This week in class we had a lot of heated discussion. On Tuesday, we were able to discuss as a large group what we felt from each site visit as well as what the references to our organization said about them. I felt that it was very helpful to discuss all of this because no one went on every single site visit and it was good to hear the feedback from our fellow classmates. On Thursday, we were asked to pick a single organization to donate our $10,000 to as individuals (we have previously decided that we don’t want to split up the money). This led to some very heated discussion about which organization we felt deserved the money the most, as well as a lot of “bad-mouthing” from people about which organizations we should not fund. Up to this point we have narrowed it down from an original ten organizations to four.
I think it was really helpful for everyone to see where the other people in the class would like to donate the money and why. Some people had gut feelings or used past experiences to choose the organization they wanted to fund. Others used their passions in certain social justice areas to pick the organization that best matched with their ideals and goals. Others used very logical methods to come to their final conclusion. It was fascinating to hear why people chose what they did, even more than it was to hear what they had actually chosen.
I’ve learned a lot from this week, but I feel that the most important thing that I took away was how important this entire process is. There is no single piece (the application, phone interview and site visits) that is more important than the others. Every single piece helped the class to form their opinions about who we should fund. For example, my original number one choice after the applications didn’t change after the phone interview. In fact, I liked them even more. However, hearing what everyone said that went on the site visit, I realized that this is not an organization I would like to fund. Without having that piece, I don’t know that I would have come to the same conclusion. I’m very excited to see what we end up choosing in the end!
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This blog is generated by students in the College Park Scholars Public Leadership Program who are taking a course in philanthropy. Join us as we develop our vision of the social good and then learn how best to deploy resources to achieve an impact. During the semester, we will go through the challenging and exciting process of giving away actual money to achieve beneficial change in our local community. Thanks for reading!
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