This week we talked a little about each of our groups and our progress in raising money. However the main event was when we skype chatted with representatives from Sanford & Burnham in Orlando. They were apparently wanting to drive down to our class, but we didn’t have enough organizations to have a second panel of guests. They did however give an interesting speech about the work they do and we were able to ask the questions. The whole thing went through with only minor technical problems. Sanford & Burnham seems like a very good organization to look into, however our group is focused on Hunger.

We went through and rated many of the non-profits that we had contacted to see how effective each was, but also to see if they were passionate about what they did. From early on we had our minds set on the Palm Beach County Food Bank, but after examining their From 990s and reading different materials available on them they appeared as the clear choice. It was also interesting to see that there appears to be a lack of non-profits targeting hunger in South Florida as stated by a very interesting article I had found. In other news Tova’s and Alexandra’s fundraiser appears to be on track.

This week we had several people come to speak to our class. They came to discuss their organization. The two big winners in my mind were Peggy Adams and Scripps. Peggy Adams gave specific stories that made their work seem more relevant to our community and helped us relate to how our money would be used. The graduate student from Scripps also did a wonderful job in providing a window into what they do on a daily basis, along with giving an interesting argument for why this research is important. All in all it was a fantastic experience that seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. Shout-out to our visitor from the Palm Beach County Food Bank!

This week we went through the process of making vision, purpose, and mission statements for our team: Hungry to Help. We all had a general idea of what we wanted to do as a team, but to turn our ideas into a nice-sounding, grammatically correct, sentence was a little difficult. However after a little discuss we settled on some very good statements. This activity was also an incite into how non-profits function because they typically also have these statements. I have faith that our team will go far in the weeks to come.

This week we had a accountant,  Mr. Cohner, who deals with taxes come in to discuss various topics related to non-profit organizations’ finances. We discussed the size and complexity of the entirety tax code. We also took an in depth look at the tax Form 990 that each non-profit must make available. It shows how the revenue made by the organization is distributed: either to more fundraising attempts, administrative costs, and actual programs that further their vision. Calculating the ratios of the distribution of their revenues will help us select the right organization. It is also important to recognize that this is a very quantitative measure of an organization. But it is also important to look at each organization from a qualitative organization.