Giving Can Change the World

Concentrating within the field of sustainability, these GLI students chose four non-profits towards which they will award $10,000. Taught by Professors Gregory Larson and Sara Hayden, the course Can Giving Change the World? weaves the pragmatism of charity with the research of philanthropy to provide students with an influential experience of service-learning. Professor Larson remarks, “The class gets freshmen involved in the Missoula community,” to which Professor Hayden adds, “You wouldn't get it from books.”

After conducting needs assessments, the students extended invitations for grant proposals to local institutions who work on the basis of environmental impact, and then allotted funds to the organizations. Student speaker Mariah Thomas comments, “We all came together to make something for our community and that feeling is so gratifying.” By sorting through the 12 institutional biographies and performing site visits, the students were directly connected to the work of non-profits.

With the monetary provisions from the Learning by Giving Foundation, self-raised campaigns, and the Franke GLI program, the teams presented their figures in classic large-check fashion, alongside the accompanying feel-good elements of philanthropy. Student speaker Sabine Englert concludes, “I have never been as invested in an outcome as I was in this one.”