Monthly Archives: January 2016

Hope in the Yet to Come

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By: Julianne Bohnenkamp, BA 2016

As the third week of school is underway, our Philanthropy and the Public Good class begins to take a deeper look into what we, as a unified group, will be working on this upcoming semester. As addressed briefly in the previous blog post, Tuesday’s class was focused on building our mission statement, which will define the goals that our endeavors these upcoming months will seek to fulfill. The statement combines a number of concepts that we as a class brainstormed during our last meeting; some of these concepts include:

  • Stewardship
  • Commitment
  • Engage more deeply in our community
  • Compassion/generosity/love
  • Impact on individual lives
  • Faith integration
  • Generate knowledge
  • Foster giving (not dependency)

Though the official statement is not yet completed, it is essential for us to hone in on the most important conceptual themes that our work should be focused on. Every local organization implements these ideals in order to serve the city of Waco, especially those in that community who are in most need. We gratefully acknowledge our opportunity to partake in this course and question how we may assist these organizations in the most useful way.

During our meeting, Dr. Hogue passed around a packet that showed us what organizations have been supported by grants from past classes. A few of the selected groups focused on resources needed or desired for present purposes, while others were centered on future usages with sustainability at the forefront of their aim. This semester, our class has to decide what purposes are we searching to support. Current concerns? Future objectives? New ventures?

We are just on the cusps of beginning to understand what our involvement in this class will entail and how our assistance can lead to a formidable impact on the future of these organizations. However, our actions should not be taken without caution. Taking note from one of Tuesday’s assigned reading by Dr. L. Gregory Jones, we can acknowledge that it is important that our goals remain optimistic, yet be aware of the sometime difficult reality of our modern society.

“…philanthropy will achieve its promise only when it connects more deeply with mindsets and practices that recognize and embody both the pessimists’ reading of reality and the optimists’ belief that change is possible….what we need to cultivate is people of hope. [1]”

We, as a collective group of leaders and students, should look to foster not only deeper connections to the community of Waco during the semester, but also hope as well. Hope that our efforts will become a seedling that will begin to take root and flourish with this community’s love and compassion, hope that assisting the toils of today will lead to the successes of tomorrow, and hope that our support will not only help transform aspects of these organizations, but also ourselves.

Though the third week already promises exciting things to come, there may be some uncertainty as well. But we shall not worry, because there is always hope.

 

[1] Jones, L. Gregory. “L. Gregory Jones: Philanthropy, Global Citizens and Hope.” L. Gregory Jones: Philanthropy, Global Citizens and Hope. Faith & Leadership, 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

 

Meet the Author: Julianne Bohnenkamp is a Senior Intensive International Studies major, with a minor in German and a minor in Poverty Studies and Social Justice. She loves reading, writing, humor, and actually dislikes long walks on the beach (because wet sand sticks to the feet). With a passion with service and cross-cultural interests, she looks to serve abroad with a mission organization after graduation.

The Development of our Mission

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By Lexy Bishop, BBA 2017

Our time on Thursday was spent clarifying our collective goal as a class, which we will later form into a mission statement. As the biblical proverb goes, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” Clearly, a sharp vision for what we are doing is important as we embark on our philanthropic journey. With such a complex undertaking, it is necessary for us to nail down our unified goal for the semester before we begin any work so that we are able to be as effective as possible. Focusing on the big picture on the front end and establishing guidelines for how we as a team will carry out the task at hand will be beneficial to us as the semester progresses. Our duty is simple in theory: to philanthropically invest the money responsibly. However, this assignment will become more complex than we initially imagined. So, when the small details for our decision begin to drag us down, our team can always return to our mission statement, sewn together with the things we as a group value and consider important, and be reminded of what we have set out to accomplish.

To help better understand what philanthropy is and the complexity of our project, our group has been reading through three books: We Make a Life by What We Give by Richard B. Gunderman, Understanding Philanthropy by Robert L. Payton and Michael P. Moody, and Giving Well, Doing Good by Amy A. Kass. Our time on Thursday was spent dissecting various readings from these texts and collecting important ideas that influence our view of philanthropy. Some concepts from the readings that stood out to us include the following:

  • While our monetary gift is important and an honor to give away, we want to see ourselves give more than just money. We have a financial gift to bring, but more than that we have the opportunity to share the intangible gifts of time, attention, and knowledge.
  • Our goal is not to decrease want but to create sustainable opportunity and generously share. There is mutuality in sharing.
  • We want to follow after the Baylor principle of stewardship as we give of our selves with humility, gratitude, active cooperation, and self-reflecting knowledge.
  • As a group, we want to be open minded to our peers’ ideas and backgrounds, as well as share our views to contribute and grow as a whole.

It is evident from these statements that our team’s view of philanthropy has already expanded in just a short week of studies. I personally have come to understand that philanthropy is more complex in nature than I had initially perceived. It is more than just donating money to a worthy cause, or sporadically volunteering your time for service. Philanthropy is a way of life, and through this semester I am looking forward to developing convictions and motives that implement the ideology of philanthropy into a life long call to action. It is exciting to look ahead at what is to come because I know that the rest of our time is sure to be a growing experience.

Lexy Bishop is a Junior Business Fellow from the DFW area studying mathematics and economics. Freshly returning from a semester abroad in Spain, her passion to be a part of what God is doing in the nations of the earth and her belief that the Church is the hope of the world has only intensified.

Philanthropic Calling

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By Ryan Snitzer, BBA 2018

For the newest students in Dr. Hogue’s Philanthropy and the Public Good class this semester, there are a variety of mixed emotions as we embark on this adventure together. We are all blessed by the opportunity to not only better understand philanthropy, but to serve others and hopefully do good works. We are nervous about the overwhelming task of best deciding how to strategically divide monetary resources to non-profit organizations in the Waco community. Most of all, I believe we are excited to come together to be part of the bigger picture in God’s philanthropic mission.

Based on the first few class sessions’ discussions, it’s evident that we all have unique academic backgrounds and experiences that will contribute to our central mission. We have begun to realize that our experience in this class and our decisions on how to allocate the generous donations will be entirely different from previous semesters. Not only is that okay, but it’s honestly one of the best aspects of this program! The need to give well and do good is universal as we live in a broken world. However, there is not one single need in our community or world that deserves our sole attention above all others.

As we continue to seek a better understanding of philanthropy and narrow our focus in these first few weeks, I believe the right answers on which organizations to select will ultimately come to light according to God’s plan. There are so many fantastic philanthropic efforts that are taking place in Waco and can do great things with the resources this program has been blessed with. We can rejoice in knowing that the giving doesn’t stop there. The donations made for this program allow us students to grow towards our individual philanthropic calling, betters Waco-area organizations financially, and allows them to do even greater good in this community. That’s the true beauty of this program.

Hearing other student’s perspectives has already allowed me to reconsider my own personal definition of philanthropy and recognize other opportunities to help others in our community. Since coming to Baylor, I’ve gotten involved with my fraternity’s philanthropy, The Ability Experience, which focuses on disability awareness. Never before had I felt a real connection to the people and causes I was serving. It’s amazing how so often the times when you think you’re helping someone; they in fact make an even greater impact on you.

Our philanthropic calling is for every single one of us to determine. For us in this course, we are all striving to find it as we aim to be the hands and feet of God’s mission. In Ephesians 2:10 we are reminded, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” I fully believe God has a special plan for Baylor University, the Waco community, and this program.

 

Ryan is a Sophomore Business Fellows student with majors in Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Professional Selling. He wants to eventually go into private equity and has co-founded a new business in Waco called Campus Crates, which provides self-storage over the summer for college students.