My Adventure in Non Profit Studies

During this semester, I enjoyed Brittany Sandbergen's presentation during our time. I enjoyed how she presented the information with colorful handouts and powerpoints. Brittany is the director of expanded learning at PASA or the Providence After School Alliance. She works with youth in grades 6-12 to provide them afterschool and summer opportunities. Some of these opportunities include different classes such as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), and other enrichment opportunities. I identified with Brittany because I was able to resonate with PASA. PASA is similar to the Y, except for the age of youth they work with. I also enjoyed how she was responsive to any questions that we had and did not stick to the material that she came with. I also resonate with how she is driven to work there because of the kids. I feel the same way about my internship/ job at the Kent County Y.

Last evening, Kristen and I facilitated our playbox activity on saying goodbye (sadface). :( The idea for our playbox came up when I was looking for a community "see you later" activity. Both of us immediately thought it would be a good idea. I enjoyed preparing for the activity by cutting out all of the stars and using cardstock glitter paper that I had at home as a border. I enjoyed facilitating the activity. I thought it was a good moment of reflection for our YDEV community.  It was an enjoyable experience.  If I would change anything, I would have changed the activity by having everyone take a star and putting their names on them. The star could then be passed around and have people write a wish for them on it in addition to the wish they have for our community. 

The central argument of this article is about how nonprofits struggle to function as organizations. Funders have unrealistic expectations about how much running a nonprofit costs. To take charge, non profit funders need to take the lead.  A key problem is misleading reports in the nonprofit organization. " scrutiny found that 75 percent to 85 percent of these organizations were incorrectly reporting the costs associated with grants." Nonprofit organizations are giving the wrong data. They reported that their "overhead rates ranging from 13 percent to 22 percent," while their "actual overhead rates ranged from 17 percent to 35 percent." I have not had the chance to look into organization data for the YMCA.