As a college student, I don’t often have the budget to give to all the
organizations I would like to support. However, I am almost always one to be
“guilted into” giving to charity. Whether it’s a Salvation Army bell-ringer
around the holidays, the Girl Scouts selling cookies, or rounding up to the
nearest dollar on my order to give to the food pantry, I am usually a very easy
sell. The way I think about it, giving in small amounts has a fairly
insignificant effect on my finances. However, I always hope that my small gift
can contribute to a bigger change. It’s also incredibly hard for me to look
someone in the eyes who is in need or advocating for those who are and tell
them I don’t have a few dollars I can spare. I think that many students can
relate to this dilemma of wanting to give and being passionate about
organizations but not having the means to make a gift that feels truly
significant.
When I think of the term philanthropy, I generally think of millions of
dollars being donated by people who have billions of dollars. Prior to taking
this class, I never would have considered the small donations I make a few
times a month to be acts of philanthropy. However, our discussion in class on
the large impact that small gifts can have definitely encouraged me to view
philanthropy from a different angle. I really related to the sentiment David
Callahan expressed about feeling like a smaller personal donation is fairly
insignificant compared to Gates and Bloombergs of the world. The Rosen family’s
approach of giving smaller gifts to lesser known non-profit organizations seems
to be a very significant, personal and effective way to practice philanthropy.
Although they certainly will not gain as much recognition for these acts as
they would giving to elite universities, the impact of these gifts on smaller
non-profits is so much greater.
After our class discussion, I looked more into
the idea of giving smaller gifts and whether this was still considered to be
philanthropy. I was curious as to whether significant non-profit foundations
focused the bulk of their attention on big time donors or if they also paid
attention to every-day people giving what they could. I came across an article
written by the President and CEO of the Carnegie Corporation on the Carnegie Medal
of Philanthropy’s website. In the article, (Small Gift, Big Giver), he
discusses a gift given to the New York Public Library that really stood out to
him out of all the donations he received throughout his years in the non-profit
sector. The donation was given in the form of a Social Security check with a
note attached explaining that the giver had little to offer, but hoped that
this gift would help. This article really encapsulated for me what philanthropy
could look like for those who are students or don’t have much to give. I don’t
have much to give, but after reading these articles I know that what I give
still can make a difference on some level.
Hi, Mary Kate:
ReplyDeleteYour idea of philanthropy and the aspects behind it really stood out to me. In today’s society, philanthropy is often associated with large amounts of money given to non-profit organizations. Oprah Winfrey, Bill and Melinda Gates, and even Ellen DeGeneres are always considered as philanthropists because they distribute their own wealth to movements or organizations that they truly believe in. This is simply not the case, as philanthropy reaches far beyond giving billions, if not, millions of dollars to different charities and non-profits.
Philanthropists Sandy and Joan Weill wrote an article for CNBC in 2013 talking about how the concept of philanthropy isn’t just about donating money. It’s about “donating your time, energy, experience, and intellect to the causes and organizations you are passionate about.” College students, including myself, are definitely limited financially and do not have the budget to donate even $50 to an organization of their choice. Having the urge and the passion to serve within a community is philanthropy itself. Garrett Camp, the founder of Camp Foundation, explains: when each person within a group contributes to “sharing advices or spending time solving important problems,” that is philanthropy as well. This term or concept has such a wide range and can be defined on how a person puts it. After thinking about this and evaluating this term, philanthropy has so much levels that even we, as college students, can be considered as a philanthropists.
While money may seem like a huge factor, it is not the only thing you can donate. You can also donate your time, passion, experience, and even ideas. This is what philanthropy is truly about.
https://www.cnbc.com/id/101019341
https://medium.com/@gc/giving-back-705d3293be41
Hi Mary Kate,
ReplyDeleteI think first and foremost that it is important to understand that even as college students, there is so much we can do. Regarding philanthropy, of course our budgets are tight, due to tuition, food costs, maybe even transportation costs. However, not only money needs to be or can be donated. Beliefs, ideas, time, effort can all be donated; and at times, these things are more useful than money. Take an animal shelter for example. I wouldn’t say an animal shelter necessarily needs money, but rather people who are able to work with animals, raise awareness for them and help to get them forever homes. Physically, money means a lot more than spending two hours a week somewhere. But in so many cases it’s apparent that philanthropy and supporting foundations, organizations, shelters and such don’t have to come through donating money. Especially as college students, our time is probably more well-spent giving back through our physical actions or mentality, as opposed to money.
With that being said, if one wants to donate money, they should never be ashamed by how little they are able to give or how much someone else is able to give. In my eyes, the act of philanthropy is concerned with the action and effort of an individual to bettering or supporting a cause as opposed to a monetary amount. When we look at these tremendous donations being given by large-scale foundations or trusts, we may get discouraged. If a donor provides $1 million to somewhere, why would our $5 donation matter? Well, any donation matters. I very much doubt that non-profits would ever think about rejecting a small donation—even as small as a penny. I know that from personal experience, I’ve donated from a range of $1 to $100 to various organizations: some local, some more global such as St. Jude’s. Never once did I feel like my contribution did not matter. As mentioned before, I’m sure that some non-profits or organizations could do much more good with more money, but it isn’t the amount of money that matters, but rather the effort taken by the individual to make any donation at all.
I think there is a stigma surrounding donations: donations need to be big to matter; and donations must be money. I am in the same boat as you: I’m a sucker for charity. Any time I see a homeless person on the road I feel obligated to give them something. I do not give them money though. Why? I feel that money will not help them as much as being given a hot meal, or a new jacket. When you give money, you are expecting that they will use it for good. Now I’m sure that many people who receive money do good with it, but there have been times where I’ve seen money go to waste. I think it’s important when you think about donating something physical what the appropriate course of action would be. Does a place or person need $100, or could they reap more of a benefit being given six pairs of shoes? To bring this point back to one of my first ones, you can leave a much bigger impact on a place if you understand what they truly need. Money is not always the answer, and in the case of being a college student, we have so much more to offer than whatever money we can scrape up.