We decided that Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin would be the best for our investment because they had all of the requirements for what we wanted to donate to. We wanted to donate somewhere that helps children when they are sick, hurt or even just when they need to get back on their feet. We decided to donate all of the money that we raised to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. My experience with working in a group environment has been good. I liked working as a group because then you don’t have to depend on yourself to raise a lot of money. You have people who can help you do that task. I found it easy when we were discussing about what we wanted to do as a group because we all listened to each other and had our own opinions. I found it difficult when it came to deciding on what we were going to do when fundraising. We could not think of anything to do. When we finally decided on what to do, we were unable to do that so we had to go back to square one. My group has been pretty easy to make decisions with. We all wanted to do the same things. We are handling the disagreements by discussing our own opinions about whatever we are disagreeing on.

I am learning how important it is to give a little in life. It doesn’t have to be big but it can change someone’s life. Whoever it will help will be greatly appreciated.  It will help them continue or even help them get on their feet. It is so easy to think about ourselves, but not everyone thinks about others. I has not been easy because it is difficult to figure out a fundraiser to help people in need, but we made it work. Our group has decided to donate to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. We chose Children’s Hospital because we wanted to help children who are sick, hurt or just need help through life. We thought that this organization would be the perfect fit.

The panel discussion was really an eye opener for me because is showed me that non-profit organizations all have a passion and that passion directed them to be apart of their organization. When the members sat down and we started, they discussed what each of their organizations do. It was amazing to hear what each of them did. I had known a lot of the organizations, but didn’t know a lot in depth about them. After listening to them, it made me think about wanting to be like them. They all were really passionate about their organization. During my fundraising experience, I am learning that a lot of people really want to help organizations, whether that is by donating or buying your product. I also am learning that it is a lot easier to do a fundraiser and make money for something in a group than by yourself.

I am learning that when you evaluate the different investments in companies, you realize that some companies don’t do everything they should do to support the cause they are trying to promote. They make a lot of advertising that they need funds and that they do what they can to help, but when you look at their 990’s, you see that their total expenses are severely high. I like looking at the 990’s because you can see every detail. I find it somewhat easy to decide if they are a good organization to donate to. The hardest part is rating which organization is the best one to donate to.

This week when researching our organizations, I learned that our cause/organization promote the health and well-being of children. We also looked at some organizations 990’s. I looked at one for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I found out that their sustainability is 232.7 months which a good thing. It shows that this organization will be able to survive if all donations and revenue cease. I also found out that their cost to raise $1 is $0.20. This also is very good because it shows how efficient the organization may be at raising funds. It was important to look at the numbers before making an investment because you need to make sure that they will do the right thing with the money and can see how much they are using for expenses.

My experience in creating our purpose showed me that thinking of what you want to as a goal is fun and exciting. As a group, we decided to be named “Helping Hands”. Our team purpose was to help children who are hurt and/or ill. These are important because it helps you make a goal to help someone or something in need. You need to have that planned out about what you would like to make a difference in.

I think that when I reach out to organizations this week, they will be pleased that we are thinking about donating to their organization. I hope that we will get responses from the organizations that are willing to come in a talk about their group and help us make our decision.

During the second week of Main Street Philanthropy, I was absent. If I were to participate in the Brown Paper Bag Activity, I would have put a music note, a picture of my family, and picture of my friends and I in the bag. The music note represents my passion for music. The picture of my family is because I love my family and would do anything for them. The picture of my friends and I would also be in there because my friends support me a lot and I support them also.

With this activity I would have hoped to take away so knowledge about what my classmates are like. I would have liked to see what everyone else would have brought in to represent themselves. Another thing would have been to hear some of the stories about why they would have brought it in.

In my group we are hoping to fundraise for a hospital or medical care charity. We have not decided completely what we would do to make that money, but we are hoping to make at least $250 for a special organization.

During class we used the MAD (Make a difference) cards. Each card had a different topic on it. I learned that I care about a lot of different topics. I was unable to just pick six of those topics at first. It was even harder to only pick three after that. Once I decided which three I cared about most, I discovered that it wasn’t the three that I was expecting. My top three were hospitals and medical care, children and youth services, and hunger. I thought that these three were very important to help raise money for. I learned that a lot of other people want to help make a difference in the same categories as me. I liked hearing what others thought about when they picked their top three also.

While participating in the Main Street Philanthropy Program, I hope to gain more giving techniques. I usually give to charity if they are seen. For example bell ringers that stand outside of stores. I give to that, but the charities that were on the MAD cards I never really thought about. I hope that by participating, it will show me how much fun it will be to really look into charities and reading about them and how I can help will be.