Guest Speaker - Brittany Sandbergen

I really enjoyed Brittany's presentation on PASA. She talked about her role at PASA and how her role and her colleagues roles intersect due to the over powering demand of responsibility. One part Brittany talked about was when she was talking about what makes a quality program. She mentioned how there are staff on different levels of experience and knowledge and she said that in order to have a quality program those staff that are on different levels need to be given custom support so all staff can work towards excellence.

I also like how she mapped out what goes into a nonprofit like PASA, 46% personnel, 34% programming, 12% other (printing, celebrations, supplies, etc.), and 8% transportation. Last school year I had the opportunity to go to PASA and learn about who they are. At the time I didn’t think about working with a nonprofit that gears towards teenagers and middle schoolers. Now that Brittany came to the class and spoke about it, I have been thinking about it since and have been doing light research into different nonprofits that work with middle school and teenage youth. 

Brittany brought up what it takes to be a good CFO and she said that a good CFO is good at developing and sustaining funds/resources and that they question everything. I feel like the CFO role often gets overlooked during class and in everyday settings, the CFO is never brought up. For her to mention that made me realize how much of a staple and important person the CFO is in an organization and nonprofit.

Against Philanthropy

The central argument of Against Philanthropy is that major corporations are putting millions of dollars towards stopping world crises while also putting even more money in companies that make items that help cause said world crises. For example, Jenny Price says that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has put millions of dollars towards making the AIDS crisis their top priority while also investing "millions in pharmaceutical companies that refuse to make AIDS drugs affordable." This article also touches on the subject of spreading out their earnings fairly amongst the organization. Price talks about how corporations withhold ~90% of their assets while putting ~5% towards funding programs and then writing that 5% off on tax breaks. Price also makes that argument that companies could put more money towards paying "workers fairly for the wealth they help you accumulate."

To my knowledge, my internship does not have a lot of money to just go around and put in different areas. Since the minimum wage went up in January of 2018, the front line staffs pay went up but because of the organization having very little money, no one else was able to get a raise. Also, the fundraising budget for 2017 was $63,000 which was barely met by December 2017. The executive director for the organization raised that fundraising budget to a whopping $200,000 so we can make improvements to the building and get everyone the raises that they need. This is an unrealistic budget, but that's a different story. I have talked with my mentor before about which programs we are funding and she said that there aren't really any due to the lack of funding. If this article explained ways that these companies get their money to put millions in foundations then I think it would be beneficial for struggling nonprofits to get their funding up.

Playbox Activity - The Human Knot

The theme for the playbox I did with Alyssa was called Learning Through Movement. The planning process of this was quite difficult because we didn't have a clear idea as to what the theme meant and we eventually took our own spin on the theme. We knew going in that people were going to make comments beforehand about getting up and moving and being active at 5:00 at night, so that is what brought up the idea of doing a movement activity without doing the typical movements that people would think of. Our original idea was to do a musical chair game, but with silent cues and no music type of thing. We chose not to do that because of the giant pole in the center of the room.

The human knot idea was created because we looked at the weather and because it was going to be nice out we decided that we were going to do the activity outside and make the class even complain more. I think the activity went great and we got across the ideas that we wanted to get across. We wanted to get across verbal cues and nonverbal cues, as well as team building skills. If I was to do this activity again I would probably make it more clear to not start until we gave the okay to. I feel that some of the instructions got lost amongst some people because they went into the untying before actually hearing the instructions and what changes there were between the rounds.

Overall, I think it went very well and I believe we got our message across and it was a fun way to start the evening and gave a good energy towards our guest speaker for the night.

"Direct Mail" Outreach Letters

Letters Have In Common

There are many things these letters have in common, but one main commonality was that all four of these letters had statistics on what their causes were and what their causes are focused on helping. There was also a lot of hyperlinks in the emails that would send the reader to the donation page. A majority of the emails had photos that showed what the donations have been put towards. 

The Big Differences

I did not see many differences in the emails but I did see a few. One difference was that DownCity Design had all of their sponsors at the end of their email. Some emails had more photos than others, others had many more bolded material that captured your eye. The biggest difference is that each email is for a different cause.

Tools to Persuade Donations

Each organization used statistics to show what the donations would go towards, and that is something that is persuasive to people because they like to know where their money is going. Their subject lines pull the receiver in and want to learn more about what that means. Also, having the "donate here" buttons throughout their emails is also persuasive because you're constantly being reminded to donate to that cause.

$50.00 to Who and Why?

I would donate the $50.00 to United We Dream. I find their email to be the most persuading due to the fact that they specifically tell the reader what the donations would be going towards, "But we cannot fund this action, from the transportation to the buses, lodging, and food, without strong support from our grassroots donors." They are dedicated to their cause and are doing everything they can to make sure that this gets solved.

Rhode Island Foundation

History and Mission

"The Rhode Island Foundation is a proactive community and philanthropic leader dedicated to meeting the needs of the people of Rhode Island." (Source)

Being modeled after a community foundation in Cleveland, this foundation was organized in 1916 by some "prominent citizens" at the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co. Jesse H. Metcalf was a United States Senator, a well-known philanthropist and a statesman. Metcalf gave the foundation its first donation of $10,000 to get this foundation up and running. The Rhode Island Foundation celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2016 by honoring the traditions of Rhode Island and what makes this state special. In 2017, the foundation granted over 1,700 nonprofits grants that totaled $43 million in order to keep to their commitment of developing diverse communities.

Where do they get their funds?

The Rhode Island Foundation's annual report of 2016 has a section called "Our Funds" where they list every foundation that has donated to them over the years. Their list of donors spans over 24 pages and of those 24 pages, 40 foundations have donated to the Rhode Island Foundation in 2016. Scanning through their annual report to find other ways the foundation gets money, I found their 2016 budget. In that budget I found that they also get funds through cash, contributions, royalties, and agency endowment funds. 

What do and don't they fund?

The Rhode Island Foundation funds organizations that address today's issues and whoever wants to improve the education, economics, and health of Rhode Island citizens. Through browsing different tabs on their website I am making the conclusion that the Rhode Island Foundation does not support and give grants to organizations that discriminate against individuals and does not provide funds to organizations that do not promote change and innovation to improve the quality of life for Rhode Islanders.

Grant Program: Equity Action

"Equity Action is committed to enacting social change by championing initiatives and organizations that encourage justice for, provide support to, and improve the quality of life for LGBTQ Rhode Islanders." (Source) Equity Action supports two types of grants, 1) "Small Grants" for short term projects and 2) "Project and Capacity-Building Grants" what are for long term projects that meet the needs for the LGBTQ community and build the capacity for organizations that play a big role in the LGBTQ community.

Equity Actions encourages every association or organization that serves the LGBTQ community to apply for this grant. This grant funds many initiatives, for example to increase "advocacy capacity to address policy issues that affect the LGBTQ community," to provide community education, and to develop the skills and processes in order to build partnerships to increase program operations. All applications for this grant must have the board approve the application and be in a 501(c) nonprofit. There are many reasons to why Equity Action will not give the grant to, some reasons may be, if the organization discriminates on "age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or religion," and organizations with a religious affiliation.

I still have questions...

1. Does the Rhode Island Foundation provide grants to up and coming nonprofits?

2. What nonprofits that serve the LGBTQ community have they given grants to?

New Urban Arts, the Demographics

New Urban Arts

Zip Code: 02907

While looking though the New Urban Arts statistics of their enrolled participants and also looking at the zip codes they serve, I noticed several similarities and differences amongst the two. One thing I noticed is that the population based on race/ethnicity is predominately not white. Knowing that historically people of different races/ethnicities are oppressed by society (government, business, etc.), I am making the assumption that the residential buildings are mainly apartments and multi-level family homes. American FactFinder didn't have listed the people who don't identify as male or female, the website only showed the percentage of the population who identify as male and female. 

Knowing that the poverty rate nationally is 34% and seeing that 02907's poverty rate is at 31%, that is almost at the national level. The similarities between NUA and 02907 are astounding, specifically about the closeness in the race/ethnicity category. I wanted to add in the LGBTQQ statistic that NUA has, but I couldn't find the zip code statistic on the web. I can't wait to hear wha the guest speaker has to say about NUA during class.

Talking About #BlackLivesMatter

"'BLACK LIVES MATTER' is not a hate group its simply a group of tired individuals who are fighting for equality and justice..."

- Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement

"This movement is not saying black lives matter more than anyone else's. It's saying black lives should matter, but the way that our justice system, our media, and our police have been operating suggests that they do not."

- 4 Black Lives Matter Myths Debunked

These are the two quotes that I believe explain the #BlackLivesMatter movement to its fullest capacity. This movement started after the tragic death of Trayvon Martin and grew into an international movement. The #BlackLivesMatter movement spreads empowerment to young black men and women and encourages them to stand up against inequality in the media, government, and law enforcement organizations.

I cannot adequately explain the #BlackLivesMatter movement without fearing that I am going to say the wrong thing and someone take it the wrong way. I want to learn more about this movement and its origins, its goals, and its vision.


My question about #BlackLivesMatter is: What can I do to help?