One Last Thought

Hi everyone,

Before the session today, I would like to give a little input into who I think should receive the extra $2,000. This weekend, I picked up the Binghamton's Chamber of Commerce Report for May 2018. The front page headline was “Bridging the Gap Between Child Care and Workforce Development in Broome County.” The Binghamton Chamber of Commerce recognizes that there are barriers that can be eliminated that can lead to an increase in the flow of workforce and aid in economic development in the county. That barrier is inadequate child care.

Due to rises in minimum wage and an increase in regulations, access to quality care has decreased. The benefits of early child care are widely known, yet the child care centers in Broome County are unable to meet the demand. Currently, there are 253 kids on the waitlist to receive childcare. If things continue as they are, the centers will be forced to cut back programming even more; and could ultimately lead to them closing.

I think we should take into consideration what the Binghamton Chamber of Commerce has to say, since they know the community best. Therefore, I think we should consider donating the $2,000 to either Wilson Children’s Center or Boys and Girls Club.

You can read the Chamber’s report here.

Definitely Not a Sentimental Blog Post

Just kidding, it totally is.

Hey all,

I just returned home from Happy Office Hours, a great experience to sign up for during your final semester. (Pro Tip: If you donate, even a small amount, to the Binghamton Fund as a student, you get exclusive access and early sign ups to these events, highly recommend doing that, and hey, philanthropy is important). Anyway, as I was saying, I just returned home after having the chance to reflect and catch up with classmates, friends and peers that I have met over the years. It was a great event to cap my senior year properly and prepare myself for the rapidly approaching end.

I did also get the chance to speak with President Stenger for a few minutes before I left. We spoke about my time in geography department doing research and my future work with power tools at my new employer. However, after I thanked him for attending our ceremony this morning, the real bulk of our conversation became about our class and philanthropy in general. We spoke about how incredible it was to have the opportunity to give back to the community I have been a part of and studied for four years. Our conversation was brief yet great and it really did allow me to reflect and do some thinking on the way home.

This course was an extremely unique experience and for the most part it is a one of a kind opportunity here at Binghamton University. However, while that statement is true since you’re rarely given money to donate in your undergraduate coursework, I think there is a great lesson to be learned from our time this semester:

Giving does not have to be monetary.

Many of you are freshman and I hope you realize how much time you have to do things that are bigger than yourself here at Binghamton. Just this past semester, I led a research group studying the gentrification occurring in downtown Binghamton. We helped government officials, planners and stakeholders for the BU Health Sciences Campus see what kind of effect student influx has on a city and give insight into future development in Johnson City. Members of my fraternity and I have volunteered countless hours for the Boys and Girls Club of Endicott. I spent time as a mentor in Johnson City Middle School. I have even developed and performed science fair programs for school aged children in low income areas around the county with the Geology Club.

Enough with my resume. Here is my real point.

Do not let the spirit of giving back to this community end here. You are all at Binghamton University and therefore obviously some of the top students in the state (it is okay to brag). With that comes a power to do real change well. Get involved, be active, and most importantly, make sure that at the end of your four years, you can look fondly on your time here and know that you accomplished something worthwhile.

Thank you all for a great semester.

-Dylan

The Philanthropy Club

Why did you join this class? Did you do it for the Gen Ed? For the professor? For the major requirement? For that little thing called the Scholars Program?

Honestly, when I signed up, each of these things crossed my mind, but there was a reason I chose Philanthropy & Civil Society above other “Scholars” courses. In the words of other students I’ve talked about this with, it just seemed really cool. It’s so rare to be given the opportunity this course has handed to us: to be allotted $10,000 to donate to a local organization our of choice. Sure, we’re all given the chance to “do good.” Almost everyday, someone calls out to me as they table in the Union, a fraternity brother offers me a donut for a dollar and a good cause, or a friend messages me the link to their Relay for Life page. But, with this class, we’ve been able to make an impact much larger and much more personal than the ones we may make day to day. I joined this course for that opportunity.

I got even more than I expected. While I read that we would give an in-depth look to philanthropy and the implications behind it, that fact didn’t fully register in my mind at first. Before, I only connected philanthropy with the heart, always giving because a cause tugged at my heartstrings or I felt pressured into handing over my money. In early discussions, I thought nothing of an organization’s accountability or transparency; talks of program services versus overhead costs went right over my head. All that has changed now. While I can’t fully back effective altruism, I do think it should be considered. I see now that it’s not just important to do good, but to do good well. Not all organizations are trustworthy, and criteria must be determined in order to discern which ones are. Money and time are precious resources, which non-profits don’t simply aim to bestow, but to ensure will be allocated effectively.

Many people fail to see this, caught in my original mindset, which didn’t give philanthropy enough attention to see the pragmatic aspect of it. I think it’s important for more people to be educated on the matter. How much more good could be done in the world if more of us gave our charitable donations greater consideration? I’m sure countless dollars and countless hours are wasted as the general public throws them to nonprofits that aren’t actually reliable or in real need of such resources. Therefore, I’d like to start a Philanthropy Club on campus, with aims very similar to this course. Meetings could be dedicated to educating members on topics we’ve discussed and debated in class. Of course, one would expect the Philanthropy Club to directly donate to causes, as well. You might be wondering then where we would get the money, as not everyone can simply procure $10,000 like the class offered. I figure regular fundraisers - maybe weekly, biweekly, or monthly - could be held for organizations picked from charity pitches just like those we took part in. This would all have to be done with the blessing - and possibly guidance? - of our professor, but that’s something I plan to discuss with him. (Hi, Professor Campbell!)

With all that being said, I’d like to know your opinions. Do you agree that the opportunities we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy should be opened up to the rest of the university? Do you think this would work out, logistically? And if you’re unsure about the answer to the previous question, what would you suggest to improve the work of the club?

One Last Shout Out to the Boys and Girls Club

After going through a full semester in this class and researching the five finalist organizations, I just want to start my post by saying I am happy that the money went to MHAST and YWCA because I’d be happy wherever it went. All of the organizations do great work in the community and help Broome county residents in one way or another. With that said, I still stand strong in my belief that the Boys and Girls Club(BGC) is an amazing organization that is deserving of our money. I know this is a crazy thing to say, even after Professor Campbell said that he agreed with the class for not choosing them as a recipient of the grant, but I believe they are a great organization that should have won. With that said, rather than this be a post to garner support for the BGC to receive the extra money, I just want to point out a few things I believe people overlooked when it came to this amazing organization. 

Looking back at the operating grant applications, they all wrote about a need for money, but some did this better than others. For example, the YWCA said they need the money to meet the gap in operating expenses due to the rise in minimum wage. However, the YWCA, like many other organizations, did not give a specific answer to, “how will our grant help you due to the rise in the minimum wage/funding cutbacks?” Rather than giving a general statement about relieving the “economic hardship” that the increase in minimum wage has caused, the BGC said by receiving the operating grant they could prevent closing early everyday, closing on school days, or eliminating paid positions. Another important question that only the BGC answered was, “how far could the money go?” For example, BGC said the money could be used to pay a part-time staff member for nearly two months or pay the monthly bills for lights and heat. No other organization was this clear when describing how they would use the money. All other organizations said what they would use it for, but no other organization gave the class solid numbers like the BGC. It is understandable to give more generalized answers for the operating grant because it is for general use. However, I believe the BGC’s specificity when answering these two question show they truly cared about being transparent with their use of our money. Also, it shows they put a lot of thought into our application, which tells me they cared and respected us as grant makers. Therefore, even though BGC does get a lot of support from the community, they created the most compelling argument for why they should receive the grant. Undoubtedly, they gave us the most clear and specific answers to our questions and I do not believe this should go unnoticed. 

Furthermore, a lot of people chastised the BGC for having too nice of a facility, often referring to the amount of pool tables they have. Many people in the class believed the nice facilities they do have demonstrate that they do not need the money. However, I do not agree with this statement and believe it is not guided by sound logic. By having a nice facility this ensures that the kids are safe and they will have activities to do when they are there. If you think about, the BGC serves 100 kids on a daily basis but only has about four pool tables. So in reality, it is not like the Boys and Girls Club is wasting their money on unreasonable goods, they are just trying to supply their facilities with enough activities for the large amount of kids they see on a daily basis. In addition, when many of us entered the building  we said, “I wouldn’t mind hanging out here.” Would you have said the same thing if the building was a dump with one dilapidated foosball table and a sofa? I highly doubt it. Therefore, the BGC needs to have good facilities if it wants to draw in kids and prevent them from staying on the streets. If the BGC did not have fun activities for teenagers, they would much rather find more fun, and most likely dangerous, things to do on their own. So I think people need to think about the importance of the BGC having nice facilities in order to effectively execute the goals of their mission statement. Rather than using this as an argument against their ability to efficiently allocate their funds, I believe they should be praised for creating an environment where kids actually WANT to spend their time. 

I would love to think that the BGC could receive the extra money we were given; however, I know this is highly unlikely. The class did not agree on much, but after speaking with a lot of you, mostly everyone agreed that the BGC was not one of their choices. And that’s fine because that is how the democracy of our class works. However, I could not end this semester without showing my support to the BGC and all the amazing work they do for the youth in Broome county. 

One Final Decision

A major purpose of this class was to learn how to make a definitive decision.
It can be hard to make a decision, especially when faced with many equally good options.
But through voting on charity pitches, narrowing down issue areas, and ultimately making our
final grantmaking decision, we refined our abilities to be decisive and choose.

Yesterday, during the first round of charity pitches, I made a suggestion that completely ignored this lesson. I was, same as many of you, so conflicted with the decision I had to make - where to cast my vote. I couldn’t make the choice, so concerned that selecting one would validate the personal experience of that one person at the expense of the others. All of the organizations would do good with the money, but, more importantly, all the personal stories of our classmates who pitched them were so moving, so deeply motivated, that it was impossible to choose any one over the other. So I raised my hand and offered the option to not choose. I took the easy way, because 2 extra dollars was a small amount compared to the difficulty of the decision. I don’t regret doing this.

If these three charities had been pitched together earlier in the semester, I could not have offered this option. It would have been too dangerous of a precedent to set -- any hard choice we faced could just be avoided with a few more dollars. It would have undermined the important lesson of objective, definitive decision making that Professor Campbell was working so hard to instill in us.

We’ve made our big decision. No one would say it was easy. The truth is, any one of our finalist organizations would have been an excellent selection to receive our funds -- but that is why it was such a difficult choice. Despite this, we made our decision, and while not every organization that I voted for won, I am satisfied with what we picked, and I would not take it back even if I could.

The way I see it, winning the extra funds from the Learning by Giving Foundation has given us
2 extra dollars. We went through the difficult process of choosing two organizations to receive our grants, we’ve shown that we have learned to be decisive and make a decision. Now we
have the opportunity to help the other charities that we couldn’t help, but we know need it.

That being said, I don’t want to split the $2000 3 ways and give $666.66 each to CHOW, WCC, and the Boys and Girls Club. I’m not convinced that the Boys and Girls Club had as much need as the other organizations, and would benefit as much from a donation of that size. Instead, I am proposing that we split the $2000 in half between CHOW and the Wilson’s Children Center, giving $1000 each towards operating expenses. I believe that $1000 would have the greatest, most far-reaching impact going to CHOW; it would pay for costs associated with the food reclamation program, helping them continue redistributing literally tons of food that would otherwise be wasted. And I believe that a $1000 donation would be immensely appreciated at the Wilson’s Children Center. The site visit showed a tremendous need for money, and because they’re located in Deposit, the WCC doesn’t have the network or exposure that helps organizations like CHOW and the Boys and Girls Club raise adequate funds.

This is all just my opinion, and as the discussion of where to donate extra funds is no longer hypothetical, please continue offering your perspectives in the comments. Lastly, I want to say congratulations and thanks to all of us. The effort and involvement that every single person contributed to this blog is what allowed us to even have this discussion about extra funds in the first place.