On Thursday, April 24, a closing ceremony event for Philanthropy Lab — a WashU Sociology course co-sponsored by the Gephardt Institute — granted $70,900 among 22 local nonprofit organizations.
That’s in addition to $62,500 already granted to St. Louis nonprofits in 2025 via the course, which was championed by former students of the course who were “ambassadors” with the national The Philanthropy Lab organization.
“It is just inspiring to be in a room filled with students and community leaders who are working together to make St. Louis stronger,” said WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin to the audience of students and St. Louis community leaders gathered in Hillman Hall. “Through this course, you’ve taken on a real-world challenge, deciding how to invest in the people and organizations making a difference in our community.”
Five local organizations — Casa de Salud, Starkloff Disability Institute, Women’s Safe House, Lifewise STL, and Story Stitchers — were presented checks ranging from $5,000 to $17,000. Seventeen other organizations received funds, ranging from $100 to $4,000, to recognize their time and effort spent for site visits and participating in the course’s request for proposals process. See below for the full list of organizations and the grants they received.
Philanthropy Lab has been offered offered by WashU Sociology and the Gephardt Institute each spring semester since 2019 — taught for the last three years by Professor Barbara Levin — and is also taught 21 other universities around the country, with guidance and support from The Philanthropy Lab national organization. The course gives students a theoretical and practical understanding of philanthropy, through classwork, workshops with philanthropy professionals, and the process of visiting, interviewing, and vetting local nonprofit organizations. The WashU course is also supported by WashU Sociology, the Koch Center for Family Enterprise, and the WashU In St. Louis, For St. Louis initiative.
“We’re so grateful for the support from the community to continue to do the work that we love doing every day, providing medical mental health care, in addition to case management services.”
Ophelia Velasquez, Vice President of Operations at Casa de Salud
The course culminates in the students selecting and presenting grants — funded by local gifts to the course and a match from the national The Philanthropy Lab — to organizations that responded to requests for proposals. With the 2025 grants, WashU Philanthropy Lab students have netted $364,200 for the St. Louis region since 2019.
“The students and The Philanthropy Lab have been able to leverage our work together for the community, and I think that that’s pretty impressive,” Levin said. “We saw students move from what you cared about as individuals to forming teams and partnerships, to expand and understand the issues and complexities of interventions; and then move into the community to understand the broader responsibility and context why to give and how to give.”
The WashU students’ philanthropic education included an April 3 workshop with representatives from local community foundations, who met with the students in small groups to discuss how the organizations vet organizations, evaluate project proposals, and consider the intersectional impacts funding might have.
“While we are very eager and always excited to support the nonprofit community, it is equally important for us to educate philanthropists and to particularly try to help educate the next generation of generous community supporters,” said Barbara Carswell, Chief Executive Officer of YouthBridge Community Foundation, which works with neighbors and businesses in the St. Louis region to offer philanthropic planning. “We ourselves have a very similar program that is specifically for high school students. When Barbara (Levin) came to us and told us about this program. We thought that was just a perfect match for our foundation.”
YouthBridge contributed to the Philanthropy Lab course’s funding total by matching a $5,000 grant from the course to St. Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective — bringing their total grant to $10,000.
Earlier in the spring semester, the Philanthropy Lab students formed issue-focused groups that sought out and vetted organizations working specifically in those issues — but the students also coalesced as a class around Casa de Salud. The organization facilitates and delivers medical and mental health services to underinsured people and those without insurance, particularly for new immigrants and refugees. All the groups in the Philanthropy Lab course opted to contribute to the grant to Casa de Salud — bringing their total grant to $17,100.
“We’re so grateful for the support from the community to continue to do the work that we love doing every day, providing medical mental health care, in addition to case management services,” said Ophelia Velasquez, Vice President of Operations at Casa de Salud.
A recording of the event is available to view on YouTube.
| Organization | Amount |
| Casa de Salud | $17,100 |
| Starkloff Disability Institute | $10,000 |
| Women’s Safe House | $10,000 |
| Lifewise STL | $10,000 |
| Story Stitchers | $5,000 |
| IHELP | $4,000 |
| Monarch Immigrant Services STL | $2,500 |
| DreamBuilders4Equity | $1,500 |
| Safe Connections | $1,000 |
| St. Martha’s Hall | $1,000 |
| St. Louis ARC | $600 |
| Giant Steps | $600 |
| Cantebury Inc | $600 |
| Paraquad | $600 |
| LEAD STL | $300 |
| STL Youth Jobs | $300 |
| Lydia’s House | $200 |
| ALIVE | $200 |
| Community Action Agency of St. Louis County, Inc. | $100 |
| Beyond Housing | $100 |
| Mission St. Louis | $100 |
| International Institute | $100 |
Philanthropy Lab is supported by the Philanthropy Lab Foundation and other generous donations to the Gephardt Institute. All gifts to Philanthropy Lab are granted to St. Louis non-profit organizations by students in the course. If you would like to make a gift to Philanthropy Lab, please click here or contact Stephanie Kurtzman, Executive Director of the Gephardt Institute, at GephardtAdvancement@wustl.edu.