When I was faced with the fact that none of the
organizations that I recommended became finalists, I definitely felt
discouraged. I thought I had great reasons why these organizations qualified
for finalist spots, such as their outreach, impact, and urgency. I knew I still
needed to be a functional part of the selection process and the class, so I
chose a finalist organization with an open spot for the site visits and
presentation and told myself to just pull through and give it my 100%.
I cannot emphasize enough how impressed I ended up being
with Mom’s House. I had missed the class presentation the organization had
given, so I was learning about their work for the first time during our visit
there, other than for reading the information from their website.
The organization is completely free of reliance on
government funding. I thought this was one of their strengths as well as
definitely obstacles. This definitely allows them to be free of certain
obligations, however fundraising is a challenge and the fact that they are able
to do without government support is very impressive.
The program is effectively serving 30 children per year on
average, even though they have a capacity of 40, however a lack of funding to
afford enough staff to provide for 10 extra children.
I understand that getting such an idea started and developed
with no fault is nearly impossible, which is why I admire the fact that Mom’s
House is finally trying to obtain a set curriculum for their preschool class.
They have always had teachers of great expertise teaching that age group,
however all of the lessons were somewhat improvised based on the students’
needs and constant change within Mom’s House. Their primary goal is to provide
help, but now they are finally at the stage of the program’s evolution where
more attention is able to get paid towards having a consistent and concrete
outline for teaching the kids and propelling their development.
The board model that Mom’s House has in place is also a very
effective one. Because all of the members of the directorial board are local
and diverse in their backgrounds Mom’s House is able to widen their horizons in
terms of fundraising and community support. There are business owners, retired
professionals, and religious leaders among the members, which allows for an
outreach to a greater number of community members in telling them about Mom’s
House and having their help in funding the project. The organization is able to
have a lot of fundraising done with the help of local businesses through giving
away a day’s proceeds or sales of some sort.
I am very happy to have learned a lot about this organization,
and to be able to share it with the class because I truly believe in this organization’s
success and efficient use of the funds there are asking the class for.
Nice post, Sofia! I really enjoyed learning more about Mom's House through the in-class presentation and your post and I can't wait to learn even more from your presentation this week. I, too, have been very impressed with Mom's House and I honestly find the least issues with their request of all the finalist organizations. I know this class has funded Mom's House in the past, but I continue to believe that they are a great and effective organization. I know their location has come a long way, especially since the flooding in 2011, and I think that their organization has been able to grow as well. I really enjoyed the information you provided about the organization's board, as I think that is extremely important when looking at the value of a nonprofit. I think that Mom's House is a very effective organization overall and I think they want to do something tangible and commendable with the grant money. More than any of the finalists, I feel that their request is for something that they actually, truly need and that a grant from us would help their students and families out tremendously. I can't wait to learn more about all of the finalists this week, but I completely agree with your initial assessment of Mom's House.
ReplyDeleteHi Sofia, thanks for such an informative post! While I’m sorry to hear that none of your choices of nonprofits made it to the finalist round, I think your positive approach and decision to keep an open mind enabled you to ensure that this is still an enriching experience for you.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your objectivity. In your post you addressed not only the strengths of Mom’s House, but also the areas you would like to see improvement. I think it is really important that we remember that this is not a competition between the class to see who represented the winning group, but rather this is a learning experience. Each organization does have both strengths and weaknesses and if we are selective in providing feedback to the class, it will only create unnecessary bias to this process. Just as we want transparency from the organizations, transparency among the class is also critical and disclosure is key.
That being said, it was also great to hear what you thought about Mom’s House after the site visit. This more subjective approach helps us see other points of views and allows us to think of other ways to interpret the same information. For example, while each of us may have different ideas on what makes a successful Board of Directors, you interpreted the facts to create your opinion. By going beyond just the basic “Mom’s House has an effective Board of Directors,” you gave us an opportunity to interpret the information you received to form our own opinion.
As Bethany referenced, unfortunately Mom’s House did suffer from substantial damage after the flooding in 2011. I found a video from one of the Philanthropy classes before us, Alexandria Hall’s class actually, that addressed the need of this organization after the flood. (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvZgzC_yA3w to watch it). I should mention that it is hard to watch this video, as the employees describe and show how heartbroken they were after the flood. I am so happy that they made a significant recovery since then, instead of just giving up. Education is critical, and I am glad they make the difference for not just one, but at least two family members each day.