Students4Giving has been, by far, the highlight of my
college career! Not only did I learn so
much from our kind and knowledgeable instructor, Cynthia Killingsworth, I also
learned from every one of my fellow students. I think that was the biggest
surprise for me. Many of my classmates were well versed with the non-profit
sector; whether from volunteering for an organization, starting and managing a
non-profit, or being on the receiving end of charity. Their unique perspectives and observations
were a text-book unto themselves! I am thankful that they shared their
knowledge and personal experiences with the class.
Another aspect of this class that surprised me was that we could
conduct site visits. It was also the most fulfilling and insightful moment for
me in the class. I have volunteered for non-profits before, but to look at one
through the eyes of a donor was a new experience. I found that it was difficult
to stay objective during the site-visit, especially because I was seeing how
happy the children at Community Transitional School were. During the site
visit, the Development Director Juli Osa, told us about a little girl whose
family had moved 47 times during the school year. The girl had the drive and
the responsibility to contact the school and give them her location through
every move, so that the school’s bus could pick her up. Juli said that one of the houses the girl’s
family stayed in didn’t have a phone, so the girl told CTS that if she didn’t
call, that’s where she’d be. I will remind myself of that girl whenever I’m
feeling overwhelmed and ready to give up. That story will stay with me forever.
I plan to work for a non-profit, or in the philanthropic
department of a for-profit company, and the most important lesson I have
learned from this class, is how difficult but important it is to keep one’s
objectivity while researching an organization to donate to. Whether I will be
on the receiving end or the giving end of a donation, I need to keep my
objectivity. Thank you Josiah (a fellow classmate) for that lesson! I’ll work at not being personally hurt if a donor decides against
giving to the organization I’m involved with, and I’ll work at not letting my
heart-strings pull me in a direction if I’m the donor. Though there is an element of instinct,
emotion and passion that shouldn’t be discounted when donating.
And lastly, the book that was required reading in this
class, Social Entrepreneurship, by
David Bornstein and Susan Davis really inspired me. The new ideas of combining
for-profit business strategies with non-profit management, like venture
philanthropy, make so much sense to me. When a donor can help new non-profits
with not only multi-year grants, but with management consulting, business planning,
networking, lobbying, marketing, and how to measure results, it creates a much
better return on investment than simply giving a grant and restricting it to
specific uses. This class was an example of that kind of thinking. Doris Buffet
could have simply given her money to a non-profit, but by creating the Learning
By Giving foundation, the rewards are multi-dimensional.
And the way in which these two authors described the
characteristics necessary for an entrepreneur, the “curious combination of
sensitivity and bullheadedness”, and the motivation that a social entrepreneur must
have to overcome a parade of obstacles and setbacks, gave me an idea of the
type of organization and leader that I want to work for. I’m not sure if I can
be that person, but I feel that I can certainly support someone like that and
be an “intrapreneurial” part of a social change machine.
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