Obama Tax Credit

I really enjoyed reading up on last week’s management dilemma about Obama’s Tax Credit. I believe this is a good idea, especially for college students who are trying to make it on their own. It’s difficult taking classes, staying involved, and juggling a part-time job. And trying to pay as you go is practically impossible, so students are left with few options, which are primarily loans. Having a second option for financial assistance is great. This credit will definitely give an incentive for students to give part of their time to the community. I think a lot of students would like to volunteer, but are unable to due to their need to dedicate free time to their job in order to make the rent. This would provide the opportunity to do both.

Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges

I just read the article that Harvey posted about the Milwaukee based nonprofit helping at-risk teenagers go to college. I thought it was very interesting to read about all the great things they are doing for young people, and to read how it was made possible from a business standpoint. It seems like there are so many great ideas out there to help kids who would not be able to attend college without help, but many of them fail because it costs a lot of money to put a kid through college, and many slip through the cracks.

I think it is good that the organization set some specific goals for what they wanted to accomplish. Then, they hired some people who really cared, and knew what they were doing (a winning combination) to make their vision a reality. I think that in order for a nonprofit to really be successful, you not only have to have a passion for what you are doing, but you also have to have the business skills to raise the funds and compete with all the other nonprofits and for profits out there. It seems like this organization has both of these aspects, and is doing a lot of good because of it.

Case Statement

I found a case statement for The University of North Carolina’s Social Work Program. The url for this is:

They wrote this case statement because, they were trying to get alumni donations to : recruit more teachers, more scholarship and to maintain nice facilities.

I thought this was a good case statement and would have prob. gave it an 80% on the grading scale.   They did a good job on the visual aspects, which is good for today’s young generation.  It expressed the mission at the beginning and said the purpose of the case statement. It was a very professional presentation and I like how it broke it down into donor categories. Ex: If you donate 500 you are a Golden Teacher donor, and your money Will go towards…. If you donate 1,000 you are a Ford Hall donor and your money will go towards….

They also included personal stories in the case statement which made it more personal.  I have not seen A LOT of case statements but this one seemed to be trendy and infomational.It also talked about different ways to give BESIDES donating money.