When I first enrolled in English 396 I did not know what
to expect. I had very little knowledge of the traditions of giving and serving
that we have in this country. One could imagine my surprise when I arrived and
realized that not only would I be learning about these traditions but I would
also get the opportunity to make an impact in the community by helping decide
which Porter County non-profit organization to award $5,000 for their work.
This was exciting but also a little intimidating as I had never been assigned
such an important task with real world consequences, and also because I was
uneducated in the world of philanthropy and non-profit work. But throughout
this semester both through discussions with my classmates and assigned readings
by my professor I have learned quite a bit and am still learning.
By studying the works of people like Cotton
Mather, Benjamin Franklin, and Jane Addams I learned that to make a difference
in the world of philanthropy one must have compassion. Through the study of
others such as Emerson and Thoreau I learned that one must also be guided by
their own personal convictions if they wish to make a great impact. Also, I
have learned a great deal about the difficulties and challenges that come with
non-profit work. Because society has so many problems non-profit organizations
must specialize in what societal problems they want to address, but no matter
what issue is chosen one organization can’t help every single person in need.
For that reason I learned that in order to help people in need non-profit
organizations must also make the difficult decision to turn away some people in
need. Non-profit organizations must also find a way to receive the funds needed
to do their work and find a way to measure if their work is actually having an
impact, and put together a marketing strategy so that they can successfully
reach the community.
In
conclusion, before enrolling in this class I was unaware of just how much time,
effort, and strategic thinking go into doing non-profit work as well as many of
the incredibly hard decisions that non-profit organizations must make on a
daily basis. I have gained great respect for the ones who choose this kind of
work as their vocation because they are forced to make great and unique
sacrifices in order to help people they don’t even know, and I believe that
this requires a capacity for empathy and frustration that most do not possess.
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