Global Honors Launches Innovative ‘Generous Life’ Course

New class empowers students to award $100,000 to local nonprofits for positive social change while learning about the virtue of generosity 

Students in Belmont’s Global Honors program have a new opportunity to not study generosity and practice it in a transformative way. The new "Generous Life" course, co-taught by Dr. Mona Ivey-Soto and alumna Hilary (Hambrick) Taft ('13), will empower junior honors students to distribute $100,000 in grant funding to Nashville-area nonprofits. 

Learning Beyond the Classroom 

The year-long course sequence will provide students with both theoretical frameworks and practical experience in philanthropy and community engagement. The first semester focuses on providing students with a comprehensive understanding of generosity, deliberately exploring diverse perspectives beyond conventional views. 

"We want to give them a really thorough understanding of what it means to have a posture of generosity in their life," said Dr. Ivey-Soto, who brings extensive background as a community engaged scholar and experience founding a nonprofit in Nashville. 

The initiative was made possible by a business leader with connections to Belmont who was inspired by a similar program at another university. After learning about the generosity-focused class that allocated donated funds to local communities, the donor approached Belmont President Greg Jones with an offer to sponsor a comparable program. 

Real-World Impact Through Academic Learning 

The $100,000 grant will be divided between two Nashville-area nonprofit organizations, with each receiving $50,000. During the second semester, students will implement what they've learned by developing grant proposal structures, evaluating applications and ultimately deciding which organizations will receive funding. 

Taft brings valuable expertise to the classroom, having managed contracts and grants with the U.S. Agency for International Development in over 90 countries and previously coordinating the Opportunity NOW internship program under former Nashville Mayor Megan Berry's office. 

"I think what is really interesting and potentially transformative about this course right now, in 2025, is that we're at an inflection point for many nonprofits exploring how to diversify their grant funding as well as better serve their community beneficiaries, especially following the challenges of the post-COVID landscape," said Taft. 

Connection to Belmont Innovation Labs 

The "Generous Life" course also connects with Belmont Innovation Labs, led by Executive Director Josh Yates. This partnership strengthens the course's impact potential through the Innovation Labs' focus on complex social challenges. 

"The Innovation Labs is really focused on thinking about the mindset, skill sets and soul sets of not only Belmont students, but also the broader Nashville community and bringing different stakeholder groups together to think about the really complex social issues that are around us," said Taft. 

This collaboration exemplifies the Innovation Labs' mission of activating "Agents of Hope" to tackle today's most complex problems. The Labs enable cross-sector collaboration through strategic convenings, teaching and training and collaborative innovation. 

"This class is a really great example of the type of work that the Innovation Labs is doing, bringing in external community partners who are interested in social innovation, bringing in the academic lens of the Global Honors Program, and then also working together with students to pilot new solutions," said Taft. 

Through this connection with the Innovation Labs, students will gain experience in human-centered design approaches that bring together academic expertise with lived experiences to co-create solutions to community challenges.  

An ‘Only at Belmont’ Experience 

The course intentionally incorporates multiple academic disciplines including business, sociology, anthropology and faith perspectives. Both instructors bring complementary expertise: Dr. Ivey-Soto with training as a social worker and education background with deep roots in the local community, and Taft with international development experience and a strong local network among non-profit leaders. 

"The integration of faith and justice and our deeply held connections with community is a unique facet of Belmont as an institution," said Dr. Ivey-Soto. "Lots of folks are really deeply woven into the community." 

The course aligns with the Global Honors Program's mission of addressing humanity's most pressing problems through an interdisciplinary curriculum. Through this experience, students will develop a deeper understanding of the virtue of generosity while making meaningful contributions to the Nashville community. 

"We want to find those organizations that are doing something really transformative and maybe don't have a lot of outside funding or big donors," said Dr. Ivey-Soto. "Places that will be doing the work in a way that's really beautiful and intentional and may not be on the radar of a lot of other organizations." 

For the 24 students enrolled in this inaugural class, the experience promises to be transformative, providing them with a deeper understanding of nonprofit organizations in Nashville while empowering them to make meaningful change in their community. 

Future Vision and Sustainability 

While the first year serves as a pilot, both Dr. Ivey-Soto and Taft envision building lasting relationships with nonprofit partners throughout Nashville. 

"Moving forward, if we're able to do this class again, we'll be able to learn from that and maybe continue thinking about the deepening of relationships with nonprofit partners in the Nashville area," said Taft. "And then hopefully get to a place where we have some sort of transformative impact, which would be the ambitious long-term goal of this investment." 

The instructors hope that future iterations of the course could explore how investments like this grant funding can be catalytic in addressing systemic issues in Nashville. Taft envisions eventually reaching a point where "there's transformative ripple effects in the Nashville nonprofit community" through sustained engagement and strategic partnerships. 

For Nonprofit Organizations 

Nashville-area nonprofit organizations interested in learning more about the grant funding opportunity should monitor for the Request for Proposals (RFP) expected to be released early in the fall semester. Organizations focused on addressing community needs in the Nashville area will be eligible to apply. 

While specific criteria are still being developed as part of the course curriculum, nonprofits demonstrating innovative approaches to addressing community challenges will be considered. The $100,000 will be divided between two organizations, with each receiving $50,000.