As I’m sure many of you did, I took
as many notes as possible during our guests’ presentations last Tuesday to make
sure I had a large basis of comparison when each group gives a final, post-site
visit analysis of our six finalists. Each of the three presentations impressed
me for very different reasons and I’d like to spend this post exploring these
differences.
First I’d like to start with
Debbie. Oh, Debbie. Out of the three visits of the class, I took down the least
amount of notes from her presentation, only about half a page. What drew me to
her organization was not the metrics, however, but the passion. You could see
that she put her heart and soul into the Soup and Sandwich program and was so
excited to tell us about it from start to finish. While we have had a
conversation in the past about the value of data in evaluating these
organizations, I believe it is pretty undeniable that the soup and sandwich
program has a huge effect on the community. This should definitely be taken
into consideration when we have a chance to look at all six presentations next
week. Also, it’s very impressive that Debbie knew the price of the chairs and
tables down to the cent. While the
Soup and Sandwich program did not have many statistical facts to share with us,
we have many things to look out for on our site visit and a definite amount of
money that we know for certain will go a long way.
Family Enrichment Network is the
organization I will be visiting next week. In my opinion they were the most
prepared to speak to us. The presentation they arranged suited many of our
concerns about their organization. The metrics, charts, and graphs they had for
us were very informative and clearly outlined their area of need and required
donation. While we obviously won’t be able to meet their full budget (that, if
you remember, summed up to a little over a full $10,000 donation), I think we
should keep in mind paying for some of the items they require. One of the
concerns I believe many people would have with this organization is that their
budget is already close to ten million. However, we set out on this project to
make our money go the furthest in the community. Maybe they have such a high
budget because they are really good at making each dollar go as far as
possible. Then by allocating some of our money to FEN, we are making the
largest impact with that amount of money. This is going to be one of the major
things I look for when I visit one of their local sites next week.
Finally, there were many things I
liked about Hope Dispensary. Primarily I was impressed by their holistic
approach to meeting their need. They have taken into consideration everything
from the importance of their location in terms of accessibility to ensuring
collaboration with other local organizations that their patrons would benefit
from. Their emphasis on systemic change is an aspect of philanthropy that we
have spoken about extensively and it was very nice to know that that is part of
their philosophy. It seems that they have a great grasp on how to work with
their patrons and an effective strategy of gathering support from every
resource. I believe that those who will visit Hope Dispensary should focus on this
strategy and make sure that it is as good in practice as it has sounded thus
far in our evaluation.
These were the things about each
presentation that really impressed me, but what do you think the “devil’s
advocate” response to these presentations would be? We heard from three very
different organizations that cater to different areas of need with different
strategies and philosophies. Which were out of your donation comfort zone?
Also, what are some things that struck you in the presentations that you think
we should keep an eye out during our site visits next week? I am looking
forward to hearing from the other finalists and discussing all of our reactions
next week!
Hey Dylan,
ReplyDeleteI’d like to answer your “devil’s advocate” prompt, but also give some support to these organizations. Here are the pros and cons, as I see them.
Soup and Sandwich
Pro: They have a lot of passion, and our support could go a long way. At $50 a week for food, even if we just gave $2,000 we could fund almost the whole year. They also preserve dignity and promote community.
Con: As Caleigh said in her blog post, even though this program services the basic need of hunger, it is a band-aid fix and not a long-term approach.
FEN
Pro: They were well organized and researched. They also had a clear budget need.
Con: Their funding was going towards educational and developmental playground accessories. While this is a community need, it is not necessarily a fundamental one such as food or medicine.
Hope Dispensary
Pro: They addressed a fundamental issue both in the short-term and the long-term. As you said, they have an emphasis on systematic change. (When our group visits this week, we will be sure to confirm this, as you suggested).
Con: They were somewhat reluctant to tell us exactly where the money would go. While I have no problem with funding operating costs, I would like to see something showing that their budget still needs X amount of money. That way we would know how much they need, and what kind of impact we would make on their organization.
I think that now we have all had a feel for the people behind the organization. Debbie was charismatic, FEN was thorough, and Sister Perkins was professional. Now that we are moving into the site visits, I believe we should take these presentations as informative first impressions and go into the visits with open minds. This way we can keep what we have already learned in mind, but we are not biased even before we walk through the door.
Natalie, I agree with your comment about the Soup and Sandwich Program. I do not want our money to go towards a temporary solution, I want to have a lasting impact. On the other hand, even $500 will last a long time and help a lot of people who need to program. Some weeks, when CHOW has a lot of supplies the program does not spend any money on supplies. Yet on other weeks those people will be going hungry if CHOW does not have the ability to provide all the necessary food. Even though $500 will not be enough to provide the program with the chairs they want, it would provide them with food the people need.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite presenters were those from the Hope Dispensary. Although they did not have a PowerPoint like FEN or the outgoing personality of Debbie it was easy to see that they were both dedicated to their work and truly wanted to make an impact on the lives of those they aided.
Now I also still need some more clarification on issues brought up in the presentations. Although FEN was very prepared and had prices for all the items they requested I feel that they did not necessarily do an adequate amount of research. I would be interested in seeing how the prices of the items would change if they followed up on the Toys-R-Us suggestion. As for the Soup and Sandwich Program, at the moment they have only received one estimate on their tables and chairs. I would like to see another estimate to make sure that the price they have is a reasonable one.
For the Hope Dispensary I would like to know how much money they would like. It is hard to say "let's give them $1000" or "$3000" if they haven't given us any idea of what their program really needs. If this doesn't get answered, then I would choose to decide what to give the other programs first and give the left over money to the Hope Dispensary.
I am definitely interested in what the final groups have to say. Hopefully after tomorrow's presentations we will be able to start discussing how to break down the money.
Dylan, I completely agree with your sentiment that every presentation for each organization had their strengths. For the Soup and Sandwich Program, it was Debbie's immense passion and dedication to her volunteers and those she serves. For Hope Dispensary, it was the organization of their program and their ability to fit the needs of the community either through supplying medication or referring these people in need to other programs/organizations that would be able to fill the need. Finally for the Family Enrichment Network, it was their impressive data collection and knowledge of what our grant money would be funded toward. However, we have to assess what the class as a whole want to contribute toward. More specifically, what is the issue area that we want to address? Sure, the Soup and Sandwich Program may address a need for hunger, but it is a temporary solution that feeds only 60 people.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I would have to disagree with you Melissa, about FEN not doing an adequate amount of research before presenting for their cause. As it was stated in class, the equipment that they need needs to be durable and accessible to a large quantity of children. This criteria might not fit the equipment that Toys-R-Us provides because the company caters toward individuals. On a side note, it seems that we may be able to distribute and allocate our grant money toward more than one organization because each organization may be able to effectively use a portion of the $10,000 for equipment.
It will be interesting to see if our class wants to distribute our grant money to a variety of organizations or donate a large sum of money to a few organizations. When I made my site visit today to the Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton, Jocelyn, the staff member who gave us the tour, pointed out an important fact that even a small contribution to an ongoing project of theirs will incite other funders to donate to the same cause. We should keep this in mind as we look to other organizations to donate.
I think that we first need to decide primarily to what type of organization we want to donate to. We’ve already said that we want to donate to an organization where our money will have the most impact, but this is vague and open to interpretation. So let’s sort of divide the finalists into two categories of basic/survival need and life enrichment. At this point I would put Hope Dispensary, Soup and Sandwich Program, and SOS Shelter in the survival needs category and Kopernik, FEN, and Boys and Girls Club in enrichment. I would like to donate to both types, with picking ideally 3 organizations to donate to- two from one category and one from the other. I would also like to help out the responsible smaller organizations that are less likely to be receiving grants such as ours, because then we know that we are helping them in a major way.
ReplyDeleteDebbie was very persuasive because of her passion and because of the relatively small amount of money that would be necessary, but I would like to hear more from the people who visited on Saturday, because it seems like they are having second thoughts on donating to an organization that helps out once a week and is a “band-aid” organization instead of one that attacks the root of the problem. During her presentation though, I got a little bored honestly, whether it was because we had already listened to two groups and I was reaching the limit or because she hadn’t really elaborated more about stuff we hadn’t read about yet. I have some reservations before jumping in on this one.
Family Enrichment Network, aside from having issues with powerpoint skills, was very professional, but I wonder if they’ll be able to find funds more easily than the other finalists. In this case, I’d like to see what the other finalists have to say before making a personal judgment on this one.
Hope Dispensary, aside from being a little quiet, outlined and showed the process that their organization takes and gave us statistics that convincingly tell us that their program makes a difference. Some questions such as how often do people relapse I felt were a little irrelevant, as they have no control over who needs medicine at a certain time. I would feel confident donating some of the grant to them, but we’ll see how we all think about the finalists after the last ones have presented.
Ryan, I definitely agree that Debbie was extremely persuasive and that they are a band-aid solution, essentially, but I think the Soup and Sandwich is more of a quality of life kind of program. I think Debbie was realistic in saying that it is NOT an organization that is going to solve the problem, but rather an organization focused on promoting community, togetherness and a sense of normalcy and a persons hectic and stressful life.
ReplyDeleteNow that we've had some of the representatives come to class, I'm really seeing how difficult this decision is going to be. I think my biggest hang up is about the Soup and Sandwich Program. Debbie is obviously so passionate and so excited about what she's doing. I think it's a great program and it does what it sets out to do: provide people with a meal and some socialization. The issue is, it's just one meal a week. It's a band-aid over the bullet hole of nutritional deficits in Broome County. There's nothing about that program that really helps people really change their lives for the better. By contrast, FEN and Hope Dispensary both focus on systemic change. My initial reaction is to just give Debbie and her organization everything they need because they need so little, and because she's so awesome. However, when I think about the actual impact of the money, I have a much harder time convincing myself that the Soup and Sandwich Program is the best use of our resources.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I think I was most convinced by the mission and strategy of the Hope Dispensary. I'd like to hear a little more about exactly what their financial needs are from the group that goes on that site visit. That being said, I hear a lot of people being concerned that it's not going toward a single, specific project, and I take a little bit of issue with that. I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but I don't think we should be focused on getting to feel like we did THAT. We may not be able to point to a specific object that we bought for the Hope Dispensary, but our money would help an organization that alleviates a really dire need in the community.
By funding the Soup and Sandwich Program, we would help maintain a safe and healthy environment for community members of all ages.
ReplyDeletePersonally I was very taken back by the Family Enrichment Network because I think there are many other funding resources available for them. I know they said that there are many things that they cannot get At Toys R Us, but they have not even tried looking for support or funding from the corporation. If i were them, that would have been my first source of funding so that really concerns me. Ithink that they should reach out to corporations like that who have more money and more appropriate resources for what they are looking for.
I am not really sure how I feel about the Hope Dispensary. i think that a site visit will better allow me to evaluate the organization. I do like them, but their quiet, unenthused presentation left me unimpressed. However, i do think that they do a lot of good for the community and they are conscious of the communities needs.
I think we saw three extremely different presentations that really give us an idea as to what each organizations is like. As different as they all were, each of their passion came through extremely well. While I agree with your comment about the Soup and Sandwich program being a temporary fix, I also have come to realize that sometimes these bandaids are what people need in order to be able to preserve their pride and focus on getting on track with their lives.
ReplyDeleteWith the Family Enrichment Network, I was extremely impressed with the amount of the work and effort they put into this presentation. It left me with a sense of importance and that really stuck with me. However, as Sam said, they do have a lot of other resources available for them, and I do not think they reached their full research potential as far as getting these items as donations.
The Hope Dispensary's presentation was very informative but did leave a lot of questions as to where the money will go to. I will try and clear up these questions when I make the site visit on Wednesday.