My teams name was Care for Kids and we donated to Variety. We decided on Variety because we all had the common background of wanting a change and better the living conditions of children in Wisconsin. We donated a total of $405.00 to Variety to support a disabled girl in Washington County to get a special bike made for her. We believe that riding a bike is something every child learns to do or needs to learn to do. With our donation we hope we make a difference. My experience working in a group environment went really well, everyone pulled their own weight and everyone contributed to our common goal. It seemed pretty easy to me and my peers that were in my group.

how did your team decide on which organizations are best for your investment? How did you determine the amounts to allocate?
2. What has your experience been in working in a group environment? Are you finding it’s easy? Difficult? Is your group in agreement on decisions being made? How are you handling disagreement?

This past week we had our second panel discussion. My group didn’t invite a organization this week because already did the week before. My favorite organization that joined us was Children’s Hospital.  I learned that Children’s Hospital helps with foster children entire life from homes to insurance. I didn’t realize that they help out with foster kids and adoptive kids. I always thought that all they helped with was children who are injured or sick. Something that surprised me was how much this lady cared about her organization. I asked the question “What is the hardest thing you face everyday at your job” and she began to cry very hard. 

The panel of non-profit leaders was a very amazing to hear about. Unfortunately I missed it due to a field trip that I was invited to.  From what I heard many things surprised me, one of them being how different each organization is. Each of the different organizations seem to bring something different to the table as what they do.  Each group and leader brings a different set of skills and focus on different topics. The other thing is that each person that came in all shared some similar characteristics. Each and everyone of them is looking to make a difference in the community, or the state of Wisconsin as a whole. I am learning that through the fundraiser there are many people that want to do great things in the community as well.

There a few different ways to determine or evaluate a company. One of them being what their 990 tax forms look like. 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.  A good organization will have volunteers that are excited to be there, helping and giving their time for the cause. Seeing how things run throughout the organization and what they believe in is way more valuable than numbers on paper. I find it somewhat easy to tell if they are a good organization to donate to but if you are stuck between two really good non-profit organizations it can be difficult.

Based off of my organizations 990 form I learned that they are a very good organization to donate too because they use all of the money that is donated to them correctly and for the right purpose. It is important to look at numbers before making an investment to make sure the money given is given back to the organization and not used any where else. I learned from my company’s 990 form that they use the money properly and encourages me to donate to them

This week in class we created Purpose, Vision, and Mission statements for our fundraiser and organization. Our Purpose, Vision, and Mission statement is we are going to help children in our community that are less fortunate. These are important because they keep your mind on task and always on the right way. In class this week I did a mock call with Mrs. Silbernagel to show the class what a call would look and sound like. Then I volunteered to call my teams organization on the phone. We called Jay Fischer at Boys and Girls club of Washington county. We spoke and I asked him to come to the informational meeting and he agreed. We have to reach 1 or 2 more organizations so that we have options as who we want to possibly donate money to.

This week in class we did the brown paper bag activity, I learned some new interesting facts about people from this project. This project enables you to learn a something that this person has experienced or has gone through in their life. We were grouped up into teams for the next project in this class. My group is made of Sirius Richards, JJ Thull, and Kira T, and our team name is Care for Children. We all had a mutual cause, and that was helping children no matter what situation they are in. We are in the middle of communicating with some organizations to donate money to. I will tell you in a later blog what organization we choose. We also have not came into a conclusion as to what we will be fundraising. I will also tell you that in a later blog. Our group does have a goal of reaching 250 $ of sales to donate. We chose 250 because it is realistic and it is something that we can surpass.