In the beginning, I didn’t really know what to think of MSP. I thought it was interesting and the concept of philanthropy was a great idea to share with young, impressionable high school students. Although there were some aspects I didn’t think I would enjoy, such as group work and calling organizations to ask them questions, I found overcoming these is what made the experience more enjoyable and rewarding. I found that MSP really helped me understand what philanthropy really is and how anyone can really participate in it. I like how along the way we learned skills that will help us in the future, such as reading and analyzing tax forms. Overall, I am really glad I got the opportunity to participate in the MSP program.
Reflection #2 Blog Post #5
The Main Street Philanthropy program required group work with classmates. As some who usually who doesn’t usually enjoy group work and would rather work independently, I didn’t like the idea of having to work in a group, but was relieved to find out who my group members happened to be. All hard working, I was happy with who I had been put in a group with and began to be more okay with the group work. Our group work took a lot of time, communication and efforts to get what we needed done and to overcome any obstacles we encountered throughout the experience but overall, I had fun and found myself enjoying the time spent with my group members. In most careers, you will have to work with various different people and regardless of who they are, you will have to get along just to complete the task at hand and this was an early example of this. I think this is one of the most beneficial parts of the MSP experience and something I really think benefited me personally.
Reflection #1 Blog Post #4
Looking back on the calls we had to make to the different organizations, many went differently than expected. Some organizations answered quickly and made the phone call easy and pleasant, giving us all the information we needed. Others were more difficult, not answering the calls, tossing our call on hold between different people and giving us vague answers to the questions. From these calls, we could really tell which organizations were passionate about their cause and this definitely affected which organization we chose. From this, I realized the importance in first impressions for organizations, companies and businesses and how it may affect their relationships with other companies, customers and in our case, people wanting to making donations. As someone who works in guest services and frequently answers phone calls representing the company I work for, I can relate to and learn from the phone calls made.
Fundraiser #1
Tonight we finally had the opportunity to have a fundraiser at school! After trying and failing at earlier attempts to get permission to have a bake sale, we worked with the Speech and Debate club during the monster mash fair. Our profit by the end of the night was $80+ from donations and the selling of home baked goods. Half the proceeds will be donated on behalf of MSP and the Debate team to our charity; Make A Wish Foundation of San Diego. Before it is time to write the check we hope to have another chance to raise money.
Blog 5
When I asked my dad the tax questions, he had a very interesting point of view. He is self employed, and his income depends on his performance, he has no set salary, contrary to the examples we used. So a deduction for him is often more fruitful than a credit. My mother is a teacher and has a set income, so for her what we discussed in class applied more because she has a set salary and is employed by the state. I thought they had a very interesting contention because they have a unique financial situation, there aren’t too many people who are self employed anymore and it affects how they do their taxes every year.
Blog #4
Daisy Barrios
In calling my organization, I was sure to cover all the important questions. I was surprised about how informative they were and how they informed me other interesting facts about the charity. My charity was entitled Project Wildlife, and they answered all of my questions briefly, yet instructively. Not only were they detailed and descriptive about the organization, but they were also very nice and friendly. In MSP it had help me understand how people have and are suffering the way they live. In doing so I hoped to help the organization I chose and see how my gratitude would make them happy. Although it is some what difficult to evaluate this non-profit because it is not a very known organization they are average on making profit.
Blog #3
Daisy Barrios
Today in MSP, our team brought a paper bag, in which we had to bring three important objects and why does it represent us, then we had to share with our group. One of my member in my group was Catharine, she brought a photo of the beach which represented that she was passionate about photography, and also that she loves the water/beach. Another member, Frankie brought earphones to represent that he loves music. Dylan, brought a plate for a chevron car because he loves taking about cars and working on them. Lastly, Guillermo brought his cross-country running bib because he enjoys to run and be active.
I loved how we are starting to this project in MSP so I told my relatives about it. One of them was my grandmother because she loves to donate her time to different organization. So she was very interested about it, and thought it was a great idea. Another relative I discussed about MSP project was my mother, she thought that it would be a great experience to this because it will help others and it could better the world with this peaceful project we are working on. Lastly, I mentioned it to my father, he said that he is very proud of me doing this since he struggled to have a great.
The organization I picked to call is called Project Wildlife, they help support animal that are endangered and also to give them homes. I chose this organization because one of my friends recommended me that it is a trustworthy organization that provides excellent service. I hope to work with them for the MSP project and wish to help them gain profits.
Blog #2
Daisy Barrios
Our team water, made our mission statement, purpose, and vision statement very clear. We made it more simple so people can understand our awareness. Our team made a plan that we were going to have a bake sale and may be voluenteer to the organization we chose. We will start our bake sales during the month of October.
Blog #1
Daisy Barrios
In the activity we did in MSP, the MAD cards we chose were very interesting. The cards we had to chose were tricky because we needed to pick our top three. This activity changed my perspective to seeing things in a more situational and important way. The top three MAD cards I chose was Animal protection, Environmental Protection, and also homelessness. My partner chose somewhat similar cards but also different cards that related with what they thought was close to them.
Blog #5
A. The main thing that I learned about my cause was that each of the people that I talked to seemed highly interested in their cause and both knew a lot about disabled veterans because they either were friends with one or were family with one. They also told me that many veterans now work for them and do more of the sponsored charities so the people whom are donating to the cause know that the charity is not faulty.
B. It is very important to look at the numbers of a charity’s money makings and knowing what they spend it on so you know if the charity is worth or not worth donating your hard earned money to. After looking at the wounded warriors tax form, it helped me find out how much money they earned and how much of that money has been donated to an approved cause that is not faulty.