Pay it Forward

Since 2010, Pay It Forward has engaged more than 4,800 college students in 264 courses across 37 campuses, dedicated more than 77,000 total volunteer hours, and invested $800,000* in 550 community based organizations.
*some courses have been funded with sustained local or campus resources*

For more than a decade, Ohio Campus Compact’s Pay it Forward program worked to develop a new generation of philanthropists through an innovative course-based service-learning program that engages college students in hands-on philanthropy, grant-making, and volunteer service while providing community nonprofits with much needed resources during difficult economic times.

Faculty participating in Pay it Forward infuse the study of philanthropy as a core component of the coursework and each course should award real dollars to nonprofit agencies. Students provide volunteer service to local nonprofit agencies while simultaneously identifying community needs, establishing funding criteria, and engaging in group decision-making as part of the course.

Pay it Forward improves student learning, faculty scholarship, college engagement and nonprofit capacity and impact. Students learn and practice highly desirable skills sought by today’s workforce employers.

While we are no longer providing grant awards to campuses, we can provide training and materials to any interested faculty from our member campuses.

If you are interested in developing Pay it Forward on your campus, contact us at admin {at} ohiocampuscompact(.)org

Video presentation by a student team at the University of Akron, to advocate for funding for their nonprofit:


Service-Learning, Student Philanthropy & Critical Pedagogy: Interview with Pay it Forward faculty member Emily Nemeth

On the surface, “Critical Pedagogy” and the “study of philanthropy” might seem to be disparate topics–certainly not something you would cover in your average Education course.  Yet, these seemingly disconnected concepts were a great fit for Pay it Forward, the Ohio Campus Compact service-learning program* that infuses the study of philanthropy and course-related community service hours into a variety of different curricula across disciplines and provides $2,500 for the class to award to local nonprofits.

Ohio Campus Compact sat down with Emily Nemeth, Visiting Instructor in the Department of Education at Denison University to discuss her experience in teaching Critical Pedagogy: Gender, Race, and Class in U.S. Education as a Pay it Forward student philanthropy course. Read the full interview.