4MG3 Fall 2016, Bids you Farewell

The class of Fall 2016, and our respective grant recipients of the term, bidding you farewell.

Thrive Grant 2

From left to right: Katie Gorie (Administrative Assistant), and Cathie Pead (Interim Executive Director) of Thrive posing with Laiba Noor (Student) after receiving the grant.

HYP Grant 2

HYP posing with the grant, accompanied by Daniel Higgins (Student). 

Thrive Grant 1

Katie Gorie (Administrative Assistant) and Cathie Pead (Interim Executive Director) of Thrive being awarded the grant for $5000 by Laiba Noor (Student).

HYP Grant 1

On the far right, Daniel Higgins (Student) awards HYP the grant for $5000, being accepted by Nea Reid (Artistic Director), accompanied by the poets that performed for the class.

The Final Class, Farewell (Class 11)

Dec 2/2016

This was the final class of the year, and was our award ceremony for our grantees; Hamilton Youth Poets, and Thrive Group. Additionally, the grant winners from last semester’s course, Living Rock and Bayan Community Services, appeared to let the class know how the grant was used. It was already a very emotional class; however, it was made even more emotional by three surprise performances by HYP. Three of the Poets from HYP gave three very moving and emotional performances, demonstrating to the class what slam poetry is, and just how captivating the art can be. With that, I bid you farewell. It has been a wonderful term, and an absolute pleasure working with the LGF as a Student Ambassador. Thank you again for the wonderful opportunity, this is Matthew Parliament, signing off.

HYP Performance 3

HYP Performance 3

HYP Performance 1

HYP Performance 1

HYP Performance 2

HYP Performance 2

Announcing The Recipients of Fall 2016 Part 1: Hamilton Youth Poets (HYP)

HYP Call

Announcing The Recipients of Fall 2016 Part 2: Thrive

Thrive Call

The Final Decision, the Hardest Part of the Class (Class 10)

Nov 25/2016

Having returned from our site visits with our top candidates, the class had to make its final decision; which charity, or charities, would receive funding. The class began with several brief presentations from the students that had conducted the site visits; after which, the class began a long debate and discussion to determine which of the candidates would be selected. The entire class went through several stages of voting in order to condense the list. The first stage involved  every student voting for their first and second choice. From there, we were able to work the list down to our top two choices. At this point, the deliberation began; as we had to decide how to distribute the funding, and whether or not both charities would receive a portion of the grant. At the end of the class it was decided that students would anonymously enter their ideal distribution of the funds into an excel spreadsheet, and we would take the mean of the spread in order to distribute the funds. Ironically, our final average ended up being a 50/50 split between the Hamilton Youth Poets (HYP) and Thrive Group. The class ended with a call to both organizations to inform them that they had been awarded $5000 each, and inviting them to our last class of the year.

Blast From the Past 2: Class of Winter 2016 and Recipients

The class of Winter 2016, along with the grant recipients (Banyan Community Services, and Living Rock), and the grant recipients from 2015 (McQuesten Sprouts Camp and Hamilton Victory Gardens).

Blast From the Past 4: Living Rock, Recipient of Winter 2016

From left to right: Emily Rowe (Student), Karen Craig (Program Director), and Cory Silva (Student). Living Rock was awarded with $6000.

Blast From the Past 3: Banyan Community Services, Recipient of Winter 2016

From left to right: Patrick Vuong (Student), Kim Ciavarella (Chief Executive Officer), Patrick McCowell (Director of Residential Services, Arrell Youth Centre), Vickie Ho-Devine (Communications and Fund Development Officer), and Nick Sebben (Student).  Banyan Community Services was awarded $4000.

Blast From the Past 1: Grant Recipients of Winter 2015

From left to right: Professor Lynn Fergusson, Kelley McKinney, and Judy Wilcox. The recipients of the grant from Winter 2015 made a guest appearance last semester to inform the class what they had accomplished with the grant. Judy Wilcox, from Hamilton Victory Gardens, and Kelley McKinney, Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, representing McQuesten Sprouts Camp.

 

 

From left to right: Professor Lynn Fergusson, Kelley McKinney, and Judy Wilcox. The recipients of the grant from Winter 2015 made a guest appearance last semester to inform the class what they had accomplished with the grant. Judy Wilcox, from Hamilton Victory Gardens, and Kelley McKinney, Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, representing McQuesten Sprouts Camp.

The Final Presentations and the Top 7 Applicants (Class 9)

Nov 18/2016

This class was the semi-final step in our selection process for our RFP. There were five groups in total, and each group presented the results of their selection process. By the end of the class, we had a total of 7 charities that had been chosen by one or more groups to receive some or all of the grant money. There was one charity in particular, charity X, that had been selected to receive funding by three of the five groups. While we were happy that we were nearing the end of our journey, one group reminded us of the difficulties of philanthropy; the burden of having to decide which charities don’t receive funding. All of the charities that applied were excellent charities that were doing great work in their community, and it was a difficult process to narrow these charities down to a select few.

Final Presentations Group E

From left to right: Hermes Lee, Dominique Krawchenko, Rob Brown, Hardip Singh, Kristen Massola, and Rebecca Butkevicius.

Final Presentations Group D

From left to right: Laiba Noor, Isa Mulder, Ryan Stegmaier, Matt Vukovic, Christina Del Sordo, and Simon Bugiardini.

Final Presentations Group C

From left to right: Cristen Lauricella, Diana Albanese, Chelsea Parker, Julian Gerhart, Tyler Gladden, and Matthew Parliament.

Final Presentations Group B

From left to right: Andre Marini, Nathania Ofori, Alyssa Stone, Kyle Yip-Chuck, and Drew Bryant.

Final Presentations Group A

From left to right: Jordan Cole, Daniel Higgins, Manprit Kaur, Rebecca Tummers, Dom Ventresca, and Gurpreet Badwal.

Written Interview 5: Ryan Stegmaier: Why did you sign up for this course?

“I signed up for this course because when I think of how I would like to apply all of the skills I have acquired through my degree at McMaster, I hope to use them working for a not-for-profit organization or charity of some kind.  There is nothing more rewarding in my opinion than giving someone help that they genuinely need and improving their lives by doing so.  I signed up for this course to gain more insight on the not-for-profit sector in Canada and to learn about ways I could use my skills in the Commerce industry to get into this industry.  Through the series of lectures, guest speakers and donating $10,000 to a charity, it is safe to say this class has matched and gone beyond any expectations that I had going into it.”

The Beginning of the End; RFP Recommendations (Class 8)

Nov 11/2016

This class was centered around fine tuning our selection process with the RFP. We were assigned into groups that would individually review the RFP applications and advocate the applicant that we felt was most suitable. Our job was to select the top three applications based on our own individual criteria, and then discuss why we chose our applicants with our groups. We then had a week to work with our groups to prepare our final recommendations. This meant that each group had anywhere from 3-18 potential applicants and had to reduce that number to 1-5 (based on how much funding would be provided to our final applicants). The challenge here was in reducing the 20 applicants down to a maximum of five. This meant that each group had to agree on a ranking system, or systems, in order to make our recommendations.

Written Interview 4: Rob Brown: How Does it Feel to Have Real Money to Give Away?

“I definitely like this aspect of the course a lot. It allows me to get a sense of experiential learning within a familiar course environment. It’s nice to be able to use both the theory to develop the RFP and then see the results in a practical application. It’s a way for me to develop my skills even farther and experience what it would be like as a foundation or a grant-giving body, and it has a real world impact where we can help a charity in the local community. It’s nice too that the decision is made outside of a vacuum, in the sense that somebody responds in a real way; it’s not a case or a simulation and it’s a great opportunity. There’s definitely some anxiety about making the right decision in such an unfamiliar field, and there’s not really a right answer. It also promotes a lot of discussion as a class, because as a large group we need to decide what we want to do and where the money is going to go, and I really enjoy listening and participating in that discussion.”

Habitat for Humanity & the NFP (Class 7)

Nov 4/2016

We had another guest speaker in this class, John Gerrard, CEO of Habitat for Humanity, Halton-Mississauga. John spoke to us about the issues of turnover within a charity, and what can be done to mitigate or eliminate it. Most of the turnover issues stem from younger volunteers (late teens to early twenties), that volunteer on occasion, and may only volunteer once or twice. The challenge is in retaining volunteers and ensuring that they continue to give their time. To that effect, one of the motivators for staying with Habitat for Humanity is that people can get hours towards trades and apprenticeships through their volunteering. In doing so, these people are able to volunteer their time, as well as develop some of the skills that will be useful in their career later in life. Habitat also hires recent graduates, which helps these students begin their career and get the experience that they need to excel in the future. Many of these students keep in touch, and continue to volunteer their time, or create additional networks for the organization. It was an excellent presentation, that may have convinced some students to begin their career in the NFP sector; as it’s an excellent way to make a difference for others, while still creating a bright future for yourself.  

Social Impact and Innovation (Class 6)

Oct 28/2016

This class was a more in-depth look at the charitable sector, and was followed up with a discussion of social entrepreneurs, social innovation, and social financing. We discussed impact investing and the concept of selecting a portfolio of stocks that offer a good return, while still supporting companies that promote social change. We then had a guest speaker: Mark Stewart, Associate Director, Advancement Development & Outreach, for the DeGroote School of Business talk to us about his journey through the NFP sector. We learned that MBA graduates and those with business backgrounds are in large demand within the NFP sector, and that even in a seemingly non-related field (i.e. an art museum) a business student can still find work meaningful work.

Video Interview 2: Professor Lynn Fergusson: Why Do You Teach This Course?

Professor Lynn Fergusson Video Interview

Written Interview 3: Isa Mulder: How Does it Feel to Have Real Money to Give Away?

        “It feels great. When real money is involved the decision becomes more important, in the sense that there are more things to consider. The decision is real, its no longer hypothetical. This class is different from most of my classes because I’m able to make a difference. I feel that we’re very fortunate to have real money to work with, and we’re richer for the experience. It’s a good opportunity for experiential learning, and because of that you learn something different. While the money that we have to work with is relatively small ($10,000), the experience itself is priceless.”

 

Written Interview 2: Laiba Noor: Why Did You Sign Up For This Course?

       
        “I took this course because I’m interested in the not-for-profit sector. I volunteered as the marketing director for The Citizen’s Foundation (TCF) and through that role I began to learn more about the NFP sector. I learned a lot of things from that role, but, I still had questions about the NFP sector. This course seemed like a great way to answer my questions and learn more about NFP organizations. I’m passionate about the NFP sector, and I’m still the marketing director for TCF, so I see this course as a way to indulge my curiosity about the sector; while still learning new things that I can continue to use in my role with TCF. I feel that the skills that I’ll learn from this course will continue to be useful in the future, and will be applicable to a variety of situations.”

Written Interview 1: Diana Albanese: Why Did You Sign Up For This Course?

“I took this class because I’ve always been interested in philanthropy, and I saw this as a great opportunity to learn more about it. I’m excited about learning both the processes and procedures of giving, and it’s great to see all the different perspectives come together in class. A lot of the students have different backgrounds and it’s interesting to hear their take on what we should be doing with the RFP and how we should go about the selection process. It’s nice too that everybody gets to shape the impact that we’ll make, and help determine where the money goes. Another driving factor for me was my experience with the NFP sector. I was in a similar role when I was on the Hamilton Youth Advisory Council, which is a part of the Hamilton Community Foundation. I was part of a council that reviewed RFPs and determined a selection process whereby several organizations were selected to receive a $5000 grant. I helped rank these organizations by establishing some criteria that needed to be met for them to receive funding. When I heard about this course it seemed like the next logical step for me, as it overlapped with my experience; but on a much larger scale. I look forward to where we are headed with this course, and I can’t wait to see the impact that we’ll have on our local community. “

Return from Reading Week (Class 5)

Oct 21/2016

This class was spent learning more about the non-profit sector in general. The class had just returned from reading week, and many of us had spent part of the week meeting with a charity, social enterprise, foundation, or philanthropist for an assignment due that class. Several of us shared the target of our profile paper with the class, and we got some insight into the various charities within our local community. As a class, we were then divided into groups to create a fictitious charity (small and large), social enterprise, foundation, and philanthropist; modelled after the groups that we visited for our profile paper. Our goal was to create this organization, for lack of a better word, from the ground up and explain who they were, what they did, and how they were founded and funded. Then the groups informally presented to the class; as a way for us to provide more detailed examples of the challenges and opportunities that these organizations or philanthropists might face. This exercise was a great way to give the class a better understanding of the difficulties that various NFP organizations face; and help us to understand how they may overcome them.

Video Interview 1: Daniel Higgins: How Does it Feel to Have Real Money to Give Away?

 



 Daniel Higgins Video Interview

The RFP Wars Part 2 (Class 4)

Oct 7/2016

This class was the final class for our RFP discussions. As a class, we needed to finalize our RFP and get it out into the community so that various charities had a chance to submit their application. In our previous class, we had agreed upon the topic, yet we still had a lot of ground to cover before the RFP was finalized. We took an “old-school” whiteboard approach to this. Professor Fergusson had two white boards and a list of criteria on post-it notes, two student volunteers (one being yours truly) took to the board and created their ideal criteria. Fortunately, the criteria were similar and the end result was a choice between an organization based, or program based RFP. After much discussion and a class vote, it was determined that the best approach was to go for an organization based RFP. This had two key reasons; first, supporting an organization entailed supporting its programming; as such, it was a way too encompass both RFPs. Second, by supporting an organization we can also allow for some of the funding to go towards overhead; which we learned is an important aspect for the growth and sustainability of charities, which unfortunately has a negative connotation due to how we view charities. By the end of class, we had created and finalized an RFP that we could all agree upon, and it was released into the community later that day.

Meet the Class Part 6: Instructors

Our final group in the class is our Instructor; Professor Lynn Fergusson, and our Teaching Assistant (TA) Sarah Wardrope.

Meet the Class Part 5: Group 5, Disadvantaged Youth (25 or less)

Finally, the fifth faction. From left to right: Matt Vukovic, Tyler Gladden, Hermes Lee, Rebecca Tummers, Dom Ventresca, Kyle Yip-Chuck. Their focus was on disadvantaged youth (25 or less).

Meet the Class Part 4: Group 4, At Risk Children (5-13)

Meet the fourth faction. From left to right: Laiba Noor, Alyssa Stone, Ryan Stegmaier, Chelsea Parker, Matthew Parliament, Nathania Ofori, Hardip Singh. Their focus was on at risk children (5-13).

Meet the Class Part 3: Group 3, Nutrition (General)

Meet the third faction of the RFP wars. From left to right: Cristen Lauricella, Andre Marini, Isa Mulder, Kristen Massola, and Dominique Krawchenko. Their focus was on nutrition in general.

Meet the Class Part 2: Group 2, Mental Health (Youth, 11-18)

Meet the second faction in the RFP wars. From left to right: Gurpreet Badwal, Simon Bugiardini, Drew Bryant, Diana Albanese, Rob Brown, and Rebecca Butkevicius. Their focus was on youth mental health (11-18).

Meet the Class Part 1: Group 1, Mental Health (General)

Meet the first faction in the RFP wars. From left to right: Christina Del Sordo, Manprit Kaur, Daniel Higgins, Jordan Cole, and Julian Gerhart. Their RFP was centered around Mental Health in general.

The RFP Wars Part 1 (Class 3)

Sept 30/2016

This class was a big day for all of us, this was the day that each group presented their idea for the class RFP. The class had been divided into five groups after the first week and each group presented what they wanted the focus of the RFP to be. Our final focuses were; mental health (general), mental health (youth 11-18), nutrition and food (general), disadvantaged youth, and at risk children (5-13). After much debate and deliberation, the class managed to agree to focus on youth mental health in priority neighbourhoods, with a rough age preference of 12-24. It was a long and arduous process, as many individuals were passionate about their respective focuses and everybody had something to say about why their cause should receive the spotlight. The class ended with everybody agreeing on the focus, but there were still many questions about what our other criteria would be.

Has Overhead Gone Over Our Head? (Class 2)

Sept 23/2016

Much the same as our first class, our second class began with another guest speaker; Sharon Charter of the Hamilton Community Foundation. Sharon gave us more perspective from the eyes of a grant giving body and gave us an introduction to some of the charities and non-profits in Hamilton. Additionally, we received our first exposure to some of the programs that non-profits ran, and some of the impacts that these programs had. We also first learned about the problem of overhead within the non-profit sector. Many funders (corporate, grant giving, and private) prefer to have their money used to directly impact the people that charities serve, and some put limits on how large overhead costs can be for organizations that they will fund. This can serve as a real problem, since many organizations need to incur overhead costs in order to expand, as well as attract, train, and retain the highest quality professionals for the job. While I won’t get into the specifics of it, it’s certainly worth looking into if you plan on working in or for the non-profit sector. Our Professor recommended an excellent Ted video with Dan Pallotta entitled “The way we think about charity is dead wrong” which I recommend watching for more information.

Our Story Begins… (Class 1)

Sept 9/2016

Bright eyed and bushy tailed I made my way to my first and last class of the day; commerce 4MG3 Strategic Philanthropy and Leadership. The class was scheduled from 8:30-11:30 on a Friday morning and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Upon entering the room, the Professor, Lynn Fergusson, introduced herself to the class and had us introduce ourselves to each other by “connecting” ourselves to one another. This was done by linking the previous person’s introduction (experience with the non-profit sector, what they expected of the course, program, etc.) with our own, and was designed to create more memorable connections with our fellow classmates. After our introduction, Professor Fergusson gave us a quick explanation of the non-profit sector, explaining the LGF and how much of an impact the Foundation creates for classes across North America. This was essentially a warm up for us before our first guest speaker; Tamer Ibrahim from the Laidlaw Foundation. He told us his story with the non-profit sector and how he had been part of a grass roots movement in Toronto called UforChange. We also learned about the Laidlaw foundation and got a sense of what it was like to look through the lens of a grant giving body, which, we would soon become (for a semester). After our wonderful guest speaker, we finished up with our introduction to the non-profit sector and learned about the RISE (Relevance, Impact, Sustainability, and Excellence in Management and Operations) framework for social change, ending our class for the day.

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello and welcome to the blog for McMaster University's Strategic Philanthropy and Leadership class for fall of 2016. My name is Matthew Parliament and I'm the Student Ambassador for this course. I'll be working with my fellow classmates and the Learning by Giving Foundation (LGF) to tell the story of our class over the term. I'll be posting on a regular basis with updates on, and stories from, myself and my peers, so stay tuned! I'll start us off by bringing everybody up to speed with what happened during the first 4 weeks of class (prior to the creation of this blog).



Myself (Matthew Parliament)