Running for Philanthropy

This week I signed up for my first 5K, The Color Run, with 3 of my friends. I was so excited; I have always wanted to sign up for something like this and I felt motivated to actually go to the gym instead of just talking about it. Besides getting me off of the couch, this run (just like many others) is done to fund raise for a cause. In this case, The Color Run supports Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation, and just by registering to run you send a quick donation. I've always known that runs such as 5K’s and marathons usually raise money for a specific foundation or issue area. I've just never really thought that much into it before, so I decided to look farther into running and donating. I wasn't sure if running for philanthropy would mean that I was a philanthropist. Similar to the girl who sold her hair to locks of love and the woman who made pies for a bake sale, I didn't think it was a contribution worthy of the title.

I came across this organization, Back On My Feet, and it was unlike anything that I have read about before. Back On My Feet started out as a running club for the homeless. However, it is much more than just a running club in that it works to empower homeless people and start them back on a path to independence. After a general commitment to running and the beginnings of confidence bloom, the organization helps these individuals with financial literacy, skill-building classes, and finding work or a home.

We have spoken a few times about giving people the power to support themselves and get on their feet, rather than handing them some groceries. What we don’t talk about is the self-esteem and determination needed to make these goals possible after the first step. This organization takes an approach not usually seen; they work on building up individual character from the inside. They present the homeless with goals and challenges that are feasible to them: run one mile, run 5 miles, come to the running club 3 times a week etc. Setting tangible goals and allowing these people to cross a finish line, gives them the motivation and encouragement that is hard to find elsewhere. I am truly inspired by the idea. I think it is amazing that they are working to build up the self-confidence of homeless individuals to help them feel more empowered to make change in their lives. Without these self-perceptions, I think that once they stopped running, they would probably fall back into a rut. They need to believe they can do it, and this club does that… through running and so much more.

Does running for a cause make me a philanthropist? Maybe. Does running with the homeless and providing them an opportunity to redefine themselves make you a philanthropist? I would say, definitely. What do you think?

http://www.backonmyfeet.org/

Can People Learn to Give?

When I was in high school, we had many clubs that students joined where they were required to volunteer at local charity organizations as well as a required class that had a volunteering assignment.  Now, similar to Hannah at the start of The Power of Half, many kids did not understand the importance of their actions when they were volunteering for school.  Most students joined the clubs because they thought it would look good on their college applications or so they could join our school's honor society, not because they wanted to help others in the community.

With this in mind, I began to wonder, how we can show others the importance of giving and how meaningful it can be?  Since I am going to be a teacher when I graduate the first place I looked to was our education and the kids that are enrolled there. Could content area teachers have an impact on their students willingness to give to the community?

I did a quick Google search and found an interesting website, learningtogive.org/, which contains lots of information for teachers, such as lesson plans and units with philanthropic objectives. These were very interesting since they had connections for science, social studies and English teachers to use the classroom and I had never considered the prospect of incorporating philanthropy discussions into the curriculum.  The lessons on Learning to Give are very empowering for the students; their purpose is to teach students that everyone has the power to change the world and give back to their community.

So, what do you think is the primary reason that people do not to give to charity?  Is it that they do not want to share the possessions that they have worked so hard to get?  Or is simpler than that: some people do not know that their actions can have an impact on the world and that they can make a difference?

Numbers Don’t Lie

            While we decide as a class which Non-Profits to allocate the $10,000 I know we all want to give it to an organization that would use the money most effectively. However it may be difficult to fully access their efficiency. Author Arrillaga-Andreessen addressed this in her book Giving 2.0: Transforming your giving and our world, by saying “Even in the foundation sector, only a few institutions have sufficient staff and infrastructure to conduct formal evaluations.” Even though we may not be able to track the full effectiveness of Non-Profit organizations that does not mean that they are not making a difference.

            The past 2 years I have been an active participant in the Uplifting Through Unity Responsibility and Nurturing (U-TURN) program, here at Binghamton University. It’s a program that takes students to a maximum-security juvenile detention center to do counseling and mentoring with young inmates. It is an attempt to offer advice and guidance to young males so that they do not enter the prison system again. For security purposes, we are not allowed to keep in contact with members of the juvenile detention center once they leave. As a result, we also do not keep statistics of how the gentlemen perform upon their release. Because of that I have always wondered if I even made a difference in the young men’s lives or was I just wasting my time.

            However one of the most rewarding moments in my life came when I ran into one of the U-TURN members, Randy, a local Binghamton resident. Couple weeks after Randy’s release I ran into him at Oakdale Mall and we spoke about his life now. He had a consistent job, he was taking care of his kids and he had started a GED program. He thanked the U-TURN program for the lessons he learned while we visited him at the facility. It was truly gratifying to hear that he was doing so well.

            I’ve always heard the quote “Numbers Don’t Lie.” Especially in this money hungry world but now, as we look at organizations to give a portion or the entire $10,000, I believe that we should not put so much emphasis on statistical effectiveness or value. For many Non-Profit organizations, their true impact is immeasurable.

Here's an article on the U-TURN program

Sporting Events For Charity

Who doesn’t love a little bit of friendly competition, especially if it is for a charity event? Reading the blog post “An Idea Remains an Idea Unless You Act Upon It” from charitysportevents.com has made me reflect on sporting events that are done for charity. The article talks about the founder of this website who wanted to find a more inclusive way to support a cause. They found that sporting events that are simple and include many people entice donors to open up their wallets. These sporting events are easy to organize and can help take a good idea to the next level by putting it into place.

Sporting events truly are the best way to raise money for a charity because the spirit of competition is always enough to bring people together. The fact is that people simply love winning, and will always give money knowing that they have a chance to go out and have fun and compete against others. Two years ago, two of my friends and myself started an annual ultimate frisbee tournament, where all the money and food donations went to the Dutchess Outreach, a local charity that helps out the poor in Dutchess County. The reasons we chose ultimate frisbee were that we loved the sport first of all. Second, it is competitive enough that people will enter out of the desire to win, but not too competitive so that people who were just looking to have a good time would enter as well. In the two years of the tournament, we have had 15 teams enter each year raising over $1500 in cash and food donations.

The participants in the tournament do not get a whole lot out of the tournament in terms of hardware and money, but what they do get is the pride of competing against others in a team sport while knowing that they are now part of the fight against poverty in their own communities. As for myself and my other two friends who organize these tournaments, we end up spending money and days trying to get the equipment, fields to play on, and the proper insurance. However, the motivational idea behind this makes all the hard work worth it when we hand over the cash and food to the Dutchess Outreach. This year, we plan to expand even more with donations and coverage of the event. The spirit of friendly competition combined with the goal of helping out people in our own community is what has made this charity sporting event a success, and I truly believe that these sporting events are the best way to raise money. 

"An Idea Remains an Idea Unless You Act upon It." Charity Sport Events. N.p., 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

Tweet of the Week, "Every Drop Counts"

A few days ago I was convinced that $44.00 was not much of a donation. Yes, it is a good amount of money if you need to buy a sweater or are going out to eat, but there was no way I could save the world with $44.00. Don’t get me wrong, I do not mean any offense to the class. There are only so many of us and many of us are living on small budgets. What I mean, is that with so many issues all over the world and so much that needs to be done, my contribution felt inadequate.  I had a hard time deciding what to do with the money, positive that there wasn’t much of a difference I could make with such a small sum.  There are people out there who donate hundreds and thousands of dollars to non-profits; surely they would laugh at my donation in comparison. I was honestly a little uncomfortable at the thought.

            When reading Giving 2.0, I became very interested in the Jolkona Foundation and decided to take a look into it. I was intrigued by the idea of small donations on an individual level towards specific progress around the world. It felt tangible and achievable, both things I was looking for when donating. On the Jolkona Foundation website, I really liked that they were targeting young donors. Within their mission statement, they said “by harnessing the power of technology to connect with global causes, we hope to empower young people with the knowledge that you don’t have to wait to be a philanthropist.” It made me feel that my small donation could make a larger difference than I had dreamed. Our generation is very technology-driven and this foundation recognizes that. They have combined philanthropy with a medium that we are all more than familiar with so that we are more able to donate and comfortable doing so.

            As I flipped through page after page of projects, I was pretty much hooked. The website told me exactly what my money would be going to and the clarity of it made it that much more appealing. Instead of just handing over my check to a general cause, this told me that my money would be going to “a week’s worth of food for one family in Nicaragua” or “school books for 2 students”. It was much more gratifying because I could visualize the impact of my donation. Ultimately I decided that our class’s $44.00 will be going to provide education to girls in Liberia. We will be funding the school supplies for 4 girls for one year of schooling. I made this decision because the more I read, the more I was drawn to the projects that provided education. I read that this particular school program will be educating the girls about proper nutrition, disease transmission, and teaching them how to read and write. I hope that our donation will help empower these girls and assist them towards a brighter future.

           

                

Which needs should be met first?

          When reading Needs Assessment: Theoretical Considerations, I took particular notice of the differing perspectives held by theorists Maslow and Ponsioen with regard to meeting societal needs. On one hand, Maslow asserts that needs should be addressed in a specific order, with minimal consideration being placed on issues such as esteem, love, and self-actualization until physiological and safety needs are met. In contrast, Ponsioen presents the notion that it is important to provide for all realms of need, including physical, spiritual, social, and emotional, and a society should assure that no members fall below certain standards in any of these categories. While I see the value of both perspectives, I believe that Ponsioen presents a more effective theory by which to meet the needs of society.

            In my opinion, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is less effective than Ponsioen’s perspective because does not encourage building self-reliance among those in need. By Maslow’s method, someone in poverty could be given food on a daily basis, but never reach higher levels of need because they lack the knowledge, skills, or motivation to rise above. In contrast, Ponsioen’s theory promotes the development of well-rounded members of society. Instead of proposing that physiological needs are always the most important, Ponsioen’s perspective leaves room for each society to decide what relative order of importance is most effective given their circumstance. While the need that is most important to work on may be physiological in some cases, it is important for a society to realize that sometimes working on certain areas, which Maslow considered to be less important, will help to reduce some basic needs.

            This relationship between needs higher on Maslow’s hierarchy impacting basic needs is evident in the correlation between education and poverty. As demonstrated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people who obtain a high school diploma are 4.1% less likely to be unemployed than those who do not achieve that level of education. Furthermore, in Unemployment and Poverty, Mary Corcoran and Martha S. Hill provide evidence that there is a greater chance of poverty in households headed by someone who is unemployed at least part of the time. Therefore, these statistics suggest that if a society meets higher level needs, such as education, people are more likely to become self sufficient in meeting their own basic needs.

            Because Ponsioen’s perspective places a higher value on all areas as opposed to just the most fundamental physical needs, I believe it is the type of model that our class should follow when considering which nonprofits to support. So, are you convinced that Ponsioen’s model is more efficient, or do you believe that Maslow is correct in catering to the most basic needs first in all cases? If we are going to follow the notions set forth by Ponsioen, is there a point at which one can veer too far away from fundamental needs by satisfying needs in other categories? Would it perhaps be most effective to use some combination of the two theories when conducting a needs assessment?

Corcoran, Mary, and Martha S. Hill. "Unemployment and Poverty." Social Service Review Sept. 1980: 407-13. JSTOR. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

"Education Pays." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm>.

"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Learning Theories. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.learning-theories.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.html>.

Needs Assessment:  Theoretical Considerations, in Kettner, P., Moroney, R. & Martin, L. (1999), Designing and Managing Programs: An Effectiveness Based Approach, pp. 33-48.