encountered during Pitch Day. The teamwork, depth of engagement, and sense of passion which drives our class presents great exposure to the key principles of listening to others’ needs, matching resources and leveraging one’s passions to address the issues around us. In my view, the context of this class provides a perfect training ground for instilling effective and sustainable philanthropic practices.

Secola Houston, BA International Studies 2018

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