WATERVILLE — Students in a special course in philanthropy at Colby College have granted $4,500 to the Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers to be used for its Summer Camp Scholarship Program.

The college’s Learning by Giving: Nonprofit Organizations and Philanthropy course places students with local nonprofit organizations to introduce them to the nonprofit grant writing process and the skills they need to become successful philanthropists, according to a Colby news release. The course is taught by Matthew Archibald, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.

Three Colby students worked with the Children’s Home during the spring semester this year to learn about nonprofits and philanthropy, according to the release. They are Jordan Nathan, Aquib Yacoob and Brad Gaffin. Nathan and Yacoob graduated from Colby on May 28 and Gaffin is scheduled to graduate in 2016.

The class of 15 students was responsible for dispersing $10,000 in grant money to one or more local nonprofit groups with whom they chose to work. The grant money, awarded at a ceremony at the end of the spring semester, was provided by the Learning by Giving Foundation and a Colby alumnus.

“We were so pleased to have these bright students take an interest in nonprofits and philanthropy here at the Maine Children’s Home,” said Sharon Abrams, the home’s executive director. “It’s vital to the future of small Maine nonprofits that young people learn about the grant-writing process and pursue it as a career. We are incredibly grateful the students took an interest in the Summer Camp Scholarship Program.”

Students in the Colby course chose the camp program because they felt it had the greatest potential for positive and long-lasting social change by enabling underprivileged children to attend summer camp for a week during the summer, allowing them to interact and fully integrate with other children, according to the news release.

“Working with the Children’s Home has been a great experience that has given us the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to our education and apply what we have learned in class in the real world,” Nathan said. “It is rewarding to be a part of this process and learn from a successful nonprofit that works to better the lives of children and families.”

Other area nonprofit organizations that received part of the course grant money are Family Violence Project, the Augusta Food Bank and the Maine Women’s Policy Center.

The Children’s Home was founded in 1899. In addition to its summer camp scholarship program, the home has an adoption program, outpatient counseling, a teen parent school program, The Children’s Place Early Care and Education Center and a Christmas program that provides clothing and toys to needy Maine children.