During our Week 5 session, we had two visitors who come from two different sides of the non-profit world, and that gave our students a delightful opportunity to compare and contrast. Sherry Dombrowski from Pawsitive Action Foundation and Eric Gray from Give Kids the World both faced a barrage of questions from 21 inquisitive philanthropists in training.
Sherry's organization is small, local, and constantly pushing to provide a lot of wonderful services to pets and their owners on a shoestring budget. Eric's organization, on the other hand, is large, well-supported, and has a national reach while being located just down the road in Kissimmee. Eric said Give Kids the World has one of the largest volunteer organizations in the country.
We took away some excellent understanding about how non-profits large and small operate, how they use volunteers, what stresses and strains they feel, and how they try to improve their communities.
One thing that came out in both cases is the passion with which these two pursue their respective missions. I love it when people discover where their hearts are, and then commit their time and resources to following their hearts.
I love how our students are learning to follow their hearts while at the same time using their heads to give intelligently. That's a powerful combination!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Looking Beyond the Numbers
In Week 4, the students reported some of their findings from analyzing Form 990's. I was very impressed with how thoroughly they dug into the data. A deep check of the numbers caused a few to shift gears, deciding for example that a charity spent too much money raising money or had too much overhead. It was clear they are taking their assignment to make a wise investment in a good charity very seriously.
We then started talking about how to look beyond the numbers. I explained how most non-profits are structured, and what kind of information they could expect to get from talking with different people in the organization. The "23 Questions" exercise and the ensuing discussion opened their eyes to the kinds of things to look at when they contact and visit charitable organizations.
Next we had the great pleasure to welcome Kelly Armstrong from Osceola County Habitat for Humanity. Kelly knows more of the inside of the business but she presented herself and her organization admirably. She was humble and easy to talk to, and definitely has a big heart for the issue of homelessness and affordable housing.
I was most impressed with the quality of questions the student had for Kelly. Their questions showed a real depth of understanding, and a strong desire to get to the bottom of how to recognize a strong and successful non-profit. They did themselves proud.
They took home an assignment, which was to interview a parent, mentor, or someone else in the community who donates to charity and/or give community service. I'm curious what they will learn from discussing reasons to give and serve and lessons to be learned. I'm sure Week 5 will be just as engaging.
We then started talking about how to look beyond the numbers. I explained how most non-profits are structured, and what kind of information they could expect to get from talking with different people in the organization. The "23 Questions" exercise and the ensuing discussion opened their eyes to the kinds of things to look at when they contact and visit charitable organizations.
Next we had the great pleasure to welcome Kelly Armstrong from Osceola County Habitat for Humanity. Kelly knows more of the inside of the business but she presented herself and her organization admirably. She was humble and easy to talk to, and definitely has a big heart for the issue of homelessness and affordable housing.
I was most impressed with the quality of questions the student had for Kelly. Their questions showed a real depth of understanding, and a strong desire to get to the bottom of how to recognize a strong and successful non-profit. They did themselves proud.
They took home an assignment, which was to interview a parent, mentor, or someone else in the community who donates to charity and/or give community service. I'm curious what they will learn from discussing reasons to give and serve and lessons to be learned. I'm sure Week 5 will be just as engaging.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Running the Numbers--Week 3 at Harmony High
For a non-numbers guy, a whole class period spend talking math was surprisingly exhilarating. That's because we learned how to use numbers--in particular the numbers from charities' IRS Form 990--to evaluate how well they use the dollars they have to work with.
Most people don't know that every non-profit organization's tax return is a public document, and that it is a treasure trove of information for the intelligent, discerning philanthropist. Fortunately for participants in the Main Street Philanthropy program, we show them how to locate those returns and then which numbers to look for and how to crunch those numbers to evaluate just how many dollars are actually put to work and how many are spent paying officers, raising money, or on general overhead.
Every organization must spend some of its funds to operate and to solicit donations. It's only when those things get out of balance that there's a problem. So quantitative analysis is an important part of smart giving.
I was impressed at how quickly the class grasped the concepts and understood why it's important to run the numbers. I've also been impressed at how much and what they're learning, as evidenced by the very astute blogs they've been writing. They are an ideal group for this early application of the Main Street Philanthropy principles.
Most people don't know that every non-profit organization's tax return is a public document, and that it is a treasure trove of information for the intelligent, discerning philanthropist. Fortunately for participants in the Main Street Philanthropy program, we show them how to locate those returns and then which numbers to look for and how to crunch those numbers to evaluate just how many dollars are actually put to work and how many are spent paying officers, raising money, or on general overhead.
Every organization must spend some of its funds to operate and to solicit donations. It's only when those things get out of balance that there's a problem. So quantitative analysis is an important part of smart giving.
I was impressed at how quickly the class grasped the concepts and understood why it's important to run the numbers. I've also been impressed at how much and what they're learning, as evidenced by the very astute blogs they've been writing. They are an ideal group for this early application of the Main Street Philanthropy principles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)