In an era when happiness is generally believed to be based on the wealth and power a person accumulates, little attention is paid to the pleasure of giving to strangers. There are few venues for the practice of philanthropy by ordinary people; religious institutions, the most prominent places for people to offer charity, generally make the decisions for the givers about how to distribute donations. Here in West Marin, an effort is underway to teach youngsters how to make informed charitable decisions. Richard Kirschman got the ball rolling by providing the West Marin Fund with enough money so that one grade in each local school can decide how to distribute $2,000 to nonprofits.
The path to this school giving program was not an easy one. Fifteen years ago, Mr. Kirschman selected a number of teachers to whom he offered a grant for distribution by students; this attempt fizzled, as did another one six years later. Teachers are under enormous pressures from federal and state regulators to include designated curricula. Then and now, they spend substantial time organizing their classes to meet these demands and feel they cannot add another activity to their crowded agendas.
This time, the West Marin Fund asked all principals and teachers at Shoreline Unified School District if they were interested in participating; soliciting volunteers in this way opened the schools’ doors. Last year, two classes joined in and so far this year classes at three schools have signed up. A class of seventh and eighth graders at Nicasio School already made a distribution. Although the original concept was directed at older students, the fourth-grade class at Bolinas-Stinson School volunteered and completed its work this month. West Marin School will be next.
There are a number of steps in the process of deciding how classes spend their allocations. First, each student mulls over the problems in the community and how the money should be spent. Then students write a one-page argumentative essay advocating for their point of view. After that, students make a pitch to their classmates, who vote on what to do with the money. In one class last year, a number of small grants were made to different programs. This year at Nicasio School, the class decided the money would have more impact in larger grants. The Coastal Health Alliance received $1,000, and Sam’s House in Bolinas, a residential care facility, received the other half.
And there was follow-up. Steven Siegel, the C.E.O. of the health alliance, came to a school assembly to receive the grant and described how it would be used, which includes support for a new dental program for patients without the ability to pay for services. Rosie Barry, executive director of Friends of Sam’s House, also spoke. Residents in that facility pay monthly fees and the grant will be used to subsidize those who cannot afford some or all of the cost. In this way, lessons about philanthropy went beyond a single class and were shared with the entire student body.
Bolinas-Stinson School followed a similar process. The nine unusually precocious students in the small school’s fourth grade wrote essays and advocated for their choices to the rest of the class. The outcome was a decision to give $650 to each of three programs. On the day the grants were given, the recipients first went to the fourth-grade classroom and described how their organizations operate before speaking at an all-school assembly.
One beneficiary was the Institute for Bird Populations, which tracks birds in order to evaluate their survival and productivity. The discussion about the organization was particularly dramatic; Dave DeSante, the institute’s founder and president, brought a huge net used to catch birds and band them to evaluate their migration patterns (which include roundtrips to Argentina for some swallows and other equally long migrations for other birds). He unfurled the net, which reached across the room, and showed the class a small toolbox full of equipment for banding birds. Mr. DeSante explained that the grant would be used to help refurbish the nets and other equipment, as well as to support staff. One bright youngster asked where else the organization obtained funds and Mr. DeSante explained that the institute was assisted by state and federal agencies and private donations.
The other grants were made to two preschool programs. To receive the award, the director of the Bolinas Children’s Center, Ward Young, came to the class and later attended the assembly, as did Susan Tacherra, the third grantee and the teacher for over 20 years at the Stinson Beach Preschool. Many of the fourth-grade students had attended these preschools and were familiar with how they operate. The preschool heads explained that the money would be used for tables, supplies and financial assistance for children from low-income families. Later, Nadia, a younger student, voiced her approval. “Preschool is very important because it is the first time that kids learn anything,” she said.
There are many moving parts to the giving program, which Mr. Kirschman views as a pilot project with ambitious goals He and his wife, Doris Ober, hope it will encourage more donors to contribute to the West Marin Fund for use in the school philanthropy program. They also hope it will encourage the creation of a countywide program, such as through the Marin Community Foundation, which distributes funds designated for the county’s poor and needy.
Mr. Kirschman also hopes the idea will spread to other places in the country, where a simple computer scan reveals ferment about student-based giving through many different models. A number of programs are part of college-level courses, although some involve younger students. It is clear that a grassroots effort is developing to encourage much wider participation in philanthropy. West Marin has provided leadership for the country in many ways, and kid’s philanthropy may prove to be another important contribution.
Herb Kutchins is a professor emeritus in the Division of Social Work at California State University, Sacramento. Having lectured about philanthropy for decades, he is impressed that this is a more effective way for students of all ages to learn about giving.