Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
The mission of the American Humanics Nonprofit Minor and Certification at Western Michigan University is to strengthen the capacity of future nonprofit leaders to carry out the missions of the organization they serve. The AH minor and certification requires 18 credit hours of coursework (three required courses and two electives and a 300 hour supervised internship).
The final course of the minor sequence is the Seminar in Nonprofit Leadership which includes topics in needs assessments, fund raising, budgeting and accounting, risk management, event planning, and nonprofit excellence. The course always includes a service learning component. In the past we have done consulting for small nonprofits, awards celebrations which included choosing the best emerging and established nonprofits in Kalamazoo County, and workshops done in collaboration with other nonprofit support organizations.
In 2009 we would like the topics and service learning to focus on needs assessment, request for proposals, and grant awards from Students4Giving. In 2006 and 2007 this class did a similar project in that we raised money and awarded $3,000 and 50 volunteer hours to the Best Emerging and Best Established Nonprofit. The mission of the Awards Ceremony was, “To honor and promote nonprofit excellence, encourage development of professional relationships between nonprofit and for-profit businesses, to provide students with the opportunity to work on a major event, and to increase the visibility of the nonprofit programs at WMU.” Students chose the winners and found a gap between what we thought was needed in the community and what the nominated agencies where providing. Students rightfully pondered, “Are we deciding excellence even if we don’t agree with their mission? Are we only looking at impact, collaboration, change in participants, capacity building? Or does it matter whether we believe in their mission? This is an especially pressing question in the city of Kalamazoo where the poverty rate increased in 2005 to over 30% (State of Michigan Cities: An Index of Urban Prosperity) and where, according to the annual Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Michigan League for Human Services, the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches has risen from 34.6 percent in 2002 to 40.5 percent in 2006 We believe that Students4Giving addresses this gap by asking us to examine unmet needs in our community and determine a focus for the requests for proposals.
The required course prior to the Seminar in Nonprofit Leadership (which would implement this plan) is Nonprofit Advancement which includes fund raising and grant writing. Students in this class learn why individuals and businesses give to philanthropy and how to develop a needs statement and a case for support.
In the proposed seminar, students will award grants after investigating and assessing community needs, researching nonprofit organizations that meet those needs, and developing a request for proposals (RFP) to fund specific projects. In culmination, students will plan and hold a celebration where the grant will be presented.
Outline educational goals and plans for assessment (including student reflection).
Educational Goals
By the end of the semester, the student will:
- identify community sources that help funders determine unmet community needs (U.S. Census, Kid’s Count, Service Taxonomies, observations by funders and the underserved, etc)
- demonstrate the ability to write a request for proposals
- demonstrate the ability to create criteria to guide funding decisions
- articulate the relationship between written proposals, site visits, and interviews
- demonstrate the ability to create a case statement and use it to solicit business sponsorships
- plan, executive, and evaluate the grant presentation event
- create an evaluation tool for the grantees to submit by January of 2010 to assist the next class in writing their request for proposals
- understand and use consensus decision-making.
Steps:
- Read and analyze local, state, and national data
- Listen to guest speakers discuss unmet community needs
- Determine two regional unmet needs; write a RFP and criteria for selection
- Distribute RFP including criteria for decision making
- Solicit proposals from identified agencies with experience in the identified need
- Write a case for support
- Solicit business sponsorships and major donors
- Plan grant award event
- Narrow finalists and do site visit and interviews
- Invite finalists to give presentations to class
- Make funding decisions
- Write evaluation tool for grantees to use during implementation
Each class will begin with reflection, “What have you accomplished or attempted since the last class? What have you learned about the needs in the community, the nonprofits meeting those needs, fundraising, what it takes to positively address an unmet need, finances, working with others, working with media? What went well? What barriers have your encountered?” The entire class works to break through the barriers encountered by making suggestions or offering assistance.
At the end of the course students will write a reflection paper addressing how their views of community, nonprofits, society and themselves have or have not changed due to this experience. They will be encouraged to address the following questions.
- What did you learn about the needs in this community?
- What did you learn about yourself and your ability to work with people toward a common goal?
- What was the most difficult part of this course for you?
- Have you changed your thinking or behavior because of this class?
- What was the most important, meaningful, or helpful part of this class?
- How will this experience impact your life or your future philanthropic and civic engagement activities?
- What would you recommend we do differently next year?
Students will also evaluate their own contributions and assign themselves points in each category.
- 10% Reflection Paper
- 10% RFP based on needs assessment analysis
- 10% Criteria to score proposals
- 20% Research on agencies submitting proposals
- 10% Case Statement to develop additional financial support or Grant Award Event
- 10% Business and major donor solicitation
- 10% Grant Decisions
- 10% Evaluation for grantees to use during their projects
- 10% Media Exposure
All students will participate in the needs assessment, request for proposal, criteria, agency research (students will be divided into groups to research specific agencies, not all students will interview or have site visits to all agencies), solicitation, and decision making. Two groups will be formed to create the case statement and plan the grant giving event.
Describe how you will support students in the development of a grant-making process (including the identification of community needs, grantee selection, impact assessment, fundraising for mission sustainability, etc.).
The Greater Kalamazoo United Way, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation will assist us in creating our grant-making process, in identifying unmet needs, in measuring impact, and in fundraising. They will also publicize our request for proposals. Speakers from these groups will present the local data they gather (perception studies and service maps) as well as their sources for information (U.S. Census, Kids Count, General Social Survey, service taxonomies, and listening to community members) and discuss how they identify needs in our community. A grant award event will be planned and held, with students as the speakers, to present the funding awards to the selected nonprofit organizations. A press release will be prepared by students, in conjunction with the university communications office, and distributed to local media.
Describe plans for ongoing financial support of the charitable mission through the Giving Account program and related philanthropic education.
Our students have a history of raising between $10,000 to $20,000 a year both to support other organizations and to fund their required national conference. They do this through a personalized annual appeal letter, department solicitation, and business solicitation. We have in the past received support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. We are currently working with the WMU Foundation to cultivate alumni gifts that will grow.
Since 2001, 75 students — from diverse backgrounds and representing 16 academic majors/disciplines — have graduated from Western Michigan University with either a certification or minor in Nonprofit Leadership.
