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Youth Philanthropy
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Youth Philanthropy: It Takes a Community
Americans strongly believe that children should participate in charities to become better citizens, yet the vast majority of parents confess they are not helping their children get involved. According to the 2000 Cone/Roper Raising Charitable Children Survey, an overwhelming majority of Americans (85%) agree that children should be introduced to charities by the age of thirteen and even more (94%) feel that parents play a key role in getting children involved. Yet almost three out of four (70%) parents admit their children are not involved in any charitable activities.
Key Findings - 92 percent of American adults believe that encouraging children to participate in charities helps them to grow up to be better citizens
- 85 percent of Americans believe that parents should begin teaching their children about charities before the teen years; 23% say this education should begin even earlier, before the child is of school age
- 96 percent of Americans believe that parents' charitable giving and volunteering is a good way to teach children about helping others
Most Popular Ways To Get Kids Involved With Charities - Parents involving children in the same charitable activities they participate in
- Youth organizations emphasizing and providing opportunities for community service
- Parents encouraging children to contribute some of their own money or to make non-cash donations to charities
- Religious organizations teaching about and sponsoring charitable activities
- Schools teaching about and sponsoring charitable activities
- TV programs showing people engaging in charitable activities
- Books, newspapers and magazines providing information on charitable activities for children
- Internet providing information about charitable activities and organizations to children and parents
Despite broad public support for charitable giving and volunteering among children, just 30% of parents say their children are involved either independently or with their parents in charitable activities. Parental activity is key to encouraging youth philanthropy as those parents who volunteer time and those who give money to charities are more likely to say their children are active in charities (44% and 34% respectively). The survey sites several factors that are preventing adults from participating in charitable activities and, therefore, from encouraging their children to get involved, including: - not being confident that the organization puts the donations to good use
- not enough time because of job commitments
- not having enough discretionary income
- not enough time because of family commitments.
"It is clear that there is a gap between what parents want for their children and for society and what they can deliver," says Carol L. Cone, CEO of Cone, Inc., a Boston-based strategy firm that links companies and causes. "Due to the time and financial constraints of most Americans today, a collaborative effort among a cross section of sectors will be critical to train and truly cultivate the next generation of philanthropists.''
Other articles from Youth Philanthropy:
Youth Philanthropy: It Takes a Community
Youth Philanthropy: Getting Started
Articles on Youth Philanthropy
Additional Resources
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