How to Give Away
$187,000 to Not-for-Profits (NFPs) in Westchester County
A Good Problem to Have!
I could not believe how well membership recruitment went this
year. We convinced 187 women to join (or
rejoin) Impact100 Westchester! Membership
is $1,000 per person. We pool ALL
the money together to make transformational grants to local charities.
Once membership recruitment closes we announce the grant
amounts to the NFP community. Last year,
our inaugural cycle, we had 132 members; we gave one Project Grant of $100,000
and three Operating Grants of
$10,660. All finalists received an
award. Our challenge this year, how to distribute $187,000 into Project and
Operating Grants? If we implemented last year’s strategy, too much money would
be awarded in operating grants when transformational grants are our focus.
What to do? Should we continue to give one Project Grant of
$100,000 or make two for a lesser amount? Do we need to stick with our signature award of
$100,000 for branding purposes? How much of an Operating Grant should we award to
the three finalists; those funds are disbursed with no strings attached.
On a cold day in December, the Executive Board convened in
my kitchen to debate the issue and discuss our options. We talked about it all
the time during the membership drive, but now it was decision time. Donna came
up with the perfect solution, let the members decide!
First we put several options to a vote by the Board of
Directors. 18 women had three options to
choose from. Then we put the Board’s
favorite two options to a membership vote.
145 women out of 187 voted. They
decided 60/40 to give two transformational Project Grants of $85,000 each and
two Operating Grants of $8,500 each to the finalists. We are DOUBLING THE IMPACT in 2015!
Anita, thank you for taking the time to visit our class and share your results with us! I think that your organization is great and is a wonderful way to give back to the community.
ReplyDeleteI think that giving circles are a great way to collaborate with others through philanthropy, and is very comparable to what we are doing in our philanthropy class. Though the money comes from different places, the process is very similar. Obviously Anita's giving circle is much larger than our philanthropy class, but the process is very similar: many people with different interests working together to make an impact with a large pool of money. Not only are the members of the giving circle able to make a much larger impact than what they could have done individually, but they are able to learn more about their communities and about the interests of other members of the giving circle.
My experiences in our philanthropy class have definitely influenced me towards wanting to find a giving circle of my own to join or support in the future. This class has taught me how to evaluate charities and find the best way to make an impact with the money that we have to donate. It is not only important to be philanthropic, but also to be an informed philanthropist. The process of deciding where and how to donate is just as important as the act of donation.
However, there is one thing that I would disagree with Anita's group on. I would stick to the nominal $100,000 grant! Since the group is named Impact 100, I think that it is important to stick to the founding principles and signature award of the organization. The rest of the money could be split up between a larger second place grant and then smaller operating grants, or multiple, larger operating grants.
Thank you again to Anita for taking the time to visit our class! It's so interesting to hear about giving circles because prior to being in the class I had no idea that they even existed, and I hadn't put much thought into how philanthropy may be a part of my adult life. Like Alec, I would really like to be in a giving circle myself someday, because it sounds like a great way to make a difference while forming connections with others.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the class, it seemed like $10,000 was really a lot of money to be giving away, but now that we're at the final stages of the process, and we have to divvy up the money, it doesn't seem like all that much. Our finalist organizations had modest requests; $2,000 here, $2,500 there, but this post has really made me wonder what they would even do with more than 40 times that amount. I think in today's society it's often easy to lose track of what money really means when we're talking about large amounts, because we're so used to hearing about millions and billions of dollars, but it remains somewhat obscure. Now that I've been in this class and I've begun to see what a difference even $2,000 could make, it puts larger amounts into perspective. I think it's great that your giving circle is able to make such an impact, it's really amazing!
Anita it was such a pleasure having you come to our class as an example of what philanthropic decisions we can make in the future. Many of us have had the problem of how we can apply what we learn in class when we leave. You have shown us that the skills that we have learned: cooperation, attention to detail, patience, and dedication, are all skills that can be used to make impactful decisions. However; you have also shown us that the struggles we've faced are also ones that will face again one day. But that is part of making informed decisions with the resources we have and also being respectful of those we've worked with. Your experience has showed us that if people are willing to make a change they will be able to do it! I also appreciate how you were aware of keeping your mission in mind and sticking with it in the end even if circumstances changed slightly. I think we have all learned a great deal from your experience! Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDelete