I came across “The Philanthropy Lab” website recently and
wanted to share it with the class. Prior to taking this course, I had heard TPL
referenced, but never knew what it was. It is a very similar course to ours
that is hosted at other universities such as Harvard and Yale. Two of the
features I found that were especially interesting were the student highlights
that are given (https://www.thephilanthropylab.org/student.aspx)
and the readings that are required at each partner school (https://www.thephilanthropylab.org/school.aspx?school=reading).
If you have a chance, I recommend exploring these parts of
the website. Most of these schools seem to have a larger budget than us
($100,000), but I think we can definitely learn from some of them. The website
allows you to view some student highlights and the projects they have started
and charities that the classes donated to. As a class, we have mentioned having
a hard time connecting with the Salwen Family and other large donors. But this
is a resource that gives us a chance to hear from people who have gone through
a very similar experience in other parts of the country. While we could reach
out to alumni from our class, read their blog posts or read articles published
by them, this gives us the opportunity to think beyond the Binghamton philanthropy
experience. I am sure many of us plan on moving somewhere else after Binghamton
or plan to go to graduate school but that can be very stressful. Over the Skype
call, we heard Alexandria say that philanthropy was hard to keep up with once
she moved and had to focus on herself. Maybe through exposure to these
initiatives elsewhere beforehand, through relatable sources like this one, we
can make philanthropic transitions in new areas easier for ourselves.
I’ve also found the book A Path Appears and its website
particularly useful. A Path Appears has introduced us to new ideas,
nationally and internationally, to enable us to figure out where our priorities
stand. It helps guide us in a direction towards helping these issues, while
making it seem like less daunting of a task. A couple of times per semester, I
order cookies online to send to my siblings, but after hearing about the Greyston
Bakery mission, I am excited to start purchasing through them for about the same cost. It
won’t make a huge difference, but at least it is something. A Path Appears
shines a light on so many organizations that I am sure we can each find a way,
even as students, to help out more than we are. I am still searching for
clarity on many of these social issues and my passions but I hope that over the
next few months I keep moving towards finding more clarity. I think that by reading
some of the books in The Philanthropy Lab curriculum will help me keep
moving towards this goal just as A Path Appears has done.
Jess, I think this was a really interesting idea. I liked the links you posted, and I think it's very interesting to see how classes like ours are spreading across different university and college campuses. Further, I think the way you argued about Alexandria's experience and al of ours moving forward is completely correct.
ReplyDeleteSomething I think gives Binghamton the edge, though, is the differences between our class and classes at other schools, such as Harvard or Yale. One thing you discussed in your post is our budget, relative to theirs. While having $100,000 definitely gives someone the avenue to make more change, it also makes the decision easier. It means you can choose ten organizations, and give them a large chunk of money, and so maybe you have to agree with four or five people about which charity you want. Or, maybe you cut that amount into fourths, which still gives more room for change, but means your decision is easier because it becomes, who needs money?
One thing I enjoy about our class is we only have $10,000. Before I started this class, I thought that was a lot and the choice would be easy. But now that we've begun and we can only pick so many groups before the money means nothing, the choice becomes increasingly difficult to make over through what avenue we can make that difference.
I really like that you posted the links and allow us to see how other schools are dealing with the same heavy burden we all have. I think having that tool for comparison will prove to be useful when we get further into the grant-making process, and the decisions really become difficult.
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the links and for shedding some light on how other universities are accomplishing similar goals as we are. I thought it was really interesting to see that, even with a larger grant and a different environment, there are groups of our peers who are working on comparable projects to ours.
This reminds me of an article I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. It focused on a high school in the Chicago area that offers a class in the same vein as ours. There are a few key differences though. The course is completed throughout the junior and senior years of the students high school career. In the junior year, they go through a selection process just like we are going through now. They carefully choose from community organizations and give their money away once they reach a consensus. Then, in the senior year, the students are responsible for fundraising in order to supply the incoming junior class with the funds they will use.
I followed your example and compared our class with that of these highschoolers. I thought it was important to note the difference in how the donation money is obtained (a grant versus personal fundraising), and how that would affect our approach to the situation. Would we treat the selection process any differently, now that the money was raised by our own hard work? Would we feel more motivated at all?
In any case, I feel you set a great example in doing some research regarding how other classes are completing projects like ours. It's a great way to make our own process even just little bit easier if we see what worked for others and what could have been improved upon.
(Here's the article if anyone's interested: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-park/news/chi-oak-high-school-program-gives-students-a-taste-of-philanthropy-20150115-story.html)
Jess,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great perspective. I feel that if we do not reach out to these other universities and connections that will be the point that will make us or break us. We must reach out to receive different perspectives on how different organizations worked their budgets, agendas, decision making, etc. I think it is very interesting to view each schools budget and how they received the budget? What was the reason why schools received higher budgets/grants than the others? I connected well with your statement on how this will change us after our Binghamton experience. I think using these techniques will in fact make it easier to transition into philanthropy during our post graduation stage. Our young professional times are some of the most important times of our life and we need to use that time as effectively as we can. This post has opened my eyes to questions that I think we can answer once we reach out to these different organizations and once we have more effective discussion in class.
Great post!
Pat LaBuff
I'm not sure why, but My first reaction was to be pretty bothered by the fact that the majority of the schools involved in this program are either Ivy League or "top ranked" public schools. After think about it though, I've realized this is pretty reasonable. Essentially, only universities where wealthy, privileged kids are likely to go. Of course this is not indicative of every student at these universities, and I trust that the courses themselves are very well put together and teach the students plenty.
ReplyDeleteThe program gives an extremely large amount of money to the classes. $100,000 if I'm not mistaken. For a majority of the potential demographic of this class, this is actually potential realistic practice for a not so distant future. If this amount of money was given to a less wealthy group of students, that class would likely run into the same issue our class did while reading The Power of Half, where the class found it too unrelatable.
I guess my conclusion is that perhaps how we teach about giving needs to change depending on whom it is being taught to.
Jess, this was an interesting read. I definitely expected other schools to offer a similar class, however, I agree with Jason about some of my first thoughts. I am sure that teaching about giving in any community is important, however I'm not yet sure about how successful it is and what the best way to personalize it is.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely can not expect all students to relate to the wealthier groups of people we've read about on their giving, however, just for the purpose of our class and Binghamton University, I suppose it was much better to look at a broader scale of people who give. Of course, being in a public university, majority of people will not be able to relate to some of the readings. But people come from a variety of backgrounds, and are heading in a variety of directions and need to be prepared. Each one of us would like to be successful in one way or another, whether through money or influence. We should personally focus more on the platforms that we have the opportunity to give or reach out through, rather than have your giving be specific to your location of residence, time available, or any other factor.