For the past two days, I’ve attended a workshop hosted by Advancement Resources to delve into the topic of The Art & Science of Philanthropy. I took away several tips that I think will help me in my day-to-day work in Development, but the workshop also compelled me to think of my own/our family’s charitable goals.

The key question they posed was: “What would you like to accomplish with your money that would be meaningful to you?” The query is designed to make development professionals think in terms of what is important to the donor, rather than focusing solely on their organization’s needs.

As a philanthropist – and I do believe that I am one, even though I don’t have the capacity to make “major” gifts – the question made me think more deeply about what my own interests are and those of our family. Historically, we give the bulk of our charitable gifts to our church, but we also support several other organizations, to varying degrees. One of the role-playing exercises in the conference had us play the part of a donor with $2 million to spend.

When it was my turn to play the donor, I answered the “passion question” by saying that military families and non-traditional students are near and dear to  heart. If I really had gobs of money to spend for charitable purposes, then I would definitely establish a scholarship for transfer students and/or other non-traditional students. I feel a burden for folks who are working their way through college, perhaps not even beginning their higher education journey until later in life. I also have a heart for military families and would like to see greater opportunities for them to connect and feel “at home” even when they are separated.

Just this week, for instance, I received a wait-list notification for our two oldest boys from an Army family camp. I was so disappointed, because I registered very early (so I thought). If I had the resources to make a significant impact, then I would want to ensure that no eligible family would be left out of being able to participate in summer camp. I would also support the USO and help to open more sites at more airports.

Closer to home, however, I would immediately finish funding the Endowed Scholarship Fund Honoring Baylor Staff. What an exciting, grassroots effort this scholarship has been. We are wrapping up our second year, and we’re still on target to reach our five-year goal, but I’m concerned about losing momentum down the road. “Donor fatigue” is a real phenomenon, and I would love to see some leadership gifts make a big dent in the balance remaining.

After that scholarship is fully funded, if I had the resources, then I would establish an endowed scholarship specifically for transfer students from community colleges. I read an article recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education that showed a graph of students who obtain PhDs, and the number of students who began in community colleges was paltry. It was only 1 in 5. I am still waiting to hear about my acceptance to the DPA program at Valdosta, but I sure would love to boost that statistic! Students who start their academic careers at a community college may not think that they would ever be able to afford to attend a school like Baylor; I know I didn’t!

The point is that if I had to itemize my passions as a philanthropist, then those are the areas that are near and dear to my heart. There are other areas, particularly in missions and community outreach, but for the purpose of the workshop, I focused on education.

In response to gross misinformation disseminated by the 6yo (and obtained from an unknown source), I had to have a sit-down conversation with the oldest two boys about how babies are born. (I will have another private sit-down with the 6yo, but perhaps not as much detail.)

The primary objective was to alleviate misconceptions about birth and bowel movements being one and the same. *sigh

I was a little nervous, but it actually went really well. They both took the info at face value, asked a few questions about organs here or there, and seemed satisfied with my answers. They were both totally freaked to learn that females have eggs inside of their bodies. (I did clarify that they’re microscopic … not like chicken eggs. I could see the obvious relief on their faces.)

I braced myself for the obvious follow-up question: How do the babies get there, in the first place? but they didn’t ask. So, I didn’t tell. We’ll cross that bridge another day … hopefully after Dad gets back from his Army job!

Rain washed away our outdoor plans this weekend. In an effort to preserve my sanity with five cooped-up boys in the house, I made a chart of indoor activities on a 30-min rotation schedule. There were four categories: computer, TV in Mom’s room, Wii in the living room and chores/reading/quiet time.

Two people at a time were assigned to Wii, but the others were solitary activities. It worked great for about three hours, then we had lunch and went to Nana & Granddad’s for a while. That afternoon, we watched a movie, then it was nearly time for dinner!

I loved that they didn’t argue over who got to do what when because they could see their names on the chart and knew that they would have a turn at each “station.” I’m definitely doing that again on another rainy weekend!