FAQs

A Giving Account is a way for children, youth and families to make philanthropy part of their everyday life. A Giving Account can be opened at birth in the name of a child. It can be opened for kids, teens and college students who want to make a difference. Giving Accounts can be opened by a person of any age who is young at heart and seeks to do good! 
Legally, a Giving Account at YouthGive operates as a Donor Advised Fund, an increasingly popular form of philanthropy. Donor Advised Funds are a convenient way for individuals to set up personal philanthropic accounts through which they can then make donations to their favorite charities. A Donor Advised Fund is like having your own personal foundation. 

A Giving Account is an account in which money is held for future giving. You and anyone you invite can add money to a Giving Account. The owner of the Giving Account can choose a charity to support and donate money online to that charity from his or her Giving Account. It's that simple. 

YouthGive believes that there should be no barriers for youth to enter the world of philanthropy and give. We are committed to raising funds to cover these costs so that we don't have to pass them on to young users of Giving Accounts. Therefore, we are committed to operating efficiently and keeping our costs as low as possible. 

However, credit card companies and PayPal charge YouthGive a transaction fee every time you send a donation to a child's Giving Account. Moreover, YouthGive has general expenses to pay for our staff, office and the creation and management of this website. 

Where possible, we encourage parents and families to help YouthGive cover these costs. Please consider adding a modest donation to YouthGive when you put money into a Giving Account. Adding an extra 5% to your donation would help cover the transaction fees. Adding a bit more would help cover our operating costs. 

Rather than making a small contribution to YouthGive every time you add funds to an account, consider giving an annual donation to YouthGive (say $5 or $10 dollars a year) for each Giving Account you open. Think of it as a modest and voluntary "tuition donation" for helping you nurture and grow a giver and global citizen. 

Giving through YouthGive is private and secure. No personal information about you is ever given to any third party. Please see the YouthGive Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for a detailed explanation of how we fully respect and protect your identity and privacy. 

YouthGive has been created by an experienced and committed team of people who have worked in the philanthropic sector for many years. Please see our Team of people who have developed this new platform for giving following nearly three years of research and development. 

YouthGive Co-Founders Jenny Yancey and Dan Siegel bring over 40 years of combined experience in the philanthropic sector, where they have worked as leaders, advisors, consultants, writers and educators in national and global nonprofit organizations. Prior to founding YouthGive, they conducted a three-year study funded by the Ford, Hewlett, Kellogg and Packard foundations on the field of philanthropic learning and education for donors. 

YouthGive is supported by an accomplished group of National Advisors who provide guidance and support to this social venture. 

YouthGive aims to revolutionize the world of philanthropy with its Giving Account for youth and families, making it possible for anyone to engage in philanthropy with their own giving vehicle:

• YouthGive is lowering the age barrier for creating and using a Donor Advised Fund, essentially enabling children and youth to have their own foundations to do good which can carry on through their childhood, into the college years and beyond.
• YouthGive dramatically lowers the wealth threshold in philanthropy, allowing modest dollar contributions to matter. Most donor advised funds require a minimum opening contribution of $5,000 or $10,000. At YouthGive, you can create an account for a child for any amount--$1, $10, or $100 (for the time being, we have set $500 as the maximum contribution). We are leveling the playing field of philanthropy and opening up the floodgates of organized giving.
• Nonprofit organizations in the YouthGive system, after being nominated or pre-screened, are profiled in the words of young people themselves. The charitable sector is not especially youth-friendly in terms of having the important and inspiring works of nonprofits featured in the language of youth. YouthGive authors and editors, from grade schools through college, are creating a new system for mapping and profiling the world of good.

Your donation into your child's account is treated by the IRS as a tax-deductible donation to YouthGive, a nonprofit organization, at the time that you contribute the funds. Your child then "advises" YouthGive on the nonprofit(s) of his or her choice featured on the YouthGive website. 

Anyone you or your child invites: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends�YouthGive hopes you'll invite extended family and friends to participate. To add funds into an existing account, just invite an extended family member or friend to visit www.youthgive.org and provide them the user name on the account (but NOT the password). From the homepage, they will click on "Fund An Account, and follow directions. From there they can decide how much money to contribute to the account, and use PayPal to make the contribution. They can add a special note to go with their donation.