Youth in Philanthropy program teaches critical thinking, fundraising to students

FRAMINGHAM — Who will be the philanthropists of tomorrow?

In much the same way high school students who get involved in their first election later go on to become lifelong voters, young people who volunteer or work with nonprofit organizations may, as adults, become leaders of nonprofit groups or generous donors of their money, time and talents.

Through its Youth in Philanthropy Program, the Foundation for MetroWest aims to introduce young people to the world of fundraising and grant selection and giving.

While in the program, high schoolers learn about youth-serving nonprofits and select those that will receive grants through the foundation. The program is accepting applications from students on a rolling basis for the rest of the summer.

“I feel like it gives younger people a lot of agency and also a lot of skills that they can carry on,” said Emma Auth, a recent graduate of the Youth in Philanthropy — YIP —

 program. “It’s definitely inspired me to get more involved with nonprofits in general.”

The free program, which began in 1997, works with 60 to 80 students split into groups of about 20. Students are guided through everything from fundraising for the nonprofits of their choosing to critically evaluating budgets and grant proposals in a weekly program that lasts 17 weeks.

“Early introduction of philanthropy to high school students is likely going to lead to a lifetime of philanthropic work, so that’s why we want to introduce high school students to this type of work,” program officer Matt Jose said. “The students sometimes do a better job than adults do when they dive deep into budgets.”

“I felt like it was such a low time commitment, but it felt like it had a high return as far as emotional value,” said Beckett Bernstein, another recent participant in the program. “I was a little hesitant at first, I felt a little disconnected from philanthropy, but it ended up being really accessible.”

Nonprofits that serve youth are invited to apply for grants and students will begin reading and evaluating grant applications within the first month of the program. 

“The programs that we ended up choosing had a good balance between both having emotional appeals and explaining what their program was doing and the various statistics involved with their organization,” Bernstein said. “Those two aspects, we see them as separate things, but they felt really connected in what we were doing.”

Auth said her instructor was key to the process, guiding the students through reading grants, talking to nonprofits and learning “to think critically about where our money would be going and how to ask the right questions.”

Bernstein said he was personally drawn to the nonprofit Hope and Comfort, which received a grant to help in its work providing hygiene products to youth in Greater Boston. Auth admitted that the first few Zoom meetings were a bit awkward, but once students started sharing ideas in breakout rooms, it became easier to work together as a group.

“We spend a lot of time talking about what group consensus is, how to build consensus, and we advise students, really, not to just vote but to really be passionate about what they’re interested in,” Jose said. “It really teaches them how connected philanthropy is, so it’s not only about learning about the nonprofits, it’s about engaging your fellow community to believe in the work of their nonprofits.”

After a consensus is reached and the top organizations have been chosen, students must then defend their choices to stakeholders and donors, and they also help raise 10% of the funds that go to the nonprofits. Due to the success of the virtual program, Jose said there will still be a virtual group this fall as well as in-person groups in Southborough, Hopkinton and Natick.  

“The rest of our programs are going to back to in-person starting this fall, because we know how much is gained with an in-person environment,” Jose said. But in terms of offering a virtual option, “it honestly made it more accessible for some people who were living in different parts of MetroWest,” he said.

Lillian Eden can be reached at 617-459-6409 or leden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LillianWEden.