Like many programs aimed at high schoolers, the conference at Raleigh’s Crabtree Marriott featured loud music, chanting and cheers, graffiti-themed decorations, and lots of energy. The logo featured a fist brandishing a microphone over an urban skyline. “Let your voices be heard!” was a major subtext; everyone received a megaphone and a pair of earbuds as souvenirs.

The topic? Charity.

The November event was the fifth annual summit hosted by the N.C. Youth Giving Network, a loose association of 19 local groups that seek to involve young people in charitable work. Local “sites” (as they are called) have a variety of sponsors, ranging from county services agencies and community foundations to a YMCA and a charter school.

“The intent of the summit is to give young people a real lens to what youth giving is about,” said Eric Rowles, director of NCYGN. Organizers encouraged the 225 students to consider themselves “change makers.”

“This is not about today but about every day after,” challenged one speaker. “It’s not about lights, games, flash and hype, and we go home and do nothing.”

The idea of young people contributing “time, talents, and treasure” to charitable causes is well-established in churches, scouting, and other community programs. The youth philanthropy movement, though, goes beyond traditional teen volunteer programs, urging teens to seek out major corporate donations and government-funded grants.

The summit’s workshops, for example, focused on public relations, committee processes, and grant-writing activities designed to channel money from large donors to smaller agencies and projects.

Once a local site is established, its operating costs are significant. NCYGN gives a typical site budget of $12,000 to $20,000, out of which more than $10,000 goes for program administration and facilitation. That figure goes higher if the staff is paid for its time; many adults donate the hours. By its own numbers, the philanthropy program itself consumes between 75 and 90 percent of the funding to distribute $1,500 to $5,000 in grants. In exchange, the participants learn “program planning, meeting facilitation, organizational culture … and group/team dynamics,” all part of the “21st century leadership skills” that characterize the youth philanthropy model.

They’re training high schoolers to be grantmakers, according to Rowles. NCYGN’s programs are facilitated by Leading to Change, a Charlotte consulting firm headed by Rowles. Local donors entrust teenagers with a pool of grantmaking dollars, and the program teaches them how to write Requests for Proposals, market the availability of funds, and then select recipients from the RFPs they receive.

Participants are encouraged to learn about needs within their community and adopt one or more as their own project. Most are related to young people’s concerns.

The projects teens select run the political and cultural spectrum. One site helped a church replace computers damaged in a fire, while another organized “an alternative prom for gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender youth and their allies.” A teen giving board sponsored a “youth facilitated retreat to build social justice and diversity advocacy skills” while another provided personal items for children in foster care. A smoke-free basketball tournament was organized in one county.

Some projects involve the students’ personal efforts. The Catawba County YMCA sponsors a site that is funded in part by the students’ work for the Y. At the summit, several McNair Scholars from the University of North Carolina talked about their volunteer work, helping local churches with video production, working with Upward Bound and Habitat for Humanity. One student teaches “hair care for self-esteem” to other young women.

“The purpose of this is ‘youth giving to youth,’” said Mary Jane Akerman, a facilitator with LTC in Thomasville. “They know the youth issues in the community.” Recent projects gave free music lessons to underprivileged youth, built backstage equipment for a youth theater program, and provided prom dresses for low-income girls.

But much of the youth giving activity centers on the operation of nonprofit organizations. Monthly meetings teach students the cycle of corporate and government charitable funding. The program’s calendar schedules workshops on how to approach individual donors or request grants from a business or agency; the most effective ways to publicize funding opportunities to other charities; and the evaluation process for grant requests submitted to the youth programs in their turn.

This cycle of donor money passing from charity to charity was evident at the conference. Rowles introduced representatives of Triangle Family Services, sponsors of the newest site. TFS’ financial director, Betsy Levitas, said it planned to add the youth philanthropy project into its existing teen financial management program at Wake Tech. TFS had just received funding from an out-of-state bank.

“I just went ‘dialing for dollars’ until I found one,” she said. A portion of the grant from State Street Bank in Ohio will fund charitable projects in the Raleigh area.

The rest will cover overhead.

Hal Young is a contributor to Carolina Journal.