Finally, my group has come to a conclusion. We have chosen to donate to Children’s Hospital. We decided this was best for our group “helping hands” because once the lady from Children’s came in and provided all the information for their place we thought it was amazing. Helping Hands is still working on making money but, will have it by this week Thursday, May 3. I enjoy working with the people in my group because they are functional and easy to work with. Our group as a whole is good at making decisions and if we have anything in our way we work around it and make things happen for the best. I can handle disagreement well as followed with my group. We don’t really have any disagreements but, I feel as though my group can compromise well. Next week, I am expecting to give our donations to our organizations and make a difference in others lives.

Last week we had a few more members come in for a panel discussion on Thursday, April 19th. While the members sat down they shared what they do and their role in everything. Once they finished many students asked questions about their jobs and what they plan to do in the future. Although, while doing this project there are many tough choices to make but, at the end my team and I will end up getting through it together. I enjoy having these many organizations coming in so that even if we wanna change our minds we will have a backup. Overall, the fundraising experience is getting harder and harder by getting others to know buy our product but, in the end we will get the job done.

We recently had four members in for a panel discussion on Thursday, April 12th. When these members sat down and talked about themselves it surprised me on how much everyone agreed with each other and were so happy that we were doing this as a class. While doing this project I feel as though it’s a tough decision on which organization to choose between. I don’t think it will change the way my group is thinking but it was definitely good to listen to and hear as a backup decision. Overall, our fundraising experience is not that hard but we do often have some problems as a group that we have to work around. I also feel as though my group is having a difficult time thinking of ways to make money for the group of people we want to donate to.

I have learned that so far in the different ways we evaluate in an investment that the 990 form can be very helpful in many different ways. I feel as though any method can work and it’s easier to work with a group of people than doing it on your own. I prefer to work with a group than doing this on my own because with having the extra support when you get lost helps a lot and you can each get assigned apart or just simply compare answers at the end. I find most of this easy because I think of it as “The nonprofit sector is being flooded with people who have spent a day, a year, or a whole career in the for-profit sector and have decided that now is the time for change. The lines between corporate and community are shrinking, and the value of those from each sector is rapidly being understood and capitalized upon by the other.” which is showing nonprofits valuing many business skills.

As a group we talked and learned that our cause/organization is to keep families together and promote the health and well-being of children. It is important to check out the numbers and files in the process because as we evaluate organizations, we are not going to donate to them; we are going to invest. As I looked at the files and tax returns for the Ronald McDonald House Charity I found out that the last tax year published was 2013. The total revenue for the IRS form 990 was $4,260,858 and the overall expenses were $1,934,846. Our team purpose is to help children who are hurt or ill and we will work up to this.

My group and I came up with our Purpose, Vision, and Mission statements this week. We said that our teams purpose is to serve our community by supporting children who need hospital and medical care. Our vision is helping raise money for more advanced technology in hospitals. We want the best technology and the most accurate to get those results for patients and any others. My team’s mission for the next few weeks are coming up with ideas for fundraising and calling different charities and organizations to help better our understanding and decision for where all our money will go to.

While going around the classroom and sharing what was in our brown paper bag I learned that there are many different people in different sports and after school activities. I also found out who is in my group to make a fundraiser to support a nearby hospital/medical facility. Our goal is to give at least give $250 to a hospital by selling a product; possibly stickers. We didn’t exactly figure out when we will hold everything because my group wasn’t all here and some of us wanted to wait to see what others thought of the idea.

While I was using the make a difference cards, I figured out who I would like to help out in our society and what others thought about it. My top three causes I picked out were hospital and medical care, children and youth services, and environmental protection. Something I learned about myself while doing the activity was that I enjoy helping people out and want others to be happy and healthy. Another thing I had learned about others while using the MAD cards is that one member of my group had experiences while in the hospital and wants to give love and support to others that are suffering in the hospital. Throughout this Main Street Philanthropy I hope to gain many skills and help others in multiple ways. I will try to be a better leader and member to any group(s) throughout this class.