By Jordan Walker
As all FLiPs know, we face a unique set of challenges as young professionals in the workforce. Inspired to make a difference in the world, we are sometimes limited by a lack of tools to do so early in our careers.
Kerry Powers can relate. A recent graduate of Bucknell University, she came up with the concept for a cocktail party benefiting Right to Dream, an organization that trains youth in Ghana to become competitive soccer players in the U.S. and abroad while also providing them with the opportunity to get great educations at U.S. prep schools and colleges. The event was designed as a parent-child cocktail party through which more seasoned professionals were incentivized to bring along their young adult children for multi-generational networking. In turn, all proceeds were donated to the Right to Dream Academy, whose beneficiary students peppered the crowd and talked about their experiences and opportunities as a result of the organization’s impact in their lives. Right to Dream Academy has achieved much, and the more than $65,000 raised will help the organization continue to go far: Right to Dream is looking to develop new facilities in Ghana as well as expand to a women’s program or add additional sports.
The event committee was comprised of fifteen young men and women who were able to mobilize their energy around professional aspirations to develop their philanthropic ones as well. Each member was charged with a role that tied a career track with its philanthropic equivalent; for example, an aspiring lawyer headed up the Child Sponsorship program and a fundraising consultant served as Board Liaison. These young professionals, who before the Right to Dream event knew little about the organization and even less about philanthropy, now find themselves engaged and knowledgeable.
In all, the event was a sure success: it reached maximum capacity of over 250 attendees, raised more than $65,000, and empowered a set of Millennials to better understand and utilize philanthropy to achieve good.
For more information about Right to Dream or to see additional pictures from the event, please visit: www.righttodream.com
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