Links to Get Involved Useful Links Educating Young Philanthropists and Volunteers Awards

Scroll through the links below and choose from a wide variety of web sites that offer ideas for volunteering and getting involved in philanthropy. Here you'll find information on everything from starting a club to help out in your community, to instructions on how kids can start their own nonprofit organizations!

Global Volunteer Network
The organization offers volunteer opportunities in 21 countries to support the work of local community organizations in developing countries. Volunteers can be from any country to participate. The web site also offers a monthly newsletter, current and past news about different programs, FAQs. Applicants must be 18 or older for most of the programs.

America’s Promise Alliance
The mission of America’s Promise Alliance is to mobilizes people from every sector of American life to build the character and competence of our nation's youth by fulfilling Five Promises to them. This site offers resources for career development, opportunities to give back through community service, and much more.

Ben's Guide
A U.S. government web site for kids, Ben's Guide provides a long list of links of government sites for kids on topics that cover everything from animals to transportation.

Plan
Plan helps children and families living in 48 developing countries around the world to develop long-term solutions to break out of the cycle of poverty through community-based programs revolving around five areas: growing up healthy, learning, livelihood, habitat, and building relationships.

Children for Children Foundation
The Children for Children Foundation’s mission is to help young people discovery their power and potential to solve real world problems through volunteering and service learning.

Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service connects Americans of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to give back to their communities and their nation through voluntary service.

Do Something
This is a national network of young people who know they can make a difference in their communities and take action to change the world around them.

Earth Force
Earth Force provides youth with knowledge and skills to discover and implement lasting solutions to environmental issues in their community. In the process, they develop life-long habits of active citizenship and environmental stewardship.

Global Youth Service Day
Global Youth Service Day works collaboratively with organizations around the world to mobilize young people around the world to carry out community improvement projects. This web site offer ways to get involve along with reports of past accomplishments.

Idealist Kids and Teens
This site is a project of Action Without Borders that offers resources and ideas for youth and teachers for activism. Read about organizations started by kids, find volunteering opportunities, learn about how to get involved in the world of important causes around you, and much more.

Kids Can Make A Difference
Kids Can Make A Difference^® (KIDS), an educational program for middle- and high school students, focuses on the root causes of hunger and poverty, the people most affected, solutions, and how students can help.

Kids for Community
Kids for Community is for children and teens looking for volunteer opportunities in New York City, parents who want to get their kids involved in the community, teachers striving to develop their service learning programs, and organizations that value young volunteers.

Just For Kids
This great site is filled with information on topics such as: What’s Hot for Kids, 10 Good Reasons for Kids to Volunteer, Ideas for Self Starters, and Useful and Fun Links.

Kids Care Clubs
In 1990, a group of children got together to rake an elderly neighbor's lawn. That was the beginning of Kids Care Clubs and today there are more then 1,800 registered clubs and about 100,000 kids in the US and other countries around the world. Visit their site to learn how you can start your own club and see what other kids are doing.

The LEAGUE
This nonprofit combines learning and friendly “co-opetition” between schools around the world. This school-based system that combines state standards-based lesson plans with community service events that teach students the value of giving and recognizes them for their efforts.

National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation is the nation's largest member-supported conservation group, uniting individuals, organizations, businesses and government to protect wildlife, wild places, and the environment. By donating, the Wildlife Adoption Center let visitors symbolically adopt an imperiled animal. Learn more about how you can take action.

Network for Good
Network for Good is a nonprofit collaboration to help nonprofit organizations increase capacity, reach new audiences, and build Internet strategies. Explore volunteering opportunities, learn how to start a nonprofit, and see a list of resources on working in the nonprofit sector.

SERVEnet.org
This site offers service and volunteering opportunities. Through SERVEnet, users can enter their ZIP code, city, state, skills, interests, and availability and be matched with organizations needing help. SERVEnet is also a place to search for events, service news, grants and ways to keep conneted.

Student Voices Resource Center
NetDay Student Voice Resource Center's aim is to connect the voices of our nation's youth to teachers, government representatives and business men and women involved with technology in K-12 schools. The site provides links to articles and guides on how to help kids become more involved in the technology-related decision-making in their school.

The Virtual Volunteering Project
This organization supports the growth and success of volunteer activities that can be accomplished, in part or entirely, through the internet. This web site offers ways for visitors to volunteer virtually, for organization to form their own program and samples of assignments.

Youth Activism Project
The purpose of Youth Activism Project is to encourage young people to speak up and pursue lasting solutions to problem they care about. This site provide global action and success stories of youth along with a list of strategies used to accomplish those actions.

YouthNOISE
YouthNoise equips young leaders with the resources to build campaigns, projects and kick off grassroots movements. The web site provides tools and mentorships that help members tackle variety of social issues.

The Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana ("YPII")
A statewide network of 40+ partners organization, the Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (YPII) was created with a common goal of engaging youth to "give and serve" within their communities. The site offers programs in Indiana, conferences and training, family philanthropy, resources and youth news.

Youth Service California
Since 1990, Youth Service California has been working to ensure that all young people in California are empowered to make a positive difference in their community via quality community service, service learning, and youth organizing experiences.

Awards

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards honor young people in middle level and high school grades for outstanding volunteer service to their communities.

YouthActionNet Award
YouthActionNet awards youth leaders whose emerging projects will promote social change and connect youth with local communities. These youth-led projects should have clearly defined goals and have potential for growth or further replication. Final selections are made following a peer review process in which previous award winners select the next round of awardees. Award recipients will receive US$500 and are eligible to participate in an international capacity-building workshop.

Educating Young Philanthropists and Volunteers

John W. Gardner Center
The John W. Gardner Center (JGC) at Stanford University partners with local communities to support their efforts to continually renew themselves, by way of developing well-rounded young people who are successful — intellectually, emotionally, physically and socially — and who in turn are motivated to contribute to their communities, both as leaders and as responsible participants.

Charity Checks
In a sponsored classroom, every student receives a Charity Check for $25, which can be donated to any U.S. nonprofit recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization. An individual or group can sponsor the classroom, or the students can raise the money for themselves. The web site also provides free curriculum resources.

Connect for Kids
In 2007, Connect for Kids joined forces with Child Advocacy 360 to give visitors the resources needed to understand the issues affecting children, families, and communities. This web site provides advice on how to take action to improve programs and projects of our nation.

Learning in Deed- Service Learning
Service-learning is a teaching method that improves student's academic skills by having them apply what they learn in school to the real world. They reflect on their experience to reinforce the links between their service and their learning.

Learning to Give
Learning to Give is the curriculum diversion of The LEAGUE. The purpose of this web site is to educate, develop, empower youth around the world. It offers over 1,200 K-12 lessons and educational resources for teachers, parents, youth workers, faith groups and community leaders.

Minnesota Toolkit for Giving
Produced by the Minnesota Council on Foundations and their partners, the “Youth Philanthropy Resources” section of their Toolkit for Giving includes information about teaching philanthropy, in addition to resources on community service, youth as funders, and youth publication.

Northland Foundation Youth in Philanthropy Program
Minnesota’s Northland Foundation launched its KIDS PLUS program to improve the well-being of children and youth in northeast Minnesota. It accomplishes this by connecting kids to caring adults through many programs.

Rose Youth Foundation
Rose Youth Foundation, a grantmaking initiative of Rose Community Foundation, encourages Jewish youth in the Denver metro area to make a difference by becoming grantmakers.

Youth Grantmakers
Youthgrantmakers.org, a communication of the Michigan Community Foundation Youth Project of the Council of Michigan Foundations, presents resources for youth grantmakers including best practices, lessons learned, and sample documents.

Youth Philanthropy and Service
Youth Philanthropy and Service (YPS) is a program of Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations. YPS provides resources and support for adults implementing K-12 youth service and philanthropy programs within their schools and organizations: trainging and networking, knowledge dissemination and professional support.

© Foundation Center
All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy