nonprofit

Nitiya Walker with Seeds of Fortune Scholars.

When you receive good fortune, you are supposed to pay it forward – this is a saying Nitiya Walker took to heart. Walker is the founder and CEO of Seeds of Fortune, a scholarship program that empowers young women of color to obtain scholarships, and develop their career and financial management skills.

Nitiya Walker.

Walker, a Brooklyn-native, was able to graduate college debt-free after obtaining a prestigious full scholarship to Babson College. She greatly acknowledges the part that mentorship and support played in her financial freedom. During her junior year of college it became her mission to begin providing this mentorship and support for other young women in her community.

“Although I only had $12 in funding from the student government to start my organization, I knew I couldn’t let that limit the program’s growth,” Walker said. “In the early days I just focused on building a foundation, and making use of the resources available to me.”

These resources would include her peers from other universities (who served as the program’s first volunteers), and even free event space at her local library. Walker grew a program that started out as a three-day workshop for three students, into a program that now provides year-round mentorship for 43 scholars ranging from juniors in high school to seniors in college.

With the participation growth has come the growth of her team. What was once an individual endeavor is now one that includes a six-person executive team. The organization also has an advisory board with executives from Fortune 500 companies including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomberg, and AirBnB, to help guide the program’s evolution.

In just a few years the impact of the program on the lives of the scholars, or “seeds” cannot go unnoticed – thus far the scholars have garnered $6 million in scholarship offers from top Universities across the country and accepted more than $1 million in scholarship offers.

“Our motto is ‘Every seed planted helps a flower grow.’ Walker said. “It is incredible to see how our scholars flourish due to the mentorship and guidance they receive at such a pivotal time in their development.”

Walker is excited about the future – the program has plans to expand beyond its New York base to three additional cities by next year. The Seeds team also plans to create a digital community, so young women across the country can utilize the resources Seeds of Fortune provides to their New York scholars.

If you are a young professional interested in volunteering with Seeds of Fortune, visit seedsoffortune.org.

This story was written in September 2017.

This fall, Penn students had the opportunity to sign up for an urban studies course that allowed students to work together in teams to collectively decide how to give away $100,000 to local charities in Philadelphia.

Each team was responsible for creating a mission statements, soliciting grant proposals from local nonprofits, making site visits and interviewing administrators. The $100,000 grant was provided by the Once Upon A Time foundation.

After reading the article, I was so disappointed that I was unable to take the course as an undergrad because it would have been great exposure to the nonprofit world that I have increasingly gained interest in following graduation. Not that being a PPE major is an excuse, but I did not even know the course existed!

As I currently work on my first (of hopefully many) nonprofit projects, and as a future philanthropist (speaking it into existence), this course sounds so exciting. Just thought I would share, in case any current/future Penn students happen to stumble across my blog — check out the article and the course when you begin to plan out your schedule for the semester — it truly sounds like a worthwhile semester-long experience!

Penn Philanthropy Class Gives Out $100K To Local Charities

University of Pennsylvania student Sharree Walls didn’t realize when she signed up for a course on philanthropy that she’d actually become a philanthropist at the end of the semester.

Then her professors announced that the class would be doling out $100,000 to local nonprofits. Walls said she was thrilled, excited – and “definitely a little nervous.”

“Obviously, it’s a huge responsibility,” said Walls, a 21-year-old urban studies major from Lombard, Ill.

The funds came from the Once Upon A Time foundation based in Fort Worth, Texas. Penn is among 13 U.S. colleges to receive a grant from the private philanthropy, which has quickly expanded the program since a successful pilot at Texas Christian University in 2010.

“Our goal is to expose students to the importance of giving back, and giving back in a thoughtful manner,” said foundation President Sam Lett.

But students must do a lot of learning, and legwork, before the checks are written.

The class was a perfect fit for Lett’s foundation, which offered Penn its first grant last year. Bauer said the money hasn’t changed how the course is taught, but “it makes all the information and ideas we share during the semester come alive.”

At Penn, an Ivy League school in Philadelphia, Doug Bauer and Greg Goldman have co-taught an urban studies course on philanthropy and nonprofits for more than a decade. Bauer is executive director at The Clark Foundation, a private philanthropy in New York; Goldman is vice president of development at the nonprofit Philadelphia Zoo.

This year’s class split up and created four “foundations” that would award $25,000 each. They had to devise mission statements, solicit grant proposals from local nonprofits, make site visits and interview administrators.

The first several weeks include lectures, discussions, readings and papers – all designed to teach students “how complex it is to nurture an urban community, and how critical the role of nonprofits and philanthropy are,” Bauer said.

Read the complete article here.

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Penn Philanthropy Class Gives Out $100K To Local Charities