First-place artwork by Ellen Maley, 7th grade, Rancho del Rey Middle School, Chula Vista, Calif.

At Rancho del Rey Middle School in Chula Vista, Calif., 40 students from the 7th and 8th grades created posters that illustrate the philanthropic process and its diverse nature. The poster pictured right, drawn in colored pencil by Ellen Maley, won first place in the competition. Get an up-close look at the Diversity Art Showcase winners and other student, member and professional artwork at the AFP International Conference on Fundraising, March 30–April 2, 2008, in San Diego.  The Diversty Art Showcase is made possible by the generous support of The Alford Group.

In a recent interview, Rancho del Rey art teacher Vicki Jones-Pittman shared with Kaleidoscope her impressions of the diversity art project.

Q: How did you approach the assignment with the students?

A: We were lucky to have four members of the AFP San Diego Chapter visit our classroom and explain and define philanthropy and the process of fundraising. As each person spoke, I had my students draw the spoken concepts as symbols or pictures in their sketchbooks. From this bank of visual imagery, the students chose some elements and then designed their posters. The goal of the poster was to broadly communicate the many ways money is raised and then dispersed in a philanthropic procedure. I think my students learned quite a bit about how numerous the resources are. Many of my students are active in community service and raise money for the YMCA, Girl Scouts, school teams and organizations, but they were surprised to learn that donations were collected in so many other ways. Additionally, I think they were impressed by the large number of organizations that receive monies and other support. We talked about the diverse people involved in the philanthropic process—the different ages, racial background, economic background, etc of those that give money, and the diverse groups that receive monies.

Q: What surprised you about the students and the project?

A: I can tell you what delighted me, and that was the classroom discussion during this process. Students would come in with news clips and ads from the American Heart Association, the YMCA and other groups that had been introduced as recipients of funds from philanthropic resources. They also would discuss walkathons, telethons and fundraising dinners and any other method of raising money that they learned about outside of school. I think they were interested and inspired by philanthropy in general, but also by the fact that it was a career choice for our four speakers.

About the Exhibit

For the tenth year, the AFP Diversity Committee is offering an art showcase spotlighting youth art, a local artist and the artwork and poetry of AFP members that will be on display during the AFP International Conference in San Diego. The exhibit expresses the uniqueness, value and diversity of people through art, photos and poetry.