What if a bunch of teens had $200,000 to give away? Ask the Heinz Endowments

The Heinz Endowments had involved young people in various aspects of its grantmaking process for a dozen years before staff had a revelation:

“We just thought, if we really wanted to have a youth voice in our grantmaking, we ought to let the youth start making grants,” says program officer Wayne Jones.

Thus, in 2005 was born the Summer Youth Philanthropy Program in its current incarnation, which this year will allow 28 recent high-school grads to award $200,000 in grants for a more sustainable Pittsburgh. Jones directs the program. The interns decide on the focus of their philanthropy, solicit the proposals and decide on the most worthy programs. For 2011, working in partnership with the Sarah Heinz House, Adagio Health, Sustainable Pittsburgh, the Student Conservation Association and the United Way of Allegheny County, the group decided to offer funds around the issues of alternative fuels, arts education, sustainability; STDs and reproductive health, nutrition education and urban gardens, vacant lots, and employment for vulnerable youth. Proposals are due Aug. 1.

The interns’ work sometimes has an impact on the Endowments’ wider grantmaking, and even on their grantees. A few years ago, reports Jones, one team focused on youth gardening and urban farms, giving Braddock Farms a grant. Since then, the Endowments have done more grantmaking there. And an intern-funded Strong Women, Strong Girls Foundation program of environmental education and awareness inspired those young grant recipients to turn around and do a little youth philanthropy themselves.

Finding out how nonprofit philanthropy works has been “an eye-opener” for intern Ethan Busis, who just graduated from Shadyside Academy. His team has used Sustainable Pittsburgh’s data on individual municipalities’ sustainability efforts to devise $25,000 in potential grants to encourage alternative transportation and fuels. Their project is called A Vehicle of Change.

“We wanted to make sure it really went to a cause that helped municipalities become a leader in alternative transportation,” Busis says. “We wanted them to spend the money well and become a start to their green transportation fleet and expand the [impact] beyond the money we were giving them.”

Writer: Marty Levine

Sources: Wayne Jones, Ethan Busis, Heinz Endowments