TCU class to donate $100,000 to charity

An anonymous donor empowered the class to donate the money.

A hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. There are many charities around Tarrant county in need of that money, and TCU students are in the process of deciding which one will receive it.

This is the second semester Ron Pitcock’s Nature of Giving class has been offered money to donate to charities. There are 25 students in his class who have the task of deciding how to divide up the money.

On Thursday, students brought lists of charities they felt worthy of receiving the money.

From now until the end of the semester, the class will eliminate organizations until they narrow it down to three to five charities.

Senior psychology major Kathleen Mellano said the process of eliminating and keeping charities is a big responsibility.

“It’s nerve-wracking and it’s also thrilling,” Mellano said. “I mean I feel a really, really intense amount of pressure and responsibility to make sure that we do this right.”

Pitcock said students in Nature of Giving learn many important lessons.

“I think one of the most important lessons students are learning that giving away money can be very, very difficult,” Pitcock said.

This semester’s class has an even bigger decision to make compared to last semester’s class. Last year, the class received $20,000 from an anonymous donor. This year, the donor upped the amount to $100,000.

Classes like Nature of Giving says so much about the university and its students, Pitcock said.

“It also says quite a bit about our students who have the foresight to want to take a class like this, who desire a class like this and then to really throw all of their energies into making decisions that are sound and wise,” Pitcock said.

The elimination process will continue throughout the remainder of the semester. The class will announce their selected charities during the final week of classes.

Pitcock said the awards will be given during dead days or finals week.