Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement

Objectives:

• To help participants understand the importance of giving
• To help them identify different gifts and talents they have to give
• To build group cohesiveness by learning about each other
  

Activity Theme:

“The spirit of living is giving.”

~ Gale Smith, CEO and Founder of the Smith Family Foundation, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

The facilitator explains that philanthropy is a way of sharing our gifts to meet the needs of the members of our organization and community. This activity will help participants experience giving and receiving in the context of their immediate organization and/or community. It will begin with a fun activity, which asks participants to think about what they have to give and then practice their giving on each other.

Activity:

OPTION ONE: PERSONAL GIVING
The facilitator asks the group to think about what they give and to whom they give it. Remind them to consider giving as time, talents, treasure, effort, expertise, and materials. As they brainstorm this question, the facilitator puts some of their comments on the flipchart, acknowledging the impressive list the participants have generated.

• Why was their giving important?
• What impact did the giving have on the recipient(s)?
• How did the giving make them feel?
• Did they know the recipients of the giving or did they make a new friend?
• Did they get something back in return?
• How far did their gift go? Did they impact change? Was there a domino effect?

The facilitator passes out the personal checks — 3 per person. He/she informs the participants that they will be practicing their giving on each other. Each person should think of something they would do for another person. It can be anything from helping with homework to taking an unwanted chore to providing a listening ear — whatever they feel their talents are. Each participant should fill out the three checks, filling in their name and what they will give on each check, but leaving “Pay to the Order of” blank. The checks can have different gifts and talents or they may all be the same. The participants should be prepared to “have their checks redeemed,” that is, fulfill the gift, in the next week.

Participants mill around the room looking at each person’s personal checks. The facilitator explains that they can “shop around” and trade checks with others. They cannot get their own checks back. The group takes about 15 minutes to decide which of the personal checks they would like to receive. At the completion of the check exchange, tell the participants to write their names in the “Pay to the Order of” section and keep the checks to redeem in the following week.

 

Processing:

The facilitator asks the group if they are looking forward to fulfilling the gift and why? How did they choose what to put on the check? What do they feel about the checks they received? The facilitator explains that the participants will now have an opportunity to practice giving with an organization or the community.

OPTION TWO: COMMUNITY OR ORGANIZATIONAL GIVING
The facilitator explains that all of us may have needs at some time in our life that other members of the organization or community can help us meet. And, conversely, all of us have something we can give to others to help them meet their needs. (Personal checks) This activity will continue our focus on our small community or the organization to look at how we can all give and receive in the community.

1. Brainstorm the needs that people might have in the community or their organization or school or faith-based institution group. Participants should think of emotional and intellectual needs as well as materials needs. The needs do not have to be something that participants have experienced but something someone in the community may need. Give some examples:
   • needs help with homework: talent
   • needs research assistance for a school report: talent
   • needs some one to talk to at a very difficult time in one’s life: time
   • needs money to get something to eat or money to buy food : treasure
   • needs clothes to wear after a fire swept away their home: treasure
   • The group brainstorms the list in small groups and then comes up with one list as a large group.
     
2. The facilitator explains that we all may have needs at some time and that we also all have gifts that we can give to the organization and the community. These gifts come in the form of time, talents, and treasure. Groups of 2-4 use the same procedure to brainstorm ways the participants could help meet the needs by giving time, talent, and treasure to their community and/or organization. Reviewing the examples given above, responses might be:
   • giving your time and talent to tutor a person having difficulty with homework
   • giving your time and talent to teach someone how to do research on the Internet
   • taking the time to be a good listener for someone
   • giving some of your treasure to buy lunch or sharing your lunch with them
   • giving some of your treasure to buy some clothes or sharing what you have
     
3. The facilitator asks the group for examples of the same types of needs and giving in larger community. Some of these might be the homeless, hunger, environment, jobs, etc. What are some of the organizations that have been formed to meet the needs of the community? Rescue Mission, Shelter, Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, parks department, Chamber of Commerce would be examples for those listed above. Who, among the partici pants, has been active in working to meet the community’s needs? Many young people have done projects for hungry and homeless such as canned food collection, providing holiday baskets of food, participating in building a Habitat house, fixing dinner at the Mission or Shelter. Ask them to think about their experiences and tell about them. Most young people do not realize how many philanthropic actions they have taken in their young lifetime.

REFLECTION
In closing, the facilitator says:

“We can think of a community, nation, or world as having a philanthropic account just like an individual. The account is filled with the gifts of individuals in the form of time, talent, and treasure. Withdrawals are constantly being made to meet the needs of community members. For the account to have a positive balance for each of us as individuals, we all need to contribute in some way.”

FOLLOW-UP ON THE PERSONAL CHECKS:
This idea came from one of the field test sites. They suggested setting up a “Giving Back Record” that could be posted at each following meeting/session. As checks are redeemed, the person would list that on the record. This helped with the follow through of “cashing” the checks for others.