<p>Philanthropy courses that enable students to give away real money are offered at Davidson College in North Carolina, the University of Virginia, Cornell and the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va.</p>
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Many universities offer courses in philanthropy, but Colgates is unusual because in early May, at the end of the school year, the students will award $10,000 to nonprofit organizations of their choice, after researching worthy recipients. Only a few such courses nationwide give students the opportunity to give away real money.</p>
<p>Were helping students learn the business of philanthropy, said Ellen Percy Kraly, the professor who teaches the course.</p>
<p>The seminar is financed by the Brennan Family Foundation of Ohio, which has ties to the university through Jay Brennan, a family member who graduated in 1981. Earlier this year, the foundation donated $50,000 for five years of classes, with each group of students getting $10,000 a year to give away.</p>
<p>The seminar is not offered for credit, Dr. Kraly said, because it was put together quickly over the summer after the college received the Brennan grant. She expects that credit will be offered in the future.</p>
<p>Part of the goal of the course, she said, is to help the local community, especially because the Colgate campus is an affluent enclave where tuition, board and expenses cost about $45,000 a year surrounded by a rural, economically depressed region. Dr. Kraly, a geography professor, is also director of the Upstate Institute, a research center of the college whose mission, according to its Web site, is to create linkages between Colgate University and the regional community.</p>
<p>Although the class cannot award money to an individual, it plans to choose an organization small enough so that future classes can study how the money was spent and what it achieved...</p>
<p>Students drawn to this kind of course are not necessarily planning on becoming the next billionaire entrepreneur, he and Dr. Kraly said. Rather, they are already drawn to service professions.</p>
<p>Ms. Katz is a pre-med student who is thinking about joining an organization like Doctors Without Borders. Ms. Echahly has already built a lengthy résumé with internships at several large nonprofit groups like the American Red Cross; she hopes to work for the homeless.</p>
<p>I think I can see people who want to make a difference in the world, Dr. Kraly said of the class.</p>
<p>Students have spent the first half of the course learning how foundations work. At a recent class, they were just beginning to think about their group as a mini-foundation, weighing, among other topics, how the public would react to their project.</p>
<p>In an area with great need, I think its hard to justify the money going to the arts, said Cassandra Galante, 19.</p>
<p>Later, the group worried aloud about making the right choice.</p>
<p>Basically, where are we going to get the biggest bang for the buck, said Conley Stout, 20. And where can we have the most impact right now?</p>
<p>Dr. Kraly urged the group to consider the landscape of need as part of their coursework. When I think about the bigger picture, its overwhelming, Ms. Katz said. But were going to take it one step at a time.
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