Students “pay it forward” in URS 399

“Change for Change”

“$1 Today, Hope for Tomorrow”

You’ve probably seen these slogans paired with collection jars all over campus. Your change helps the less fortunate, but it also gives students more insight into the charities that benefit from that money.

It’s all part of a class where students get a hands-on look at how nonprofits manage their resources through fundraising, volunteering and grant writing. While its technical name is URS 399, it’s more commonly known as the “pay it forward” class.

Students work with the charity of their choice, and that hard work pays off when they get to give the money they’ve raised themselves to those organizations at the end of the quarter.

When senior psychology major Britanee Brantley took the course, she worked with Daybreak, a local shelter for runaway and homeless youth. Her class awarded Daybreak a grant to help fund day-to-day operations at the shelter and buy food for the children there.

“It was beyond amazing to do something good for those who deserve it,” said Brantley, who continued to volunteer with Daybreak even after the class ended.

This quarter, Wright State alumna Lindsay Ackley is teaching the course. As the associate executive director of Clothes That Work, she brings real-world, nonprofit experience to her students.

Ackley’s students have several major fundraisers in the works. In addition to the collection jars, the class is finalizing plans for a comedy show at Wiley’s Comedy Club and a benefit concert. Proceeds from ticket sales at both events will become grant money.

“No other school that we know of was doing it that way, having the students actually raising the money,” said Jennifer Subban, Ph.D., the urban affairs professor who helped start the class.

The students also solicit money from local businesses and individuals through letters and phone calls.

The class expects to award $8,000 in grants this quarter and are already more than halfway to that goal after they received a $4,500 Ohio Campus Compact grant. The course is now in its fourth year and is part of the larger Student Philanthropy Project (SPP). So far, the SPP has distributed $24,000 to nonprofits that serve the Dayton region.

Recently, an SPP grant provided a week-long stay at Ronald McDonald House for a family whose critically ill child was being treated at Dayton Children’s Medical Center.

Each student begins the course by selecting the organization that sparks his or her interest. They volunteer with that organization and study its operations, giving the students firsthand knowledge of how nonprofits function.

Students work with a variety of local organizations, ranging from smaller, grassroots agencies to local chapters of large, national charities like the Red Cross or Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“This class opened my eyes to all of the local organizations that go largely unnoticed,” said Brantley.

Each student writes a grant proposal for their organization, and the class as a whole decides on a “short list” of the charities they would most like to fund. The class visits each organization on the list, and a lively debate ensues before they finally choose which organizations get grants.

“The professor can facilitate discussion and set the criteria for evaluating each proposal, but the students ultimately make the decisions,” said Subban.

While the course is designed to teach students about nonprofit management, the skills they hone in the process—teamwork, communication, writing, relationship building, debating—are transferable to any career they might choose.

“Whether or not you plan to enter the nonprofit sector as a career, this course prepares you to be an engaged citizen and leader,” said Ackley.

“This experience confirmed my desire to give back to my community,” said Brantley. “Even though I plan on going into psychology, there are still ways for me to be philanthropic.”

It’s very simple,” she said, “to live your life as if you were giving it to others. Life is philanthropy for me now.”