Frequently Asked Questions







Why was YouthGive created?
YouthGive was created to help educate and enable children, youth and families to easily donate to charities they care about in a safe and secure manner. We believe that anyone can be a philanthropist, regardless of their age or wealth. We seek to lower the barriers for young people to give back and make a difference with their time, talent and treasure. Please see our Values and Beliefs.

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Is YouthGive a nonprofit organization?
Yes. YouthGive is a nonprofit, educational charity recognized as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS. Donations made to YouthGive and its Giving Accounts are eligible for tax deduction.

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Who created, leads and advises YouthGive?
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.

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What are the benefits of using YouthGive?
There are many good reasons to use YouthGive to help you and your family explore philanthropy and make a difference in the world. Here are a few:
  • YouthGive helps you to nurture the "giving gene" in your children and other young people, and is an ideal way to encourage lifelong habits of caring, giving back to community and global citizenship.
  • YouthGive provides your family positive ways to explore your values, what you care about locally and in the world, and what mark you want to make as individuals and as a family. The process of opening and using a Giving Account, and making decisions about causes to support and organizations to fund, can help parents, grandparents and families have deeper conversations about things that truly matter.
  • YouthGive is a great way for extended family and friends to contribute a special gift to your children during the giving season, baby showers, birthdays, bar/bat mitzvahs and graduations. As parents are often frustrated by the vast accumulation of toys and "stuff" that are given to their children, contributions to Giving Accounts are an ideal opportunity to give gifts of educational value and worldly meaning.


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What is a Giving Account?
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.

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What is unique about the Giving Account system of YouthGive?
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.


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How do I open and put money into a Giving Account?
Opening a Giving Account is simple, safe and secure. Just click on the Create an Account tab in the main navigation bar of the YouthGive homepage. Complete the registration form, and enter the amount of the contribution you wish to make to your child's Giving Account. You will then be directed to PayPal to make your contribution into your child's account using either a credit card or a PayPal account.

After making an initial gift into a young person's Giving Account, you can add more money into that account anytime by going to the "My Giving Account" page, clicking on the "Add Funds" tab, and making a new contribution through PayPal.

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When I make a contribution into a Giving Account, is my donation being made to YouthGive, or to the nonprofit groups chosen by my child?
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.

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Will the Giving Menu of nonprofits expand?
YouthGive will be constantly expanding its giving menu of nonprofits that Giving Accounts can be used to support. We have focused initially on nonprofits profiled in two pilot communities. We will soon be listing a wider array of national and global nonprofit organizations-featured by youth contributors from around the world-addressing critical issues (e.g., children, education, the environment, health, peace) that are of concern to them.

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Who can contribute to a child's Giving Account?
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.

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Can I take money back out of a Giving Account?
No. Once money is donated into a child's account, it can only be used to make charitable donations to nonprofit organizations featured on the YouthGive website.

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When I donate to a nonprofit organization through YouthGive, how much of my donation will the nonprofit receive?
All of it. When you donate to a nonprofit organization through YouthGive, 100% of your donation will be forwarded to the nonprofit of your choice if YouthGive approves this distribution. YouthGive retains control and discretion to distribute funds from your Giving Account to another nonprofit, such as if the intended recipient no longer serves its charitable purpose.

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Does YouthGive keep or deduct any money from the Giving Accounts to cover expenses?
No. YouthGive does not use any of your donation to cover its expenses. 100% of your donation is distributed to nonprofit recipients. YouthGive raises funds from generous individuals and foundations who are committed to growing youth and family philanthropy and who understand the value of underwriting our basic operating costs.

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How does YouthGive pay for the costs to operate the Giving Accounts?
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.

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How is YouthGive funded?
To date, YouthGive is supported by a growing circle of individual donors, families and foundations who want to support the next generation of givers and global citizens. Please see our list of Supporters who are helping to underwrite the costs of YouthGive to create a national and global movement of youth and family giving in America and around the world.

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How will my personal information be kept private and secure?
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.

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How will the identity of my children be kept private and secure?
YouthGive is committed to insuring that children and young people can develop as young philanthropists and enjoy the benefits of online learning in a safe and secure manner.

YouthGive does not request personally-identifiable information from children under the age of 13. We do not allow other YouthGive users or the general public to have any access to your child's Giving Account data or personal profile. We have limited access to such information to invited family members in a closed loop social network. Please review our Privacy Policy for more details.
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