Update

Today we are continuing our discussions as we are reviewing grant applications. The students in our class viewed a certain number of grants while at home, and each student shares what they thought of the grant. Then we all have a discussion about the application for a certain period of time.

There are so many applications that are stirring great discussions in our class and everyone is thinking very carefully about each application.

We are almost done going through the first round of application reviews, and we have made decisions on a few of the applications that will move on to the next round of discussions. Many of us are very conscious of the fact that many of these organizations do amazing work in the areas in which they are located, which is making the decisions really tough.

“It was a marathon of considering grants,” said Agustin, the time-keeper for our class. “We went through 9 grants in 45 minutes. We got a lot of opinions and a good representation of different perspectives from the class, and it was very inclusive in my opinion. Especially given the very small amount of time we had.”

Class was very effective today and, although we still have a long way to go on our work, we are well on our way!

Keep following our blog for updates!

Feature Student: Austin Mueller

Hey all! My name is Austin Mueller and I am originally from Long Valley, New Jersey, though I now live in Vienna, West Virginia. I’m a senior here at UNC and have a double major in American History and Economics and a minor in Hispanic Studies. I enjoy hiking, reading creative non-fiction, and listening to a variety of genres of podcasts. Additionally, I’ll be continuing to live in the area for the year following graduation, as I’ve accepted a position to work with the university’s administration.

From playing in the marching and pep bands to being a teaching assistant for a Women’s Studies course, I’ve had a plethora of opportunities to get involved in different activities with the university. In addition to the two aforementioned opportunities, I’ve also helped to lead Carolina United as a counselor, served as a Mediator on the Executive Board of our campus’s chapter of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, and I’ve been involved with Carolina For The Kids as a Morale and Recruitment committee member over these past four years and as a sub-chair for the committee this past year. Service-wise, most have my work has been through the Carolina For The Kids Foundation, which raises money to support the UNC Children’s Hospital and holds a 24-hour long Dance Marathon in the spring. I also do service work with Phi Sigma Pi, which has included working with Special Olympics, hosting a Battle of the Bands to raise money for local nonprofits, and learning more about our local community and how to better serve its needs with the Jackson Center.

I took this course, because I’m interested in the intersection of philanthropy and social justice.  Through learning about the various inequalities inequities facing our nation from my history and women’s studies courses, as well as my experience with Carolina United, I’m interested in supporting radical solutions to addressing poverty, sexism, heterosexism, racism, income inequality, etc. This course has been wonderful in outlining ways to effect social change and in breaking the stereotypes surrounding what constitutes “philanthropy.” In the course, I’ve been a part of the writing committee, and thus helped to write our mission statement as well as our RFP.

Feature Student: Sophie Whelchel

My name is Sophie Whelchel and I am from Asheville, North Carolina. I am studying Women’s Studies, Global Studies and Social Entrepreneurship. During my first year at UNC I started an organization on campus called She’s the First, which fundraises to send girls in developing countries to school. We host fundraisers and educational events and have raised over $7000 in the past two years. Beyond that, I work at the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) where I meet weekly with individuals who are at risk of experiencing homelessness and provide relationship-based support, workforce development, and financial education. I like to spend time at Open Eye and do yoga on my free time! 

In some classes at UNC I have felt that there is a disconnect between class discussion and actual action, yet this class creates the perfect balance between the two. I have really enjoyed the way that my classmates and I have been able to connect with communities outside of UNC and make a significant impact through our class work. More specifically, I am on the Data Committee and have helped create a rubric that will help our classmates decide which grants to fund. We will also compile scores after rounds of voting and eliminate grants that did not have majority approval. We hope that we can hear all opinions in the class while still being efficient with time.  

I decided to apply for this class because I am interested in the way that money can be used as a force for good. In the future, I hope to work in the field of impact investing – specifically focused on gender equality. This course has given me skills and experience that will help me pursue this career.

Feature Student: Hannah Gray

Hi! My name is Hannah Gray. I am a sophomore from Greensboro, NC studying public policy here at UNC. On campus I am a part of Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity, as well as Buckley Public Service Scholars. Through these two organizations I have done many different community service projects.  This semester I have also been involved with starting a new club on campus called Unsung People. Unsung People is a positive community journalism group that highlights people that constantly do kind things in their communities that often go unnoticed.

Hannah is pictured on the right

I chose to apply to this class because I’ve been interested in philanthropy for a few years now. I was first exposed to the philanthropic world when my dad began working for the Weaver Foundation in Greensboro. Then throughout my high school career I was participated in a unique opportunity known as the Teen Grantmaking Council. As a board comprised of high school students from around Guilford County, we were able to give out $10,000 to youth led projects across the county. After I joined Buckley Public Service Scholars last semester I was presented with the opportunity to be a part of this specific youth-led grant making board. Like my other experience with philanthropy, I’ve enjoyed every meeting and learning more about various non-profits and the administration side of community service. My favorite part of this class has probably been having guest speakers come and show us how you can turn this class experience into a life-long career. The four guests that have already come have all been informative and it’s been fun to hear their stories and the differences across foundations.

My involvement with the class has included being a part of the data committee. As a member of this group I’ve helped design a rubric that the entire class will use to score each grant application that we receive. We have also collaborated with the class committee and come up with a way to discuss each grant during class time. We didn’t do much in the earlier steps of the process, but now that we just received our grants we are beginning to review them with the rubrics we made. Overall this class had been an awesome experience that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. 

Current Event Post - Millennials and Philanthropy by Sean Kurz

The other week, Douglas Zinn, the executive director for the Kenan Charitable Trust, came to speak to our class about his career in philanthropy. At the beginning of his talk with our class, he said that our generation (the millennials) is very driven to make a difference in the world. He said that in generations past, people worked to make a living for themselves. However, Mr. Zinn sees the millennial generation truly is working to make the world a better place.

I really appreciated Mr. Zinn’s words during class, and I also enjoyed learning about his career in philanthropy and his advice to our class as we are going through our application-review process. Mr. Zinn’s thoughts about the millennial generation’s contributions to philanthropy appeared in an article while I was searching for a current event topic. In the article titled “Millennials and Philanthropy,” I was able to learn about how millennials have already made left their mark in the world of philanthropy and how nonprofits today can work with this generation to maximize their impact.

Students in our class have been looking up current events in philanthropy, and I used this article for my current event. According to the article, almost 85% of millennials have made charitable donations in 2014 and nearly 70% of millennials volunteered. Furthermore, 77% of millennials are eager to use their skills while volunteering, which indicates the desire to make a greater impact. The article continued to share suggestions for how nonprofits can work with millennials. One way is leaders in nonprofits can help millennials reach their goals by advising them on how to make a difference with their skill-set. Another suggestion from the article was for nonprofits to have a presence in the world technology - such as having online donation options.

I had the opportunity to lead a class discussion with one of my classmates about this article and we talked a wide variety of topics relating to millennials and philanthropy. For example, we discussed how organizations such as Amazon are using technology to make charitable contributions. Amazon uses the program Amazon Smile, which makes donations when people purchase products using Amazon. This is an example of a company that has been working with technology to increase the inclusion of millennials.

Additionally, our class talked about how almost everyone does community service while going through high school. For a lot of the students in our class, it was a requirement in high school for some of their clubs; other students did community service to fill their resume while applying to college. We had a hard time determining answering whether or not it is bad that students are motivated to do service for their resume.

Overall, the article was very interesting and relevant to our class, seeing that most of our class falls into the millennial generation. As I reflect on the class discussion regarding this article, I find myself curious about how future generations will continue to approach philanthropy and charitable giving. Technology is constantly improving and it will continue to have a drastic effect on philanthropy. Until then, I am proud that our generation is making such an amazing impact on the world of charitable giving.

If you would like to check out the article, the link is posted below!

https://www.nptrust.org/philanthropist/entries/news_for_donors/millennials-and-their-influence-on-philanthropy