By Bailey Amyk Morrison
The beginning of April has been a flurry of grant proposal reading. Our class began the impossible task of evaluating the fourteen organizations that submitted grant proposals to our class and deciding how we will spend the $10,000.
In these discussions, we addressed both the impact of our money and the impact each organization has made on the populations they are serving. Our class largely asked the question, “Is this organization addressing the opportunity divide in their work?” A few of the programs that provide incredibly necessary support for children and adults simply fell short following the proposal submissions – whether that be due to lack of information in the proposal or simply lack of attention paid to the submission design.
We have been faced with determining to an exact dollar amount what an organization is worth to us. That process can be daunting and overwhelming – criticizing people who simply aim to assist the Boston-area community isn’t an easy task to undertake. The most valuable aspect of these discussions has been how many different things each person realizes about any given organization and how the proposals are received by each individual in the class. This democratic process truly showed me – and everyone in the class – the value of understanding different perspectives and different ways non-profits can benefit communities.
The challenging aspect of reviewing all these proposals is the reality that much of this hard work will not be rewarded as we do not have the funds to contribute to every single organization. However, there is beauty in that as well - our class has had rewarding discussions about our own personal involvement in the organizations that may not be selected and for some of us, that means finding time to volunteer at organizations that may be new to us.
This also opened our eyes as a class as to the different struggles non-profits face – be that budgeting, location, or retention of program attendees. These issues and more showed me and members of the class how to fairly assess the success of a program from a standpoint beyond personal anecdotes.
By April 10, we had narrowed our selection down to nine organizations – all of which we agreed as a class had great potential to receive the funding. Next comes the hard part – determining which three we will actually visit and then how our funding will be utilized. One organization or two? How much money will be given to each?
In a classroom with so many thoughtful and insightful students it has been worthwhile listening to the discussions had about the ways in which we perceive intent in these organizations as well as the way we conceptualize charity versus giving. This class, and Ira Silver, challenge us to all think of the ways we can contribute to our own education - not at the expense of marginalized communities but in an effort to build a more sustainable and equitable future.
