Back in December, my favorite thing about signing up for
this class was I get to make a difference. Back home I’d been so involved in my
community, and coming here as a freshman, I loved the idea of taking a class
that pushed me right back into the world of volunteering and charity and taught
me how to be a philanthropist. I loved how I would never be angry when we gave
away the money. In my mind, we’d all be personifications of the word fierce, debating for hours back and
forth on how to best save the world. In the end, the winners would rise out of
the clouds of dust, and we’d all smile, because we’d have fought well and made
a difference.
However, that’s not how my deliberations went. When we
presented finalists, my group didn’t fight for hours or debate with righteous
indignation; we sat in the Marketplace and picked names off the list that we
could all agree on. We used pretty
clipart and bullet points. Everyone made very nice presentations that I
couldn’t help but nod along to. Everything made a lot of sense, and I only
asked one question which got a pretty complete answer. So I started to think,
maybe we’re not gladiators. Maybe we won’t yell and scream and fight with
metaphorical fists. Maybe we’ll all just agree on how to give. The collective
decision-making process will be neat and organized, because we’ll all know it’s
for great causes.
Then it came time to vote. My change of heart said this
would be the easy part; the percentages would just line up, we’d have a list of
finalists, and we’d barge onward towards a decision. Instead, there was the
yelling and the screaming and the debating I was waiting for. Yet it wasn’t
over charities, it was over percentages and numbers. I heard fights over
whether we should need over 50% of us to like it, if we should hold another
vote to see how it could turn out, and whether or not someone’s absence creates
a confound. I had thought I’d be vying for my organizations to make it in. Instead,
we debated the difference between 5 and 6, which for the record, is not 1; it’s
52 and 48. Instead of fighting over who was playing the game, we fought over
the rules, and I don’t know which is worse.
Yet, I think I know why. It’s because we can’t get angry. All of these charities
do amazing work. They all serve the needs we presented on. They’re all composed
of people who just want to change the world we live in. I would never debate
against organizations like Mom’s House or OASIS, even if they’re not my top
choices. I can’t bash a good charity. But I can
bash the rules. We can detach ourselves from what we’re talking about by
debating the number of finalists we should pick, and the threshold they need
for it to be considered a good idea. Those debates don’t require bashing a
charity. Yet these debates don’t help the process. They just create gaps
between us where there should be agreement, because we already proved we could
decide effectively together. We’ll get angry because a group squeezed through
with 48%, when we should be happy that now we’ll see how these charities work and
make such a remarkable difference in the community.
I think we need to focus on what’s important, and that’s
making the best decision we can to help the best way we think we can. In my
opinion, all we can take away from this is that at the end of the day, someone
will get help. Some very deserving organizations will get some very large
checks. And despite all I got wrong about this class, I will get to make a
difference.
Rachel, this was a pretty cool post. I think that this class seems like the best opportunity ever when we think about it in theory, because for one of the first times in our education we are able to be active rather than passive, get real world experience, and make a difference. I would not say that the real thing is drastically different from what we imagined, but I think we all had pretty optimistic visions of the class.
ReplyDeleteEveryone was very eager to get started with the process, however once we did and were discouraged by something not going according to the plan we've made up for ourselves three or four months ago - we became passive, annoyed, and our values misbalanced. This is the scariest thing, because this is a crucial time in our selection process, and everyone needs to be taking an active part in it instead of giving up now. Even if organizations were not my first, second, or third choices, it does not mean that my vote or opinion does not count.
I am guilty of some of the absurd thoughts or considerations you mentioned, and even somewhat of a passivity since losing my top finalist choices. Though during the presentations from the last class, I really felt more encouraged. I think the speakers who come from each of the organizations to speak to US, to have US ask them questions, and evaluate them is super encouraging and refreshing. At this stage in our process we are returning to our roots that really show that we are making a difference for someone, and it is important to not get lazy with that power or forget about it.
We must evaluate each of the organizations equally. I know I am completely unbiased since my top choices did not make it to the final round, which I think makes me feel more level headed in making my decision rather than manic state I was in while I was proposing my choices or when we were voting.
Everyone should focus on the impact and good each of these organizations does, and take advantage of personal opinions when in possession of an opportunity to have his or her voice heard out.
Hey Rachel!
ReplyDeleteUntil reading your post, I thought I was alone in noticing that the most difficult decision for us was how many organizations would be considered as finalists. I was shocked that when we voted, and revoted, how many people were verbally in haste regarding 5 as the number of finalists. You did make a lot of sense though, when saying that there are very few parts of this process that you can verbally disagree with.
I am in a different situation then Sofia, as 4 of my 5 finalists did make the finals; however, I think that it puts me in a more defensive position. I love the organizations that were chosen, so saying that at least two of them cannot receive the money is going to be really difficult. That portion of the process is going to be the hardest for this class, at least in my opinion. As you said, it is nearly impossible to bash these organizations, but it is possible to logically fight for why an organization doesn't need the funds they wish to be allocated. I'm excited for that part of the process, but worried as well because how can you defend an organization's needs of that of another? I guess we will find out!
Great post, Rachel! I am with you on how I felt when I signed up for this class. I was very excited to make a difference but I thought choosing our finalists would be the hardest part. Like you, I expected a lot of debate. After things went the way they did, I feel like I would have liked another class to debate and choose. I feel like everything was rushed and that some organizations did not get the time they deserved. I think I would have liked for us to review each organization individually. For example, each of our final 16 would have had a review of their application (their mission, what they wanted to do with the money, etc.) and then a few minutes for debate for each one. While I know this would have taken much longer that our way, I think this way would have been more effective. I’m not saying that I think our final five would have been radically different, but I think this would have made a large difference.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that you mentioned that I agree with is how confused you were about how much debate there was over the criteria in which we chose our finalists. When we had the vote for how many finalists we would choose, I chose 6. After we picked and it was so close, I realized that I should have chosen 7. My reasoning for this is that I thought the whole point of this process was to learn as much as we could about local organizations so we could make an effective decision. I was shocked when we decided to only bring in 5 finalists. I feel like a majority of us were satisfied with 5 because “it would make our final decision easier”. However, I feel like it would have been best for us to pick the most we could so that we had more to choose from. I was hoping to learn more about more organizations than we have now. There is a good chance that someone we didn’t pick could have gotten our money. There is a chance that someone we didn’t choose could have become my favorite organization. However, I am happy with our finalists and I think that they are all deserving of our grant. I just wish that we gave more organizations the chance to tell us more about them.
Hey Rachel,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I realized what I missed on Thursday. Part of me was actually glad I wasn't going to be in class that day before we began our presentations. Prior to the presentations all of us were very aggressive and opinionated. It was very frustrating at times when we were categorizing what really is an effective charity or nonprofit. In my mind, I felt like people were too focused on the numbers and forgot about the work. And like you said, once the presentations happened, we were all very open to the work that was being done. Part of me was shocked that it went so smoothly during the Q&A session after each presentation. I was also surprised how easily the groups worked together to create a small list of groups they wanted to support. While keeping this in mind I followed your train of thought to think that voting would have been easy. And after being away that weekend, I realized that the problems you outlined in the post was something that is something we all have to confront when making informed decisions. At the UN, I was in charge of helping nearly 200 kids to gather their solutions to world problems and I had to pick apart those ideas and help kids choose the most effective resolutions that adheres to country policies. This seems very different, but it was a similar process. Every solution is valid in the way that they are all addressing an issue. However; some of us are put in the position to understand what is the most effective solution. Unfortunately it is not a unilateral decision. People have to work together and take in account all the numbers, opinions, solutions to make the best decision. And to make these decision, we usually are given guidelines, these guidelines, however, are arbitrary. I can almost imagine what happened in class. And given my imagination and knowledge of the people in our class, I feel like guidelines should be decided upon without debate for everyone at the very beginning of the process. That way we know what to expect as difficult calls like the one you pointed out happen. On a different note though, we were successful as a class in choosing great organizations. In the UN, out of 13 resolutions not even one passed based on how groups interacted. I find any organization that made the cut is something that is a victory for all of us. We should look past what has happened and continue to be critical thinkers and budding philanthropists that care about the impact we make. Any group that gets our attention in end should be recognized as a group that we have all tirelessly debated about and truly believe is deserving of our money.
I can agree with much what you are feeling and seeing. What I was expecting from this class has also differed greatly from what I was expecting. In the beginning of the semester when we battled over the difference between the meaning of philanthropy and charity. In some sense, I think all of out fighting and arguing has made it easier for us to understand each others view points and what we as a class wants.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that we haven't even come close to the hard part of this decision making process. What we started with was a list of 55 organizations, all had legitimate requests and wanted to do amazing things for people in their community. However, we were able to choose the organizations that combated the type of problems that we have been discussing since the beginning of the semester. Now that we have a list of five amazing organizations that are all doing something great for this community, I'm sure the debating and the arguing will begin again. Each of us will gravitate towards a specific organization or two, but in the end no matter what we will make a difference.
However, the numbers do make a difference. The amount of finalists we chose has made a difference in the way we in the class will proceed for the rest of the semester.