How to spend money

Christian Century, Nov 15, 2003

In a Davidson College course on philanthropy and nonprofit organizations, the class is given $10,000 at the beginning of the semester. Together the students decide how to spend the money. They establish criteria for disbursing the money, study the organizations they are considering, review applications and debate the relative merits of each organization.

Professor Ken Menkhaus says that usually it is difficult to get discussion going, but not in this class. "Half of the time, I needed a whistle to get them to stop talking." He thinks that using real money is the key to the success of the course. The $10,000 came from the Sunshine Lady Foundation (Chronicle of Higher Education, September 26).