Unpublished
Students imagine they were given $500,000 to award to a nonprofit organization of their choice. They explore options and discuss how to determine which is a good issue and organization to donate their funds.
The learner will
- examine their individual values.
- practice public listening skills.
- develop public speaking skills.
Discuss at home: If someone gave you $50,000 to give away to at least 3 different organizations, would it be hard for you to do alone? What problems would this present? Where could you get help?
You have just won $500,000. What will you do with it? You can only keep half of the money. The rest must be given away to organizations that help others.
Brainstorm the names of different organizations that help others in the community. Or brainstorm the issues in the community that need the help of charity.
Discuss possible ways to spend the money.
Students make a budget describing what they will do with all of the money, including what they keep and what they give away. Their budget must include an explanation of why they make the choices they do.
Each student will stand up in front of the class and describe in under a minute how they plan to use the money.
Discussion Questions
- Is there a right or wrong way to spend (allocate) this money?
- How would it make you feel to give that much money away?
- Does how we spend our money say something about us and what we value?
- Were there common threads in the giving patterns?
- What were some of the common values reflected?
- Charitable giving is a reflection of our value system.
- Giving makes us feel good about ourselves.