Binghamton University student philanthropy program awards $15,500

Since its inception in 2009, the University’s Philanthropy Incubator program has awarded over $150,000 to local organizations. The program involves undergraduate and graduate students within Binghamton University’s College of Community and Public Affairs and across the University who learn about the role philanthropy plays in addressing community needs, and how to manage and lead nonprofit organizations effectively. The grant funds are raised each year through a graduate student-led fundraiser, “Party with a Purpose,” and support from the Learning by Giving Foundation. The students make their giving decisions as part of coursework in one undergraduate and two graduate courses.

Undergraduate students in the Philanthropy and Civil Society course are distributing $10,000 to the following two organizations:

• $7,500 to the Mental Health Association of the Southern Tier (MHAST) to support the COMPEER program, which provides mentors to young people living with mental illness
• $2,500 to the YWCA of Binghamton as an operating grant to provide general support for the organization.

Graduate students in the Issues in Nonprofit Administration course will award $5,000 to RISE, a local domestic violence prevention organization, for general support and to assist the organization with upgrades to its shelter. The graduate students raised the $5,000 through this year’s “Party with a Purpose,” to fund the award – their largest grant to date.

Graduate students studying international giving announced a $500 Global Giving Award to the Brackett Refugee Education Fund (BREF), based out of Hamilton, N.Y., which covers school costs for Burmese refugee families living in India, Bangladesh and Thailand, as well as internally displaced people in Myanmar.

For more information about the Philanthropy Incubator or the grant awards, contact David Campbell at 607-777-9181 or dcamp@binghamton.edu.