Youth Grantmaking

Youth giving thousands of dollars to community issues while developing leadership skills.

Our Programs

Did you know that students know the issues facing youth three years before adults? YouthRoots taps into the unique perspective, passion, and skillset that youth bring to the world by empowering them to become engaged citizens now. All of our programs are designed to put the power of decision-making into the hands of youth.

YouthRoots offers 4 distinct youth grantmaking programs to teach teens how to make an impact in their community using the experiential classroom of philanthropy:

    1. YouthBoard: A year-long program that uses our 3-step philanthropic process intertwined with a robust leadership curriculum to teach teens the skills to make an impact.
    2. YouthCharge: Students working to tackle an issue they care about, either virtually or in person, using our 3-step philanthropic process. It is 100% youth-led and youth-directed.
    3. YouthEd: Our in-school version of the YouthBoard program provides classrooms with a platform for community impact beyond the walls of their school.
    4. Youth Council: A 100% customizable program to incorporate youth voices into an organization’s grant-making process.

3-Step Philanthropic Process

Our unique 3-step process is used as a starting point for all of our programs to teach teens how to make an impact in their community.

1. Needs Assessment: Students dive deep into the most pressing issues facing youth in their local communities and make the final decisions about what issues the group will focus on. Past issues include poverty, education, and mental health.

2. Fundraising: Participants learn how to fundraise around the issues they believe are most pressing in their community. This could include student-led fundraisers and teaching them how to give a Fundraising Pitch to local professionals in their community.

3. Grantmaking: Teams decide which nonprofits or groups are doing the best at meeting the community needs and give away 100% of their funding to these organizations. Students provide much-needed services to at-risk youth who may otherwise not receive them.

Our Story

YouthRoots was founded in 2010. We started as a direct service organization that brought together groups of diverse youth in Denver metro to engage in participatory grantmaking while learning about nonprofits, fundraising, leadership, and teamwork.

We began partnering with other organizations (mostly foundations) who wanted to engage youth in the grantmaking process in 2015.

The onset of the global pandemic in 2020 and the ensuing instability provided an opportunity for us to step back and think about how we could achieve our mission in new and creative ways. We created two new programs focused on elevating youth voices from historically disenfranchized communities: The GIV Fellowship and The YouthScan Project.

We continue to partner with organizations who care about centering youth voice in their decision-making processes.