As year-end giving begins, we can learn something from middle-schoolers.

School teaches students all sorts of things. Why not also teach them how to be philanthropists?

That’s the logic behind an initiative of the Carmel Valley Rotary Club. The club gives plenty of donations directly, but they decided to add a step, investing in the next generation of potential Rotarians or simply charitable community members: Let kids decide which local nonprofit to donate to, then cut a check at their direction.

“Giving the money away is really secondary to the whole process,” says Rick Shea, a Rotary member since 1987. “My target audience is middle school – the world ends somewhere from the tip of their nose to somewhere about six inches away. This gets them to figure out there’s a lot going on. They research it, then they have to analyze it and determine: ‘Where do we want our grant to go?’”

Since the Carmel Valley Rotary launched the Partners in Community Service (PICS) program 25 years ago, they have given away – or rather, let the kids give away – over $130,000 to more than 100 local nonprofits.

The Rotary teams up with schools (Carmel Middle, Carmel High, River and Tularcitos in Carmel Unified School District, and All Saints Day School). A class in each participating school undergoes a process that starts with the basics of learning what a nonprofit is, then researching organizations. Students break up into small groups, and make the case for why classmates should support their top pick to send a donation of $2,250. The students vote on the recipient of that Rotary check.

“I tell teachers, Rotarians and parents, ‘You need to butt out, it’s up to students to make a decision.’ There is no wrong answer, it’s about the process,” Shea says.

That process comes with a few rules from the Rotary Club: The recipient must be a Monterey County group, and may not focus on animals. (“Not that animal groups are not worthy, but we want to be more people-oriented,” Shea says. “One time we had a representative from Meals on Wheels, then the next group was bunny rescue. That’s not a fair fight.”)

Carmel Middle School teacher Liz Wells has done PICS with her leadership class of seventh – and eighth-graders for about 20 years. It begins with research, mostly online. As a final step, students invite representatives from the finalist organizations into the classroom to present, and students ask questions.

The kids develop knowledge, and more importantly enthusiasm, while making the case for others to vote for their organization of choice.

“I had students last year write a rap trying to convince the class their nonprofit was best,” Wells says.

That group did not win – it tends to be personal connection more than presentation style that prevails.

The Cachagua Fire Association was selected after the River Fire destroyed several students’ homes in 2020. After a student died from brain cancer, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services was chosen.

Last year, student Abby Frey – now a freshman at CHS – successfully made the case for the Breast Cancer Assistance Group, motivated after her mom’s dear friend died from breast cancer.

“I did not know how much nonprofits helped people, the amount of services they offer,” Frey says. “PICS really helps students acknowledge how much other people do for the community, and how hard they work.”

The nonprofit sector plays a variety of essential roles in Monterey County. The Weekly’s annual Monterey County Gives! issue, a partnership with the Community Foundation for Monterey County and Monterey Peninsula Foundation, is out today (you can find the glossy guide inside this paper, or at mcgives.com), this year describing the efforts of 206 local nonprofits to make our community a better place where all can thrive. I encourage you to give if you can (in any amount, no matter how small), and if not, to still spend some time reading about these organizations.

As Wells says of her students, learning about the roles of nonprofit groups is enlightening – and helps them to understand somebody else’s needs. “The PICS program really opens their eyes and makes them think outside of themselves,” Wells says.

Any opportunity for us to see that – both the need, and the many efforts to fill it, from MCGives! to PICS and beyond – is good for all of us.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com.