By Natalie Festa, CCL Student Staff
Donations are a crucial source of funding that allow non-profit organizations to function, and Rice University is no exception. Buildings, research centers, fellowships and even residential colleges are adorned with the names of numerous benefactors that made these entities possible. However, philanthropic decisions are often difficult to make, and they require thorough research to determine how effectively dollars are used to achieve the mission of an organization. While young people may have fewer opportunities to make philanthropic contributions on an extraordinary level, understanding these decision-making processes is a critical piece in learning about how to support community organizations.
Although many Rice students experience work with nonprofit organizations through the Center for Civic Leadership, few students know the behind-the-scenes details of how these organizations operate. Philanthropy is a key mechanism through which these organizations function. Learning about philanthropy as a core civic practice is a focus of the Center for Civic Leadership curriculum. One way students learn about philanthropy is in LEAD 340: Giving to Learn--Philanthropy in Theory and Action, a course that provides students with a critical framework to engage in the grant-giving process and support local nonprofits.
This past spring, students participating in the LEAD 340 selected four local nonprofit organizations to receive $5000 of grant funding to support their programs: The Houston Food Bank, Memorial Park Conservancy, Bridgeyear, and LINK Houston. The Houston Food Bank, which serves over 1.1 million people who face food insecurity, will use the funds to continue their work serving this population amid the COVID-19 pandemic through their various summer food service programs. Memorial Park Conservancy will utilize the grant to support their education programming, such as the Get the Word Out program, to educate the public about their mission. Bridgeyear, a relatively new organization with its birth in 2016, will use the grant to fund their Career Test Drive, which will provide students with the opportunity to explore a breadth of career options that do not require a four-year degree. Finally, LINK Houston plans to apply the grant to their advocacy project concerning the I-45 expansion, which poses threats of displacement and transit access to low income communities.
The students came away from the course aware of the valuable professional and personal development opportunities they have had in engaging with philanthropy: “This experience has helped me understand how to approach a breadth of organizations, how to conduct a proper site visit, how to use external resources to understand an organization, and many other skills that can be applied to researching organizations and writing grants.”
LEAD 340 was inspired by The Rich Circle of Giving Fund, which supports students in the course in working with community organizations to develop and fund proposals while learning about the role of philanthropy in addressing social issues. The class focuses on the history, philosophy, and practice of philanthropy in addressing public needs with an introduction to ethics and the importance of financial giving and community investment. Students spend much of the semester working with local nonprofits, developing a case for each to be selected as a recipient for a grant award by the class. These partnerships provide insight into the inner workings of specific nonprofits and allow students to gain an appreciation for the significant role philanthropy plays in enabling passionate people to do important work improving communities.
To find out more about CCL students’ experiences with LEAD 340 as well as with the Rich Family Endowment for Community Service projects, visit the virtual showcase that highlights students in philanthropy.
LEAD 340 is offered every spring semester and is taught by Dr. Vida Avery, an area Fundraising Professional who is an expert on the role of philanthropy in education, specifically HBCUs.