What is Youth in Philanthropy?

In the fall of 2017, the Red Deer & District Community Foundation (RDDCF) embraced a program introducing youth to the concept of philanthropy while giving them a hands-on opportunity to explore charities, social needs and financial responsibility.

It’s built as a step-by-step process enabling our youth to not only become aware of the diverse social needs surrounding them, but to determine how and where they feel they can make impact.

Each participating school is given $500 to create and deliver small grants to local registered charities. To do this, the students must take on leadership roles and understand the methodology behind grant making. After site visits, interviews and cohesive decision making, the students experience philanthropy first-hand when they present cheques to the grant recipients.

However, the program is about more than just giving. As part of the program, students are asked to raise $250 to feed back into the Youth in Philanthropy Endowment fund in order to ensure students in the future are given the same hands-on opportunity they have been granted. This way participants are taught philanthropy is about more than making charitable choices by giving monetary gifts, but rather, it is the act of strategic thought and preparation to ensure sustainability.

It’s an excellent opportunity to teach our youth the importance of partnerships and personal responsibility. Students can then take these virtues with them through their adolescence and into adulthood.