University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

UNC Public Service Scholars: Students Promoting Change through Philanthropy A proposal submitted to Campus Compact by the Carolina Center for Public Service University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Educational Framework

The Public Service Scholars (PSS) program is an innovative initiative of the Carolina Center for Public Service at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Carolina). The program provides a framework for more than 1200 Carolina students who want to strengthen their commitment to service. The PSS program encourages students to learn about and practice public service and engagement beyond the scope of traditional volunteerism, including organizational service, policy and advocacy work, fundraising and philanthropy. An Inspiring Philanthropy’s Future grant will enable the Carolina Center for Public Service to build on an existing effort in the PSS program in ways that will strengthen student philanthropic education and provide additional benefit to the community.

“Promoting Change through the Nonprofit Sector” is a one credit hour course offered each fall to PSS participants. During the course, students meet for two hours weekly to learn about the nonprofit field and the philosophy and practice of philanthropy through readings, class exercises and guest speakers. Most importantly, they function as a grant making committee and manage all aspects of the philanthropic process. Presently, around 30 students apply for the course each year, and twelve are competitively selected as student committee members. Center staff with experience and expertise in nonprofit management and philanthropy provide course instruction.

The course has a small grant budget of $2500, supported by the “Helen’s Fund” at the Fund for Southern Communities and private donations to the Carolina Center for Public Service. The grant amount is limited due to legal issues and funding constraints. The Gift Fund would provide the additional resources and the account structure needed to expand the existing course and further develop infrastructure for education focused on the nonprofit sector and philanthropy.

The Carolina Center for Public Service seeks $17,500 from the Inspiring Philanthropy’s Future project to:

1. Increase the number of undergraduates exposed to philanthropic education by offering the course in the fall and spring semesters.
2. Strengthen the course’s academic rigor by providing more comprehensive course materials, including additional articles and books on philanthropy and nonprofit management.
3. Incorporate fundraising and investment skills into the course through management of the Gift Fund, encouraging learning about the need for ongoing fundraising to meet community need.
4. Broaden the impact on the community through a larger grant pool.
5. Build course sustainability through ongoing funding.

Educational Goals and Plans for Assessment

By the end of the “Promoting Change through the Nonprofit Sector” course, students will have:

• Learned about the nonprofit sector and identified trends in philanthropy.
• Assessed the important role of philanthropy in supporting the nonprofit sector.
• Gained an understanding of donor advised gift funds in general and the Gift Fund in particular.
• Created a collaborative working committee to carry out fundraising and grant making processes.
• Raised funds for the Gift Account.
• Identified and successfully completed the steps in the grant making process.
• Reflected on their experiences and interests in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and shared it with classmates, guest speakers and community agency representatives.

The process of evaluation includes student self-assessment, group/collaborative assessment, and instructor assessment. On the first day of class, students write down their own personal goals for what they want to learn by participating in the course. These are revisited midway through the course as well as on the final day of class, to allow students to reflect upon what that they have learned. Students formally evaluate the course content, processes and instruction on the final day of class. Through these evaluations, participants share that the skills and insights they developed through the course are very beneficial and directly relevant to their future public service efforts. In course evaluations to date, 100% of the former committee/class members said that they would recommend the class to a friend.

Feedback from class participants and recipient agencies provides evidence of the value of the course:

• “The class helped me to be more engaged in community issues and the entire grant process. Awesome opportunity that you can’t get in any other class or training.” (class participant, fall 2006)
• “I didn’t realize how much I would get out of this class when it started. Now I would say that it has been one of the most useful classes I’ve taken at UNC. The skills I’ve learned are applicable to work in and outside of nonprofit service work.” (class participant, fall 2006)
• “The Center’s grant was the first investment we received locally in support of our pilot program to provide North Carolina’s frail elderly with an alternative to nursing home care. The grant jump-started our development efforts and provided evidence of community support that is critical to any self-sustaining, community-driven program.” (grant recipient, fall 2006)

Description of how we will support students in development of the grant making process

We propose to build on the existing course which begins with a brief history and overview of the nonprofit sector and philanthropy. The student committee decides upon group agreements/ground rules for their work and establishes a timeline in which to carry out their grant making duties. Students learn about and discuss the unique strengths of nonprofits and the challenges they face, the laws governing nonprofits, how to apply for 501(C)(3) status, sources of financial support for nonprofits, the responsibilities of board members, trends in charitable giving by individuals, foundations and corporations, and volunteerism rates.

As the course progresses, students research and assess local needs, determine what impact they would like to have in the community, and decide on the grant selection criteria. They design and disseminate the request for proposals and the grant application. The students develop a tool for evaluating the proposals and meet as a committee to decide which grant proposals to fund. Students send letters of regret and congratulations to the applicants and followup with the awarded agencies through site visits and final reports.

Through Inspiring Philanthropy’s Future, we will incorporate explicit lessons and exercises devoted to fundraising, investment management and the Giving Account. This inclusion will provide emphases to critical aspects of the philanthropic process that have been missing from the initial course framework.

Throughout the course, leaders from the local and state philanthropic and nonprofit sectors have generously offered their time and expertise to the students as guest speakers. They share their experiences with nonprofit management, fundraising and donor-advised giving, as well as challenge students to think about the impact of their choices. This grant will enable us to expand their involvement in the course and recognize their contributions through an end of course reflective celebration with participating students and funded nonprofits.

Plans for ongoing financial support of the Giving Account program and philanthropic education

The Carolina Center for Public Service will use the funds to build on the foundation of an effort to which we are already committed. We have worked to provide students with nonprofit and philanthropic education, despite the financial challenges it has presented. We are very excited about what additional resources would enable us to do. We could strengthen and expand our effort by making important additions to the course through creation of a Gift Account for on-going efforts and establish fundraising for sustainability of the account as a priority. Feedback from students, guest presenters, grant recipients and donors indicate that there is strong support for this effort and interest in expanding its breadth and reach. An Inspiring Philanthropy’s Future grant will do exactly that at Carolina … inspire specific philanthropic efforts and assure a strong future for philanthropic education. We would be honored to join with others in sharing our experiences and learning from them in this important endeavor.