Author Archives: idowu_disu

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.

By: Idowu Disu, BS, 2019

A new view is just over the horizon! This has been a very pivotal week for us here in Philanthropyland. This week was exciting in that it marked the conclusion of the first chapter of our briefing books! After several weeks of intensive research and discussion, we were finally able to craft the philanthropic principles and issues that from here on out will be used to guide each group on their individual journies to bestowing grants to the organization or organizations that they feel would best serve the Waco community.

This week was also exciting because at long last we learned which non-profit organizations had accepted our offers to present on Pitch Day. On Tuesday, each group met individually with Dr. McDaniel to not only discuss the progress that we have made on our briefing books but also on what to expect and how to prepare for Pitch Day. At the close of the meetings, we were given the task of becoming experts on each of the organizations that would be presenting, so that we would be prepared to ask the proper questions requisite for making correct and informed decisions on which organizations’ proposal would make it to the next round of our decision-making process.  On Thursday after hearing presentations from some of our classmates, we broke up into our groups one last time before Pitch Day to discuss how we should conduct our interviews, as well as to address any foreseeable problems. Some groups also used this time to solidify the ideas presented in their briefing books before final submission and to formulate how they will proceed onto chapter two of the briefing book.

I cannot believe that Pitch Day is already here! It feels as though it was not that far from the present that we were first introduced to our group mates, and now we are just four days away from making a decision that will not only have real-world implications on the lives of people whose names we may never know, but on the progression on the rest of the semester as well. My voice may not be the echo for the rest of the class, but I am both humbled and filled with trepidation. I am humbled that these organizations have enough trust in us that they would share and allow us the privilege of helping them advance their work. With that being said I am also terrified because first impressions mean everthing. At the moment my mind is filled with countless what ifs. What if we do not have enough time to ask all of the necessary questions, what if they do not like us, what if our goals do not align and we are unable to make a decision, what if we make the wrong decision…