A Small Amount, A Big Impact

By: Blair

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

I learned this week in our financial literacy lesson that the extra money we spend on eating out, buying toys, and living through our daily lives adds up to a lot of money. Money that goes a long way in other people’s lives across the world. I realized this week that most people who live comfortably in our world with little to no financial problems don’t know how much of an impact even a dollar can do. People all over the world live in so much poverty that even a dollar could help them get enough food for their family. If we as a society realize how much extra money we spend on items we don’t even need and instead donate them to these hungry and starving kids, the impact would probably be as big as having almost every kid in poverty go to bed every night with a full belly. I encourage every person in the world to stop and think about if you really need this pointless item you are about to buy, and the impact it would have on others if you donated the money to charity instead of buying the item.  

"I am a catalyst for good because...I will improve the basic education around the world" - Blair

ELP Elmhurst class brainstorming.

ELP Elmhurst class teacher  Jeanne leads discussion.

Microfinance and Micro-entrepreneurs

By: Julia
Julia is a participant in Allowance for Good's Fall 2015 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy class in the Elmhurst location.

"I am a Catalyst for Good because... I can be the change I want to see in the world."

Micro finance is a form of philanthropy, that is also a bit like charity. Micro finance has to do with giving money to someone in need. That person is called a micro-entrepreneur. They may want to start a business or keep theirs running. Giving them this money will help boost them up. But, the interesting part about micro finance is that the entrepreneur pays you back. This creates a connection between you and this other person all the way across the world. You communicate to keep checking up on them, and once they pay you back, you can use that same amount of money to loan to someone else. It's a very self sustaining system. I really like micro finance for that reason.

I think this is a very good idea. It's self sustaining, and easy to give too. You don't need to give a large amount of money to make a huge impact. It also creates a connection between two people from different parts of the world. This helps create awareness and a sense of oneness. It impacts not only the person receiving the money, but the giver as well.

Since the money is paid back after the entrepreneur is able too, you can keep on giving that same donation. It also helps make it seem like the entrepreneur is a business partner, rather than a helpless victim. I believe this will help people not be so scared or feel so disconnected from people in need of financial aid. 

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. 

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. 

Microfinance: An Overview

By: Sam Crawford-Cloonan
Sam is a participant in the Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy: Explorers class. 

Microfinance is when many donors, each giving a small amount, loan a relatively large sum of money (say, a thousand dollars) to an individual in need (usually in a developing country) in order to make a significant development in that individual's life. The development helps the individual pay off the debt incurred from the loan, and the money is given back to the donors.

I, personally, would invest in microfinance because it's an efficient and effective way of improving the quality of life (QL) of someone in need. The micro-entepreneurs are then able to break the cycle of poverty. Most of those asking for loans have just enough resources to support themselves  sufficiently, but not enough to improve Quality of life. This leads to a lack of ability to support oneself.

Individuals receiving microfinancial loans become able to support themselves and improve their QL. Loans are also more beneficial than a hand out because there is the added responsibility of being able to pay money back, thus the money is required to be used as a means of financial development rather than directly being used for day-to-day support.

For investors, microfinance is a way to give help to someone in need while still being able to make their money back. In that way, it's a very safe investment. A person can donate time and time again as their funds are replenished by micro-entrepreneurs who pay back their loans. Thus, if managed properly, the exchange is fully sustainable.

In conclusion, microfinance is a necessary part of today's world when it comes to linking local philanthropists to global issues on an individual scale, making the 'treasure' section of the pillars of philanthropy (giving time and talent and treasure) easily transferable and available. The next step? Bringing time and talent to that level of availability--and I'd love to see what this generation does to do so.

On an entirely separate note, my favorite experiences in ELP are the ones in which the students are able to have a natural discussion over previously discussed topics. Being able to ask questions and learn more about philanthropy, both local and global, is both necessary and freeing.