$200,100
granted
72
course participants
4
classes offered
ACU Grant Map
| University | Course | Students Enrolled |
|---|---|---|
| Abilene Christian UniversityFall 2016 | Strategic PhilanthropyDepartments: Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & PhilanthropyJim Orr, Jim Litton | 14 students |
| Abilene Christian UniversityFall 2017 | Strategic PhilanthropyDepartments: Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & PhilanthropyJim Orr | 20 students |
| Abilene Christian UniversityFall 2018 | Strategic PhilanthropyDepartments: Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & PhilanthropyJim Orr | 23 students |
| Abilene Christian UniversitySpring 2020 | Strategic PhilanthropyDepartments: Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & PhilanthropyJim Orr | 15 students |
Strategic Philanthropy
Taught by Jim Orr
Department: Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy
Jim Orr is currently the Executive Director of the Office of Gift Planning at ACU, leading the university’s efforts in the area of estate and charitable trust planning. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from ACU, and then received his law degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Orr served on ACU’s Board of Trustees since 2002 before being named Vice President for Advancement.
In 1994, Orr co-founded the firm of Francis & Orr LLP, now known as Francis, Orr & Totusek LLP, with offices in Dallas and McKinney, Texas. Orr concentrated his practice in commercial and business litigation with an emphasis on healthcare, banking and creditor’s rights. In addition to appearing before numerous district courts throughout Texas, he has presented cases before the Texas Supreme Court, the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Orr is also a professional and court-appointed mediator.
Jim and his wife, Elaine, have two adult children, a daughter-in-law and a new granddaughter: Caleb, and his wife Gabby, and their daughter, Patricia (“Poppy”) Jean, live in the DC area, and KayAnn lives in Ft. Worth. He enjoys playing recreational sports, reading, traveling, and gardening.
ACU partnered with Community Foundation of Abilene to bring grant proposals to students for consideration
- The Community Foundation of Abilene brings 20 organizations forward for students to review (only 25% same orgs as the year prior)
- The Community Foundation of Abilene’s staff comes in as guest lecturers for the grant making process, offering advice and additional insight into giving and each organization
Multiple “Panels of Experts” visit class
Students complete and submit a Comprehensive Briefing Book (~40-50 pages), which includes:
- Data about the concern(s) they’re addressing
- What’s happening in Abilene programmatically to address those concerns
- What innovations and best practices can be found elsewhere to address those concerns
- What gaps in services exist in Abilene
- Theories of change, leverage and/or scale for addressing these concerns
- Information about the nonprofits they’ve assessed
- Evaluation metrics
- Process for selecting finalists
- Funding letters
- Declination letters
- Grant applications
Capstone Essay/Giving Goal
- As the final assignment, students write a capstone essay exploring their personal views on philanthropy and how they intend to approach philanthropy going forward. Based on this, students asked to create and post Giving Goals.
