Global Leadership Initiative: Can Giving Change the World?
ABOUT
Who are we
We are a Freshman seminar class at the University of Montana, hosted through the Franke Global Leadership Initiative, and taught by Dr. Greg Larson. We are interested in addressing some of the big problems facing society and becoming more involved in our community. We share an enthusiasm for non-profits, volunteerism, and learning how to be leaders and change-makers.
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The process
We will learn about the strengths and limitations of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship as models for addressing contemporary social problems, and in doing so, better understand the overall challenges related to enacting social change.
Primarily, this includes an experiential philanthropic project. This is an opportunity for us to study and engage in philanthropy as a tool for social change and community engagement at the local level. The experiential philanthropic project is a center piece of the course. The philanthropic project is funded by the Learning by Giving Foundation, founded by Doris Buffet. UM is one of 35 universities across the country funded by this unique foundation to support courses that educate the next generation of philanthropic leaders.
We will learn about community needs, issue a request for proposals to the public, review real proposals from local nonprofit organizations, and debate the merits of each proposal before collectively making final funding decisions to allocate $7,500 to $10,000 in the Missoula community. Grants of at least $2,000 each will then be used by local Missoula nonprofits to further their missions.
