What Did These Students Do With $50K?
Courtesy of a $50,000 grant from the Once Upon a Time Foundation and their initiative called The Philanthropy Lab, Mays Business School embarked on an adventure that transformed the lives of many students while deeply impacting local community issues. Freshman Mallory Smith ’19 said, “I don’t want this class to be the end, but I want it to be just the beginning of a lifetime of giving and learning.” This diverse group of students challenged each other, themselves, and myself as we attempted to navigate the nebulous topic of philanthropy. By the end of the course, students were to strategically give away the entire $50,000 to local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. and they accomplished this with impeccable maturity and determination. These decisions did not come easy or without a significant amount of work and due diligence.
The student board used their mission statement; “We seek to empower Brazos Valley nonprofits to advance positive and sustainable development through strategic giving” to guide their decision making. In addition, they applied their learning by conducting interviews with key organizational staff and initiating site visits to the nonprofit organizations. Finally, the student board wrote and compiled full grant proposals, executive summaries and relevant financial data for each of the 10 finalists in order to discuss and deliberate the best use of these funds.
Our students took this challenge to heart and were able to strategically discuss the merits, challenges and concerns of every single proposal. Along the way, personal philanthropic ideals, values, and motivations were challenged, but a collaborative environment pervaded the inner workings of the class. According to graduating senior Taylor Mehling ’16, “We created a culture of collaboration, where every student genuinely wished to achieve the best solution. People laid aside their egos and spoke transparently about what they had learned through the due diligence process.”
Continue reading on Mays Impacts.
This article by Kyle Gammenthaler originally appeared in Mays Impacts.
