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.