On Tuesday, May 6, during the Celebration for Civic Engagement, students in the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) philanthropy class, known as the Learning by Giving and Giving Circle, announced the recipient of the $10,000 grant.
Since 2012, former UWGB professor Dr. Lora Warner has offered a public administration course for students to form a giving circle and research which organizations that have a meaningful impact on the community and whether they meet the student-written request for proposals (RFP) requirements.
This year, lecturer Ashley Heath continued to offer the course with the help of Mackenzie Johnson, a senior majoring in organizational leadership.
“I wanted to become a TA for this class because the cause and fundamental lessons I learned while in this class last year gave me the ambition to make the experience just the same for the upcoming group of students,” Johnson said, “I knew the impact this course had on me, and I wanted to make sure it continued to leave that legacy behind in the following year.”
Moises Bahena–Martinez, a UWGB student majoring in political science and public administration and a giving circle student, shared, “I decided to take the course to explore what it means to be a philanthropist. I needed to know if being a philanthropist meant more than giving gifts to organizations.”
The focus of the 2025 RFP challenged students to nominate nonprofits that work to restore Green Bay’s social capital. Of the 15 organizations that were nominated, nine submitted proposals.
At the Celebration for Civic Engagement, held at the Richard Mauthe Center, students Paloma Cruz and Daniel Beck discussed the process of selecting the winning organization and announced The Art Garage as the recipient of the $10,000 grant.
The Art Garage plans to use the funds for its On Main exhibition, a show that aims to bring together the community to enjoy the wealth of arts and culture in the Green Bay area. The exhibition is expected to kick off with a celebration and hopes of having participants take part in creating a community mural.
Lindsey Olson, executive director of The Art Garage, said, “It really was quite a shock to get the news. This year has been so tough on the arts, and arts funding across the nation,” Olson added, “We are honored the students selected us from among some amazing nonprofits in Green Bay, and we’re impressed with the need that they saw in the community in the first place.”
“For the winning organization, I have the best wishes for them and that the Main Street Project is a success,” said Bahena–Martinez. “I’ll most likely check and see their progress, and when the project is completed.”
Olson said that being considered and working through the process “helped solidify the good we’ve been doing in the community and encouraged us to put into words all the ways in which our mission to bring arts and engagement to our little corner of Green Bay has been paying off, and how it’s worthy of attention.”
As for the impact of the class, and what it means for students to be a part of it, Johnson added, “This class was such a joy to take, and I honestly wasn’t ready to say goodbye to this chapter or mission yet, which is why becoming the TA was the most perfect and amazing opportunity.”
And as for the lessons learned, Bahena–Martinez said, “After taking this course, I learned two main things. The first one is that to build a philanthropic connection, there must be trust between the funder and the recipient.”
The Learning by Giving program, founded by Doris Buffett in 2011 and based in Boston, partners with colleges across the nation to give students the opportunity to award grants to nonprofits. Learning by Giving believes that by educating incoming generations, they will be able to efficiently distribute funds to various causes and communities in need.
UWGB is one of 35 colleges partnered with the Learning by Giving Foundation. The foundation has provided more than $3 million, educated over 6,000 students, and distributed grants to more than 800 organizations since 2003.