Upon finding out that I won tweet
of the week again, I was REALLY enthused to give the money locally. However, as
I went back through all of the applications again and considered everything we
have heard, I found myself unable to make a decision. At that point, I started
looking through other organizations outside of Broome County, but I couldn’t
shake the feeling that at this point in the semester, after seeing all of the
need in the area, that I should be donating locally. This went on for about a week consistently, and it took me ages to narrow things down. Eventually, I followed my gut and became
torn between the Soup and Sandwich Program, which would be impacted the most by
$48, and the Boys and Girls Club, which I have become a big fan of throughout
the course of the semester. Ultimately, I decided to give to the Boys and Girls
Club.
Throughout this semester there has
often been dispute over whether giving a little bit of money to a larger
organization is helpful, but I believe that every bit counts. I decided that
since I truly believe in the success and mission of the Boys and Girls Club, I
would like to contribute to them in any way possible, rather than giving
somewhere else simply because the money may be a larger portion of their annual
expenses. I know that $48 might not be a groundbreaking sum for the Club, but I
truly feel assured that this money will be used towards making a positive impact
upon the youth in Binghamton, which is exactly the kind of cause I want to
support.
I’m sure everyone in the class
knows a lot about the Boys and Girls Club at this point, but take a look at
their website (http://boysandgirlsclubsbinghamton.org/) if you’re interested in
learning more about why I felt compelled to support their mission.
Just as a side note, I found it interesting that this ended up being the hardest tweet of the week decision that I have made. The first time I excitedly jumped right into giving to The Hunger Project because we had just read about them. The second time I knew I wanted to give through Jolkona, but I took a much longer time trying to choose which project would have the greatest impact. This time, however, I found myself overwhelmed with information and ideas. I guess it just goes to show that informed giving is certainly a much more difficult task, but in the long run it's truly worth it to know your money will be doing the most good possible.
In regards to the fact that you gave to the Boys and Girls Club for the tweet of the week, I think is a decent idea. I am wondering as to why your two organizations were narrowed down to the Soup and Sandwich and the BGC being that these are two orgs that we are currently working with (just out of curiosity).
ReplyDeleteHowever I can see why it was your hardest decision to make being that we have expanded our knowledge on effective giving, so I believe it is completely understandable as to why you were having that struggle. Also, being that our knowledge has grown so much I know that it will also be a challenge to decide how we should allocate our grant money... and I believe this is a good sign that we are becoming well informed givers.
Hi Jelissa! My rationale for narrowing it down to these two organizations was that I really supported the mission of the Boys and Girls Club, but $50 could go a longer way in the Soup and Sandwich Program. I think Soup and Sandwich also worked its way in there because Debbie had just spoken to our class right before I won tweet of the week, and we were all really enthused about her organization after that initial meeting!
DeleteHi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you about the need to donate locally. When our group was trying to decide our organization assessment last night, I was initially hesitant about donating to the Boys & Girls Club, but with your input you managed to change my opinion. My main hesitation was how I didn't want the community thinking that hey, those BU kids... they only like donating to the Boys & Girls Club. However, that was my only hesitation, and I could not justify not awarding them the grant. As a plus, I personally love baseball. I cannot imagine growing up without a field to play on and watch games.
I took your advice and headed over to boysandgirlsclubsbinghamton.org, so I could get a better picture of what this organization is all about. I went to the news section, where I found out that they have been awarded grant after grant after grant. For example, they recently received a grant of $7500 from the M&T Charitable Foundation and a $1,000 grant from the Community Foundation for South Central new York to go towards their 15-passenger van (which we helped fund!) Is their success a reason not to fund them? Actually, I think their success gives us a better reason to fund them. Hear me out. They are well known throughout the community, and they have a national network of other Boys & Girls Clubs. They have taken the initiative to apply for these grants, and those grantees must have seen something special in this organization to fund them. We can have faith that the baseball field will be completed and that it will be around for years to come.
Also, I have a quick question for you: was this the first time you donated locally with your tweet of the week money? I remember in the past that you and others have donated to countries around the world. I find it interesting that you chose now to donate that money to our community instead. Whether that's because we've been talking about Binghamton more recently, or your own initiative I don't know. Great post, and I hope that the class decides to award the Boys & Girls Club of Binghamton a significant portion of our grant money.
Hey Gabi!
DeleteThis is the first time I donated locally, but I think that was less due to a desire to send the money outside of the community, and more due to what was being focused on in our class. Like I mentioned in the post, the other donations stemmed primarily from what was being discussed in class at the time. When I had those donations to make, I felt that I knew more about international issues and worthy organizations than I did about who was really doing a great job locally. That's part of the reason why I really appreciated the opportunity to give a third donation. At that point I felt informed enough about global and local issues to really consider both styles of donation completely. Perhaps my decision to go local in the end ultimately stemmed from the fact that we had been discussing local organizations for the past few weeks, but either way I feel comfortable knowing that the tweet of the week money has been dispersed in a variety of ways!