Philanthropy in Depth

By: Moira
Moira is a participant in our Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy: Changemakers class. 

In Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy: Changemakers, we have the ability to delve deeper into philanthropy. At our last meeting, we went into more detail about the grant-making process, an extremely important part of the health of nonprofit organizations. The grant-making process starts with a healthy grantor-grantee relationship which must be mutually beneficial. Secondly, we learned about the mechanics of the grant-making process. Specifically, we learned about Request for Proposals which are documents created by grantors that describe the possible funding opportunities. After this, grantees are able to submit their proposals about what they intend to do with the funds and then the grantor will decide which grantee to allocate their funds to. One interesting fact that we learned about the grantmaking process is that there is no singular correct way to go about it: each different grantor/grantee will do it differently. 

A second topic of our class was exploring and learning more about nonprofit governance and accountability. A nonprofit is accountable to the public since their goals have to do with improving quality of life for some sector of the public. Within individual non-profits, there are many people that help the organization stay on the right track. For example, the Board of Directors is a group of people that oversee the actions of the non-profit in order to ensure that they are staying true to their mission and values. Without these people, there would be no third person perspective that has the organization's best interests in mind which would have a detrimental effect on the organization. 

In class, we did an activity in which, as a group, we had to decide where to allocate funds to as if we were grantors. Some of the most important factors we looked for in organizations were transparency, accountability, financial health, and efficiency. It is important to consider these criteria because they will ensure that a grantor is giving to a non-profit organization that will be responsible with the treasure given to them. The idea of criteria for organizations to give to ties into being an educated philanthropist in order to effectively give your time, talent, and treasure. 

Learning Abound with Young Changemakers

By: Turner

Turner is participating in Allowance for Good's inaugural Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy: Changemakers program.

In the past few weeks in ELP Changemakers we have delved deeper into the grant making process and learned about grantor-grantee relationships and what a board of directors is/does.

It is important to maintain a mutually beneficial grantor-grantee relationship because the grantor can give the grantee access to their network of organizations that can give the grantee advice and other connections to get money from. The grantor can also give the grantee a place to come for the money they may need to support their projects.

A board of directors governs a nonprofit. The board of directors oversees the nonprofit and helps make decisions on what the organization should and should not do. The board of directors helps ensure that the organization is using its funds in the best ways possible and in the ways that accommodate the needs of the organization as well as it can. The board’s most important job is to govern and provide direction for the organization to develop its projects well. The board also helps ensure the effectiveness of the organizations planning.

I could see myself being a board member for an organization that I volunteer at frequently when I am an adult. The board members help make very important decisions for the nonprofit and I would like to be able to help an organization I care for in the future in that way.

I have enjoyed learning about grant reports the most about the grant making process.  Grant reports are a follow up that the nonprofit gives to the grantor after using the money from a grant. Some of the things that are answered in a grant report are what the project that the grantee spent the grant on was, how the organization achieved its objectives, and what the nonprofits challenges were. The grant reports allow the grantor to know a little about how the project went to help them decide whether their money was used well and if they should consider giving money to that nonprofit in the future. 

"I am Turner and I give my time because I enjoy helping those who need it."