Three Years Later...

By: Sonali
Sonali participated in our Summer Summit and Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy programs. A native Chicagoan, she is currently a student at Tulane University. 

The summer after my sophomore year in 2014, my father signed me up for a program called the Global Philanthropy Summit with an organization called Allow Good. I was reluctant to wake up early during my first week of summer to drive to Evanston in rush hour traffic, knowing no one or what I was going to do that week. Three years later, I am grateful for that week at Allow Good where I learned what the word philanthropy meant or that you did not have to be a millionaire to give to others because of three things-time, talent, and treasure. The vocabulary and knowledge I gained from that week felt much more valuable than anything I had learned in high school. In the spring of my junior year, I had the privilege of going through the Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program, which was essential to helping me form what I may want to study beyond high school. When college applications rolled around that fall, I knew I needed to attend a school with focus on both public service and a degree focused on social good.

Going into my second year at Tulane University this fall, I am majoring in Social Policy & Practice and Political Science, with minors in Management and Spanish. Tulane is also the number one school in the country for public service and I work for the Center for Public Service. Allow Good showed me at a formative age the importance of making change no matter what age you are. Further, it taught me lessons about philanthropy, charity, non-profits, and social entrepreneurship I would have never learned without the Global Philanthropy Summit or Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy. I am grateful for these experiences because I know they fueled my desire to work on public education policy following college.

This summer, I was able to join Allow Good on their Summer Summit, attending some of the same workshops I experienced three summers ago, and also seeing how the program has developed and grown. Not only was it a great refresher to revisit many social enterprises and non-profit organizations, but watching the participants' thought processes and creative ideas was thrilling. It is comforting to see that even in a chaotic society with little attention given to social good in schools, students still demonstrate their creativity and social awareness. To me, the Summer Summit showed me the importance of organizations such as Allow Good, which focus on youth and educating them on what they are capable of.

Allow Good Students Grant $17,000 to Chicagoland Communities

High school students participated in a sixteen-week course that was integrated into their history and civics classes by Allow Good, an Evanston-based nonprofit that empowers youth to take meaningful action in their communities. Partnering with Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and Loyola University Chicago to deliver the curriculum, Allow Good staff trains college student facilitators who are then paired with a public high school classroom where they teach each week.

Throughout the semester, high school students worked towards their ultimate goal of donating $1,000 per class to local nonprofit organizations. The students explored their social identities in the context of the history and social challenges of their communities. They then researched and interacted with local community organizations and conducted their own grant-making process. The program culminates in a grant ceremony held at each high school where the students award the nonprofit of their choice with a $1,000 grant. This semester the program reached over 400 students across five public high schools in seventeen classrooms.

The students awarded grants to a wide variety of nonprofits and causes:

• King College Prep (Chicago) students chose the IMPACT Family Center (youth and family self-sufficiency).
• Hyde Park Academy (Chicago) students chose: the Center for Enriched Learning (putting people with developmental disabilities to work); CoderSpace (youth coding training); Girl Forward (opportunity for refugee girls); and the South Side Help Center (strengthening South Side communities).
• Niles North High School (Skokie) students chose: Best Buddies (ending isolation of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities); The Douglas Center (a ray of light for individuals with special needs); The Harbour (shelter and transitional housing for youth); Hatzalah Chicago (emergency medical responders); the Response Center for Sexual Health (teen sexual health services); and The Talking Farm (urban farming).
• Senn High School (Chicago) students chose: Alternatives, Inc. (supporting youth experiencing homelessness); Centro Romero (immigrant and refugee self-sufficiency); Inspiration Corporation (a catalyst for self-reliance); the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society (well-being and self-sufficiency of Iraqi/Middle East refugees); the Lakeview Pantry (local food pantry).
• Evanston high school students involved with Y.O.U. (Youth & Opportunity United) chose Jumpstart (developing critical kindergarten readiness skills).

Allow Good’s goal is to empower youth to take independent action in their communities and build the capacity of their communities throughout their lives. Mark Collins, Director of the Niles Food Pantry (a grant recipient in 2016) observed that, “I can sense that a certain awareness has been instilled within the young participants...not only of themselves, but of their place as members of our community as a whole. It is encouraging to see that students are not only learning about the big picture of what philanthropy means, but are truly processing what they have learned in order to formulate plans of action.”

For more information on how to start a collegiate chapter or bring Allow Good to your high school contact Karin Scott, Program Director at Allow Good, or visit www.allowgood.org.

Allow Good empowers youth through the tools of philanthropy to take meaningful action in their world. We envision a world with engaged youth, inclusive participation, and vibrant communities. We inspire youth to become actively engaged in addressing social challenges throughout their lives. For more information on Allow Good, visit www.allowgood.org. 

Striving towards an Education for All

By: Luke

Luke is participating in Allowance for Good's Spring 2016 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy class in the Elmhurst location.

"I am a Catalyst for Good because...all people have the right to food and education." - Luke

My name is Luke and I’m in Allowance for Good program, I have learned what are the human rights and that they were developed by the United Nations. What struck me was that the United Nations had to develop the human rights because some countries didn’t provide basic needs for their people. There are kids in Africa that don’t have water and food. Another example is certain countries don’t educate their girls and there are extremist who bomb schools to prevent girls from going to school. The extremists don’t want girls to learn because they will learn how to make a stand against the radical ideas.

I’m passionate about my sports and fortunate to compete in baseball and lacrosse. I don’t have to worry about basic needs and my school being bombed. I want all kids to grow up not worrying about their next meal, having water and be able to walk to school without being afraid of being hurt.

Allowance for Good has inspired Matt and I to start a project for Nicaragua. The project will raise money for kids in the country that don’t have a proper education. Many of the children fail to reach the 6th grade and one third never have the chance to enroll in elementary school. If you are interesting in donating to this cause, you can email my mom at randarbarber@gmail.com.

Philanthropy = Love of Humans

By: Nia
Nia participated in Allowance for Good's 2015 Global Philanthropy Summit in June, which focused on Global Engagement.

This summer of 2015, I have done a lot of programs but one I will never fail to remember is the Global Philanthropy Summit I did late June. For starters, the majority of kids my age are not even familiar with the word philanthropy. Right on day one the camp taught us what philanthropy truly is. It’s not just for rich people, and it’s a long term commitment and service to groups and organizations. It’s like community service but a full time and forever impact on the group. That idea made me smile because there is such a great joy that comes from giving back to the world and to do it long term seemed like an impact I know I wanted to give.

Nia, center, discussing with other GPS students.

For some, you might not know that philanthropy means the love of humans. Just the thought to being a part of something that can bring love to humans was something that compelled me in immediately. I truly want to thank GPS for the commitment and ideas they gave to me from this camp.

Not to mention, from this wonderful, and inspiring camp lead me to get my backpack for this upcoming school year. One of the speakers was from CAUSEGEAR which is a low-profit group that helps people with economic problems of their low pay in India. I loved their idea and I loved their backpacks and I went home immediately and bought it so now I have it for this school year.

An organization like that, that was helping people in India really made me think about global engagement. During this camp we talked a lot about how to globally change the world, I mean why be small and change only your neighborhood. Go big or go home! At camp we learned about how to be globally engaged and know that the blessed area we live in, is not at all the norm for the rest of the world. We have a lot, and great resources as well. So we should make a change as big as we can and really help the world.

Any student who wants to come to a camp to learn about how they can make a change and get inspiration from leaders should no doubt sign up as soon as they can. This summit was a great impact on me and I can’t wait to grow up and join the world of philanthropy.

Giving for Greater Impact

By: Bella
Bella is a participant in the Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy: Changemakers class. 

A giving circle in technical terms is a form of participatory philanthropy where groups of individuals donate their own money or time to a pooled fund, decide where to give the funds away to charity or community projects and, in doing so, seek to increase their awareness of and engagement in the issues covered by the charity or community project. But a giving circle to me is a groups where you donate time, talent and money to a passion of you and your group. Giving circles can also have a greater impact on an organization, where as an individuals donation can only go so far. 

A giving circle has many benefits, the major on is a greater impact. Another benefit is having engagement with the community, friends, family and neighbors. In a giving circle engagement is key, because it is is participation. My group of AFG participants worked together and engaged together to raise money and talk about the most eye opening issues to ourselves and our passionate issues. This way we could make a difference in not only our lives but in others. 

Some of the challenges that I faced was deciding the organization that needs that most help, because one issue is not better that the other, it is where u are passionate about helping make a difference in that issue to support the solution not the problem. Another issue I faced was making my voice herd, because in a giving circle it is hard to all say an equal amount of ideas, but I found that listen is just as important as speaking and even then listen to some on can inspire even greater thoughts than u imagined. 

I am most proud of reaching our goal of 100 dollars which was matched by AFG. We raised 106 dollars and ended up to by 212 dollars, by the end. I am also proud, because I now realize how much more of a impact you/we can have on some one. With this money we decided to complete a project and donate the rest to working towards completing a project.