UAA Philanthropy Project: Learning by Giving at UAA

UAA, through our Civic Engagement Certificate program in the Center for Community Engagement & Learning, recently joined a national philanthropy project supported by The Learning by Giving Foundation (LBG). An ongoing grant from LBG, along with local dollars from The Atwood Foundation and The Foraker Group, made this project possible. Our civic engagement students at UAA join students from 42 other institutions across the country in learning about nonprofits and philanthropy and awarding grants to local organizations. The LBG Foundation asks colleges and universities to award $10,000 each year, and students have the exciting and sometimes troubling experience of determining who should receive the money.

CEL A392 - Advanced Civic Engagement is taught by Dr. Judith Owens-Manley and designed in four components:

1. Students are provided with an overview of the nonprofit sector, the current issues and trends in the state, and an overview of philanthropy and civic engagement.
2. Students dive into understanding the donor relationship cycle and the role of grants as a part of nonprofit funding options.
3. Students will have an opportunity to look more closely at the grant proposal and award cycle and have an opportunity to apply their knowledge in reviewing program proposals prepared in an English 212 - Technical Writing class.
4. Students will work together to award up to a total of $10,000 to four different nonprofit organizations. Several foundations and community organizations contributed to this project as guest speakers, including the UA Foundation, The Alaska Community Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation and The Foraker Group.

Our CEL A392 - Advanced Civic Engagement class recently awarded $2,500 each to four different community organizations: AWAIC, STAR, Children's Lunchbox and Mountain View Boys & Girls Club. Students in the class have $10,000 to award to four different agencies, and they learn about philanthropy, nonprofits, and state and local issues before reviewing proposals written by Professor Angela Andersen's summer ENGL 212 - Technical Writing classes.

The class will be offered each fall and there are no prerequisites. Students may want to have some familiarity with nonprofits or community issues and a desire to be actively engaged with their community. Students who have taken the class share their perspectives in their final papers:

• "Taking a civic engagement course has been a great chance to expand what I've learned so far and to learn new things... We truly would not accomplish as much as we do in Anchorage without the collaborative efforts that go on behind the scenes with the umbrella organizations, foundations and other nonprofits."
• "This project was one of the most beneficial projects I have ever been a part of. Through the process we learned about what makes a good grant proposal, how to communicate directly with the organization, and how to remove our own personal biases from the decision making process."
• "There is a tiny philanthropist in everyone. With this class, it grew the tiny philanthropist in me almost as if it were a seed and needed a bit of sunshine and water. This class supplied me with those resources. It opened me up to a whole new world I haven't even though about. It also gave me hope for mankind."
• "Philanthropy is well-rooted in my family history and I plan to continue on the tradition of philanthropy and to teach my family one day to do the same."
• "By listening to somebody else's opinions, I could break out my stereotypes and embrace differences. The class discussion was the great scaffolding for me to understand better about philanthropy."
• "At the end of the day, the selection process helped us learn not just about philanthropy in the United States and Alaska, the intricacies of grant writing and decision making, we learned a lot about ourselves, our culture, our values, and we learned a lot about our community."

The project was piloted in a civic engagement course in fall 2014 with six students. It was supported by a $2,000 grant from the Women's Giving Circle, a private charitable fund with The Alaska Community Foundation. Students in the civic engagement course evaluated grant proposals that were written for four local nonprofit organizations by ENGL A212 students in Summer 2014, and the six of them agreed to award $1,000 each to Alaska Literacy Program and the Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services program (RAIS) with Catholic Social Services.

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