A common concern expressed by parents is how to teach charity and the joy of giving to their children. Many parents are concerned that while their own personal financial success has made opportunities available to their children, this same financial success sometimes makes it more difficult for their children to truly appreciate the advantages they receive.
The Youth Philanthropy Program is an initiative at the Nevada Community Foundation designed to help foster the value of giving, in children, as well as adults. The program allows small groups of children to learn about our community's needs, charitable giving, and to develop their own philanthropic values, by creating a shared pool of monies for charity that the children get to direct.
During the pilot program, young people visited local charities and met a number of times over a six-month period. They then made decisions about how they would distribute the pool of money under their control. Ultimately, they distributed grants to Nevada Childhood Cancer, Communities in Schools, and the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Youth Initiative.
The Nevada Community Foundation newsletter noted that "The money, is merely a tool. The goal of the program is to get kids excited and engaged in building a stronger community. As one parent noted, I will know this is successful when my kids come to me asking for more money to give to charity."
To learn more about the Youth Philanthropy Program, contact Chuck Salter, Director of Development, at chuck@nevadacf.org or call 892-2326.
Please join us today in celebrating Veterans Day, and in thanking all of our servicemen and women for their sacrifice. 