On a clear spring Saturday in downtown Cleveland an intergenerational group gathered for Foundation Center Midwest’s Youth Philanthropy Summit. The Summit wrapped up its year-long 40^th anniversary celebration with a nod to the future – engaging the next generation of philanthropists, volunteers, and social sector leaders.

We’ve all heard “when you’ve seen one foundation, you’ve seen one foundation.” This familiar saying makes light of the many different ways foundations operate.  The same is true for how family foundations engage their next generation.  There is no “one size fits all” or magic bullet that ensures successful participation by younger family members.  And with so many models to choose from, how do you decide what’s right for your family foundation?

The first and most important step in starting a youth grantmaking program is to ask as many questions as possible. These should be questions within your community as well as about the broader youth giving movement.

Communication is a valuable and helpful tool in many aspects of life, and philanthropy is not an exception - communication is crucial and vital to the success of a program. Philanthropy requires communication between donors, foundations, and nonprofits. Feedback from those directly affected by funded projects helps grantmaking programs to grow and improve, and gives donors more information and data. Relationships often grow from these conversations, which then allow for even easier and more open communication. When donors remain consistent, these relationships can span decades. However, building relationships can be hard with youth programs, because most have specific age limits for participating youth, creating a constant cycle of new members. If members are only in a program for three or five years, how can we keep board members, donors, and grantees building longstanding relationships and feeling connected to a program? And how can members keep passing down knowledge to new members after they have left?