Project Bread (Written by Kimberly Slack)

Today our class traveled to East Boston to visit the headquarters of Project Bread. After a long bus ride we received a warm welcome from were invited into the conference room with hot coffee and waters for everyone. The employees at Project Bread were just as interested in our class as we are in them. They asked us to each introduce ourselves and had us give them an overview about our class and how it functions. They were very organized and had flyers and power point presentation. They gave an overview of their organization and there previous accomplishments, including the success they have had with their well known event, the Walk for Hunger. Last year alone, the fundraiser raised enough money to fund 236 anti-hunger programs throughout the state. It is clear that the work they are doing is important, impact, and necessary. One in every 10 household in Massachusetts struggle with hunger, and Project Bread’s main goal is to prevent and end hunger in the state.

On top of the success of their current programs, Project Bread is innovative and trying out new ways to overcome the barriers they are facing in ending and preventing hunger. One of those barriers is reaching people who live in rural areas. To do this, they have designed a program called Meals on Wheels that will deliver meals to designated areas in the town that any child under the age of 18 is welcome to make use of our services. Our class’s donation would provide almost all of the necessary funds to get this project running. The employees at this organization were friendly and welcoming, and their passion for this cause and helping others was clear. This meeting has made project bread an even stronger candidate for this grant than they already were.

My Life My Choice (Written by Myah Powers)

Today the class headed to My Life My Choice, in Boston MA. My Life My Choice is an organization that is helping exploited youth. They do this through survivor lead mentor ships and do training so professionals who come into contact with youth can see the warning signs.

While at My Life My Choice the passion behind each of the employees was radiating. We met Lisa, executive director and Ann, director of mentoring services. They were just so incredibly passionate and genuine about the work they are doing, and I think that is an important factor in non-profits. I enjoyed the vibe of our meeting, Lisa and Ann were great at making it feel like a conversation, they were not over the top at all and very confident just being themselves. I think this speaks for their organization. They were very excited to tell us about some news they had found out that morning about a law being passed to prevent sex trafficking on online websites, such as back page. I thought it was great that they are not only focusing on their mentees and their services in the community but also fighting for the whole big picture. My Life My Choice has traveled to many states to spread awareness and provide training. We wrapped up our meeting with some questions and they were all answered well. Overall, I personally believe My Life My Choice did a fantastic job presenting themselves and showing why they deserve the grant.

My Life My Choice (Written by Kiara Davis)

So I'll start off by mentioning how great of an organization My Life My Choice is. through our grant proposal process, we as a class got to learn in depth about the amazing work these human trafficking survivor mentors are providing to youth who are being sexually exploited. It is no wonder the bus ride down to Boston from campus was a ride full of chatter and excitement. We were finally at the place where we could go in person and talk with the wonderful people who created My Life My Choice.

During our site visit, it quickly became evident that the organization was covering a topic that none of us could imagine to see or deal with on a regular basis. Hearing from a survivor herself, who now mentors children was very profound and left an impression on me. The two women who created My Life My Choice were very open to sharing what they do, how they got started and the success they have been privileged to be apart of. 

Through the entire meeting with the ladies I had to keep in the back of my mind that every organization is going to sound wonderful but there are two others I will have to compare this one to. Honestly, the fact that we were talking about Human Trafficking... in children made it very difficult for me to imagine any other organization being more in need of our funding. I believe that a few of my classmates have also struggled with remaining objective when it comes to critiquing the proposals and organizations, the exact thing we were there to do.

Even so, our site visit to My Life My Choice was an important part of this course as a whole and I feel as though it provided something that we otherwise would not have gotten. Something intangible that I can't even put into words but will stay with everyone for a very long time. I feel like it would be impossible for anyone to take this exact same course and come out the same as they were prior. 

On the bus ride back from the site visit Dr Ira, our professor mentioned to us once again, that we should keep in mind this was only the first site visit and our feelings about it may change as time goes on and as we continue to the other two site visits. I find it so unfortunate to have to make such a significant decision of allocating funds to an organization based solely on how well they're presentation fits our RFP requirements. During conversation with my peers on the ride back I found that many others were disappointed with this as well. 

I will say I have definitely learned first hand how difficult it is to make decisions based more so on rationality, than emotions. I can now imagine what it must be like not only in the business world, but also in the philanthropy world where people are dealing with such sensitive issues and touch decisions on a regular basis.

I do find that the exposure to such experiences has been incredibly valuable to my personal education and life experiences. i look forward to discussing the site visit in class discussion when it comes time. Stay tuned for what that's like!

Our Fund Raising Progress (Written by Tiffany Evens)

As a class, we have come together and have created goals to raise as much money as we could. Whatever money we raised from our many forms of fund raising, Doris Buffet and the Learning By Giving Foundation will match to give to Bethany Hill Place. Bethany Hill Place is a non profit that focuses on providing housing for those that are homeless. We were given the opportunity earlier on in our class to visit their facilities, and we were able to understand where our hard work will go to. We are pleased and grateful for this opportunity to give to those that can help others that are in need.

We were delighted to meet with Amy Kingman and Shanna O'Berry from the Learning by Giving Foundation. We really were able to learn more about our great opportunity to participate in giving away a grant of $10,000. We also learned that it is much more than just giving away the grant, it is also about learning the process, and changing our own perspective on giving. During their visit, we also informed them about our fund raising that we decided to do on our own, which is not a requirement of the class.

The Raffle was one of the many forms of fund raising that we have done in our class. In addition the gift basket shown, we also were able to get a parking space close to the school for finals week a signed baseball from the Red Sox!
Other forms of fund raising that our class completed was a GoFundMe account, going out and asking for money, and even a percentage of profits from a nearby restaurant. The process of organizing and being a part of a group with a goals has been a rewarding journey.

Heading Home Site Visit! (Written by Jamie Gobiel)

On Wednesday April 17th, our Non Profit Giving class visited Heading Home in Dorchester Massachusetts. Our trip there was long and we hit a lot of traffic. Once we got there we were shuffled between floors and no one working in the office seemed to know why we were there or where we should go. Once we got settled, they brought us into a nice office with snacks and refreshments. Since we got there so late, they shortened a lot of their PowerPoint and descriptions in order for us to have enough time to ask our questions. We were shown a Presentation of how to handle student debt and loans which was a nice way to relate our lives to the lives of the clients of Heading Home. This was an example of how the economic mobility center helps others.  However, it seemed to me that it was an insufficient use of our time there. They then moved on to describe more of their program and how they help their clients and the types of shelters they provide, which was great. They also showed us a video of a mother and her daughter being moved into a permanent apartment with the help of Heading Home. This was a great way to get us motivated to want to help them and provide them funding. Overall our experience was disheveled at first but as our visit went on I got to see the purpose and passion the three members of the Heading Home team had in helping their clients and really changing their lives for the better.

Class Experience (Written by Kimberly)

We are now more than halfway through the semester and with each class, our list of potential recipients grows smaller and class conversations become more intense. The two nonprofits focused on in todays class couldn’t be more different. Project Bread is an organization whose mission is to provide healthy and nutritious food to the hungry and have a strong focus on preventing and ending hunger. The organization is strong and innovative and beneficial to many.
Following an in-depth discussion about Project Bread, we moved on to our second focus of the day: The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. This organization is one like no other discussed in class so far, whose purpose is to provide emotional support to families who have been affected by murder. The most controversial part of this organization that was dedicated to most of our discussion is the fact that they support families of both the victims and the families of those who have been incarcerated for murder. This organization and unique and important, but some in our class was unsure of how they felt about donating to an organization that supports those who are associated with such severe crimes. Especially when we have a list of nonprofits that support those desperately in need and haven’t harmed others. This question sparked a strong and emotional debate amongst the class, especially because students in this classroom have suffered from this issue.
For me, it was shocking to see that people in the class have been affected by murder because I have never been affected by such a tragedy or known anyone who has. I think one of the best things about this class is how eye opening it can be to the lives of our fellow classmates. We get a glimpse into the experiences of our classmates and gain a greater understanding of how we each relate differently to the nonprofits we are discussing.
Right as tensions were rising, a pleasant surprise was sent to our classroom: Domino’s pizza sent from Shanna at the Learning By Giving Foundation. This unexpected gift boosted class moral and relieved much of the stress present in the classroom from our in-depth and sensitive discussion. Our whole class is very grateful from this sweet gesture.