Well, it certainly feels good to finally have a decision made! We've learned so much this semester about how nonprofits function, who they target and how effective they are. We have had many long debates in class but it gives us a taste of the real world and how grant makers have to make difficult decisions like we did today. I feel like a lot of our emotions got in the way of our discussions today as we each tried to defend our favorite organization but what we need to realize is that we are philanthropists, we made an educated decision and we are helping the community around us! It will definitely bring me joy when I inform FEN that they will receive part of our grant and it satisfies me that what we did is such a good thing. All this knowledge that we have gained from this class will stay with us, as donation opportunities will arise in the future we will have an idea how to benefit the cause in the best way possible.
We have learned so much information from the different resources that were available to us throughout the semester, from the different books we had to read to the informative speakers that came to class. The best part of our learning is that it was hands-on in a sense, we actually get to give away money! Professor Campbell did an outstanding job making sure we stayed on track by "constraining our emotion by reason," any assessment we came to, he always had a question that forced us to think about things in a different, realistic way in order to expand our horizons. I think, that, in part, contributed to how lengthy our debates got today, because we were trying to keep everything in mind, from our issue area to how effective organizations are. I think that our class discussions were always interesting as we were able to bring information from outside sources into play and talk about nonprofits from all different angles!
I think next Tuesday we will really see how much we had truly gotten involved with our community!
Cassie, I definitely agree that we let our emotions get in the way of our discussion, no matter how hard we tried not to. I know I got very emotionally attached to Kopernik, but I guess that worked out alright. I think the biggest thing that we need to take from this is not to take anything personally during a professional discussion. I thought that a lot of people, especially when discussing FEN, Boys and Girls and Kopernik, took statements about the organization like a personal attack. Many times I would look around and see a few offended faces, but the discussion was not against personal beliefs, but rather best utilization of funds.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I thought that the discussion went a LOT better than I expected. I hadn't thought that it would be completely finished before the end of class, let alone have time to vote for a Tweet of the Week. I also thought that even though their was a good amount of emotion and controversy, I thought that it was a productive conversation that was very different than one we may have had at the start of the semester. We have definitely made huge amounts of progress and I am so proud of where we have gotten to. I think that we made a great decision with our money and I think almost everyone walked out with some level of satisfaction with the decision.
Cassie and Sam,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading both your posts, but I guess I saw what was happening in class a little differently than the two of you did. I think it's important we focus on the idea that philanthropy is "emotion constrained by reason." I think that this line is particularly important to keep in mind when thinking about what happened in our class's discussion. That being said, I don't think that our emotions got the better of us. On the country, I believe that our emotion definitely drove our decisions. I believe that these emotions were constructive, and allowed us to make decisions in a faster manner than we would have, had we approached the process with no emotions.
From my vantage point in the back of the class, I was able to observe, and participate in, the class's discussion while not feeling the "emotional battle." I think that there were times when people became emotional over certain organizations or decisions, but overall, I do think that our decision was productive. I think that a final point to make is that we aren't just "giving away" money. We are giving it, in the forms of targeted grants, to organizations and projects who are going to use the money to make a true difference.
Cassie, I completely agree with your thoughts about how we learned so much throughout the semester about philanthropy. Before, taking this class I was the generic donor, not knowing the impacts that my money would have on the actual outcome. Through the various texts and lessons in class, my emotion has definitely become constrained by reason. During our class discussion, there were some hectic moments when my emotion did get to the best of me. However, I do believe that our class decision was ultimately an intelligent decision that would have the most impact within the community.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there were times that people were feeling like they were being attacked, I think that such a discussion is a good sign, as it displays that people are fervent about their beliefs and have values that they would ultimately defend. Additionally, I am curious to see how the awards ceremony turns out and am excited on the impact that our grant will have on these organizations and the community overall.
Although I didn't say much, I was getting really nervous and let my emotions get the better of me when we were discussing Kopernik. I was certain that it was going to be voted as the least favorite when B+G, FEN, and K were put against each other. But I don't think that emotions led us to make bad decisions; I think we tried to have a meaningful impact on several organizations, each with a different focus and target population. I'd like to be able to go back to a few of these places next semester and see what kind of impact we've had. For example, some of us can take a trip to FEN to see kids having fun with the sensory table or to Kopernik to see kids having a good time using the telescope. I'll even have a car next year to make the trip easier so I'll let some of you know and we can go spend a night at Kopernik!
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