STUDENTS IN A BATTEN SCHOOL philanthropy course spent the semester researching, deliberating, and deciding how to award $100,000 to charitable organizations. In May, they finally handed out the checks.
At a luncheon in the Great Hall of Garrett Hall, the Batten students awarded grants to 14 nonprofits, 11 of them local. The awards ranged from $3,000 to $12,000, and the largest awards all went to local organizations.
The funds for the course were provided to Batten by the Philanthropy Lab of the Once Upon a Time Foundation of Forth Worth, Texas. The goal of the course is to encourage students to think about philanthropy, said the course instructor, Paul Martin, Batten’s director of professional development and a former chair of the City of Charlottesville’s Community Development Block Grant Task Force.
The class allocated half of the foundation’s gift through an open, competitive grant process on the theme of “food.” With the remaining $50,000, the class divided into five “micro-foundation” groups, each with $10,000 to award toward a mission it selected.
In the process, the 24 students in the class— representing 16 majors from across the University—“learned to be flexible, articulate, persuasive and open to, and open with, each other,” said second-year student Caroline Trezza.
“Recognizing our own power in this unique situation was both humbling and empowering in a lot of ways,” said Katy Hutto, a second-year Jefferson Scholar, double majoring in English and political and social thought in the College of Arts & Sciences. “We reached a compromise that truly speaks to a wide range of values and that represents our diverse interests in the community—both Charlottesville and the global community.”
“I am in awe of the work you’re all doing,” said Joe Caputi, Charlottesville branch manager for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, as he thanked the class for the $10,000 grant, which he said will buy 72,000 pounds—roughly two tractor-trailer loads—of fresh vegetables.
“One of the best parts of this course is introducing students to the exceptional work outside the University,” Martin said. “The other best part was introducing these organizations to the boundless energy and creativity of this group of students.”
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