UW’s Ethics Club Accepting Albany County Nonprofit Nominations for SparkTank 2024

Nominations are now being accepted by the University of Wyoming’s Ethics Club for SparkTank 2024, a community-engagement initiative from the UW College of Business that provides financial support to local nonprofit organizations.

Apart from the organizations that received SparkTank funding in 2023 -- Climb Wyoming, Family Promise, Feeding Laramie Valley and Unaccompanied Students Initiative -- all Albany County-based nonprofits that focus on essential needs, such as food, shelter, safety and clothing, are encouraged to participate.

The program is an opportunity to nominate a local preferred nonprofit, says Kent Noble, an adviser to the Ethics Club and a Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Faculty Fellow at the UW College of Business.

“We extend an open invitation to nominate any Albany County nonprofit that is providing basic necessities to our community,” Noble adds. “Self-nominations also are accepted.”

Nominees must submit a video -- three minutes or less -- to Noble at knoble@uwyo.edu no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17. The video should be posted on YouTube or Vimeo, and it must provide a brief overview of the organization, its mission and how funding will benefit Albany County residents. Other criteria include a commitment to ethical principles, such as integrity, trust, accountability, transparency, fairness, respect, rule of law and viability; and the nonprofit’s willingness to participate in the Better Business Bureau’s Charity Accreditation Review Program within the next year. Accreditation assistance is available from the College of Business.

UW’s Ethics Club chapter members will screen the videos, and finalists will be announced no later than Friday, Dec. 8. Students will base their decisions on the videos’ content as well as the community impact potential from a SparkTank investment.

The finalists will compete in a “Shark Tank”-style competition in April at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center, with each receiving a share of the money raised by Ethics Club and “Sales Seminar” students.

“Since its inception in 2018, UW’s Ethics Club has invested $400,000 in Albany County’s nonprofit community, including a remarkable $160,000 in 2023 alone,” Noble says.

For more information about SparkTank 2024, email Noble at knoble@uwyo.edu.