Supporting Waco through Student Philanthropy

Each year through a unique partnership with the Baylor/Waco Foundation, Philanthropy and Public Good course, and Solid Gold Neighbor initiative, Waco residents contribute funds to help teach students how to give back into the community.  

This year, we are running a summer campaign to raise $5,000 that students will use in the fall semester for donating to local, McLennan County nonprofits.

2019 Grant Recipients

Over the past 70 years, the Baylor/Waco Foundation has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to projects, programs, and organizations that encourage mutually-beneficial collaboration between Baylor and Waco. In 2019, six area nonprofits received more than $75,000 in donations. Students in the philanthropy class spent the semester evaluating 67 nonprofit organizations, ultimately funding:

• Christian Women’s Job Corps, $5,000. The organization helps equip women in Waco and surrounding areas with job training and life skills through a six-month mentorship and education program.
• Talitha Koum Institute, $20,000. Talitha Koum Institute (TKI) is a mental health therapeutic nurture center focusing on the brain development of extreme children from infancy to age 4. The program also extends to weekly parent education, a mentoring program for TKI school-age children, and community trainings regarding trauma-affected children and their care.
• Family Abuse Center, $5,000. The center’s mission is to eliminate domestic violence in Central Texas by sheltering victims of domestic violence and preventing abuse from occurring through intervention and education.
• Greater Waco Legal Services, $15,000. The organization provides aid to those who are unable to afford the services of a private attorney. It provides affordable legal services, free monthly legal advice clinics and legal empowerment workshops.
• Inspiracion, $15,500. The nonprofit focuses on empowering at-risk Latino families to break the cycle of poverty by fostering parenting knowledge and skills that directly impact child development.
• The Cove, $15,000. The Cove is a safe space created for students who are experiencing homelessness.

Read more about the process here.