Pitch Day Reflections

By: Abby Callison, BA 2018

Wow. Yesterday was a very exciting, somewhat overwhelming day. Yesterday was Pitch Day, in which, as a class, we met with about 32 nonprofit organizations. Each group had 8 or 9 meetings with organizations, each lasting 15 minutes, to learn more about each organization and ask questions about potential project proposals.

After the marathon of meetings, I now understand why we spent time thoughtfully preparing. The readings we’ve completed throughout the semester helped tremendously to narrow our focus in what kinds of questions we should spend our short 15 minutes asking. We also researched each organization beforehand, allowing us to tailor our questions to be more specific in order to more effectively use our time together. I’ve always been taught that “prior preparation prevents poor performance,” but yesterday was a clear example of the need for preparation to make the most meaningful use of the short time we had with each organization.

I left Pitch Day with a feeling of amazement at the number of organizations in Waco working tirelessly to address deep needs throughout the community. I also left with a feeling of gratitude, because each organization does so much more than what I originally thought. It’s easy to look at an organization and label it as a food pantry or a farm, for example, but each group contained so many different dimensions in the ways they work to meet the needs of Waco. They are involved in numerous projects and programs that I wasn’t aware existed. My eyes were opened not only to the vast range of needs in Waco, but also to the number of people working to meet those needs. I sincerely appreciated the representatives from each organization taking time to come share with us about their work, and I was inspired by seeing people who live out their calling. I love the quote by Frederick Buechner, in which he says, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Yesterday I was able to see multiple examples of people called to work to meet the deep needs of Waco.

Along with the feeling of amazement however, I also feel overwhelmed by how we can best give our resources to help the work of the organizations. It’s difficult because so many of them need resources to help them continue their work. I am grateful again for the preparation we have done so far and the time we will continue to spend in thoughtfully making this decision. We’ve spent time this semester looking at strategic giving. We must consider how our resources can be used most effectively to help further the mission of these nonprofit organizations, while keeping in mind our own values and goals of what we would like to accomplish in giving. I look forward to seeing how we can work together with these organizations to continue to meet important needs and strengthen the Waco community.

The Strategic Journey

Harper McGee, BBA 2018

At the beginning of the semester, each student wrote a paper around the issues that he or she felt passionate about and wanted to focus on this semester. The focus of my paper was that many children were not receiving full opportunities to succeed and lead a fulfilling life. Although my overarching theme was opportunities for children, it involved the topics of education, poverty, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Based on these papers, Professor Hogue divided the class into different teams comprised of students with common interests. My team quickly realized that we all wanted to focus on helping children. However, some members of my team also emphasized the importance of arts and culture. Although before this course, I had never fully understood the importance of arts and culture, through research, I soon realized just how important arts and culture in a child’s life could be. A lack of arts education could lead to lower performance in school, and poor education could lead to an increase risk of poverty, but poverty could lead to a lack of arts education. This vicious cycle is important and is a reality in Waco. Once everyone on my team discovered this importance, we decided that our focus would be on arts and culture.

Next, my team met many incredible organizations that were changing the arts and culture scene in Waco. Yet because there were so many incredible organizations and because we only had a limited amount of money to grant, this created a problem. Each organization was doing good in the community in very unique ways, and it seemed impossible to narrow it down.

Since all of the organizations seemed worthy of a grant, my team decided to narrow in on the organizations whose goals we felt best aligned with our original goal of not only developing arts and culture in Waco, but also helping children in poverty. We went forward with the organizations that were actively working to help expand arts education to children in poverty in Waco.

Now that my team narrowed our focus based on the organization’s goals, we are trying to learn more about the specific projects that each organization is proposing. We are doing this by following the logic model described in The Essence of Strategic Giving by Peter Frumkin. Through the logic model my team is able to think through the outputs, or logistics, and the long-term outcomes of the project we are granting. Even though the organizations seem to align with my team’s goals, we need to make sure that each of the project’s potential outcomes also align.

Although we still have many unanswered questions about the specific projects being proposed, I am confident that we will learn all that we need to learn in the next couple of weeks in order to be strategic in our giving. I am very excited to see where this process takes us.

Character Matters

By: Clara Binder, BS 2017

Doing philanthropy well requires much of us. If this course were simply reading about philanthropy or researching wicked problems, perhaps a person could escape without giving much. In the realm of the theoretical, the choice is ours whether we invest ourselves in these ideas and think carefully about them. Researching and paper-writing do not necessarily require significant investment of self.

Now, though, we have moved out of the realm of the theoretical and must start making decisions: which organizations do we most want to support? (Alternatively, which organizations would not be as good a use of the grant money given to us?) We have logic models and carefully-chosen readings to support us in the process, but even these cannot carry us through. What matters in these conversations is not just the knowledge we have but the persons we are.

We need wisdom and the ability to communicate. We recognize that this course offers us the choice between many good options; this makes it more difficult to discern the best of these. Wisdom here looks like viewing our initial preferences through the lenses of the resources that we have in the readings and in those around us. My initial preferences – gut instincts, perhaps – have been developed through my own experiences and knowledge, and they may not match those of the other members of my group. We all, then, need the ability to state not just which choice we believe is better but also the ability to articulate why we believe this.

This wisdom requires humility. A firm belief in my own intelligence and superiority has no place here; rather, careful listening will allow us as a group to come to understanding and agreement, sharing our own resources of experience and knowledge with one another as we make decisions. Additionally, we need humility as we interact with the organizations we are considering for a grant: there is so much about Waco, about the work of a social sector organization, and about people in general that I do not know, and a willingness to learn from these organizations and from one another is vital.

We need patience here. This process is long, and it is challenging. With so much we do not know, we struggle to communicate clearly with one another and with social sector organizations. Often the questions we ask do not provide us with the answers we most desire. Sometimes our very ignorance keeps us both from understanding an answer and from understanding that we do not understand. Making wise decisions and communicating clearly through it all is a challenge.

Which is why we need commitment. If this were just about a class, perhaps it would not matter so much. We could be content with a decent decision and move on with our college experience. But this is not just a class; this is about the place where we live and the people who live in it. The understanding that this is so much greater than us compels us to see this experiment in philanthropy through to the end, and it demands that we be people of character – wise, humble, patient, and committed – who give our best.

The Logical Model

By Ashley Alston, BBA 2018

It has been two weeks since “Pitch Day,” and the teams are finally making the difficult decision of which organizations to do site visits with.  My team, whose primary focus is on health, poverty, and nutrition education, has narrowed the search down to three organizations. During this process we took time to consider the vision of the organization and compare it to the goals we hope to accomplish by giving this grant.

In class this week, each team built a logical model for each non-profit they were considering.  We based this model off the ideas of Peter Frumkin, who described the model to be a formal explication of how a philanthropic intervention proposes to achieve its ends.  The model consists of the three theories: the theory of leverage, the theory of change, and the theory of scale.  These theories help paint a clear picture of what our goals and objectives are as donors. In class there was an emphasis placed on breaking down the theory of change. We learned that the theory of change is further broken down into three categories: activity, outputs and outcomes. The activity category breaks down what the organization plans to do if given the grant. The output category focuses on immediate results given the plan proposed during the activity category is successful. Lastly, the outcome category demonstrates the long term effects of goods and services being delivered and output being met.

After fully understanding each category, our groups went through every organization and discussed their main activity, what their immediate results would be, and the overall outcome they wish to achieve.  As we continued to narrow down organizations based off of their visions compared to our goals, we were able to use the logical model to help us decide which ones we wanted to further pursue. Each group focused on three or four organizations they wished to meet to explore further collaboration.  We are in the process of contacting the directors of each organization and setting up site visits. This will help us better understand each of our potential grant recipients vision. I am excited to continue learning about how to strategically give to others while also having the opportunity to make a significant impact on both an organization and those lives it touches.

With Great Power…

By Rebecca Voth, BA 2018

Now that we have met with several organizations, we have been assigned the difficult task of choosing between which projects and organizations we will fund. After meeting with the organization representatives and hearing about their passions and concerns in their field, it has finally hit me the weight of responsibility that we carry. Our decision is not simply concerned with our own learning but it also has the potential to impact an organization and those it serves long into the future. The problem with giving away money is that that same money will not be given to another organization doing equally admirable work. I have been learning so far that we have been tasked with a decision that is laden with responsibility, and that the choice we make is between several different goods requires a unique set of evaluation standards.

 

The responsibility with which we have been tasked does not escape me as one that is heavy with responsibility. Not only are we held responsible to the class and the foundation that is providing us with funds, we are also responsible to the organizations from which we are choosing. Each organization trusts us to make the decision that we think will be best and align most with our goals. We have limited funds to offer, and I never imagined five figures could be a small amount of money until meeting with each organization and hearing about their needs. Every dollar that we give to one organization is a dollar that we cannot give to another organization with equally worthwhile goals and legitimate needs. When we ask the organizations what they need and they respond with figures in the low thousands, expenses add up quickly and our capacity is easily surpassed. This brings us to a difficult point of decision-making that must be evaluated by a unique set of criteria.

 

In a normal decision making process, it would be simple to choose the best option. At first, I imagined we would simply evaluate the merits of each proposal and choose the best one. However, this process is much more complex than that. We have before us several “best” options. It is impossible to evaluate each grant request as better or worse than another. Instead, we must find another standard by which to evaluate. One of our readings from The Insider’s Guide to Grantmaking focuses on this problem. It gives us a classification system to categorize the grants and ideas we have heard presented. It classified grants based on the quality of idea for which the grant is purposed, and quality of the proposal as a means to achievement of the goal. While all the proposals and ideas are good and are aimed at worthy causes, this guideline can help us to determine which grants align with our goals for seeking justice for those who lack access to the justice system, and do so in a manner that maximizes efficiency and effectiveness.

 

The opportunity and power we have been gifted with places upon us the responsibility to be good stewards of the resources we have. By the grace and wisdom of God, we will use this opportunity to learn to faithfully and humbly steward the gifts with which we are blessed.

Too Much of a Good Thing

By: Annie Armes, BBA 2018

“Pitch Day” has come and gone. “Pitch Day” was a day designed for us to meet with local Waco nonprofits and discuss our potential grants. Numerous nonprofits were scheduled for brief interviews that provided an abundance of information on how our grants could impact their mission. The passion that they had for their causes was contagious. During this valuable time we were able to get details that were not available to us online, ask questions, and hear about their first-hand experience with the people they serve.

After weeks of tedious work, researching broad and distant issues, I felt overwhelmed by the problems our society faces. But after having a face-to-face conversation with local organizations there is a sense of hope; the unachievable is made achievable through these individuals’ efforts. Their knowledge and passion for the mission of their organization makes solutions seem less abstract and more tangible. I can now connect concrete ideas with my research. My group worked hard to understand the vast problems of poverty, education, and economic development, but until talking to these local organizations I felt lost at sea.

After “Pitch Day”, we instantly have a multitude of worthy organizations that are working diligently to solve the very problems we want to address. The organizations we interviewed ranged from internationally recognized technology training programs to local utility assistant programs to mentoring programs started just a month ago. How will we, young college students, be able to decide what cause to give money to?

There are a myriad of factors that play into a philanthropist’s decision-making process, and not all scholars agree on the best method. In our class, we have recently discussed some criteria that we believe are worth considering. We want to focus our efforts on mindful, strategic generosity. Not only should the organizations we choose be working in the areas that are near and dear to our hearts, the money should be used efficiently. We will continue to develop a way of assessing the returns on our investment.

As we continue to identify our priorities, we must eventually narrow down the field of nonprofits we have researched. It seems like an impossible task to choose just one when there are so many working diligently to help the Waco community. We have a hard job ahead of us; I guess it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

 

Digging Deeper

By: Kristen Hendrickson, BBA 2017

There has recently been a shift in our focus for this class. So far this semester, as previous blog posts have reflected, we have been discussing philanthropy, what is important to us, what it means to be a philanthropist, etc. However, lately we have begun to dig deeper into more specific issues that our society is facing today, in order to learn more about what is really going on in the world – an attempt at understanding the issues before we take action.

Something that we discussed in class, which really stuck with me, was how all too often good intentions can lead to harmful outcomes. This can occur because those who are giving do not fully understand the issue or context in which they are giving, and cannot foresee potential problems that their gift could cause. This is a scary thought, because the last thing that my classmates and I want to do is more harm than good. As an example, one of my classmates shared a story of a tractor that was stuck, abandoned in a farm field in another country. The tractor had been donated by Americans with pure intentions, hoping to make farming much more efficient and easier for those who farmed that field. However, when something went wrong and the tractor broke down, there was no one around that could fix it and the parts needed to fix it were not accessible. Thus, the tractor became an extremely heavy, unmovable fixture in the middle of the field, just taking up precious land. We desire more than anything that our gifts will not be tractors taking up land, but something that can have a lasting and proliferating impact for years to come.

It is our duty and responsibility to do our research, to figure out what the issues actually are and to try to understand as best we can what would really help those who are living through the issues. We are now grouped into teams to focus on certain areas, and my team is starting with a broad focus on children in arts and culture, education, and poverty. I have personally been mainly researching poverty – poverty in the United States, in Texas, and in Waco. We have been amazed to see the intricate ways in which all of these areas are intertwined. We believe that poverty can have direct impacts on any of those categories, and we hope to see the bigger picture of these issues.

It is really interesting to see how many different ways that poverty can be defined. Some define it by the federal poverty line, some by 200% above the federal poverty line, others by the average lifespan of a community, and others by child poverty. By any definition, it is clear that some in Waco are hurting. I am so excited to continue working with my group throughout the semester to build a strong foundation of understanding and to make as strategic, thoughtful decisions as we can about how to use the resources we have to give. This is an incredible and unique opportunity, and I have a feeling it is going to change the way I give and encourage others to give for the rest of my life.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions..

We are hard at work this week. Our program teams continue to visit numerous organizations across the city.  We have been told by Dr. Hogue and previous students in the class that weighing the different needs of the organizations is incredibly difficult. Our team can attest to this difficulty. All of the various nonprofits we visited have unique needs that are worthy of financial investment. However, we can only choose to fund some of these needs. I have come to the conclusion that one of the most vital skills learned in this class is difficult decisions making. While most all of the needs of these organizations are worthy of our support, some of the projects are more complete or sustainable and innovative than others. We are all anticipating with uncertainty the difficult decisions that we will have to make in the next few weeks. Malcolm Gladwell once said,

Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.”

We must be wise in thinking about the decisions we will make.

In attempting to begin making decisions, our groups created logic models, a tool used by grantmakers, funders, and managers to weigh the inputs, outputs and outcomes for a specific project. These logic models will help us assess the different projects proposed and weigh these projects strengths and weaknesses. We will use these to educate each other on the various projects we have vetted.

For now, we continue to meet incredible people who are instrumental in the fulfilling the call to “love your neighbor as yourselves.” These site visits have been formative to our greater understanding of how social sector organizations work. Seeing the inner-workings, facilities and management of these organizations has been helpful in understanding the effectiveness of the work that they are doing.  We are excited to continue our quest in deciphering the best projects to fund this semester.

 

Meet the Author: Lindy Reamer is a Senior Intensive International Studies major, with a minor in Spanish. She is active in her sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma. She is interested in domestic and international policy and reads legislation for fun. This semester, she is excited to engage with Waco- area organizations in the fight to enhance lives in the community.

Decision-Making

By: Lauren Lamb, BA 2016

Our class was in a very difficult and unique position this week when we used our accumulated knowledge and the mission of our board to guide us in narrowing down our pool of philanthropies into the twenty-five that we will personally visit. As we analyzed the different philanthropic organizations working in Waco, I was struck by the amazing passion of the hundreds of people working to make Waco a better place. So many remarkable people are dedicating their entire careers to serving the needs of Waco and making it a more fulfilling place to live. They believe in their cause and they believe in their city. For this reason, Waco is extremely special. It is rare to find the kind of genuine care, love and the emphasis of community togetherness that is overwhelmingly apparent in Waco through each small initiative and every big picture plan.  We have all been given a remarkable opportunity and blessing to get to be a part of the Waco community and everything it is doing for its people.

Simply put, Waco cares about enriching the lives of its citizens. It is inspiring to see the ways that Waco is striving to set itself apart as a cultural center of Texas. The many philanthropic organizations that are pursuing this effort are working tirelessly to blend together the different cultural backgrounds residing in Waco to fashion a unique identity for the city as a whole. Whether through the farmers market, city theatres, art centers or community houses, Waco is successfully bringing together people from all walks of life to create a place where each person can feel like a true Wacoan.

We are also living in a community that experiences tremendous need. Waco is not blind to the extreme level of poverty existing throughout its streets. This week we have heard from roughly sixty Waco organizations that are tirelessly serving Waco’s people in order to improve their overall quality of life. From free legal services, to centers for the abused, to educational programs for Waco youths, advocacy is present on every corner. Waco is truly fostering a city that prides itself on service.

Although it was difficult to move forward in this process knowing that we were leaving incredibly worthy organizations behind, I am so encouraged to know that these organizations will be propped up by a city that cares so deeply and serves so readily. This process of board meetings showed me how many incredible people are working behind the scenes to make Waco the compassionate cultured community we all love. I am confident that Waco will always be a city where philanthropy thrives and I am excited to get to know more about the organizations we will be visiting in the upcoming weeks.

About the Author: Lauren Lamb is a senior from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She is majoring in Political Science with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She plans to attend law school next fall. She is an active member of the Baylor Honors Program and Delta Delta Delta.

Narrowing the Search

By: Annie Kronlokken, BBA ’18

Our class is called Philanthropy & the Public Good. We have spent time discussing philanthropy and grant-making, but it wasn’t until we began working directly with organizations that I understood the power of the public good.

Over the past few weeks, our class communicated with over sixty Waco-area organizations. In groups, we became experts in certain project areas. We researched, talked, and debated. I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time.

Right now, our class is in a unique position: we know the needs of Waco-area organizations. This insight brings us to a posture of humility; we have a great responsibility to our donors, our organizations, our class, and ultimately to our community. We are responsible for determining who will receive the grant money with which we have been entrusted.

From the conversations and research, I know one thing: a lot of good is being done in Waco. A lot. Hungry children are eating in the summer and on the weekends. Homebound adults are being fed, transported, and cared for. Veterans and low-income families are receiving free legal services. Museums are creating programs to educate students. The homeless are finding shelter, encouragement, and clothes. Waco is in the process of becoming an arts district. And there’s more. Each organization is doing good, but only a few can receive our grants.

We are narrowing the search. This is no simple task; many factors are involved in choosing projects to fund. First, we look to our mission statement. Our mission is to serve and collaborate with Waco-area organizations to enhance lives and enrich our community through innovative and sustainable efforts. This statement informs our decisions. We use it to determine not which organizations are best, but rather which ones are the best fit for us. Second, we look at the strength of the proposals, the strength of the leadership, and the overall need in the community. After considering these factors and more, each group has proposed five organizations they would like to move forward with.

Our board meetings have been filled with discussion, questions, and many great ideas. It has been so fun to learn about the organizations in Waco. I have been deeply encouraged by the good. People are dreaming, collaborating, and innovating ways to truly make Waco a better place. I am grateful for the passionate individuals who are problem-solvers instead of problem-pointers.

As we continue forward, my earnest wish is that we would continually learn, serve, and listen. Making good decisions as a team is challenging; it’s hard to say no to certain proposals. But in the end, everything we do will be something good.

About the Author: Annie Kronlokken is a sophomore from Minneapolis, MN. She is majoring in Business Fellows, Finance, and Math, while also studying Spanish and French. Annie aspires to work in the social sector in some capacity, she is particularly interested in international development. At Baylor, Annie is involved in Cru and Chi Omega.