By ClubMom Writer

As women's philanthropy gains ground, it's being joined by a similar junior effort: charitable funds run by and for girls. The idea is to let teenage and college-age girls learn about philanthropy by doing. The Michigan Women's Foundation established one of the first, Young Women for Change (YWFC), in 1995 with a $355,000 endowment. Since then, at least four other foundations have followed suit, and more are in the works.

Only about 5 percent of funding from the top 1,000 private foundations currently goes to organizations for women and girls, according to the Girls Scouts of the USA. Getting girls involved in philanthropy at an early age means developing a whole new generation of decision-makers. Young committee members do everything themselves: establish funding priorities, release requests for proposals, review applications, put together concept papers, conduct site visits, and eventually decide who gets the dollars. First and foremost, these duties teach money sense. "These are young women who haven't often been in the position to make decisions about money," says Britt Wahlin, former program officer at the Women's Foundation of San Francisco.

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In addition to budgeting, girls pick up analytical, interpersonal, and communications skills, and the ability to work with people of different backgrounds. "They can use these lessons in any setting," says Morenike Cheatom Basurto, girls' advisory director at the Girl's Best Friend Foundation. "Add that to the confidence they gain, and they're unstoppable."

Seeing Philanthropy with New Eyes

So far, girls have shown themselves to be more than capable of making the decisions. "Young women have a perspective that's different," Wahlin says. "They can identify a good program because they're going through the issues and emotions important to girls." Two years ago, Wahlin's foundation created the Sisterhood Fund, composed largely of low-income girls and women of color. "Young people really do have the skills and capabilities to do what older people do," she adds. "Rather than just reacting to the problems of youth, this gives us an opportunity to tell them that girls' voices count

In its first year, the Sisterhood Fund gave $5,000 to a group of eight- to ten-year-old girls who wanted to develop and market a lip balm from herbs grown in their public housing development's community garden. Sisters Empowering Sisters, a program of the Girl's Best Friend Foundation in Chicago, gave $880 to the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention for an overnight information session on violence in families and schools for eighth- and ninth-graders. The goal was to catch the girls before they entered the sometimes confusing and stressful high-school period.

Get Your Daughter Involved

A good place to start is with the grandmother of girls' organizations, Girl Scouts of the USA (www.girlscouts.org). This year, the Girl Scouts introduced a philanthropy patch, called Strength in Sharing, for all five levels of girl scouting. For Brownies, activities include learning to identify where help is needed. Older scouts learn about careers in philanthropy, volunteer at foundations, and design and manage events that respond to community needs.

To learn about specific girls' funds, follow the links below.

Sisters Empowering Sisters, Girls Best Friend Foundation (Chicago)

The Sisterhood Fund, The Women's Foundation of San Francisco

Young Sisters for Justice, Boston Women's Fund

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