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 INTRODUCTION: Increasingly,
when foundations, government programs, and innovative community
organizations want creative solutions to difficult funding issues,
they turn to young people for solutions. Youth are connected to their
communities in an authentic and unhindered way that can help
grantmakers understand issues better.
POINT TO PONDER: "Teenagers
are becoming vital players in the nonprofit world by starting their
own charities, sitting on grant-making boards, raising money,
volunteering, and leading efforts to solve problems in their
neighborhoods, schools, and beyond..." from
here.
RESOURCES: These are organizations that provide young people
opportunities to develop community-mindedness, philanthropic behaviors, leadership
skills, stewardship commitment and volunteer experiences.
Youth Leadership
Institute (YLI) - YLI was one of the
first organizations in the United States to successfully carry out
large-scale grant making exclusively for youth-driven and youth-led funding
projects. YLI's innovative approach takes youth out of an advisory capacity,
giving them final decision-making authority. Our goal is to continue to
transform youth grantmaking into a tool for community building for young
people.
Teen Trust
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Teen Trust is a board of 20-25 high school students from throughout Black Hawk County, Iowa, that was created in 1994 to provide teens with a way to become active trustees of their community. Teen Trust is the only foundation in Iowa administered by youth for the purpose of engaging in philanthropy. The program culminates with students awarding $10,000 from the Youth Interest Fund of the Community Foundation to non profit agencies throughout Black Hawk County. Students develop everything from the grant application to the selection criteria.
Youth Grants Board
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A program that encourages, trains, and
provides financial support to young people who are interested in
improving their community, for themselves and their peers. YGB gives
money (grants), to community-based projects created and run by groups
of youth. All decisions about grants in the YGB program are also made
by young people, members of the Youth Grant Board, who are trained
grant-makers and who relate to the issues, ideas, and enthusiasm that
youth grant-seekers have.
YouthPower
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The Youth POWER program provides selective
opportunities to students in Linn County to help fund community projects,
improve the support of education and better the lives of youth. Coordinated by the Greater Cedar Rapids, Iowa Community Foundation
YouthInspire
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YouthInspire originated in 2000, as a wholly
youth-initiated, youth-run foundation, established through a generous Youth In
Philanthropy grant from the Lincoln Community Foundation. Forty- four teens,
who had completed either the Youth Leadership Lincoln or Youth Leadership
Academy program, began to draft the framework of the nation's first foundation
developed and operated completely by youth to fund youth efforts in a
community. Coordinated by Leadership Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Northland Foundation Youth In Philanthropy Program
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The KIDS PLUS Youth In Philanthropy Board, made up
of 14 youth and three adults, distributes grant resources on a quarterly basis
to projects that are planned and carried out by young people with the support of
an adult advisor.
Youth Understanding Philanthropy Project
- A research project of Indiana University’s
Center on Philanthropy, Youth Understanding Philanthropy attempts to understand
what motivates the philanthropic tradition from generation to generation.
Engaging Youth as Philanthropists
- Writing a research paper? Looking for more
supportive evidence? Visit the Foundation Center's site for more information and
resources.
Center for Youth as Resources
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Promotes community-based YAR programs that are
governed by a board of youth and adults to provide grants to young people to
design and carry out service projects. The youth and adult board members work in
partnership to solicit and evaluate project proposals from local youth. The
proposals must address a clear community needs.
Community Foundations
with Youth Grant-making Boards
Michigan Community Foundations
Youth Project
Richmond
Community Foundation's Youth Philanthropy Project
George Foundation's
Youth Philanthropy Grants
Community Foundation
for Greater New Haven
City
of Boulder's Youth Opportunities Program
Delaware
Community Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy Program
Funds for Social Change Led By and With Young
People The Freechild Project's webpage
highlighting a variety of foundations, organizations, awards, and publications
that detail how to find funding to support youth action.
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