Texas A&M Philanthropy Course Gives $62,500 to Local Nonprofits

MBA students in the Strategic Philanthropy class at the Texas A&M University at Mays Business School put their money where their class is: this year, the program awarded $62,500 to nonprofits throughout the area.

Seventeen members of the Strategic Philanthropy class were able to put their studies into high gear during the fall semester, with the opportunity to research and select local nonprofits to receive financial support. With $62,500 to allocate, students in the course set about evaluating 43 applications for funding from area nonprofits. The initial goal was to narrow the pool down to 10 organizations that would receive an extensive review to obtain a deeper understanding of the organization, which would include interviews and site visits.

Ultimately, the class selected five local organizations that would receive funding. The organizations address a wide variety of causes, from urgent hunger-related needs (Mission Reclaimed), rescue and restore men in violent situations (Save Our Streets Ministries), training dogs for the police department’s K9 force (K9s4Cops), homelessness (Family Promise), and mobility (Mobility Worldwide).

Since its inception, the course has given out more than $250,000 to 18 organizations, 90 percent of which are located in the Brazos Valley in Texas. Historically, the funds have come from the Philanthropy Lab. This year, a new source of funding was also available in the form of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation’s Community Grants Program.

“This class embraces the difficulty that surrounds the inescapable fact that our resources can’t fully measure up to our needs,” said Kyle Gammenthaler, Coordinator for Social Impact Initiatives at Mays, in a press release. “There are still pressing needs that require significantly more resources to solve, but we’ve taken a step forward. Every step forward is a step closer to solving problems that ail our society.”

You can read more about Texas A&M’s recent gifts here and check out a video about the school’s philanthropy projects below.

regions: Houston

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