Think of the Brazos Community Foundation as a kind of holding company. People who want to support nonprofit organizations can create or contribute to funds administered by the foundation, which then provides grants to charitable projects.

In only five years of existence, the foundation has become the home of more than 60 funds earmarked for a smorgasbord of service organizations.

More than 20 groups, ranging from Voices for Children to Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach, Fellowship of Christian Athletes to Hospice Brazos Valley, Scotty's House to Twin City Mission received a record $9,200 in grants this year.

The foundation would like to do better, much better. So a group of graduate students at the Bush School of Government & Public Service adopted the foundation as one of its Capstone projects, classes that give students an opportunity to put their education to work in the real world.

Over a period of several months, students David Brower, 24; Evan Harlow, 26; Jonathan Reed, 25; and Carlie Dorshaw, 22 -- under the direction of associate professor Will Brown -- met with the foundation's board of directors to learn about the foundation needs.

Then, to find out what various nonprofit organizations wanted from the foundation, the students interviewed some 25 representatives from local nonprofits such as the Arts Council of Brazos Valley, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley and Junction 505, which assists mentally challenged adults.

Their Capstone class report will be delivered April 25 in College Station (details on Page D3).

Capstone projects, common in many university settings, are seminars that enable a student to take classroom learning and apply it in a real-world setting, said Sam Kirkpatrick, executive associate dean for academic affairs and management at the Bush School.

"These are applied, field-based, real-world problems," Kirkpatrick said. "Clients have questions they need answers to, and they expect those answers on time, on budget and to be relevant. This is really serious because the students are making a presentation to important people."

The school started its Capstone program in 1999 with 17 students. This year, 160 students working on master's degrees in public administration are involved. Current Capstone projects include:

• Provincial Reconstruction Teams & Counterinsurgency Training. The client is the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.

• Possible Futures for Asian Security in 2025 (Long Range Analysis Unit, National Intelligence Council). The client is the Long Range Analysis Unit, National Intelligence Council (a federal agency).

• Leadership for Interagency & National Security Reform. The client is the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for stability operations.

• Evaluating the Costs of Bilingual and/or Special Education in Texas. The client is the State Senate Committee on Education.

• An Assessment of Low-Income Housing Buildings In Mississippi and Louisiana Post Hurricane Katrina, Wilma, & Rita. The client is the Congressional Research Service: Government and Finance Division.

The Capstone project assisting the Brazos Community Foundation grew out of a volunteer outreach group that worked the foundation in September 2006.

"We saw a lot of things they needed help with," Brown said. "So we selected them for this class. They asked how we can help them raise money and strengthen the board. They wanted to know what other things they could do for the community. Their main purpose is to give money away, but they also have a role in community leadership."

The students discovered that nonprofits don't fit under one umbrella.

"Each organization had a unique perspective," Brower said.

"I was surprised at the different opinions," Harlow said. "One would say a certain thing was needed. Another would say, 'No way.'"

After the students compiled the data about the organizations' needs, they did a content analysis. Requests went beyond funding to training for staff and volunteers, identifying donors and maintaining credibility and accountability.

"We determined the requests that were the most positive and had the broadest support," Dorshaw said. "We could recommend those to the foundation."

While the differences between nonprofits were often unexpected, there were also common needs.

"As varied as the groups were," Reed said, "they almost all wanted connectivity to other nonprofits and the community. They wanted to know how the foundation could facilitate that."

One problem that came up in the interviews was the relationship between Texas A&M and the nonprofits.

"They see the university as a massive, complex entity, and they don't know who to call," Dorshaw said.

"They need a portal or bridge to connect them, and that may be something the foundation can help with," Brower said.

Another problem identified in the interviews was that a lot of local money goes to non-local organizations, Brower said. "The foundation could identify these donors and match them with local organizations."

The students found that there was no shortage of generous citizens.

"There are a lot of people in this community who want to give," Brower said. "The foundation must connect them with an organization that meets their interest."

While the worth of this Capstone project to the community has yet to be measured, the class has been valuable to Dorshaw.

"This really helped me connect all my previous classes in a concrete way -- policy, leadership and management," she said. "It has motivated me to go into nonprofit management as a career."

• Jim Butler's e-mail address is jim.butler@theeagle.com.