Hear from Experts
You asked, they answered. Hear youth grantmaking experts talk about strategies and approaches that help them create change.
Have a Question for Our Experts?
Ask!Be Featured as an Expert!
Learn MoreShowing posts tagged with philanthropy
-
Memo to Foundation CEOs: Get a Youth Council
By Robert K. Ross
Seven years ago, we launched a President's Youth Council (PYC) at the California Endowment, and it seems like a good time to tell you that the young people who've served on the council over those seven years have significantly influenced our programming as a private foundation, been a source of reality-checking and ground-truthing on how our work "shows up" at the community level, and have substantially increased my own "woke-ness" as a foundation executive.
Read MoreOctober 9, 2019
-
Youth Want to Learn About Social Activism in Schools
By Jonathan Christie
A recent survey our Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) program conducted with the Scottish Youth Parliament found that more than 80% of young people believed activity focused on philanthropy and social activism should be part of the core secondary curriculum.
Read MoreJanuary 24, 2019
-
How Are Youth Connecting Dots to Effect Change?
By Khya Carter
Over the past two years, I have been on a journey to become a philanthropist through the Youth Grant Committee at Grand Rapids Community Foundation. When I joined my freshman year after a competitive application process, I was amazed at how many new people I met. We have a very diverse community and I loved stepping out of my comfort zone and connecting with other students.
Read MoreOctober 8, 2018
-
Why Should Youth Care About Immigration?
By Katherine Muñoz-Amaya
Last year, I applied to join Seattle Foundation’s Youth Grantmaking Board (YGB) because I wanted to make a difference in my community and give back the way my mother and grandmother do. While I was familiar with the idea of helping one’s community, philanthropy was a foreign concept to me. I always thought of it as rich and old (but very nice) white guys who gave money to charities—like in the movies. But through my time on the Youth Grantmaking Board, I discovered the incredible and life-changing power of philanthropy to help others, just as my grandmother and mother helped those they love.
Read MoreOctober 8, 2018
-
Why Should Young People Fund Environmental Causes?
By Robert Walton
The environmental movement has been steadily gaining ground as people realize how important it is to take action in the face of ever-growing environmental concerns. Organizations across the country have tried to address problems in different ways, from looking into the science behind climate change, to starting grassroots campaigns that shift our behavior towards the earth. While there are countless approaches to helping our environment, rather than choosing one strategy over another, we need a collective effort that includes many tactics.
Read MoreOctober 8, 2018
-
Youth Philanthropy, Trust Building, and Sharing Power
By Sheryl Seller
Despite the growing number of youth philanthropy programs in the United States, a 2002 survey found that “only 48 percent of adults believe it is important to seek young people’s opinions when making decisions that affect them.” As Katie Richards-Schuster, a professor at University of Michigan stated in 2012, “In general, American society, through its policies and practices, tends to focus on the construction of youth as vulnerable and at risk at best, and as problems at worst.” However, we know that through youth philanthropy programs where young people are given decision-making power as well as provided with mentorship, communities thrive.
Read MoreAugust 16, 2018
-
How Do I Start a Youth Grantmaking Program in My Community?
By Sammie Holzwarth
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.
Read MoreOctober 26, 2016
-
How Do I Tell the Story of My Giving?
By Kari McCann
It can be a challenge to effectively communicate your story – to demonstrate your impact, garner funds, and to simply explain philanthropy to your peers. In the webinar recording below, Iowa Council of Foundations President Kari McCann and youth philanthropists Michael Banwarth and Leah Freihoefer offer some advice on how best to share the story of your giving and how to leverage these stories through your philanthropy network.
Read MoreAugust 9, 2016
-
How Do I Start a Youth Grantmaking Program to Ensure Youth Voice? What Are the Benefits of Doing so as a Funder?
By Kelly Davenport Nowlin
In 2000, my family’s foundation (Surdna) established the Andrus Family Philanthropy Program to engage future generations in our family in formalized philanthropy. In addition, we created two youth programs, targeting 13-17 and 18-24 year olds, respectively (learn more here!). For years, these youth programs were designed and run by adults with expertise in the field, helping young people define what they cared about and find their identity in philanthropy. I have come across similar youth initiatives where adults get together to develop all aspects of the program, then present it to the young people to experience and implement. If the past sixteen years has taught me anything about youth philanthropy it is this: don’t take “youth” out of the development and creation of a youth philanthropy program.
Read MoreJuly 27, 2016
-
What Are the SDGs and How Do They Relate to the Youth Giving Movement?
By Arif Ekram
United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals—better known as the SDGs—are a set of 17 universal goals for global economic development, prosperity, human dignity, peace, justice, and partnerships. They have been agreed upon by virtually every nation on earth and will remain in effect until 2030. The SDG framework has managed to find common ground between the countless dissimilar and often opposing interests of various nations and has aligned all of these countries under the same agenda to improve the quality of life for people around the globe. It took a great number of very skilled development professionals more than three years, but they have succeeded in putting together a universal framework – one that fits the U.S. as much as it fits Somalia.
Read MoreJuly 5, 2016