Mathematics, where art thou...

Week three of our program is when we get to dig into some of the math behind the program.  This is the section that I really enjoy, but completely realize that as a student, math wasn't my thing.  I'm not sure where the switch flipped for me, but it certainly was awhile after I completed my formal education. 

Truth be told, I used to really struggle in math class.  In fact, it was probably my weakest subject, and one that did some damage to my confidence growing up.  From my earliest memories, I've been determined to excel at everything.  I don't do well with others out-performing me.  (That part hasn't changed.)  I think it as about 4th grade when our class was divided into separate groups based on achievement.  This occurred for both math and english/reading.  Smart kids in one group, less smart in the other.  English and reading were never an issue, I did well there.  Math, not so much.  And I longed to be good in math.  Math challenged me all the way through college.  My worst grades we in math! 

The irony - my life is now completely submerged in math.  I rarely do anything without "doing the math."  People call me and hire me to "do the math."  I give advice based on, "the arithmetic says..."  I fully realize that just math does not always prevail in decisions, however, it provides necessary data to improve the odds of a successful decision.  I can only guess that math has always been innate, however, I've never found the actual application of math - what it's good for - until somewhat recently (if the past decade or two can be considered "recent"). 

So, with that, it's always interesting going through the quantitative aspects of philanthropy with students.  I can quickly tell that some are easily on board with the concepts as well as the calculations, some are far from grasping the concepts, but can fill in the forms to get the results, and others are completely lost.  I do my best to recognize each and offer assistance, but I can only hope they will learn that it's okay to ask questions - a valuable lesson in itself; and again, not one I learned until long after high school. 

The neat part about the math of reading a tax return is that's it's relatively simple.  Go to a page, write down a number, go to another page, write down a number, divide them, you have a result.  Getting the output to do the calculation for donations is pretty straightforward.  Understanding the "why" is a little more difficult, but I'm certain a few will grasp it in its entirety. 

If nothing else, I hope these student will be bold enough, and I will be approachable enough for them to reach out with their questions...

As I told them, their ability to "do the math" on an organization will out them in the top quartile (or higher) of any donor considering contributing to a cause.  As I can confirm in working with many philathropic folks, the math does not come naturally; most don't do it. 

Get 'em team!