By: Mary
Mary participated in Allowance for Good's winter 2014 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy: Explorers program.
My favorite part about ELP was the speakers and learning
from them. We got to see what exactly these philanthropists are doing to make
the World a better place. Speakers like Sharmila, Bruce, and Charles showed us
how their foundation(s) are making the world a better place. Before ELP, I was
confused on how foundations obtained their funds. I thought that small
foundations only ran on individual donors, and that puzzled me. I was informed
that foundations get funds from large family and corporate foundations. I had
many questions for Sharmila on how a family corporation is run and what the
difficulties are while being on the board of a family foundation. With Bruce, I
learned about how the smallest things can affect a developing community. I
liked to see his personal pictures of The Adonai Child Development Centre. I
was delighted to see how he was making a difference in that community and
making an effort to do the most good. Finally, I was fascinated by Charles'
foundation. I would never have thought that having a bicycle would make such a
big difference to children in developing countries. It made me think more about
how to help people in non-conventional ways.
I will continue to be a young
catalyst and philanthropist through travel. It's one of my passions. My
ultimate goal as a philanthropist is to see others getting better. I want to go
where I've already sent help through money or goods. I want to see an
improvement and settle difficulties in an area. I want to talk to the people
that I helped. In the future, I want to learn more about micro-loans and
organizations like Kiva. I think its very conventional and a gift that can be
re-used and sent to many people who need the money. I want to become a donor in
the future and watch my money go to people who will profit the most from
it.
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| Mary, right, listens intently as Charles Coustan presents about his organization, World Bicycle Relief. |
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