Quality Education for All

By: Lauren

Lauren is participating in Allowance for Good's winter 2014 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program.

I am passionate about making quality educational opportunities available to all children and parents, regardless of their income and their environment.

I came from a poor household where my birth parents were uneducated and uninformed about what opportunities might be available to improve our family’s life. I had no exposure to reading or writing and attended an inner city school thru the first half of second grade. There were 38 children in my first grade class with only one teacher and no assistant. I could not get the help I needed because I didn’t know how to ask for it and my Mom and Dad didn’t know how to advocate for me. My life changed dramatically when my Mom allowed me to live with my godmother. She is a college graduate with a double degree. Suddenly I was immersed in learning, attending a quality district school in the suburbs and gradually coming out of my shell.

My godmother then enrolled me in Baker Demonstration School for middle school. My Mom and Dad would never have been able to do that because of the cost, even with financial aid. By 7th grade I realized how much I had been missing by not attending a quality school. I got all the help I needed and began to achieve academic success in all my subjects.

As a result of my experiences at Baker, I became committed to making the 2014 8th grade graduating class gift something of significance to provide an opportunity for a child like me to attend a high quality school. I am proud of myself because I led this charge. We decided on a scholarship for tuition costs and have been raising money throughout this school year to fund the scholarship through multiple means—bake sales, hot dog lunches, babysitting services, and various partnerships with local businesses.

I am hoping that the Class of 2015 will follow in our footsteps and make a second scholarship available. My classmates and I have worked hard to impress the 7th graders about the importance of this issue.

I will be attending Regina Dominican High School where there is a great emphasis on women’s leadership. I have already attended one of their conferences and learned a great deal about consensus-forming and incorporating diverse opinions into one goal and project. I am determined to continue to work on providing all children with the opportunity to escape a life of poverty through education. My dream is that those of us who get this opportunity will grow in number and commit to continuing the efforts to reach more and more children and their families.

Lauren tells us why she is a Catalyst for Good during our ELP: Explorers class. It reads, "I  am a Catalyst for Good because I am determined to give the choice of education to any child around the world!"

Families Giving Back Together – the Case for Starting Now

By Sharmila Rao Thakkar

Sharmila Rao Thakkar oversees grantmaking and administration at a small family foundation in Chicago, IL. In addition to making funding recommendations, she provides technical assistance to foundation grantees, leads the board’s strategic planning and board development activities including stewardship of the next generation.  From her early days as a grade school hospital candy-striper to tutoring children as a teenager and now mentoring young professionals, Sharmila brings a keen awareness and passion to her nonprofit and philanthropy work.  She is honored to sit on the board of Allowance for Good, and also serves as a trustee of the Chicago Foundation for Women and leader for her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

If you’re like many people, you likely do much of your charitable giving in the last quarter of the year, when you’re thinking about the holidays, the tax deduction, receiving donation requests or attending events and fundraisers that typically fall in the fall/winter.   It’s no coincidence that World Gratitude Day (September 21), World Kindness Day (November 13), Thanksgiving and as of two years ago Giving Tuesday (observed on the Tuesday after the post-Thanksgiving deal days) as well as host of other holidays that revolve around giving, thanking and gifting all occur during virtually the same time frame.   It’s end of year, when school food drives and coat drives and other collections take place, when nonprofit organizations are doing their year-end appeals and you could essentially be out at a fundraising event every day of the week – it’s just the typical time of year that has come to be known for giving back.

Network for Good reports that a third of all online annual giving (through their system) occurs in December, and 22% of annual giving happens in the last two days of the year.  And while most charities report receiving around 40% of their annual individual charitable donations in the last few weeks of the year [Source: Charity Navigator], here’s a push to start thinking about our philanthropy way before the traditional holiday season begins.  How about committing to set our philanthropic goals at year-beginning and spreading out our giving over the entire year? We’ve all partaken in some form or fashion in making our resolutions, budgeting, travel planning, and setting work, sports or school-year goals as we ring in the new year.  Doesn’t our philanthropy deserve the same planning?

Philanthropy, which quite literally means “love of humanity,” is sharing, helping, caring, showing concern and interest in the well-being of others. By starting the New Year with discussion of what we value as well as goal-setting, we prioritize our philanthropy for ourselves, for our families and for the causes and communities we care about.  We intentionally make space for it in our lives.  We are not rushed to identify organizations or balancing charitable giving and volunteering with budgets and schedules tapped out with holidays, travel, shopping and spending.  Starting sooner and taking time earlier gives individuals and families an opportunity to explore and perhaps be more thoughtful about the practice of not only giving back but acknowledging the deeply critical role connecting, giving and appreciating have in our lives.

Introducing philanthropy - thoughtful actions, meaningful impact

In our family, we have taken the approach of utilizing teachable moments vs.  one or repeated conversations about charity/giving back.   Philanthropy is not something you can just teach with words, it needs to be demonstrated.  I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin:  “Tell me and I’ll forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

At the beginning of last year, my family set aside a specific place for the kids to collect toys and clothes for donation throughout the year. This could include items they’ve outgrown, books in good condition, or unopened gifts.  It’s allowed them to be mindful of what they have and what others may need.  We taught them about the value of money and how it’s used and gave each one a save/spend/invest/donate piggy bank. They devised their own ways of utilizing the four options and methods for withdrawals.  So that when Hurricane Sandy hit, for example, they were ready and able to draw from there.  One of the most touching moments was watching my son figure out if he had enough in his spend or donate section to help his sister meet her Girl Scout cookie sales goal. 

We added a few extra items to the grocery list to be donated at upcoming food drives. And we researched shelters, hospitals or churches where we could volunteer to help out throughout the year.  Together, we joined other families and volunteers to participate in Be the Change National Day of Service canvassing the Devon area in Chicago with information about enrolling in the new health insurance coverage made possible by the Affordable Care Act. 

We implemented the practice of keeping a gratitude jar. Throughout the year, we all periodically take a moment to jot down something we are grateful for and deposit the slip within the container. Notes have ranged from what we’ve given, received, achieved, shared and experienced.  At the start of the New Year, we open the jar and read the notes together.  It’s a chance to both reminisce and celebrate because so much of philanthropy is about being grateful and sharing.

A few years ago, the adult members of my extended family decided to make a family contribution to an organization in lieu of exchanging individual gifts.  How enlightening it was to engage in a process of getting to know each other’s values and motivations and then to ultimately see a compounded gift go a distance further in achieving something good.  Who knew -- until we asked -- what each of us was involved in, cared about and where we overlapped.   It was an incredible experience to see how the simple “ask” to give turned into discovering individual family member interests and existing charitable giving initiatives. 

Take time to explore and identify values together

What issues are important to everyone in your family, and why? We may have various personal causes, but what’s the common denominator?  How much can we/do we want to give, and what might we want to achieve?  What might it mean we let go of or give up?  This dialogue is actually a quite critical piece of the act of charitable giving, whether you do it collectively as a family or couple or individually.

Other questions that have come up in our family discussions:

      - In these tough financial times, why should we give (time and/or dollars)?

      - How do we as donors decide which groups to give to or spend our time with? 

      - What information should we review to make sure our time and resources are well-spent? Where can we seek out good advice and guidance as we make decisions? 

      - And how do we evaluate charities and causes before and after our gifts?

      - What tools exist to make giving back easier, more impactful and lasting?

Some tips to get started on giving back with your children:

      - Talk to each other – Share what you see, what they see, what they hear, what they have questions about.

      - Tell them about your job/career/extracurricular activities – Why do you do what you do, how and where does money come from and what it is used for.
 - Share what giving back is all about – Why is it important and how it makes you feel.  Your child may get an allowance or cash as birthday gifts. Consider having them set aside portions to save, spend, donate and invest. 
 - Start small – It may be your child putting a few of their coins into the collection tin. Eventually, she might choose to make a donation to a specific cause in lieu of birthday gifts.

      - Identify interests, values and make a commitment – Giving back comes in many forms: time (volunteering), talent (skills/resources), treasure (money) and ties (relationships/connections) … Have a conversation about what works best for your child(ren)/family and decide on something specific.

      - Volunteer together – Make it a family affair by selecting an activity together. While you may be interested in serving Thanksgiving meals at a food pantry, your child may love animals.  Perhaps a visit to the local animal shelter would draw your child’s interest.

Whatever avenues you choose to bring your family into the fold, know that it’s an invaluable component to building stronger individuals, families and communities.  Being philanthropic together is an opportunity to discover and learn about other people, other places, current events and important issues.  It’s a way to understand the world and how to relate to others.  It opens up possibilities to grow as people, to develop community and to foster change.  Giving back is not only personally fulfilling (there’s research about how doing good helps us feel good and keep us healthy!), it generates an awareness of one as connected to something bigger and beyond.  And that is the truest meaning of philanthropy.

      It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.   - Joyce Maynard

Reflecting on the Season of Giving

By: Karin Scott
Karin is the Program Manager for Allowance for Good.

When December rolls around each year, I remember a program called Share Joys, which
would raise money for a week in December through various activities at my high school
and then use that money to purchase winter clothing for children in the school system
who needed it. On those early Saturday mornings at Sears, I became an expert shopper –
able to choose a coat, shoes, hat, gloves, pants, sweaters, underwear, and socks for up to
five children in less than three hours while making sure I only spent the allocated amount
on each child. After the chaotic shopping and wrapping of gifts, each shopper dropped off
the clothing at the child’s house. As I ventured into parts of my small town that I didn’t
know existed, I was overwhelmed by the stark inequalities a simple Midwestern town of
30,000 people can have. Though those harsh realities were quickly melted away by the
bright face of the boy who answered the door, with cereal still stuck to his chin from the
mornings’ breakfast. As he clutched the clothes and gave me a gap-toothed smile it was
all I could do to resist hugging the small stranger across the doorway.

Reflecting on giving during this season I am reminded of the boys and girls across our
own country who are more excited to see a new winter coat than the newest action
figure or princess doll. Or the ones who go without dinner most nights yet are supposed
to somehow keep warm during these cold months ahead. And I am all over again,
overwhelmed.

Flipping through the TV channels and reading my email inbox, all I hear and see are ads
telling me to buy this, save on that, get half price on that thing you’ll use once and then
forget you have. I am again overwhelmed by the amount of things one can purchase, and
what are considered essentials to everyday life.

And like each year before it, I make a promise to myself that I will not ask for gifts, that
I will ask for monetary donations to worthy nonprofit organizations instead, and will
donate whatever gifts I receive. However, after I take a few breaths and get away from
the season’s spending mayhem, I understand that to deprive one’s self of certain joys
does little in the long-term action of giving, and makes one unthankful for what they have
been blessed with in life.

Rather, this season of giving is a chance to refocus from the overwhelming world of
needs and wants. It is a chance to recommit to giving, and maybe to challenge ourselves
to give more in this coming year. To commit to donating more money, to volunteering
in a new place, to offering our skills to a non-profit organization who can use them. It is
a chance to recognize what we have been given in life and to use it for good, not just for
one day, or one season, but for the future.

Go ahead and rejoice over that new tablet, and perhaps use it to look up new volunteer
opportunities in your neighborhood, and those new boots will certainly help you walk to
that after school tutoring program down the street. Do not be overwhelmed by the material
things and the ever-complicated social problems, but use your passion and your gifts to
recommit to giving this season.

Celebrating Our Growing Cohort of Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy

By: Clarkie

Clarkie has volunteered with Allowance for Good for over two years and serves as an advisor to our educational programming.

It has been an honor to co-lead the Autumn 2013 session of Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy. Throughout the past ten weeks, we have explored all things philanthropy -- from the philanthropic landscape to international development and non-profit accountability. We discussed individual giving, corporate philanthropy, and the different types of foundations. Our students listened -- and asked thoughtful questions -- to speakers from the field: Stephanie Denzer, from our partner Spark Ventures; Sharmila Rao Thakker of The Siragusa Foundation; Sejal Shah-Myers of The Springboard Foundation; Jenny Daugherty of AbbVie; and Maya Cohen of GlobeMed. On October 30, we attended a talk by Princeton professor of Bioethics, Peter Singer; as leaders, we were especially impressed by the critical way our ELP students responded to his opinions on effective altruism.

Moving forward, our students are going to work together on their own philanthropic project to increase awareness of Allowance for Good, share their newly developed knowledge with their peers, and raise funds to send to our partner Spark Ventures in Twapia, Zambia. The ELPers will use the skills they have learned and the ideas sparked from our weeks together in the classroom to develop ideas and execute what we have faith will be an informative and successful project. I cannot wait to follow their progress, and we look forward to sharing their project with our AfG family. 

Our group is filled with engaged learners and future philanthropic leaders. They understand what it means to be a global citizen and are true AfG Catalysts. We hope they will continue exploring and asking questions as emerging leaders and are excited to announce that they will have the opportunity to keep learning with Allowance for Good in our Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy second level course. In ELP Level 2, we will delve deeper into non-profit organizational structure, grant making, the relationships between grantee and grantor, and assessing the good governance of non-profits. ELP level 2 will be offered in the Spring.

Members of our second cohort of Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy with their certificates in Global Philanthropic Leadership.

Assessing Worldwide Human Rights

By: Jackson

Jackson is participating in Allowance for Good's autumn 2013 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program.

This week at EPL session eight, we learned about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. These eight goals were set in the year 2000, to be completed by 2015. These goals include: eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and women’s rights, reducing child morality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and creating a global partnership for development. A great deal of progress has been made towards achieving these goals, but there is still much work to be done in order to accomplish them by 2015. Whether or not they are entirely accomplished by 2015, these goals have set us on the right path towards bettering the quality of life for all, all around the globe.

This week Maya Cohen, the executive director of Globemed, visited us in class. Globemed is an organization that partners groups of university students with local organizations in less developed countries looking to better their own communities. These partnerships last through multiple generations of students, and focus on creating a tight bond between the students and the organization. The students typically raise funds for the organization, but also contribute physical service in an annual trip to visit the partner organization. Ms. Cohen explained this to us, as well as how Globemed’s focus is not only on the health of a community, but the quality of the community as a whole. Different organizations working within the same community can often achieve a greater affect than one organization alone.

It has been said that true philanthropy is done through the donation of one’s time, talent and treasure. This made me skeptical of Globemed’s credibility as a truly philanthropic organization, considering it is difficult to donate anything but treasure from thousands of miles away. What sets Globemed apart from other organizations though is the unique one on one partnering of students and organizations that lasts well past any one student’s time at their university. Unlike other charitable organizations, Globemed follows the money they raise and help the local organizations find the most efficient way to spend it. This truly makes it a philanthropic organization.

At the end of class, we partook in an activity titled “What is a Human Right?” In this activity, we brainstormed ideas of what are basic rights all humans are entitled to. Responses varied from basic necessities such as food, water and shelter, to more idealistic answers such as a right to representation, a right to fair compensation for services and a right to freedom from persecution. It struck me how many of these human rights we take for granted in the U.S., and how even if the U.N.’s millennium goals are accomplished there is still a long way to go to moral and social equality. Many people worldwide do not have access to what we consider basic necessities, and it is our job to advocate for equal rights for all.

This was one more excellent week at EPL, where we all learned a lot and engaged in meaningful discussion. There is no doubt in my mind that next week will be even more productive than this week was.

Jackson presents to his fellow ELP students.