Last April, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin joined students from “Philanthropy Lab” in a ceremonial distribution of funds. Among the local charities receiving money were Give Kids a Smile (above left) and Casa de Salud (above right). (Photo: Whitney Curtis/WashU)
This post was originally written by author Diane Keaggy on September 9, 2026
It’s decision day in “Philanthropy Lab,” an innovative course where students learn about giving by awarding real money — $120,000 last semester — to local nonprofits. The class comprises 30 students who are divided into six “foundations.” Each one is about to reveal the recipient of their grant, but not before sharing their foundation’s philosophy and what type of charity they sought to support among the range of nonprofits serving St. Louis that matched their intentions.
The results followed a semester of rigorous course work in and outside the classroom, conducting site visits at nonprofits large and small, soliciting and critically reviewing funding proposals, studying the sector’s history and best practices, and meeting leaders in the field. The students also learned about themselves — which issues matter most to them and what sort of impact they want to make.
“It was a huge responsibility to give away so much money. When you meet these leaders, you can see how much the money means to them and how important their work is. The class taught us how to set priorities, ask questions of these nonprofits and evaluate impact.”
– Leah Hayem
The first question was easy for the six members of the foundation that called itself UCARE. With some of them pre-med students, the group sought to help vulnerable St. Louisans by supporting organizations that provide affordable and accessible healthcare. After identifying 10 healthcare nonprofits, the students visited five organizations: Give Kids a Smile, which hosts two no-cost dental clinics; iFM Community Medicine, which provides healthcare at partner clinics; Nurses for Newborns, which supports families through counseling, education and resources; Jamaa Birth Village, which focuses on Black maternal health; and Casa de Salud, which offers medical and mental health services to immigrants, refugees and other uninsured patients.
“Each one of these organization’s great work is aligned with our overall mission, but our dollars would mean different things to each of them,” says Chloe Rado, AB ’26, a senior at the time who earned her degree in political science in Arts & Sciences a few weeks later. “So it was up to us to decide whether to spend the money to help fix a need right now or a need in the future.”
The team ultimately decided to award a $10,000 grant to Casa de Salud. “We recognize that there is this incredible need right now for immigrant populations,” Leah Hayem, a then-junior studying biology in Arts & Sciences, explained to the class. “We also really appreciated that they provide specialized care and that all of their services are available in one location.”
UCARE also allocated $4,000 for Give Kids a Smile and $1,000 to each of the remaining three nonprofits. Hayem said giving away the money was both harder and easier than she thought it would be.
“I honestly didn’t believe it when I signed up for the class that we were getting real money to give to local nonprofits,” Hayem says. “It was a huge responsibility to give away so much money. When you meet these leaders, you can see how much the money means to them and how important their work is. The class taught us how to set priorities, ask questions of these nonprofits and evaluate impact.”
So far, WashU’s six “Philanthropy Lab” groups have contributed $610,000 to local charities. The class is funded in part by the national Philanthropy Lab program, which has distributed some $19 million through 34 partner universities.
“A lot of students come into this class thinking that only rich, old people can be philanthropists,” says instructor Barbara Levin, a retired teaching professor at the Brown School and founder of the Alliance for Building Capacity, an initiative that helps nonprofit organizations further their missions. “But they come to understand, through their readings and their conversations with people who do this work, that giving at different levels is still giving.”
Philanthropy also is a form of civic engagement, Levin says. “What I hear from many of our students is that this is one of the most meaningful classes they experience in college,” Levin says. “Some continue giving or volunteering for the organizations they supported. Others express interest in serving on a nonprofit board or pursuing a career with a nonprofit. All of them leave with a deeper understanding of the vital role philanthropy and nonprofits play in our community.”
See original article here.
