The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy has released The State of Youth Philanthropy 2020-2021 report. The report offers a glimpse into how youth philanthropy fared during the pandemic, through transitioning to virtual programing and navigating uncertainty. 

The Sillerman Center co-designed and disseminated a survey in fall 2020 to 19 youth philanthropy programs ran out of foundations in Massachusetts and then expanded to seven more states including Michigan. The center received a 31.46% response rate from Michigan programs. 

The report highlighted that Michigan was chosen because of its organized youth philanthropy umbrella organizations and support systems through CMF. According to the report, Michigan and Indiana alone account for 23% of youth philanthropy programs in the country. 

Key findings from the report highlight the impact the pandemic had on foundations that host youth philanthropy programming:

•    From 2020-2021, 75.5% of respondents from foundations ran youth grantmaking programs. 74% of the programs surveyed provide programming to high school aged young people.

•    76% of respondents indicated that they would continue to run youth philanthropy programs in the future in a hybrid model, keeping some component of virtual programming. Of those, 14% of respondents indicated that they would return to full in-person programming when safe and nearly 10% of programs stated they would stay fully virtual moving forward.

•    36% of respondents stated that virtual team building, more ways to engage students and address zoom fatigue would have helped ease the transition to virtual programming. 

•    26% of respondents stated that young people have needed more flexibility in order to engage in youth philanthropy during COVID. 

The report outlines several recommendations for youth philanthropy grantmaking programs and funders including creating flexibility in programing and grant applications, increasing accessibility for youth, providing technology as needed and utilizing it as an opportunity and option for programming and providing professional development to youth philanthropy program directors and supporters. 

Want more? 

Stay tuned, this fall CMF will be releasing our annual YAC Databook which provides a comprehensive picture of youth philanthropy in Michigan.

Read the full report.