What is a Teen Philanthropy Board?

The Changemakers: Teen Philanthropy Board is a year-long program for 8-12th grade students from across the Virginia Peninsula. Together, they develop strong leadership and communication skills, learn the ins and outs of professional philanthropy and grant-making through a Jewish lens, and allocate grants to effect real change in the causes they care about most.

Through the teen philanthropy board, teens learn how to:

• Assess community needs
• Strengthen their teamwork and leadership skills
• Work closely with real nonprofits to meet their needs
• Debate issues that matter
• Challenge their perspective

…all while meeting awesome teens from throughout the region!

Who should apply to participate?

This is a program for caring and motivated teens who will be in grades 8-12 in fall 2024, and who are interested in philanthropy, leadership and helping to transform the world around them. The 2024-25 application is now available.

The program fee is $100. If this is a financial burden, we will never turn any families away and will make it work.

Session Dates

The teen board will meet every two to four weeks for two hours. There will also be a grant presentation ceremony to close out the year in late spring. In the spring each board will do 3-5 site visits to learn more about their different nonprofits. Full engagement in each session is strongly encouraged and there may be minimal work required in between (about 2 hours a month). 

The Teen Philanthropy Board is scheduled to meet from 3pm-5pm at the UJCVP. Timing subject to change based off availability of cohort.  

November 24, 2024

Building Community and Getting to Know our Suroundings 
What's Jewish about Philanthropy and Understanding our Personal Values, Exploring your Local Jewish Community, Consensus Building, Asking Good & Difficult Questions

December 15, 2024

Picking Our Justice Issue
Exploring Jewish Ideas about the Justice Issue, Choosing a Justice Issue, Crafting a Mission Statement and RFP

January 12, 2025

Understanding Nonprofits and the Funds needed to Support Them
Nonprofits 101, Financial Overview, Fundraising, Setting Our Goals 

February 9, 2025

Site Visits & Applicant Interviews 

March 9, 2025

Site Visits & Applicant Interviews 

April 6, 2025 Evaluating Proposols & Grant Selection
May TBD  Grant Presentation Ceremony 

 

Questions?

Please contact this year's facilitator and UJCVP CEO Eric Maurer at emaurer@ujcvp.org.