Students in NPM 302 stand with Ruth Bernstein, professor of Nonprofit Management, in the Faculty Dining Room on Nov. 17. Students put together a Giving Ceremony to honor the nonprofits they chose with grant money. Photo courtesy of Vivian Chan
On Nov. 17, students taking NPM 302, Financial Development for Nonprofit Organizations, hosted a Giving Ceremony event for local nonprofits in the Faculty Dining Room. At the ceremony, the culmination of student classwork throughout the semester, students awarded $84,000 to various nonprofit organizations.
President Jim Gash, Provost Jay Brewster and Lee Kats, dean of Seaver College, gave the opening remarks for the Giving Ceremony followed by the awarding of the grant money.
“I’m so grateful that you have all had this incredible learning opportunity that I never had as a student,” said Gash, who majored in Finance as an undergraduate at Abilene Christian University. “As a Finance major, we studied how to make money, how to grow businesses — not to engage in the community and help those who have dedicated their lives to lifting others and empowering them.”
Junior Deanie Woodruff said choosing which nonprofits to give the grant money to took the entire semester. The class started with 19 nonprofits and through research, looking at finances and mission statements, they narrowed it down to 11. From there, they split into groups of two to three and did site visits to see how each organization ran and then held a class discussion on who they wanted to prioritize giving the money to.
“There is so much impact that can be made and it was just amazing to see what it takes to try and spread our impact in as many ways as we possibly can,” junior Molly Wallace said. “It was really beautiful to see what we can do with this money and the ways we connected with all these nonprofit organizations.”
At the ceremony, the students awarded a $5,000 grant to Shemesh Farms and Women of Substance and Men of Honor, a $14,000 grant to White Hall Arts Academy and Sarah’s House, a $15,000 grant to The Painted Turtle and a $25,000 grant to Mending Kids.
Ruth Bernstein, professor of Nonprofit Management, said $50,000 of the $84,000 came from the SEED Gift, a donation a member of the Board of Regents made. The students earned an additional $18,000 through submitting their giving pledges to The Philanthropy Lab and inviting and having Gash show up to the main event. The nonprofit leadership collaborative in the Business Division gave them the final $15,000.
Bernstein said seeing the joy of both the students and the nonprofits at the ceremony was her favorite part of the class.
“I just felt the joy and I think they’ll take this with them and that the money will still have a major impact, even for the organizations that got a small amount of money,” Bernstein said. “And knowing that the students chose well, with the thought and the process.”
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