Senior Project Reflection

1. Positive Statement- I am most proud of the fact that I was able to make time with relative ease and that my activity turned out pretty much how I planned. 
2. Questions To Consider
1. P
2. P
3. What worked for me in my senior project was that I was able to complete all tasks and learn how to conduct extensive amounts of research and manage a nine month long project. 
4. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and pick a different topic, such as skateboarding. Most likely skateboarding. It would have made my senior year much more enjoyable. I didn't realize this until it was to late and I was already well into researching nonprofit organizations. 
5. The senior project has helped me realize that I am not cut out for office work. I realized this after a long mentor ship of mainly office work. Furthermore, it has also taught me the importance of thoroughly researching a topic. 

Mentorship

Literal
Contact name: Carlos Carrillo
Mentorship place: Uncommon Good
Mentorship Log

Interpretive 
The most important thing that I've gained from this experience is the fact that I now have a good idea of what it takes to work in an office setting as well as an altruistic setting. I've realized that although I do like nonprofit work, I don't want to do nonprofit work in an office. I'm just not cut out to do that. I am greatly thankful for this experience because I can now narrow down my career choices. 

Applied
In my time spent volunteering with Uncommon Good, I had the opportunity of observing and talking to the staff. After talking with Nancy Mintie and Rebecca Gifford (both of whom I ended up interviewing), I was able to conclude that my best answer was solid and well chosen. They reaffirmed my answer as well as helped me by recommending sources (such as the Stanford Social Innovative Review).

April Blog post

Nothing too fun this month. I do have to say that I am very glad to be done with independent component two. And to be honest, I'm getting pretty sick of senior project. Just like everyone else, I'd imagine.

The garden which I integrated into my component two is coming along beautifully. I'd take a picture of it but it's dark outside.

The junior interview which took place today was pretty interesting. I'm glad that I was able to give some advice, and the juniors which I spoke to seemed somewhat interested in what I had to say.

Seriously, this is all I can think of right now. Peace.

Exit Interview

1. My essential question is "What is the best way for an educational nonprofit organization to raise funds for resources to encourage underprivileged students attend college?"
1. My best answer is "The best way for an educational nonprofit organization to raise funds for resources to encourage underprivileged students attend college is by changing their ineffective business structure." This is my best answer because it addresses all that is wrong with the nonprofit sector and presents ideas on how to fix the root problems.
2. It was a long process. My research is what finally led me to this answer. Interview three was the most important because my interviewee affirmed all my ideas and research.
3. The main problem I faced was not being able to find enough research. I got around this by imputing better and more specific search queries as well as asking my interviewee for sources, which she gave me.
4. My two most significant sources are as follows
1. Nancy Mintie: She was my third interviewee and helped me find more research as well as letting me know that I was on the right track with my project.
2.  "In Search of the Hybrid Ideal" published by the Stanford Social Innovative Review. This source offers many different alternatives to the ineffective nonprofit business structure. 

Independent Component 2

I, Eustacio Rodriguez affirm that I have completed my independent component two which represented 30 hours of work. 


LITERAL
The source which really helped me complete my independent component was Rebecca Gifford, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing for my 4th interview. She was able to affirm all of the research I've done up to this point in time, and I've enjoyed conversing with her not only in a formal setting.

Here you will find my independent component two log in which I have recorded the activities I performed during every volunteer session.

For my independent component two, I decided to dip into my mentorship hours (which are gathered by volunteering at the Uncommon Good office) and use those to fulfill the 30 hours required. In those 30 hours, I've been able to learn some important things about public image, connections, patience, and progressive techniques.

INTERPRETATIVE
For the most part, my time spent volunteering at Uncommon Good has been consumed by a variety of office tasks. The most prominent involves calling, emailing, and mailing students which are part of the program and reminding them about upcoming meetings. This entailed drafting documents to send, cross referencing contact information, working with spreadsheets, etc.. Sometimes, I got the opportunity to help some of the staff members with whatever it was they were doing that day: things like sorting through emails and responding to the appropriate ones, setting up for meetings, going to the post office to drop off documents, etc.. From this section of my volunteer experience, I was able to take away that internal order must be maintained at all times. This in mind, I think of my peers and I, and fear for our success, seeing as how many of us are pretty scatter-brained and disorganized.

Nancy Dufford (left) and Shelly Randles (right)
Staff members

Carlos Carrillo
My mentor

Apart from office work, I had two opportunities to partake in things other than sorting through papers. The first was the "farm program" which I will talk more about later, but basically, Uncommon Good has planted a vegetable garden in my front yard. I helped prepare the land for the planting. The following pictures show what it looks like now (after about a month and a half).

A view of the garden from my roof.

Another view of the garden.

The other activity which I took part in was Uncommon Good's trip to LA for the celebration of "El Dia Del Nino." Because most of the families who are involved are Latinos or of Latino descent, it was decided that this would be an appropriate trip to take. We took a bus to Olvera Street and stopped at La Plaza de Culturas y Artes, where we toured a little museum which was dedicated to Mexican American culture. I feel like this was a very good way for Uncommon Good to promote community and closeness.

Some traditional hats used by Mexican American
field workers back in the day. 

A very old record player

APPLIED 
My essential question is: "What is the best way for an educational nonprofit organization to raise funds for resources to encourage underprivileged students attend college?"
This individual component has greatly helped me solidify some of my answers which include: progressive business practices, and good public image.

One thing I was able to observe was that Uncommon Good does a very good job of keeping up a healthy and attractive public image. First of all, Uncommon Good's founder (Nancy Mintie, who I interviewed a while back) is also founder of the Inner City Law Center created in 1980. She comes from a successful altruistic background. This appeals to the public because it is easier to trust someone who is experienced than someone who isn't. Furthermore, apart from Uncommon Good's mission to help underprivileged students, they are also a green organization. Their newly constructed whole earth office building is among the most eco-friendly designs out there. It adds substance to Uncommon Good's we-will-make-a-change image has attracted the attention of many potential donors/grant writers.

Uncommon Good is also making an effort to move in the direction of progression by creating a farming program which earns them a small amount of revenue (instead of just writing grant proposals and hoping for the best). What is especially resolute about this program is that it combines environmental awareness, social awareness, health awareness, and all while making a profit. Through the farming program, families of the students who are in the Uncommon Good program which would like to participate are able to sign up, and if they are eligible, hired workers will be given the go ahead to plant a serious vegetable garden on the family's property. The vegetables are grown organic without the use of pesticides or genetic modifications. At the end of their season, the vegetables are cultivated and then sold at a farmers market. The profits go towards Uncommon Good, who puts the profits back into the community). The vegetable comes at no cost to the family, and the family also gets a portion of the vegetables. All this encourages healthy eating, community awareness, sustainability, and independence. And Uncommon Good gets a bit of a profit. The goal is to establish a network of these vegetable gardens and expand in order to make more profit and have the community eating healthier and locally.

In all, independent component number two has greatly helped me move forward in my topic by providing me with real world examples of some of the techniques which I've been researching. It's reassuring to actually be in the middle of something and not just stick to reading about it.

March Blog Post

This month has been pretty uneventful. Unfortunately, my mentor has been out of the office due to some personal stuff and therefore I haven't been able to go in too often.

On another note, my research is going pretty well. I've been able to formulate several answers which I feel are fundamental. For now, my best answer remains "The best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to encourage underprivileged teenagers attend college is by adopting a different business model." The non-profit business model is flawed in many ways. For example, by law, a humanitarian non profit isn't allowed to make any profit, and therefore, there isn't much money to sponsor it's activities, rendering it virtually ineffective. The way that most non-profits acquire capital is by practically begging for money from funders (usually right wing foundations). They never get enough money out of them, and have to keep coming back for more. Basically, the problem with non-profits today is that most use business plans that make them unable to sustain themselves in an economic sense. I'd also like to say that I feel that the essential question format is too restrictive in some cases. Yes it's good that a question be specific, but the way that essential questions are supposed to be structured makes some of these projects way too specific, making it difficult to find research as hindering the ability to explore closely related (and relevant) topics of interest.

Third Answer

EQ: What is the best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college?

The best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college is by expanding their overhead budget.

• Most non-profit organizations skimp out on their overhead expenditures.
• With less money to spend overhead, non-profits aren't able to afford the services and items they might need to keep the organization running fluidly. 
• A larger overhead budget means that employees are better payed, resulting in better services provided and increased productivity.
• A better payed employee is always a harder working employee.
• Larger overhead spending means that non-profits are less prone to under-report their spending.
• Under-reporting leads to funders providing NPO's with less money to spend overhead, therefore putting more burden on NPO's. They must work harder with less money to make up the deficit. 

Non-profits have to increase their overhead spending in order to revitalize themselves with trained and able staff, adequate services, and better programs. 

Fourth Interview Questions

1. What business model do you support?
   
2. How to foundations work?
   
3. Which is the most reliable source of income?
   
4. What is fundamentally wrong with the non-profit sector?
   
5. Who is doing/managing non-profit work the "right way"?
   
6. About how much money does Uncommon Good require on a yearly basis to continue being operational?
   
7. What does most of the money go into?
   
8. What is the business model of a typical non-profit organization?
   
9. Is Uncommon Good partners with any other NPO?
   
10. How is brand important?
    
11. How are visual logos important?
    
12. What is the most effective way to reach and immediately convey your message to the community?
    
13. What is the importance of networking in the non-profit world?
    
14. How did the Uncommon Good logo come to be?
    
15. How is internal order kept at a non-profit organization?
    
16.  How do you keep from slowing down and losing interest in your job?
    
17. What do you think is the most important component of a non-profit organization?
    
18. What do you think can be done relatively  soon/immediately to begin alleviating the monetary burden most small non-profits have to deal with?
    
19. What has been the most difficult monetary situation Uncommon Good has been in and how was Uncommon Good able to recuperate?
    
20. What'd be the one thing you would do differently if you were able to go back and start Uncommon Good from scratch again? 

February Monthly Blog Post

So this month, I was able to conduct my 3rd interview with Nancy Mintie, founder of Uncommon Good. I think that this has been my most insightful and useful interview to date. Nancy explicitly talked about the non-profit struggle with big business and lack of funding. She also presented her ideas on how to make it better. She talked about how the non-profit model is seriously flawed and that the best way to bring about social change is by investing in socially-conscious businesses, which basically take all the altruistic/humanitarian aspects of non-profits and meld them with revenue-earning practices. This means that the business can make enough money to fund it's good-willed ventures instead of struggling to fund raise and squeeze money out of conservative, unwilling foundations. Her answers reassured me that I'm on the right path because all of what she said coincided with the research I've done.

So I just want to comment on the first advisory house meeting we've had...
I found this time to be very poorly spent. I already know what articles I have, which help me with what, and of which I need to find more of. These meetings are supposed to be for our benefit. I feel like our time would be better spent doing research on the I pads or something like that.

Advisory Meeting #2

What is the best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college?

Answer #2
A good public image along with a good logo/slogan is one of the best ways for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students to attend college.

1. Good public relations encourage people to donate more money and invest in the NPO.
   (EX. Would you be more willing to donate to a reclusive NPO or one that gets out there, hosts events, and spreads the word about the cause they're fighting for?)
   "Nonprofit Organizations Have Become an Important Part of the U.S. Economy." Times Record News. Timesrecordnews.com, 20 May 2012. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
   
2. A good slogan/logo is the first thing people notice about the NPO (a first impression) and therefore is very important.
   (EX. It's like when you meet someone for the first time. You tend to judge based on your first encounter with them.)
   Kylander, Nathalie, and Christopher Stone. "The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector." Ssireview.org. SSIR, Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
   
3. Good public relations helps NPO's connect with other similar NPO's which can spawn partnerships that'd bring about notable social change.
   (EX. there's always power in numbers, and high impact NPO's know that it isn't about individual prestige or recognition but rather real social change.)
   Grant, Heather M., and Leslie R. Crutchfield. "Creating High-Impact Nonprofits." Stanford Social Innovation Review. Ssireview.org, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.

Independent Component 2 Approval

1. For my next 30 hours, I plan on working at the Uncommon Good office directly with the staff, helping with professional business activities of the organization. 
2. To meet the 30 hour requirement, I plan on going in to the office at least once a week for two hours. In order to prove that I will have completed 30 hours, I will keep a log as well as pictures of whatever I'm allowed to photograph.
3. My second component will help me better understand my answer by giving me first hand experience with the inner workings of a non-profit organization. My first component helped me realize the importance of non-profit organizations, and my second component will help me understand how they work. 
4. Independent Component 2 Log

Lesson 2 Reflection

1. One thing that went well for me during my presentation was the fact that even after the computer wouldn't run my presentation correctly, I had a classmate manually scroll through the slides and I was able to present despite this technical difficulty. 
2. I would give myself a P because I believe that I did hit all the major points on the contract and I did so well. Although I may have stumbled on my words a bit (presentation anxiety), I feel that I was able to get all my info across.
3. The one thing about my presentation that I was pretty proud of was my activity. My goal for my activity was to make it interactive, fun, and attention grabbing while at the same time have it convey my message effectively. I was pleased by my peers' reactions, which let me know that I'd chosen a successful activity. 
4. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and practice presenting a few more times. Although when I practiced I was at 12 minutes, when I presented, I was struggling to make time. When I present, I tend to rush because I'm nervous, so that's what I need to work on for next time. 
5. I believe that my answer two will be something along the lines of "By having a very stringent and thorough employee selection process."

Independent Component 1

• LITERAL
• I, Eustacio Rodriguez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
• The sources that have best helped me better understand my topic thus far have been: Peter D. Hall's "Historical Perspectives on Non Profit Organizations in the United States (Hall, Peter D. "Historical Perspectives on Non Profit Organizations in the United States." Diss. Harvard, n.d. Hks.harvard.edu. Http://www.hks.harvard.edu/. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.) and Heather M. Grant et al's "Creating High-Impact Non Profits" (Grant, Heather M., and Leslie R. Crutchfield. "Creating High-Impact Nonprofits." Stanford Social Innovation Review. Ssireview.org, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.). Hall's piece gave presented a very well written history of non-profit organizations in general, as well as their establishment and development here in the US. Heather M. Grant et al's piece led me to, so far, my most viable answer. After reading that article, I came to realize that the only way (or at least the best way) a non profit organization can be successful and fruitful is through aggressive and traditional profit oriented business practices.
• Independent Component Log
• For the 30 hours required of me to fulfill independent component, I volunteered with Teen Green. Teen Green is a branch of Uncommon Good, a non profit organization. Though Teen Green I, along with other the other members of the effort, were able to participate in various activities promoting environmental awareness and the importance of community.
• INTERPRETATIVE
• What follows are some of the most important components included in my individual component...
• Beach Cleanup
• Tending to Community Garden
• Farm Cleanup
• Environmental Awareness Presentations
  (Each of these activities reinforced my belief that educational non profit organizations are extremely beneficial for the community.)

What follows is evidence of my participation with Teen Green and my completion of the 30 hours required for individual component one.

• APPLIED
• My individual component helped me better understand my topic by allowing me to witness how important a non profit organization's efforts really are. During the hours I completed, I was able to observe how we were able to make a difference by working together and helping each other. For example, one of our tasks consisted of cleaning out and re-planting a local farm. With thoughtful planning, a volunteer day was organized weeks before the date, and people were aggressively encouraged to come in and help out. This resulted in a substantial turnout, and we were able to complete the work in less than four hours. These types of activities helped me realize that non-profits do matter and that we need more of them. Personally, I would like to create (later on in life) a non profit organization with the goal of helping kids my age find their calling. This independent component has helped me come to this realization, and what this senior project is helping me do is discover the skills needed to establish a high-impact non-profit oraganization. 

January Blog Post

A blog post for the month of January...

This has been a pretty eventful beginning of the year, especially this past week with 30 minute presentations. What follows are a couple of things I've noticed about them which are essential to the success of these presentations, and which I'll have to make sure I accomplish.

• Appropriate body language
• MAKE TIME 
•  Have a creative and engaging activity. ENGAGING. 
• Provide a clear explanation of the EQ

So my essential question is "What is the best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college?" The answer I've composed for my presentation that is to happen a week from this upcoming Monday is "by exploring and employing business practices used by profit-oriented businesses." 

Third Interview Questions

1. What is the best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college? 
   
2. What inspired you to create Uncommon Good?
   
3. How did Uncommon Good come to be?
   
4. What is the most important thing you've learned about managing a non-profit organization in general?
   
5. How do you generate enough revenue to keep Uncommon Good active?
   
6. What is the biggest obstacle you've faced in your years managing Uncommon Good?
   
7. How has the fact that you are an attorney helped you in this non-profit venture?
   
8. What do you seek in an employee?
   
9. What has been most rewarding for you during your career?
   
10. How do you continue to improve your practice? 

Blog 11: Mentorship Ten Hours

So here it is...

1. I am doing my mentorship with Uncommon Good, doing most of my work with the Teen Green branch of Uncommon Good.
   
2. My contact is Carlos Carrillo, program coordinator.
   
3. To be honest, I'm not really sure of how many hours I've done with Uncommon Good. I should be keeping track of them, but I haven't. I do have proof that I've done at least 10 hours, and I certainly have done more than that. I'll get the rest of them together before the deadline. And yes I will provide legitimate documentation.
   
4. I've spent these ten hours attending and helping at things like volunteer days at a local farm, helping maintain a community garden, and participating in other similar activities organized by Uncommon Good. I find it interesting to witness how the community has benefited from the efforts of this non-profit organization. 

Senior Project, The Holiday

1. Over the break, amid the chaos of the holidays, I wasn't able to go into the office to volunteer because the staff was out on break for most of the break, since their schedule closely follows that of the students who are part of the program. I was, however, able to conduct some research online, and found a couple interesting facts about non-profit organizations.
2. The most important thing I learned from my research was that the concept of non-profit work has been around for far longer than most people think. 90% of the non-profit organizations still around today were founded before 1950. I find this to be important because it demonstrates just how successful a non-profit organization can be if properly managed. My goal is to find out what it takes to sustain a non-profit for as long as those found in that 90%. My source was a paper written by American author Peter Dobkin Hall. I found it on a Harvard sponsored website.
3. If I were going to do a 10 question interview, which I'm sure we'll have to do at some point, I would interview Nancy Mintie, the director and founder of Uncommon Good, the non-profit organization at which I'm volunteering. She'd best be able to answer my questions because she's the founder. She has years of experience and the organization has thrived, meaning that the goal she intended the organization to have has been well supported. She obviously knows what she's doing, which is why I choose her as my most viable interview candidate