Hello everyone!
So I'm going to be honest; I'm really not sure what to write about this week. Sure, I could spew a bunch of facts about Family Planning to you guys but, truthfully, I'm tired. I've come to the realization that fighting for what you believe in can be quite draining sometimes; I don't feel defeated but I do feel a bit deflated, if that makes any sense. To clarify, I do have a strong connection with Family Planning: through my research I see a need in the Broome County community for what they are trying to accomplish and I believe both in women's rights and the importance of access to certain reproductive health care services for everyone, regardless of income. However, I do believe there is a difference between a connection to a charity's mission and an emotional connection to the charity itself. I don't believe that I have super strong emotional ties to Family Planning, and if it seems that way, I feel the need to apologize for that. I would hope that we could all separate our emotions from our task at hand, which is to provide up to 3 of 5, all equally deserving, non-profits with a reasonably sized grant. I'm normally very quiet in class, but I decided to out-rightly support Family Planning because I believe in its mission and what it is doing for the community, but that does absolutely not mean that I don't support other charities and want them to "lose".
I feel a little bit confined to what group I was placed in and it honestly sucks that I couldn't go do site visits for each charity, but that was just not feasible with the time-frame we were given, transportation issues, and with scheduling, as I'm sure everyone else would agree. Last Thursday we were asked to discuss what we feel we can all do to learn more about the finalists and do so in a way that isn't super combative or too personal. One of my suggestions was that everyone should strive to do their own research, outside of class, on each of the finalists instead of expecting or waiting for all of the information to come from the representative group. Yes, each group supports a specific charity and is in charge of relaying their site visit experience, but for this week, as we narrow down our 5 to a 1, 2, and/or 3, we should also try to answer our own questions and share that information with each other; we should help one another be as informed as we all can possibly be so that our final decision is effective and ultimately a joint decision. I know it is completely impossible for everyone to be totally satisfied with the outcome, but maybe if we all put in the effort together, we'll at least make wise choices. I know that I'm still continuing to do as much research as I can, not just on Family Planning, but on all of the charities so that I can definitively support who should be our final non-profits; I hope everyone in class will join me.
After reflecting on my own experience so far, my questions to all of you are: how is everybody feeling with this process? What do you find to be the hardest part of making such a big decision in a very specific time-frame?And finally, what are some questions you still have about a certain charity? Maybe we can all help each other clarify and learn in the comments or at least see what our classmates are thinking about and hopefully address them in class.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you all have a great week!
Very nice post, Sarah, and I'm sorry that you're feeling tired and deflated. I know there isn't as much support for Family Planning as you probably would like, but that doesn't mean it is a bad organization or an organization that is not worth philanthropy. Personally, I like the work that Family Planning does and I think they are a solid organization. As far as our grant goes, however, I do not like the idea of giving to them. The fact that no one at the organization seemed to be able to give solid answers was a little bit of a red flag, but for me it was not a deal breaker. The thing that concerns me is that I feel like we would be putting a bandaid over a much bigger problem. Like everyone else, I saw the pictures of the location, and it absolutely astounds me that these issues were not taken care of either when the location was obtained by the organization or as these problems popped up. I know for a fact that it does not cost $5,000 to buy a bucket of spackle and a gallon of paint to fix a cosmetic crack in the wall. It does not cost $1,000 to pick up a screw driver and make sure the legs on a sink aren't falling off or missing completely. And, contrary to what the organization's representative might say, I really don't think it's necessary to hire a contractor to do either of those. When you get to the point that you have $8,000 worth of repairs that need to be done, simply because you neglected to do them in the past, it becomes a major problem. Again, I feel that the organization IS doing good work, I just do not like where our grant money would be going. I sincerely hope that you do not take all criticism of the organization as a personal attack, as I'm sure that is not the intention of the majority of the group. I really loved the last part of your post as well. Thank you for saying that you think we all need to do our own research, as that is a mentality I completely agree with. It is so important for everyone to take a look at where our money would be going and formulate their own opinions based on that. Thank you again for a great post, and I hope you have a nice week as well! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Bethany! I definitely don't take all criticism of the organization as a personal attack, but I do feel that some people in class automatically equate me with Family Planning instead of wanting to hear my views on the other non-profits. Just to address some of your points, I totally agree that the lack of knowledge from their staff is a bit off-putting especially since we are all trying to make informed decisions and we need to use them as a main resource. From what I've heard from the organization itself, most of their grant money goes towards programming and health services, leaving little to no money left to up-keep their buildings. Part of the reason why they disaffiliated from Planned Parenthood was because they could not fund the re-furbishing of their buildings, such as installing bomb-proof windows, which all clinics that provide abortions are required to have. I believe, if they were to receive our grant, they would put all of it towards the leaking roof, which is a big expenditure that has caused pretty much all of the foundational problems of the building. All in all, I agree that there mission is admirable and I think there is a need for them in the community, but I do see how their lack of transparency and unwillingness/inability to fill in little details, like how the roof got so damaged in the first place, does make their cause less appealing.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah!
ReplyDeleteWhat a thoughtful post! I really appreciate you opening up about your feelings and I think it is really important in this decision making process! I think a lot of the class is full of mixed emotions right now, but I also think that’s not a problem because it’s helping us get one step closer to our final decision! I definitely can relate to your feelings about Family Planning’s lack of support, however I don’t think we should look at it as a lost cause just yet. In this process I have been most exposed to Family Planning and been a supporter from the get go. When Professor Campbell asked if anyone was interested in going to Family Planning to ask about last years grant money, I immediately volunteered and knew I wanted to learn more about the organization. Upon this visit I was overwhelmed with pride in what last years class was able to do for the organization and felt as though they deserved it again this year. Then I signed up for the Family Planning group and did another site visit, which I left a little less satisfied than the first visit. I still believed they were a great organization, but I questioned whether the money they requested was as urgent of a need this time around. I definitely agree that I felt a little confined and limited by only signing up for this organization and definitely wish I could have had similar experiences to people who visited the others. I believe you really can’t see what good is happening unless you visit the site and I wish I had realized that before signing up for Family Planning the second time around.
Family Planning was not nominated once in yesterday’s presentations, which is a little shocking for me because it is a finalist. It wasn’t just the Family Planning group that advocated for them, it was we as a class, nominating and allowing them to get this far. It’s hard for me to understand why it would get this far and then have no votes and makes me question if maybe there was another organization we overlooked that could have been a finalist, but maybe that is just a sign that we are narrowing down to the most effective organizations.
Up until this point I really was a supporter of giving Family Planning their full request, however during this last presentation my feelings changed. Throughout this process we have been asked to recognize important criteria that organizations fulfill, their community needs and assessing them as an organization, but we have overlooked another very important factor, the organization’s need for the grant. It is nice to say that an organization is doing a good job, but is that enough to deserve our grant? As a group we felt that an organizations need for the grant and the potential that they could do good was something important that we had been overlooking. I have never been the biggest supporter of Kopernick, however due to this criterion I feel as though Family Planning’s need wasn’t as great as other organizations. I don’t think we should reward organizations for doing a good job, but rather who is going to help the community and themselves the greatest from this money.
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ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteAs another member of the Family Planning group, and maybe even more so because I am the liaison, I completely understand your feelings about the past few class sessions. I think the accusation that we were focused on “winning” is absurd – this process is by no means about winning, but rather about giving. There is certainly nothing wrong with advocating for a cause or organization that you believe in, and I think those of us who were attracted to Family Planning from the beginning have just found ourselves in an unfortunate circumstance. The hardest thing for me has been hearing arguments against Family Planning as an organization. While I have come to the conclusion after a large amount of research into every finalist organization that I do not want to fund Family Planning on this particular grant, I still believe in the organization. I think the accusations that it is as a whole mismanaged and unworthy of even the slightest consideration are completely unfounded. Even if the rest of the class doesn’t see it, those of us in the Family Planning group know that we worked hard and tried our best to get as much information as possible from the people we talked to.
I think some people seem to forget that Family Planning is a very new organization - its split from Planned Parenthood only occurred in 2013. There was some confusion regarding their reasoning behind the split, as well as their stance on abortions. In my organizational assessment essay, I noted that PP does provide them, while FP does not, although they are still pro-choice. This change came about because of “corporate abortion mandates” – basically, PP administrators wanted to increase the number of abortions it performed to increase revenue. Those who split off into FP believe that abortions should be minimized as much as possible by decreasing the number of unwanted pregnancies, hence their focus on contraceptives. Should abortion be the only option a woman has left that she wants to consider, FP will refer the woman to an outside abortion clinic. But back to my main point – because FP is so new, there isn’t an abundance of information about them. Some of us have looked at PP’s old forms and information, but I was wary to do so because of these so-called corporate abortion mandates – obviously the revenue is going to be very different between the two organizations due to this.
I really like Family Planning. But from the very beginning of the applicant process, I was focused on where the grant was going rather than the organization as a whole. That’s why I’ve decided against pushing to fund Family Planning – the grant just isn’t going to make the kind of difference most of us are hoping for. This reminds me of the point Dana made during her group’s presentation yesterday, about not simply rewarding an organization for doing a good job, but rather putting our funding towards where it is most needed and where it will make the most difference. Some people want to fund Rescue Mission because they are an accomplished non-profit with a working plan for continued gain of revenue, but I feel as if to them the grant will be, like some of our classmates who visited the site said, “a drop in the bucket”. There have been conflicting arguments on this point, but to me it seems like Rescue Mission can generate tons of money with just one bin. The number Eddie kept quoting was $50,000 per year. If this is the case, then I don’t see why Rescue Mission can’t take some of that revenue (they already have money reserved for six bins in the Broome County area, plus covers that cost $1500 each for those 6 bins plus the two we could potentially fund) and just put it back into buying a couple more bins.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have so much to say about the process and where we are right now, but I’m just looking forward to having the same kind of discussion with the class this coming Thursday and Tuesday that I had with my group this past Monday. It’s time for us all to collaborate and truly understand where the supporters and opponents of funding each organization are coming from.
Sorry for the double comment. My post wouldn't fit in one comment.
DeleteThanks for your post, Sarah. I know that you were disappointed that Family Planning was eliminated almost instantly in our group. If I had known at the middle of the semester that I would be one of the people saying not to fund them, I would have been totally shocked and disappointed. Starting out, they were my favorite organization, and STAT was actually one of my least favorites. After I went on my site visit and met the people there, and learned about last year's grant, I was even more enthusiastic about funding them. However, by the time the Family Planning group presented I was definitely less sure of the organization and their needs.
ReplyDeleteI think this reversal in my opinion has a lot to do with learning about the importance of core values rather than 'core interests.' I think before I had really been focusing on the social issues that are important to me - the first being family planning and the second being early childhood education. Because Family Planning was a pro-choice organization they automatically gained points in my favor. I think on an almost subconscious level I tried to see the building repairs they requested as more important than they seem now, so that I would have an excuse for recommending them. If another type of organization had asked for help with building repairs I probably would've given them much less attention.
As the semester went on the idea of core values was emphasized again and again. I think when we're dealing this many people, finding core values is the best way to agree, because we might not agree on core issues. For example, I know that Rachel really cares about helping developmentally challenged people, but this has never been an interest of mine and honestly it's still not really an interest of mine, although maybe it will be someday. However, we can find common ground on more vague terms. As Hannah S. noted in Mike's blog post, our class agreed on the values of "sustainability, education, and empowerment" almost unanimously. In our group, the organization's need for the grant also became a core value which led us to eliminate the Rescue Mission and Family Planning. However, even this core value might not be important to other groups. Like Amanda, I'm really looking forward to our upcoming discussions.
Even though core values have been more important than core issues in our decision making process, that doesn't mean that core issues shouldn't play a role in our future philanthropic endeavors as individuals. My belief in family planning and early childhood education is an important part of who I am and my future philanthropy will probably reflect that.
Great post, Sarah! In regards to Family Planning, I feel the same way as Bethany. In the beginning, I was a big supporter of Family Planning. I liked what they did and I liked that they provided a needed service to an area that did not have such access to those services. I also thought they were a good candidate for our grant because of the situation they were in with the counties where they had a hard time receiving funding. However, after learning more about them, I decided it would be best for us to grant our money elsewhere. I did not like that they were only open one day a week and I felt that the fact that the facility fell into disrepair was due to their negligence. As for feeling deflated, I know exactly what you mean. It is tough to feel so strongly about your organization to be met with resistance.
ReplyDeleteResponding to your questions, I have mixed feelings about the process we’ve gone through. I have learned a lot of great tips and other things that will help me assess organizations in the future. I have also genuinely enjoyed coming to class every day to talk with everyone and learn about philanthropy in general. However, I was disappointed with the amount of time we had to make our decision, which leads to your next question. Like many of us have said, we just simply did not have enough time to narrow down our decision from the 60 applicants. I felt that whenever we had to make a big decision in the process, we only had a week or so, which I never felt was sufficient. Although we were often pressed for time, I think it taught us how to make the best of the short time we had. I enjoyed all aspects of the process and I think that we are very well prepared to make our final decision. I am looking forward to our discussions the next two classes. I am very confident in all of us that we will make our grant as effective as possible!
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to your feeling of being deflated. Often I have mixed emotions because I feel passionate and care about the process that the class is going through, but also feel drained from conversations that sometimes seem endless and go in circles. So what is the balance between achieving a complete and equal assessment of 60 organizations and this feeling of being drained and exhausted.
Furthermore, I completely agree with your point about being confined to our site visit groups. Obviously, like you mentioned, there are clear reason why we could each only visit one place. However, inevitably it has placed us all into the position of needing to always be the representatives for "our" organizations. Like you mentioned its not that you want others to "lose", but like your statement suggests, I feel like being a representatives to just one organization has made it in a sense a competition and fight to get "your" organization heard.
After all these weeks of strenuous research and debate, something that I have been thinking about lately that makes me feel a lot better about everything is actually just how grateful I am for having had this opportunity. The non-profit world is extremely difficult to get perfectly right, whether its from the organizing side or the donating side. And for most, it is I think very much a process of trial and error before you end up feeling truly satisfied with your results.
ReplyDeleteIn this class, we have no repercussions to fear. The money is not our own, our donations will have no drastically negative repercussions, and the mistakes made by the organizations themselves are not faults of our own. We have been given a sandbox to practice in, so that once we do go out into the real world and have personal consequences to face for our mistakes, we will at least have already had one safe experience to draw on. No matter how disappointed, for whatever reason, some of us might be with the outcomes, at least we gained an enormous amount of insight to help us reach results that make us more satisfied the next time around.