Our purpose for requesting this grant is to raise additional funds for our class initiative that will later be redistributed to various organizations. Ultimately, as students, our goal is to give back to our community by serving as a mini-foundation.We are a team of experienced Business students at Southern Vermont College, interested in leveraging additional funds for our Philanthropy class initiative. Over the past three years, SVC’s Philanthropy – Investing in the community course has partnered with The Bank of Bennington to engage students in socially responsible grant-making projects that have funded deserving, local nonprofit organizations, and positively impacted Bennington County. The program has previously gifted a total of $15,000 since the introduction of the course in 2012.