Web Based Resources To Engage Youth in Philanthropy
If you have children or youth in your life and you are concerned that they are not learning to “give back,” here are some resources geared specifically for them. These range from sites with stories about giving from cultures all over the world, to a crowdfunding site specifically for youth. Summer is a great time to start this with kids, when they are not as programmed and might be looking for something meaningful to do.
Source: Flickr user Virginia State Parks
Learning to Give: Curricula and stories from cultures all over the globe to help teach kids about giving. This is a really a resource for teachers, yet there is a library of useful activities and stories, categorized into content for grades pre-K through 12th grade. The teaching stories might be very useful for parents to use.
Youth Giving: This is an information hub for youth from around the world to learn about giving, plan their grants, connect to other youth giving projects all over the world, and implement their giving. This is a good tool to help youth learn about other parts of the world by seeing charitable projects there, and the youth who are making them happen.
The Philanthropy Project: This is a crowd-sourcing platform specifically geared toward youths. It allows them to create fundraising campaigns for nonprofit causes and engage others to support them. It aims to take youth through a process wherein they learn about causes, plan, collaborate with peers, and run the campaign.
Generations Together: This is a project of the National Center for Family Philanthropy. As the name indicates, this is a great resource if you want to create inter-generational participation in philanthropy. It establishes giving within family culture and history, and teaches about philanthropy in a way that people of all ages can participate together.
Do Something: This is not about charitable giving, but a web based resource to engage youth in social change. It helps them identify their passions, find or create campaigns, and sign up to take action, volunteer, and communicate on social media about their chosen issues.
Model Being Charitable: All of these websites are good resources, and all will benefit from supervision by you or another adult. Yet in the end, the adults in a child’s life are extremely influential to their learning and development. If you really want kids who are engaged and charitable, the first and best thing to do is to be charitable yourself. That means you might need to find your passion, make a plan, engage with other people, and be strategic about your own giving. Then talk to your kids about what you are doing, why, and how. Even if they seem bored, if you are doing it genuinely, they will pay attention.
