Our Impact | Education & Youth

Overview

Our Education and Youth Impact Area works with nonprofits in the Triangle serving youth ages 5-24, with a focus on youth from low-income backgrounds, youth from low-performing and/or low-resourced schools, youth with disabilities, youth with limited English proficiency, youth of color, and LGBTQIA+ youth.

Within this focus, we intend to concentrate on enabling and empowering youth leaders. We know that the future of our community depends on the strength of our future leaders—but also that youth are capable of being leaders now, and often already are! However, we’ve seen our youth struggling with concerns related to mental health, maintaining healthy social relationships, and continuing to thrive academically so that they can succeed with their desired post-graduation plans.

This year, the Foundation will be focusing our Education & Youth grant on nonprofits serving youth ages 5-24 in the populations listed above to address three key areas of concern for our community’s youth: Mental health, social-emotional learning, and the academic support needed to thrive in their current academic program/grade level and pursue their post-graduation goals.

Grantmaking

Grants will be for $30,000 over 2 years ($15,000 per year). Funding will be for two year’s duration and will provide general operating support.

We anticipate making 15 general operating awards of $30,000 each through this grant cycle and it is our intention to continue offering grants to nonprofits serving the population outlined above in the following years.

Eligibility

• Nonprofit, 501(c)(3) youth-serving organizations serving one or more Triangle Counties (Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham); Projects with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor are eligible to apply.
• Organizations that meet all of the following criteria:
  • Have a history of serving youth ages 5-24 (or a subset of that population) in the priority populations listed above.
  • Allow youth to inform their work (assist with program planning/creation, serving on the Board/committees, serving as interns, etc.) For young children, this could include family members.
  • Are addressing issues of mental health, social-emotional learning, and the academic support needed to help students thrive in their post-graduation college or career goals.
• Organizations must meet the Foundation’s non-discrimination policy.
• Only one application per organization will be considered.
• Please note, only organizations that can demonstrate a history of doing work serving the populations listed above will be considered for funding. At this time we are not prioritizing organizations that are new to programming related to serving these populations

Evaluation Criteria

Foundation staff work with volunteer advisory committee members to review proposals and reach grantmaking decisions. For Education & Youth, we are committed to having at least half of our advisory committee be composed of high school and college-aged youth. In reviewing grant proposals, the Foundation will use the following evaluation criteria:

• Organization’s commitment to youth, youth involvement, and youth leadership
• Demonstration of programming to support mental health, social-emotional learning, and academic needs to help students thrive in their current academic program and pursue their chosen post-graduation plans
• Strength of organization’s proposal to support students while they finish their current educational track, gain and demonstrate leadership skills, and pursue the college or career path of their choice
• Organization’s financial health

Information Sessions

A virtual information session was held on Wednesday, August 23 at 10am. Watch the recording here.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have compiled a listing of frequently asked questions that we have received about grant strategy and the overall process.

Timeline