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Charitable Giving - Maryland Foundations Turning to Teen-agers for Leadership
Friday, July 1, 2005
(The Daily Record) --
Betsy Nelson Americans
like to give, and the overwhelming majority of
us would like our kids
to give, too. But despite our penchant for
generosity, many of us find
that our potentially philanthropic offspring
are not involved in any
charitable activities. This
is the theory that's been bouncing around the
philanthropic court for a
while now, but I'm not sure this is the case. I
think it's high time we
sit on the bench and get our kids in on the
game. Rich Krieg, president and chief
executive of The Horizon
Foundation, thinks so, too. “If
you're going to work in the interest of
children, you really need to
“have trust in them and let them be a part of
the priority-setting
process,” Krieg said. The Horizon
Foundation's Connections
Teens initiative is one of the few
foundation-sponsored projects that
involve kids in its philanthropic
decision-making process. Connections
Teens, the youth wing of a larger community
initiative, is a dynamic
group of young leaders who work with local
leaders and assume
leadership roles in the community. The
foundation expects that the kids
will help set the agenda for its work. Krieg notes that “it is
always interesting to see what issues look like
through the eyes of
children. While their decision-making process
is often different from
the foundation's, they are always right on the
mark with the kinds of
issues affecting them. We benefit tremendously
from having them
participate in the process. Kids ask the tough
questions that adults
might not.” And these tough questions
are not falling on deaf ears. The Horizon
Foundation's Horizon Youth Action Council,
Baltimore Community
Foundation's Youth As Resources, and
THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community
Federation of Baltimore's
Teen Campaign have each instituted wildly
successful youth-led
grant-making initiatives, all guided by the
insight of young leaders. Teens
review grant proposals, ask questions and make
decisions about the
grants. This type of perspective is critical as
we keep our fingers
crossed for our children's philanthropic
future. Without a
clear understanding of the connection between
philanthropic dollars and
the work that is being done in the community,
it is unlikely that this
generation will surpass its parents in their
giving — and as we rely on
philanthropic support more than ever, we need
our kids on board. As
we prepare this generation to sustain our
communities, we need to
invite our kids to pull up a chair at the
philanthropic table for the
discussion. Allowing our kids to really get
involved in the
decision-making process is much more effective
than tossing coins in a
charity bucket. Sarah Adler, a young
co-chair of THE
ASSOCIATED's Teen Campaign, affirms that “what
is so great about [the
grant-making initiative] is that we raise all
this money, give away the
money, and then get to meet the grantees — so
we really get to see what
they're doing with the money. This gives the
entire effort more
meaning. It allows teens to see what money
really can do, and sometimes
they don't always know that.” For more
information on youth philanthropy or to get
involved, visit: BCF
Special to
The Daily Record
July 1, 2005
Are our youth
too consumed with consuming? Would they rather
use their allowance for new sneakers than
donate to charity?