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Thursday October 4, 2007

Teen treasury

Meet the newest faces of Jewish philanthropy

by stacey palevsky
staff writer

Rachel Levenson isn’t old enough to drink alcohol or vote for president, but the high school junior is old enough to decide how to donate $40,000.

Levenson, 16, is one of about 60 Bay Area youths serving on various Jewish community teen foundations. They raise the money, they accept grant applications, they — and they alone — decide which organizations to fund and how much they’ll receive.

A partnership between the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of the Greater East Bay, the teen foundation program is blossoming.

Since the first foundation was organized four years ago, the program has raised and donated $238,000 to both Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in the local, national and global community.

“A lot of times it seems adults don’t trust us with decisions, but here we’re literally putting thousands and thousands of dollars all in hands of teens, and we have to make every decision,” Levenson said. “It’s not something we take lightly.”

Jewish leaders locally and nationally are realizing that the future of Jewish philanthropy may very well lie in the hands of individuals like Levenson. As such, they’re creating opportunities for teens to be on the front lines of philanthropic fundraising and giving.

The Bay Area is at the forefront of the trend.

The teen philanthropy initiative began with a foundation, in Palo Alto. Sue Schwartzman, now director of youth philanthropy for JCEF, initially thought each teen would raise about $100, for a total of $2,000.

But the teens didn’t raise that amount. They raised $11,500.

As “they saw the needs of the world and the impact their grants could have, they said, ‘We want to do more,’” Schwartzman said.

Schwartzman and her colleagues quickly realized the program’s potential. Foundation chapters in the East Bay and Marin started the following year, and chapters in San Francisco and the North Peninsula are being organized to begin next month.

“We are raising a generation of universalists — they think world needs are much greater than Jewish needs,” Schwartzman said. “It’s programs like these that are helping kids to make informed decisions about their responsibility to Jewish continuity, peoplehood and community. We have to have the conversations now that set them on a path of giving.”

The teen foundations function similarly to those run by adults.

Each chapter has 23 members, in grades nine through 11. Of them, six to eight have participated the previous year and agreed to take on a leadership role in their second year.

Throughout the school year, the teens raise money by sending solicitation letters to friends and family. The pooled amount is then supplemented by various program funders. Numerous donors have joined JCEF in supporting the initiative; funding was led by a $750,000 endowment by the Serrano Foundation, a supporting foundation of the JCEF.

Teen foundation members meet monthly. At each four-hour session, they read Jewish texts about giving, listen to local fundraisers explain how to ask potential donors for money, and participate in team-building exercises.

They must decide: Should they give money to Israel or Darfur or Oakland? To Jews or Bedouins? To adults or kids? To help people learn or put food on the table?

They make choices by a consensus vote, and those discussions are often fiery, Schwartzman said.

“Most philanthropy initiatives tell the kids they have to give to their local Jewish community. In Northern California, we do not.

“We believe kids need to struggle with those ideas and issues to make decisions and become lifelong givers.”

The Palo Alto chapter — the oldest of the teen foundations — raised $22,000 in its second year, double what it raised in the first. The following year, it raised $42,000, and this past year it raised $45,000.

Participants say it’s empowering and exciting to be trusted with such a big responsibility. But it’s no easy task.

Shaina Kaye, 16, of Palo Alto, said deciding which organizational needs were greatest was difficult. She expected to feel the most sympathy for global problems but was surprised to learn how many people needed help in her own community.

“Palo Alto is very affluent, but across the bridge in East Palo Alto, it’s nothing like that,” she said. “People just have to open their eyes and realize what’s going on right next door.”

Each group decides upon a mission statement that serves as a guide in helping determine what causes to support.

Kaye’s chapter on the Peninsula, for example, decided to give to organizations working to reduce poverty, improve nutrition and attack homelessness in the Bay Area and Israel. Priority goes to agencies focused on early intervention, and empowering people to help themselves (the highest form of Jewish giving, Kaye pointed out).

Last year, the chapter received 52 proposals but made only nine grants of about $7,500 each.

During the decision-making process, the teens invited potential local grant recipients to make presentations explaining how they would use the money and why it was important.

Until then, Kaye had never met someone her age who’d survived a stabbing, a shooting and jail time and was trying to put his life back together and raise a 1-year-old son. But that was the case with the student presenter from Life Learning Academy, a charter school on Treasure Island that works closely with violent teens to promote academic success and nonviolent lifestyles.

Kaye’s foundation awarded Life Learning Academy a $6,700 grant for two projects. That support, said teacher Justin Warren, “says that whether you’re young or old you can understand the need for nonviolence in the communities our students come from.”

Youth philanthropy is not an exclusively Jewish idea. An estimated 250 secular community foundations in 30 states have teen philanthropy initiatives like the Bay Area’s Jewish community teen foundations, according to a 2000 census conducted by the Michigan Community Foundations’ Youth Project.

But the concept is gaining momentum in the Jewish community. The Jewish Funders Network in New York, for instance, has begun to put greater emphasis on the idea of Jewish youth philanthropy.

Some 50 initiatives have cropped up around the country, according to the network, which in 2006 created a subgroup, the Jewish Teen Funders Network. That, in turn, collects information about youth philanthropy initiatives like those in the Bay Area, and provides professional training for adults staffing them.

That network has allocated up to $300,000 to be paid out over the next three years to form 10 more programs.

Along with its teen affiliate, JFN will give communities $10,000 grants for up to three years to form such programs.

JFN President Mark Charendoff said he thinks that where other attempts to engage the younger generation have failed, philanthropy initiatives can succeed because they’re so hands-on.

Levenson, a junior at Mountain View High School, is now an alumna adviser to the Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation. Her experience on the foundation informed her current philanthropic endeavor; she recently collected $5,000 to start her own endowment fund.

Now, as she begins looking at colleges, she wants to find one where she can create her own major that would combine elements of business, philanthropy and international affairs.

“Philanthropy has really opened my eyes to the issues of the world and the impact we as teens can make — I just can’t sit by and not do something,” she said. “I do volunteer, but philanthropy is the way I connect most to tzedakah and tikkun olam.”

Levenson has learned a universal lesson: Almost anyone can be a philanthropist. Raising funds for a worthy cause is not just a job for the very rich or the very old.

“These teens are becoming knowledgeable about needs beyond their own,” said Schwartzman. “I see them develop a passion and compassion to really make changes in world, and come out with the know-how.”

Diversity of applicants are being sought

The five Bay Area Jewish Community Teen Foundations — in Marin, San Francisco, the East Bay, North and South Peninsula — are currently accepting applicants for this school year. The deadline for applying is Monday, Oct. 15.

The selection committee wants the group to be logistically diverse —representing a range of communities, high schools and synagogues — and is hoping each individual will contribute something unique.

As such, the committee is looking for teens who are involved in a Jewish youth group and those who are not; those who want to advocate for Israel and those who would rather support the environment; those who are religious and those who feel culturally Jewish; those who are outspoken leaders and those who are good listeners.

“We’re looking for passion,” said program director Sue Schwartzman, “and we know that comes in all shapes, sizes and beliefs.”

To apply or for more information, visit www.jewishteenfoundation.org or call Schwartzman at (650) 919.2100 ext. 8007.

JTA contributed to this story.

cover illustration | cathleen maclearie

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