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By: Idowu Disu B.S. 2019                                                                                                                            

Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.                                                                                         – Drake

We are nearing the final stretch of our philanthropic journey! The days and weeks following Pitch Day flowed into one another rather quickly. Shortly after Pitch Day, we had an in-class meeting with a group of private benefactors who were interested in gaining more knowledge about the organizations that we had interviewed with the intent of potentially bestowing a grant to at least one of them. At the close of the meeting, each group was instructed to compose a collection of detailed organizational summaries as a means of facilitating future dialogues with the benefactors. A few class sessions after being introduced to the benefactors we were given the opportunity to view a presentation from Todd Phillips, the founder and president of The Last Well, a Christian non-profit organization whose mission is to bring potable drinking water to Liberia through filtration and building wells while spreading the gospel of Jesus. The presentation was very moving and inspirational. In it, he spoke of the humble beginnings of his organization as a youth Christian group, and how it was from the passion and dedication of a gathering of young adults to change the world that it was able to overcome its initial obstacles and grow into what it has become today. He not only spoke about sustainability and successes, but of the unintended residues that have come from the existence of the organization. Before The Last Well came to Liberia there were settled regions of the country that the world had no idea existed. After the presentation ended Mr. Phillips extended an internship offer to anyone in the audience who was interested regardless if they had the ability to pay or not.

Several days after The Last Well presentation the second chapter of our briefing books was due. The completion of the second chapter of our briefing books meant that we were now faced with the unenviable task of writing rejection letters to the organizations that did not make it to final-cut in the granting process. But on the upside, it also marked the time for preparation for site visits. In order to prepare for site visits, under the guidance of Dr McDaniel we broke up into our teams and had targeted discussions about what questions should be presented to each of our organizations, as well as any red-flags that we should be vigilant of. I cannot speak for other teams on this subject, but after that meeting my group conducted a financial analysis of every organization that we were considering for sustainability and fund allocation purposes. Site visits took place the week before we went on break for Easter. There really isn’t much to say about the site visits other than as we toured their facilities we asked them questions, took pictures, and took with us additional material to help us better understand the impact of their work. The Tuesday that we returned from break each team met individually with Dr McDaniel to discuss how our site visits went and to give him follow-up information about where we currently were in our decision-making process. On Thursday we listened to presentations from three of our classmates, then we had a discussion about when final decisions should be made. This upcoming week seems as though it will be very hectic for us. We have a lot of things happening really close together. On Tuesday each team has another individual meeting with Dr McDaniel afterwards we have to come together as a class to deliberate on where the remaining $10,000 in grant money would be put to best use. Then sometime later we have another meeting with the benefactors to help them make their potential donation. Then it will be time for us to present our final decisions.

I am so excited that we are only a couple of weeks away from bearing witness to the culmination of our semester’s work! This experience has been so surreal. I cannot believe that as an undergraduate student I took part in an initiative that has the potential to change peoples lives now and hopefully well into the future. For me personally, this has been an eye-opening experience. Before this class, I had no idea it took this much thought and effort to bestow a grant to a non-profit organization. Now I am left wondering what it would be like to work on the non-profit organization side.

Final Decisions & Wrapping up the Semester

By: Jared Stuart, BBA 2018

It is hard to believe that we are now in the final week of the semester. Decisions about which organizations to fund have been made and grant amounts have been decided upon. The concluding awards ceremony during which our class will present these organizations with checks is less than a week away. This is certainly an exciting time as we approach the finish line of what has been an engaging, meaningful, and educational experience.

After conducting site visits with three wonderful organizations a few weeks ago, our team was thoroughly impressed by the impact each is having in the Waco community. Definitively deciding how to allot our team’s grant money was very challenging as all three organizations are equally deserving. We ultimately decided to award the greatest amount to an organization that not only aligned closely with our team’s philanthropic goals but also outlined a specific project towards which the funds would go. Throughout this process we have sought to find the best possible use for our funds while also meeting one of the specific needs we identified early on in the semester. While the “best” use of funds is difficult to determine given how many needs exist, the combination of this organization’s mission with the way they outlined a very tangible and urgent need in specific detail ultimately led to our decision. The value and effectiveness of this organization’s work is clear, and we are honored and excited to help make this meaningful project possible.

In addition to the funds each individual team will be distributing, our class has an additional sum to give that is meant to be decided upon collectively by the whole class. One of our recent meetings was dedicated to determining how this remaining grant money will be used, and each team had the opportunity to advocate on behalf of an organization they worked with this semester but are unable to fund with their team’s own limited resources. It was inspiring to see the passion with which each team advocated for the organization they hoped to see funded, and the opportunity to learn about the work other organizations are doing was very enjoyable. This day was an exercise in both collaboration and problem-solving as we sought to arrive at the best and most equitable solution for the class as a whole. The final outcome of this process was exciting as our class has the opportunity to fund several additional organizations beyond those selected by the individual teams.

Reflecting over the past few days on what we have learned and accomplished this semester has shown me how truly valuable this class has been. Working through the philanthropic process over the course of the semester has been both challenging and rewarding. It has taught me a great deal about how to make wise and informed decisions when giving, and I look forward to using the knowledge and experience gained in this class in my future philanthropic endeavors. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the Philanthropy & the Public Good course during my time at Baylor.

Defense of Our Decision, Class Compromise, and Shameless Lobbying

In the past week, each team has come to a conclusion about who they would like to give our grant money to. I am on the Poverty Team, and we decided that we wanted to donate to Skillpoint Alliance so that they could purchase a training trailer for their technical skill courses. They can use this trailer to train those with minimal opportunity in professional skills and give them experience working with HVAC appliances.  Skillpoint Alliance is a young and promising non-profit in Waco. They have been extremely successful in the short year they have opened. This program has already brought many individuals and families out of poverty by allowing them an opportunity to start a long term career. We believe they just need a little start up grant money to get rolling. They have potential down the road to be self sustaining because employers seeking out trained individuals have expressed interest in sponsoring individuals after the non-profit model proves that it works in Waco. The funding for this trailer will help Skillpoint Alliance instill more confidence in employers who are looking to hire their students and give their students more experience.

We also decided to give money to Take Heart Ministries, a ministry that distributes feminine products to homeless women, because two school districts have asked for their bags to distribute to young girls in need. In order to provide them Take Heart Ministries would have to double their output. We hope that we can help them establish this relationship with the school districts by funding their grant. This will help meet our goal of child poverty and potentially our goal of financial security because this helps young girls who are unable to obtain these products themselves. This inability to get feminine products could interfere with their ability to go to school because of their hygiene and ultimately their education. Education is essential to overcoming the poverty cycle. Our grant will help keep girls in schools and provide them a need that no one else is meeting.

We also would like to fund Pack of Hope. Pack of Hope is a non-profit devoted to feeding these needy, school-age children in the McLennan County area in who do not have a stable food source on the weekends by packing bags of food for them to take home. The school counselors identify the children who are in the most need and alert Pack of Hope. Once the money is raised to support the child, the counselor discreetly slips the pack into the child’s backpack on Friday afternoons. Pack of Hope provides these bags to 17 school districts and one charter school in the area. Volunteers assemble the bags on Wednesday mornings and give out packs to over 1200 children a week. Pack of Hope provides 165lbs of food to each child per year. Most of this is provided during the school year, but Pack of Hope also has a mobile distribution program during the summer to feed hungry children in the community. They have difficulty transporting all of this food and are in desperate need of a vehicle or trailer in order to help them with food distribution. Therefore we hope they will be among the charities the class funds collectively.

It was difficult to choose from our great  we had trouble deciding who to give our class funding to.  Some of the charities we are considering funding are CIS, Community Cancer Association, REACH, and Pack of Hope. Poverty team will continue to advocate for Pack of Hope because of the significance of the work they are doing in the community. We have decided as a class to wait and see what Aramark gives their funding to on Thursday and make our final decision based on that. Hopefully, we can find funding for all of the charities we feel passionate about.

Linking Together Philanthropy and Learning After This Class Is Over

By now the reality is inescapable– this semester is officially winding down. The epic ride that has been PPS 4310 is now swiftly coming to an end. Deliberation over final decisions on how each team will allocated funds has been at the heart our last few classes, and as of last Thursday, each team’s decisions have been made and shared with the class. It is now only a matter of weeks until we find ourselves at the awards ceremony, with the final copy of our briefing books turned in, and very shortly after, completely done with this semester.

While we will soon be able to say we have finished the requirements of this course, the completion of this class is only the beginning of our journey as philanthropist seeking the public good. This class has simultaneously been a powerful hands-on learning experience, and a mere introduction into the themes and practices of a giving oriented lifestyle. And just as the greater experience of higher education seeks to instill a life-long love of learning in university students, one significant take away from this class has been the realization that philanthropy is similarly a life-long learning experience. Through our exploration of the benefits gained from quality giver-recipient communication, to recent reflections on how our class readings have enriched the application portions of our class, and the incredible insights we each have gained into areas of need in our community upon meeting with different organizations – we have been well equipped with a diverse set of tools to continue building on the foundation developed in this class and grow as effective and impactful givers.

This class has not only inspired me to continue giving to my community in various ways throughout my life, but it has also shown me the important role that reaching out, listening, and learning play in the giving process. Choosing to engage in philanthropy is an investment in more ways than one. Being open to learning with and from others as you give can sometimes require getting out of your comfort zone, but can be immensely valuable. And as this class has shown, well worth it.

Secola Houston, BA International Studies 2018

Decision Day – Giving Away Money Isn’t as Easy at It Seems

Decision day was the day we all looked forward to, yet dreaded at the same time. It is easy to talk about how worthy each organization is, but it is extremely difficult when this means simultaneously rejecting another philanthropy. Justifying who to give the money to felt wrong after spending the entire semester getting to know and love each of these philanthropies individually.

In order to make our final decision, my group met and discussed the impact we hoped to have in order to help us determine how to distribute our portion of the class funds. While debating the options, many new justifications and thoughts arose that made us question our logic models in giving thus far. We realized that the most effective and fair way to allocate funds would be to base our decisions on our original goals about our impact as a group. With our grant, we wanted to fund a project that would benefit the local community and be a sustainable program. We were able to narrow it down to one pitch or project from each of our organizations. However, this still left us with three organizations needing more money than we were able to give. We kept bringing it back to our initial objectives, though, which helped make the decision more clear to split our money in half between two organizations. We were also encouraged knowing that we still had the opportunity to lobby for our remaining organization at the class board meeting.

The first class board meeting was arguably my favorite day of the semester so far. Each group presented their decisions and pitched their organization for the remaining class funds. It was so exciting to hear the passion and sincerity as everyone described all of the wonderful things that each organization was doing for our community. Because we have worked primarily within our groups all semester, we haven’t had much opportunity for collaboration up until this point. It is easy to forget that there are 12 other people facing similar difficult decisions.  I loved hearing the wide variety of projects that our class was funding in the poverty, health and education groups. Hearing this made allocating the remaining class money even more challenging. As a class, we are working on being creative with our collaboration and funding by looking for alternative sources of fulfilling grants in order to maximize our impact and fund all of our organizations. I look forward to our second board meeting where we can further work and adjust to meet everyone’s needs.

Although we are having to choose among them, in the end, every organization that our class met with deserves to be funded. It is unfortunate that we do not have an endless supply of money to provide to these deserving groups, but the challenge of allocating the funds has taught us important and practical philanthropic skills, such as innovation, compromise, objectivity and strategic planning. These skills have provided a great foundation for our personal philanthropic giving in the future.

Decision time!

As the semester starts to come to a close, our team has finally arrived at the much anticipated time where we have to decide who we will be funding and who we can not. All of our site visits were great experiences, which is very satisfying to us as a team yet it makes our decision making process more difficult. So far, we have narrowed it down to 3 organizations, all of which we have agreed could justifiably receive a grant. This upcoming week will be tough as we will inevitably have to send out some rejection letters to organizations we really liked, however it is rewarding to know that the recipients of our grant really appreciate us and our philanthropic efforts.

The biggest factor in our consideration of these different organizations is trying to find where our funds will be put to the best use. Obviously each of the organizations would use our money well and rightfully deserve it as well. However, we have to decide where our funds will be most effectively used. Some of our organizations do not have specific plans or goals to use our money, yet I know that each of them are currently doing great work and surely any amount of money would be a great help to them in some way. The hardest part of philanthropy is making decisions like these that will affect each organization directly.

In my opinion, I hope that we will have the funds to give each organization exactly what they want. But to me, it is also important to look at how far that money will go and how much of an impact it will make. I believe that these organizations that have specific projects they need funded would probably benefit more than the other organizations that do not have exact goals in mind: nevertheless, I think that they still deserve a fair shot at getting funded. As the week goes on and it gets closer to the day when we need to have our final decisions, I know that there really is no wrong choice and that no matter what we do, we can’t give every organization exactly what they want. And because of this, I think it is really important to think about our site visits and start considering the underlying compassion and dedication of the people we are helping. Sometimes these small organizations who have minimal staff members and overhead are much more excited to receive grants because it simply means more to them when they are not used to receiving money all the time. I have a greater inclination to give to these organizations over those others that may not be as excited to get a grant, but I want to keep my decisions fair and with the best intentions.

As this week starts, I hope that we make the best decision for everyone and that our money goes to good use.

April Madness

By: Reed Cooper, MTA 2018

As I sit here to write this I have just finished watching Villanova win the National Championship over Michigan. Personally, I am a huge basketball fan so I get wrapped up in the spirit of March Madness every year. I get completely invested in teams and storylines I have never heard of and probably won’t think about again once the tournament is over (Sister Jean at Loyola-Marymount, the UMBC Retrievers). I fill out a bracket and cheer fervently for teams I discovered days ago, ready to defend them to any doubter.

In our philanthropy course, we experienced our own sort of March Madness. The last class of February was pitch day, where over the course of two hours I quickly became familiar with 6 organizations, many of which I knew very little about going into the meetings. Then, just like my bracket, we had to begin a decision making process to narrow down these organizations and figure out who would move on to the next round. This first round became immediately tough. Each organization we met with had some great ideas and a mission that fit within the issues we were looking for.

When beginning to narrow things down to decide who we wanted to do site visits with, we came up with a few criteria for each organization to meet. First, we wanted to make sure that each proposal fit within one of the original issues our group sought to address (legal advocacy, cultural development, and food/water security). Once we determined that a proposal fit within the umbrella of our issues, we began to look to see if we believed our grant would go toward a project that met the goals we had for our grant. We wanted the money to go toward a new project and to something that would make a long-term sustainable impact. Using these criteria, we were able to decide on 3 organizations to continue this process with by making site visits. Continuing with the March Madness metaphor, this would be our “final four” (although we only had three groups).

Last week the NCAA Final Four occurred, as did our site visits. Our group was able to learn a lot more about these organizations and see exactly how the grant would be used. While this was extremely useful, in our case it just made the final decision even harder. While the NCAA tournament is now done, our final decision making process is just getting started. Every single group we have met with from the start had a great mission, so the metaphor somewhat falls apart here, because I definitely would not consider any of them a loser. However, we are definitely feeling the stress and now “April madness” that comes along with this tough selection process. I look forward to seeing the excitement at the end, and just like the basketball tournament, I am so thankful for everything I learned about each group along the way.

Moving Forward

By: Niru Ancha, BBA 2020

This week in Philanthropy and the Public Good, we are conducting site visits. A couple weeks ago, five organizations pitched their idea to us. As I am a part of the health group, we met with five nonprofit organizations related to health in the local community. After a couple weeks of deliberating which organizations to pursue, we decided as a group to proceed with REACH, Community Cancer Association, and Nurse Family Partnership.

In order to decide which organizations to continue with, we had to decide which organizations we would not be giving to. This process took quite a bit of deliberation. When considering organizations, we tried to focus on our philanthropic goals. As we are in the Health group, we want to choose an organization that improves the health and well-being of our community. Also, we want to promote healthy lifestyles and help support medically underserved populations. After pitch day, all of the members in my group surprisingly had similar thoughts about each organization. We talked it over and agreed to continue with three organizations. It was difficult to decide not to pursue passionate organizations who do such great work in the community, but there was no way to avoid it. Two organizations current needs did not match up with our philanthropic goals. Because of this, my group passed on one of these organizations to the Education group because their mission was to motive students to lead successful lives through educational programs and presentations. We chose to pass on the other organization to the Miscellaneous group.

This week, we visited with REACH, Community Cancer Association, and Nurse Family Partnership. We were given the opportunity to go to each site and see how they function on a day to day basis. It was neat to see the space in which they work every day. We were able to see how the administration of each organization was set up. Also, we were able to interact with the directors and other employees of the nonprofits. These employees, in addition to the representative we met on pitch day, gave us their perspective about the organizations and its work. Most importantly, site visits allowed us to see the impact these organizations have on the community, firsthand. We saw the stables and the arena where riders take part in equine-assisted therapy at REACH. We met a nurse who guides mothers through parenting and their children’s first couple years at Nurse Family Partnership. Lastly, we learned more about the ways in which the Community Cancer Association aids patients throughout their difficult battles with cancer.

Moreover, site visits conveyed the true passion and heart of each organization to me. I was truly able to see just how much employees and volunteers care about the work they are doing in the local community. As they explained to me and my group, they are happily and willingly working below minimum wage or sometimes even without pay simply because they know they are making a difference in people’s lives. Although the organizations all had the same basic mission to help others, site visits proved to me that each organization has something unique to offer. As we get closer and closer to making a final decision, we will use these differing aspects between the organizations to make our choices. We have difficult decisions to make in the upcoming weeks. However, I am excited to see how we will match our philanthropic goals to certain organizations and their missions and values.

Site Visits Week

Jiayi(Dora)Xu BBA 2020

This week we will start sending out the rejection letters as well as the site visit requests, which also means we won’t meet up together as a class during regular class periods. Me and my team mates are very excited to see the work that has been done by the organizations we chose to move forward with.  On the other side, the selection process took us a lot of effort because all the organizations came to the pitch day were doing an amazing job in local education and we are certain that any one of them will use our money to make a significant impact on the community. It was such a hard decision that we had to stay for another 15 minutes after the pitch day to discuss which ones to eliminate first. However, since the grant we have is limited and we have already discussed the issues we want to focus on in the chapter one of the brief book, we decided to do site visits to only four organizations which were involved in k-12 education. One of those four organizations was passed along by the health team and we don’t have much information as far as how they plan to spend the money or what’s the person in charge like. Hopefully the site visit will help us get a clear picture for this particular organization.

Throughout the selection process, I began to realize the importance of the readings that we covered in this class. They were designed carefully along the timeline for our grant giving process. I found a lot of advices included in the readings super helpful in decision making and those advices can be applied not only in our class, but also in our daily life. For example, the list of questions from ‘How Can We Make Wise Decisions?’ shows us how to evaluate organizations based on their mission, strategy, financial standing, leadership and all the other necessary metrics we need for this class. But if you make effort to look closely into those aspects, you would find that they can be also a way to look at your life, your business or your career life.

I’m truly grateful for having the opportunity to take this class and work alongside my wonderful team mates. Coming from another country, I become more cultured through this class in a way only few people could be able to experience. Now we’ve finished chapter two of the brief book, moved forward to site visits, and within a month we will have our ceremony. It’s been such a rewarding experience and I would love to see how the future class will evolve over the time and bring more exciting changes into our class!

Accounting and Philanthropy

By: Mary Rose Tansey, BBA 2020

During our selection process for grants, I have been recruiting for accounting internships. Accounting recruitment is a fairly intense process; it is set in motion by a career fair, after which students submit applications to firms. Firms invite students to dinners, formally interview them, and then have the choice to invite them to further recruiting events and office visits. It is very similar to our class’s selection process. Although we began by conducting our own research instead of digging into an applicant pool, our method of interviewing potential grantees and following-up with site visits is almost identical to my experience in accounting. While it has been a busy semester, I am incredibly thankful for the overlap between my time as an interviewer and as an interviewee. The coinciding processes have granted me a stronger understanding in this role. In this post I am going to outline some of my biggest takeaways from accounting recruitment, as well as how they have influenced my approach to grant-giving.

  1. Each interaction increases expectation. My group initially wanted to conduct site visits with as many organizations as possible. We thought it would enable us to make a more fair decision. However, we ultimately decided we needed to narrow down our visits to organizations we were seriously considering funding. This choice was based on personal experience, insight from class alum, and our readings. In accounting, students invited to office visits expect to receive an offer. The Bridgespan Group warned against frivolous site visits for the same reason. Site visits are time consuming and disruptive to the everyday functions of a nonprofit. It could damage our class’s reputation in the nonprofit sector if they felt we were being disrespectful of their time by planning visits that often resulted in no tangible benefit.
  2. Evaluation goes two ways. In an interview, I am “judging” a potential workplace to the same extent they are judging me. I think this may be less true with charitable organizations because they are able to work with multiple grantors, but it is still important to consider. Our goal is to love our community, and being unprofessional or unkind could very quickly unravel that goal. While these organizations are more flexible in who they can work with compared to job-seeking students, their impression of us matters. Evaluating interviewers has heightened my awareness of my interactions as an interviewer.
  3. As an interviewer, you represent more than yourself. When I walk into an interview, I expect the man or woman across the table to give me an accurate depiction of the firm they are representing. When I am interviewing people, I am no longer viewed as a single student. I certainly would be seen as a representative of our poverty team, and quite likely the class as a whole. I may even be seen as a representative of Baylor as a whole. It seems odd to think someone’s perception of a university with thousands of students could be shaped by a fifteen minute interaction with me. Yet, I allow my perception of less than five people shape my views of firms with anywhere from one hundred to hundreds of thousands of employees. This realization coincides with the second in shaping the value I place on my work in this class.

As we begin site visits the coming week, I hope to bring a mindset of empathy. Going through a similar experience has helped me understand the time and effort these organizations have put into meeting with us. We can best return their effort with our own effort and professionalism – so far I’ve been very proud of what our class has accomplished, and I’m excited to see how that transfers into site visits.