I was so excited to deliver the check to our organization.Having all the organizations come in to receive the donations and seeing their reactions was amazing.It felt so good donating and raising money with my group.I really enjoyed participating in main street philanthropy again it was a fun and great experience. I wish I could be back next year to participate again but this will help me continue to give back and it encourages me to do so.This whole experience was life changing no matter how many times you go through it you always learn something new. I really enjoyed working with the Medical Marvels and donating to the Ronald McDonald house of charities.
Week 8
Our team decided on which organization is best for our investment by looking at their tax returns and listening to which had the best to say about their charity. We didnt really determine the amount to allocate yet we really just want to raise as much as we can. My experience working in a group was fun and exciting. It was pretty easy this time around being that I completed this program last year. Our group is in agreement on decision making.It has been a good experience working with main street philanthropy again this year:).
Week 6 and 7
What I learned from the non profit panel that will help us decide how to distribute our funds is that I got to hear about personal experiences helped they become so passionate about their organization. I got to learn interesting things about their charity I might have never known if it were not for the panel. For the interview I interviewed my cousin Vanessa because I wanted to know what someone my age has experienced with charity or how they felt about it. What she said that surprised me was that she has been helping charities and volunteering since she was five years old. What I learned from this conversation is that its so much more about giving than receiving in life. It feels so much better to give than get.
Week 5
What I am learning about the various ways to evaluate an investment in a company is that it’s so much more than just about looking at their tax returns. It is also about how passionate and committed these people are to their charity. Putting tax returns aside it’s about how much love they have for their organization, I do see more value in one method over the other. I would say actually being able to interact with workers of the charities is so much more helpful than reading tax returns. I believe this because you get to question them about anything you want that has to do with their organization. I’m finding it easy to evaluate non profit organizations for a potential investment in their cause. Getting the chance to interact with them really helped me learn why they are so passionate about their job and why they enjoy doing it. It helped me learn what their goals for their charity and that they are excited just to know they could potentially get a donation from us.
Week 4
What I learned about our organization which is Ronald McDonald House Charities was that they seem to use their money properly towards the cause that their charity supports. Their numbers seem to be good, they seem like a very wise choice to donate to this far. It is important to look at the numbers before making an investment because you need to insure that the charity is going to use your donation towards helping the cause and not using it for other things such as paying their employees. What I learned when looking at their tax returns is that they look like they really use all their donations towards helping the children dealing with illnesses and not for other things not benefiting the cause. I’m excited to keep working for this cause with my team members. I think so far this charity has a strong chance in being our final decision as our donation charity.
Week 3
My experience creating our teams Purpose, Vision, and Mission statements was that it was really easy to come to an agreement to what we wanted them to say. We were all pretty much on the same page when it came to knowing what we wanted to stand out in our statements. It was a little difficult for us finding the proper wording we wanted for our statements though. We tried to narrow it down right to the point what we wanted to achieve through this. What I expect to encounter when reaching out to organizations this week is for them to be very open about learning from us what main street philanthropy is and what our purpose is. I really hope they are excited to hear that we could potentially be donating to their organization.
Week 2
What I learned about myself from the brown paper bag activity was that my items from last year when I did this activity changed a lot. This year I chose items that had a lot more meaning to me. What I learned about my classmates from this activity were things I would have never known about them if we had never done this activity.This activity really helps you learn and connect with your team members on another level. Ever since participating in main street philanthropy last year I learned this activity really helps you learn more about others and may even help you realize that you are actually alike in some way. Our team fundraiser is still being thought through at this time.
week 4
It is important to look at the numbers before making an investment because it is important to know if your donations are going to be used properly and towards the cause you are supporting or if it’s being used to pay their employees. What I learned about our cause is that there are many organizations that work towards medical research and there are various organizations that support that cause located near us. What I learned from looking at the organizations we have considered tax returns has been that they seem to be using the money they have efficiently and towards the cause.I’m excited to keep working with my group and I look forward to continuing this program for the next couple of weeks:).I’m excited having a panel to talk to and ask questions to learn more about these organizations. I think it’ll definitely help us determine who we choose to donate to.
Week 1: What’s your passion?
I’m so excited to be doing this program again last year I had such a fun experience with it and I’m excited to complete this program again this year. This time with the MAD Cards it was a little easier choosing what cards I wanted to the be the final three.I decided to change it up this year with my cards because I wanted to experience working with another charity than last year and I want to experience this process with another topic.I learned that many people have concerns on the same topics. What I hope to gain this time around with Main Street Philanthropy is to learn more about myself and my classmates because there are people who are completely new to this program in the class.I hope to have a fun experience with my classmates during this program.I’m really excited to be working with Main Street Philanthropy again this year and I can’t wait for what is to come:).