Philanthropy is Greek, Right?

Many of you may be familiar with the Fraternity and Sorority scene here at Binghamton University. They are most famous for their drinking parties and hazing allegations. For example, there are facebook events every few weeks or so advertising for events such as “Yom Kipparty.” And for those of you who were not here last spring, all of Greek Life was temporarily shut down and unable to cross pledges because of hazing reports. Now I’m not saying that all of Greek Life fits this stereotype, but this is the traditional image that people associate frats with.

What people don’t realize however, is that most Fraternities and Sororities also have a sort of quota on the amount of philanthropic/charity events that they must participate in or organize. An example of this is the blood drive organized by Alpha Omega Epsilon (AOE) that my friend participated in last semester. There are other types of events as well, such as fundraisers and community helpers.

My questions are whether the frats can improve their image by showcasing their philanthropic efforts, or can they use their normal activities to further philanthropic goals? I don’t think that the stereotypes will be defeated unless the parties and hazing accusations stop, which will realistically never happen. This is regardless of all the good that they will do in order to improve their image. For the second question, what if a frat hosted a party and donated the money that they made from all the drunk partygoers to nonprofits, instead keeping it for profit? Could illegal activities for charity be a legitimate form of philanthropy? It’s certainly an interesting ethical situation, but I think it’s possible.

So, What Now?

Now that selections for finalists have been made, I was left wondering what other questions we could ask to narrow down our selection criteria.  For inspiration, I called my mom.  As a former government case supervisor for over ten years, and as Treasurer of the Friends of the Michigan Libraries, she, in her words, “knows a bit about getting money and giving money.”  After talking with her, I came up with the following questions to ask our six finalists:

·  Specificity/Proof of Cost: If not already stated, specifically, how would the group use the money?  And how can they prove what they say they need is what they actually need?  Many groups ask for more money than necessary because they don’t believe they’ll get the full amount; we also want to know some of the funds aren’t being used for, say, employee salary.  An exact break-down of costs, including price of the item(s) and cost of installation (if necessary), as well as receipts, price quotes, etc., are helpful in proving our money is being well-spent on what we intend it to be spent on.

·         Target Population, etc.: What is the group’s target population?  How many people do they serve?  And, if different, how many people will be directly affected?  Determining how many people will get use from our money, and the quality of that usage, should be an important factor in our decision-making process.  In addition, the organization needs to make clear the importance and relevance of their project to the community, and understanding what part of the community they work with will guide our efforts.

·         Employees versus Volunteers: Is the organization run by employees, volunteers, or a mix?  If there are volunteers, how many are there, and how often do they help?  If different than the number of volunteers, how many members of the organization are there?  An organization like the Kopernik Observatory might have far more members than volunteers, and the internal structure of a group is worth noting, especially if a few people are doing all the work to serve lots of others.

·         Long-term maintenance: If, like the SOS Shelter, the group plans to install equipment, how do they intend to maintain it?  If they have no such plans, they may return next year, asking for help with the very project we funded.  Planning for maintenance indicates the organization is looking to the future and will spend our money wisely.

·         Other revenue sources: In general, how does the group get most of its funds—fundraising, membership fees, grants, etc.?  Does the group do any fundraising at all? Specifically, is the group seeking other grants for the same project, or will our grant be the only money they receive for it?  This answer affects the next question, which is…

·         The What-If Scenario: Should we not give them the grant, how will the project be affected—will it be scrapped or put on hold, or will the organization seek and use other funds?  A group’s dependency upon our grant may play a large role in whether we decide to give them money—and if we do, how much. 

·         Time-span: Will our funds go towards a stand-alone project, or a more long-term endeavor?  Will the funds be spent all at once, or spread out over an amount of time?  Making sure a group has a well-organized plan for their project is important, and giving a definite timeframe will help us determine where the grant should go.

·         Recognition:  This last question isn’t incredibly important, but it is worth considering.  If a plaque is erected or credit given, will we be included?  Of course, it feels wonderful to be rewarded for giving money, but if our name appears on, say, a plaque, it could attract the attention of others who want to apply for our grant next year so we could expand our philanthropic endeavors.

What do you guys think?  Tell me in the comments what other questions you’d like to see on our list of new criteria!

To check out the Friends of Michigan Libraries grants: http://www.foml.org/grant.php

And their grant application for ideas and inspiration: http://www.foml.org/pdf/FOMLGrantApplicationJuly2010.pdf

Giving VINES a Second Look

While I am very happy with the organizations our class voted on as they all share a great cause, I wish we could give VINES a second look. I love VINES and its programs because the organization embodies innovative infrastructure. Their budget cost is within reasonable range: $109,255.91. This means that the $10,000.00 from our class would cover about 10% of their annual budget expense! According to the application sheet, the organization would invest the $10,000.00 on Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), an educational program that focuses on agricultural development. During our program assessment presentations, many of us focused on academic youth programs like KIPP that emphasize on math and reading, crucial skills to academic success. But VINES’ SYEP offers a different focus. The organization offers hands-on experience and engagement in the community. Not only does the program educate students about the environment, but more importantly, sets up a model community with green spaces for organic and healthy produce.

While researching for community needs paper, I noticed that one of the rising problems in Broome County (besides poverty) is the rapid growth in obesity and diabetes levels. People are more susceptible to health problems mainly because of poor diet. This is a pressing issue for the community. What VINES offer is a remedy, an antidote to unwholesome diet. VINES has transformed the urban communities in Binghamton into greener platform for healthier lifestyles of Binghamton residents. Aside from youth programs, residents can rent garden beds for a low cost and grow their own food. Currently, VINES has seven gardens in the city of Binghamton and prices range from about $15-$30 per year. Community gardens are great for Binghamton because they do so much for the community: bring people together, community is enriched with involvement in green projects, spread environmental awareness, transform urban areas into greener space, improve the ecology system in the community, create sustainable living, and improve the quality of life (and diet/health) of the community.

I love what VINES stand for and with a thorough research on the organization, I’ve come to love it even more, not because its mission aligns with my beliefs, but because the organization developed a wonderful system that allows ordinary people like me to get involve in a big way! So what do you guys think of VINES? Are you impressed with their programs? Why/Why not? How can they improve as an organization? What are the other organizations that struck you?

P.S: This Earth Day (April 22, 2013), VINES will be celebrating its “Non-Profit” title as well as its annual Spring Fundraiser, which will be hosted at Remlik’s Grille and Oyster Bar, 31 Lewis St at 5:45 pm! 

The Finalists and Basic Needs

   Upon seeing the initial assessment of organizations when we arrived in class on Tuesday, I was surprised to see that so many great organizations only received one vote or two votes. Granted, I probably should have realized this would happen due to the extreme support for several organizations voiced on this blog. I feel that when several people spoke about certain organizations, others read the blogs and realized that these people brought up good points about organizations that they may have over looked. Were you driven to initially pick organizations due to the way they were presented by our classmates? I believe that this phenomenon also occurred during class on Tuesday. 
            Looking at the 6 finalists, almost all of them received more votes than during the initial assessment. This is especially obvious for the Hope Dispensary and the Soup and Sandwich Program.  When people spoke about some of the organizations in class, they may have given classmates different views on the organizations that they did not see while assessing the applications. I really like both of these organizations and I am happy that many people see that the services these organizations provide are worthwhile. One aspect of these organizations that I especially enjoy is their focus on basic needs. Although it’s unlikely that anyone in Broome County is starving to death, the Soup and Sandwich Program does provide relief of hunger for at least one day a week, which allows the people who participate in this program to use their money on different features of their life. This is also a reason I find the Boys and Girls Club awesome as well. They provide free dinner for all those involved with the program. The Hope Dispensary also provides relief by way of helping to pay for prescriptions. Health is an aspect of life that many take for granted and I can’t imagine how terrifying it would be to be so financially unstable that it is difficult to pay for medication needed.
            Thinking about basic needs brought me back to the beginning of the year and the discussions we had as a class in regards to donating towards causes that focused on basic needs or on causes that focus on education and various other aspects of life that develop the person as whole. Although this is an old topic, I often think of it and I always feel caught between two fences. There are still people in this world that are starving and really sick with diseases that are easy to cure. It’s so hard to think about education and the arts when the basic needs of others are not being met. This is one reason that I like organizations that work on basic needs and learning at the same time. One of my favorite organizations that does this is Partners in Health, especially the branch in Haiti (http://www.pih.org/country/haiti). They help to start off people by teaching members of the community how to be accompagnateurs. After training, these individuals help to service the medical needs of many in the community by providing them with care and daily surveillance. By teaching the people of Haiti medical techniques, the need for tons of aid decreases because they are learning how to be self-sufficient. There are also many programs that help to teach people how to farm and provide nourishment for themselves. These programs are based around the philosophical quote “You give a man a fish he eats for a day. You teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime”. Another Haiti based non-profit that focuses on this is the new organization Love Thy Neighbor (http://theadvocate.com/features/people/4999622-123/growing-haiti). This organization teaches school children how to grow food and care for the land, so they can slow or end the cycle of poverty in Haiti.

            In Broome County, the situation is very different in comparison to Haiti. Realistically, having the poor of Broome County cultivate their own food and create their own health system is ridiculous and probably would cause more harm than good, but it’s still important to realize that Broome County is still a place where some go hungry before bedtime and some are too poor to pay for prescriptions. In order for Broome County to eliminate poverty in the area, educational and basic need organizations need to be supported because a healthy body coincides with a healthy mind and a healthy mind can only grow through education.

            Getting back to the finalists, I would like to conclude that even though I am very into basic need organizations, I was sad to see some educational organizations cut. I really found the Discovery Center to be a wonderful organization and I though the Bee Exhibit was a really awesome learning opportunity. I didn’t realize it was going to be this hard to let go of some organizations, but unfortunately there is only $10,000 and there is no way that we can help all of the organizations no matter how much we would like to. What organizations did you find hard to let go of? Even if a favorite of yours was cut, did any of the organizations that made the finals have a similar mission to your favorite?  Even though we have only 6 finalists left, I think there are much harder decisions that need to be made in the upcoming weeks and I hope that as a class, we will make informed decisions after the site visits and the presentations from the organizations.

Finalist Organizations

It's been a long and hard process trying to figure out which organizations were my favorite that fit my criteria because there were so many! There were also some organizations that I was able to easily rule out due to horrible grammar and lack of effort in filling out the application. Also, I did not consider those that were submitted late because if an organization wants $10,000, which by the way is a large sum of money, the organization should have been more careful about the deadline which was set two weeks after the application was given to them. After looking through all of the organizations though, I was able to choose three finalist organizations that I believed deserved the grant from our class.

1) Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton
Since my issue area was regarding poverty and education and my values were empowerment and self-reliance, I found the Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton to fit my criteria extremely well. The organization provides a variety of academic enrichment programs while also promoting a healthy lifestyle which is essential in any person's life. By providing opportunities such as tutoring sessions and homework help, the club empowers the children to be able to succeed in school. Additionally, other aspects of the program such as their basketball club and physical wellness programs provide a healthy habit for these children to follow for the rest of their lives. What stood out for me from the application was the organization's ability to efficiently allocate the money to necessary equipment such as improved computers or art room supplies. By improving computers, the organization will be able to allow the children to more effectively research topics, complete homework, or educate themselves.

2) Liberty Partnership Program
Another program that I felt was deserving of our grant money was the Liberty Partnership Program. The program targets at-risk middle or high schoolers to transition them into further education. I felt the program would be extremely beneficial to these adolescents because they are in crucial moments of their lives which could change the outcome of their lives. Since the program utilizes undergraduate or graduate students as tutors and mentors, there would be more connection between the pupil and the mentor. Also, by targeting only those at-risk teenagers, the organization is able to empower those who are not motivated to do well in school into students who aspire to achieve something greater. Since the money will be allocated into programs of academic achievement and civic engagement, I feel that our grant money will be used most efficiently in the empowerment of the children.

3) Broome County Urban League
 The final organization that I thought the grant money should go to was the Broome County Urban League. This was another organization that fit my criteria of empowering disadvantaged children into being self-reliant. Although the organization would be using the grant money in a different fashion compared to the two organizations described previously, I felt that it was an innovative method that would introduce children into other areas of employment opportunities. The organization targets at-risk disadvantaged youth and provides them services for academic achievement. The money, however, would be allocated to a radio station in which children would be able to participate and gain more knowledge in. This opportunity opens different areas of social entrepreneurship that these children may have never witnessed before. Through this innovative method, I believe that the children can be empowered to pursue other career paths than traditional education outside of secondary school.

The list may be biased toward my issue areas and goals, but what is the purpose of giving if you do not have a strong urge to do so? Hopefully we can come to a consensus on an organization that we all truly feel is deserving of our grant money that could use the full extent of the money.

Trying to Follow the Guidelines

So, my biggest challenge with narrowing down my organizations has been sticking to the types of organizations that we've talked about in class and not allowing my personal biases guide my decisions. We've really been focused on organizations that target poverty and the problems associated with it. I really understand that this is an important issue, but my natural instinct leans toward organizations that help kids with life threatening illnesses. I really struggled to say no to organizations like Make-A-Wish, JDRF, and MDA. I kept having to tell myself that this is a cooperative process, and it just won't work if everyone pushes their own priorities. I wound up making Yes, No, and Maybe folders and sorting the organizations first by how I felt about their mission and how it fit into the values we could agree upon as a class. Then, I really went more in depth into the applications and websites of the organizations that remained. It was really difficult to narrow it down to five organizations when there were so many with such great and worthy ideas.

Sponsored Organizations

Wow! After reading through the organizations’ applications I was struggling to make a decision. The hardest part of philanthropy is choosing one organization over the others. I like many organizations like the Roberson Foundation, the ACA (American Civic Association), and Special Olympics, but unfortunately, we were given $10,000 and while all of the organizations that applied obviously share a good cause, we can only help so much. So after lots and lots of thinking, I narrowed my top three organizations: the SOS Shelter, the VINE, and the Room to Heal.

The SOS Shelter stood out to me because their mission aligns with both my personal value and philanthropic goals. My goal is to help empower women and foster gender equality in Broome County and beyond. So the SOS Shelter was a great organization because its mission is to provide a supportive and safe environment for women and children who have experienced domestic violence. But it doesn’t stop here, the organization will work with women to plan long-term goals and empower each woman to stand up for herself. The theory of change here is to tackle the problems at hand and build up strength for the future.

The VINE is a great organization. I was touched with their mission because the organization not only promotes community involvement, sustainable environment, greener space, cleaner and healthier foods, and most importantly, awareness of environmental health. The VINE has an innovative system that will benefit so many people and after reading their brief, I felt that we could help this organization a lot. By helping the VINE fund their community gardens and youth programs, we will enrich Broome County by fostering communication and involvement.

The Room to Heal, like the SOS Shelter, provides a healing and energetic environment for children who have experienced serious medical treatments. I think this organization is so genuine and their mission was compelling. This organization aims to help children heal in an environment that their families may not be able to provide.

All in all, I really wish that we could help more organizations and fund more programs because all of these organizations share similar missions and goals. 

Tough decisions

Wow, so this process took a lot of planning, lots of cross-outs, brainstorming and a lot of talking to myself! With making this decision I kept in mind what was important to me, what my issue areas are (health and education). So my final 5 are VINES, Catholic Charities, Make a Wish, Mothers and Babies Perinatal Network and SOS Shelter.

I like VINES because it not only deals with education but in incorporates the environment as well. It provides youth development and  training through its Employment Program while educating them on food production systems. I think that we should donate a couple thousand dollars to support their growing community gardens. 

Despite the name “Catholic Charities,” to those of you who are not Catholic, if you read about their work you can see that they reach out to anyone in need in the community. They provide housing programs for the homeless, they support the development of skills toward self-sufficiency and they assist with job preparation. I really like how this organizations supports the empowerment of people and sets them on the right track. 

I was touched when reading over the Make A Wish application, I love how we have the chance to grant a cancer patient with a wish to experience the good and beautiful things in this world. I like how if we do consider this organization that they can bring a wish child to speak to us.

The Mothers and Babies Perinatal Network does a lot to help better family lives by providing programs on health insurance education, they provide referral services and emphasize on adolescent pregnancy prevention and SIDS prevention. Their PAL Centers focus on community awareness to promote the healthy development of families and the community. Our donations could support this and fund programs for over 300 families. 

My fifth pick is the SOS Shelter which assists families that are threatened with domestic violence, it gives the community a sense of security, if a woman or child has an abusive family they have somewhere to escape to for safety. They have advocacy services to facilitate the solutions to their problems and provides access to legal remedies. Our donations could help strengthen their security systems to protect the neglected women and children. 

I think that donating to these organizations would help better the community and make positive differences in people's lives.