by Josh Hypes

On Tuesday, September 26 during a routine Key Club meeting, Magnified Giving Founder and President Roger Grein spoke to the club about the purpose and value of philanthropy in the lives of young adults. Grein told a story of his own struggles with cerebral palsy and the effect it had on his athletic engagements and later career path. Grein’s story demonstrates that a community can help an individual, no matter what background, and aspire for the highest achievements. Persistence is the key to reaching for new heights.

The speech marked the start of Key Club’s Magnified Giving Program. The program is a part of a goal of the Key Club to expand beyond its local basis and have a greater impact on the Miami Valley community. 

Magnified Giving is a grant organization that offers $1,000 grants to schools to learn about the grant-giving process. It is a six-step program of first establishing a foundation within students in order to teach them the basic operations of a non-profit and philanthropy. Then, students explore social issues that they feel are important. They conduct research into nonprofit agencies as to what they do and their financial situation. Students visit sites of nonprofits and volunteers. They evaluate the financial need of nonprofits by looking at their grant applications. Finally, students vote on the nonprofit befitting of the grant.