Carolina Center for Public Service - Public Service and Engagement at Carolina

Promoting Change Through the Nonprofit Sector (SPCL 396.3)

Promoting Change Through the Nonprofit Sector is a unique opportunity through the Carolina Center for Public Service and the Public Service Scholars program. This one credit hour course is designed to offer undergraduate students an opportunity to learn about the nonprofit sector and to promote change in local communities by working together to fundraise, design grant award criteria, solicit grant proposals and decide on recipient nonprofit agencies.

In fall 2007, the Center received a grant from Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund and Campus Compact to establish a donor advised gift fund of $15,000. Carolina is one of five recipient institutions (out of 35 applicants) to participate in the Students4Giving pilot initiative.

Learn more about the Fidelity grant.

Learn more about the grants awarded by the Spring 2008 class.

Course Goals:
By the end of the semester, students will have:

Learned about the nonprofit sector and identified trends in philanthropy.

Assessed the important role of philanthropy in supporting the nonprofit sector.

Gained an understanding of donor advised gift funds.

Created a collaborative working committee to carry out fundraising and grant making processes.

Raised funds for the giving account.

Identified and successfully completed the steps in the grant making process.

Reflected on their experiences and interests in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and shared it with classmates, guest speakers and community agency representatives.

What have past participants said about the course?

Participants agreed that the skills and insights they developed through the course are very beneficial and directly relevant to their future public service efforts. 100% of the committee/class members said that they would recommend the course to a friend.

“This class helped me to be more engaged in community issues and the entire grant process. Awesome opportunity that you can’t get in any other class or training. (class participant, fall 2006)

“I didn’t realize how much I would get out of this class when it started. Now I would say that it has been one of the most useful classes I’ve taken at UNC. The skills I’ve learned are applicable to work in and outside of nonprofit service work.” (class participant, fall 2006)

“The committee’s grant was the first investment we received locally in support of our pilot program to provide North Carolina’s frail elderly with an alternative to nursing home care. The grant jump-started our development efforts and provided evidence of community support that is critical to any self-sustaining, community-driven program.” (grant recipient, fall 2006)

 

To read more about previous classes, please click HERE.