"We are in the home stretch of the course, which means, the deliberations have begun. It seems like we are all very excited, but fully aware of the tough decisions ahead. Personally, I think this will be a difficult process with a very fulfilling outcome. There are 14 organizations that the class is going to consider and in the end 10,000 will be distributed.
Keeping this important information in mind we started to talk about how this deliberation was going to go. We had the spreadsheet with the compiled scores from each class member’s evaluation forms, ready and visible to the whole class. We started with the organizations that had an average score that was on the lower end of the list. By beginning to discuss the organizations that were outliers, we might be able to narrow our discussion to the organization that we feel fit our mission statement most.
Throughout our deliberations I have noticed two questions that stood out to the class. Those were if an organization addresses all three issues of our mission statement, and if the organization provides direct services or connects the clients to the organizations that can provide those services themselves. These two questions will help us decide where we want to distribute the money. In our second class period of deliberations we decided to discuss each organization, one at a time. Then, at the end we may have a better idea of which organizations we feel fit our mission statement or which organizations answer the two previously stated questions.
Another thing that stood out in our second session of deliberations was the importance of outcome, instead of output. We felt that an organization which was on our list to consider, mentioned a lot of information about the amount of people they hope to impact in the community. Some students felt that there was a lack of information about the output of the programs.
After two class periods, I am feeling thankful for this process and this class. As we began to take organizations off our list for the donations we all seemed quite sad. Some of us seem very attached to the organizations that we profiled, we are pushing for them in a way. We got to meet directors, staff members, clients of these non-profits. As students who want to help in any way we can, we are having a tough time taking organizations out of consideration. As class was ending I had a thought that stuck with me. I realized that all these organizations, even if we do not donate any money to them, are still gaining some awareness. It may be hard for us now, but a few months ago most of us were not aware of these organizations. Now, we know the difference they hope to make and how they impact our community. We will tell those around us about them and maybe even make donations ourselves. I think that is the silver lining. We can only give away $10,000, but all 14 non-profits gain awareness."
Jaymi L. - Senior Communications Major - Westville, IN
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