Upcoming Events

• February 10 - 13, 2014: Give-a-thon

A culmination of our efforts since founding the organization. Launching our Giving

Board App, free hot chocolate and cookies, and - just in time for Valentine's Day -

Secret Givers. !• February 24, 2014: Film Viewing, "Pay It Forward"

Watch the 2000 drama film Pay It Forward, starring Haley Joel Osment, Helen

Hunt, and Kevin Spacey. Based off the 1999 novel Pay It Forward by Catherine

Ryan Hyde. !• February 26, 2014: MBA Dinner Panel

Join us for food and conversation with Wharton MBAs on Giving vs. Taking,

Networking as a Giver, and Finding your Professional Pathway. !• TBD: Giving Globally - Giving Across Cultures Professor Panel

Listen to Penn professors from CAS and Wharton discuss what it means to give in

other cultures.

aWharton Undergraduate G i v i n g S o c i e t y

Giving: A New Path to Success !... or maybe not. Giving has

a lways been a way to

succeed, but the perception

of givers as pushovers who

bend to the whims of more

"successful" takers is all too

prevalent. !To succeed as a giver, you

have to balance your own

needs with those of others.

For tips on how to get

ahead, go to page 3. !Wondering what WUGS

does and how it acts to

promote giving on campus?

Check page 2 for our first

progress report. !Want to get involved with

WUGS? Sign up for the

WUGS Giving Board app,

launched on February 10,

2014. And don't forget to

like us on Facebook for

regular updates and events! !

What is WUGS? What do we do?The Wharton Undergraduate Giving Society's

goal is to instill a norm of reciprocity in the

Penn community. But what does that actually

mean? !Inspired by Dr. Adam Grant’s recently

publ ished Give & Take, the Wharton

Undergraduate Giv ing Society

(WUGS) was founded in the

spring of 2013 on the

premise that givers are

more successful than

takers in the long run.

Givers offer a helping

h a n d t o o t h e r s

w i t h o u t

s y s t e m a t i c a l l y

expecting something in

return. They look for ways

to create win-win situations

so that when they succeed, others

succeed with them. As such, they build a

reservoir of goodwill that they can tap into

when in need and surround themselves with a

large network of supporters rooting for their

success. !

!!!!!Equipped with this knowledge and eager to

spread these words of wisdom, WUGS set

out to promote a norm of reciprocity

in the Wharton community

a n d b e y o n d , w h e r e

s t u d e n t s a r e

educated about the

b e n e f i t s o f

prosocial giving

behaviors and take

p r i d e i n t h e

flourishing of the

university as a whole.

We seek to challenge

the common belief that

those who prioritize their own

interests at the expense of others have

better chances of climbing the success

ladder, with the hope of enhancing the

student experience.

this issue About WUGS P.1

Tracking our Progress P.2

How to Stand Out as a Giver P.3

Upcoming Events P.4

ISSUE

FEBRUARY 2014

01

Tracking our progress: From idea to reality

WUGS exists only out of

sheer happenstance, pure

dedication and hours of

filling out paperwork and

creating flashy posters. !In Fall 2012, the three founders of

WUGS - Yasmina Abdel-Malek,

Mijana Djurdjevic, and Taylor

McConnell - were fortunate

enough to receive as juniors a

spot in Adam Grant's highly

d e m a n d e d c o u r s e i n

Organzational Behavior, MGMT

238. In a group project, the three

were given the task of diagnosing

some behavioral problem on

behalf of any organization on or

near Penn's campus. While many

students chose on-campus

student groups or businesses,

Yasmina proposed studying the

W h a r t o n u n d e r g r a d u a t e

community and its need for a

mechanism through which to

facilitate acts of giving in business

school. The group came to the

conclusion, while many perceived

Wharton students to be cutthroat

and competitive, using others for

their own gain, that in smaller

group settings this stigma did not

hold. Wharton students are

ultimately nice people, but across

group boundaries, this is not the

common perception.

Why WUGS exists, how we aim

to achieve our goals, and what

our prospects are for the future

WUGS Giving Board App Now Live !Need restaurant tips for a

weekend trip to Washington?

New shows in New York? Basic

Excel training? Or do you just

really want to snuggle with

someone's puppy? With WUGS

Giving Board, you can ask or

respond to any request for

help your classmates post

online. !Starting February 10, 2014, you

can register to join the WUGS

online giving community at

whartongivingsociety.com.

You will have full access to the

Giving Board network, where

you can view, post, and

respond to requests for help

across Penn. !Penn can be a scary place, but

WUGS is here to help you

navigate the ins and outs of

t h e W h a r t o n a n d P e n n

undergraduate life.

!How to stand out as a giver

Past EventsFall 2013 !Our first semester as a club

brought lots of fun and

excitement to the Penn

campus. With recruitment in

September , we s tar ted

growing the club to its

current 24 committee and

executive board members. !In October, we launched our

Givers at Large speaker

series with a talk by Adam

G r a n t , P r o f e s s o r o f

Management and author of

Give and Take. We also held a

fascinating MBA breakfast

panel on the topic of failure,

a t o p i c m o s t W h a r t o n

students find taboo and

prefer to avoid. !With the holiday season

a p p r o a c h i n g , W U G S

members celebrated with a

ThanksGIVING get-together

with food and games

in the Quad. !Our Mission

!The mission of the Wharton

U n d e r g r a d u a t e G i v i n g

Society is to promote a norm

of giving in the Wharton

undergraduate community

b y f a c i l i t a t i n g a c t s o f

k indness in a way that

p o s i t i v e l y i m p a c t s t h e

student experience and

creating opportunities to

help others.

The next semester, they enrolled

in an independent study course

led by Prof. Grant ent it led

"Building a Culture of Giving at

Wharton." At first, the three

a i m e d t o d e v e l o p a w e b

appl icat ion, through which

students could ask for and offer

help and receive some sort of

recognition for their acts of

g i v i n g . W h e n i t c a m e t o

technology , however , they

To achieve our goal to educate

the Wharton undergraduate

community on the benefits of

giving, the WUGS board and

committees have planned a

multitude of events, from MBA

breakfast panels on dealing with

f a i l u r e a n d n a v i g a t i n g t h e

business world as a giver, to

speaker events with renowned

givers, including Adam Grant, a

casual ThanksGIVING dinner, and

an informal men-realized the limits

of the proposal.

Rather than just

work ing on one

project, Yasmina,

Mijana, and Taylor

decided to found

an organization to

teach others the

benfits of giving in personal and

profess ional sett ings. After

recruiting other dedicated givers,

the new club was founded and

granted a one-year trial period by

the Wharton Council. !Over the summer, marketing

materials were drafts, events

planned, and futher members

recruited, including a VP of

Technology, who worked all

semester to create the WUGS

Giving Board app, now live on

whartongivingsociety.com.

!torship program to

help classmates

w i t h a n y i s s u e

they may face. !Looking forward,

we hope to grow

the club's presence on

campus with innovative programs

- starting with the Giving Board -

and cross-cultural giving panels,

that attract the attention not only

of Wharton students, but of

undergrads across the university.

We want to make Penn a more

amicable and friendly place, and

though we are starting small, we

trust in the power of our message

as an investment in the future

growth of WUGS. Spread the love.

Being a giver is not the easiest

job out there. To succeed, you

have to balance your interests

with those of others, often

acting to your short-term

detriment to help another get

ahead. Yet giving is a winning

strategy - here's how you can

shine: !1. Caught in a den of takers?

S u r r o u n d y o u r s e l f w i t h

matchers - those who give

and take equally - who will

back you up and reward you

for your positive behavior

while punishing those who

seek to use you purely for

their own personal gain.

2. Access your dormant ties -

people you were once close

with but have not reached out

to for a while. They wil l

r e m e m b e r y o u r g i v i n g

behaviors in contexts different

from your current one and help

you maintain your reputation

as a giver.!3. Advocate for yourself through

your actions and not your

words. Lead by doing, and help

others be their better selves by

making giving mainstream. !4. Don't be afraid to call in favors,

but do so only when you need

to. Those you have helped in

t h e p a s t w i l l b e n d ov e r

backwards to help you, too.

These are just some of the ways

you can get ahead in life by being

a giver. Don't be a doormat,

though, as giving endlessly to

your detriment can become a

losing strategy. Above all, just be

yourself. True givers always stand

out and are rewarded for their

helpfulness in kind. !Have more t ips on how to

succeed as a giver? Share your

stories with us at facebook.com/

whartongiving.

How to get involved in WUGS

Q: I just found out about WUGS and

want to become an active member.

Where do I begin? !A: If you've just heard of us for the first time or

want to make a greater contribution to the

Wharton Undergraduate Giving Society, sign up

for our listserve at goo.gl/tAmmFH. You will

receive updates before all of our events, which

we encourage you to regularly attend. Next, sign

up to share your help with others on the WUGS

Giving Board app at whartongivingsociety.com.

There, you can post and respond to requests for

help from all across the Penn community. !Finally, if you are interested in forming the future

of the club, look out for applications for Executive

Board and committee positions in late March/

early April. We look forward to having you join us,

and hope you learn about the power of giving in

your professional and personal lives.