Programs Aimed at Teaching Students How to Donate Wisely

Schools in both the U.K. and North America have created programs aimed at giving children a hands-on approach to donating to charities. While programs in the U.K. tend to exist only in higher class schools, North America has seen success with similar programs in schools of all economic classes.

Philanthropy in Schools, the program in place at the independent Dragon School in Oxford, has its students look at a charity’s annual income prior to donating to determine what percentage of the income actually goes to the charity’s purpose. Philanthropy in Schools works closely with Big Give, an organization that collects information on over 7,000 charities worldwide.

Youth and Philanthropy Initiative, a similar program in place in the U.S., has middle school children study their community’s needs, create a presentation on a particular charity that addresses those needs, and then present the information about the charity in front of a judge. The winning presentation receives a monetary award to give to the charity addressed in the presentation.

See Javier Espinoza, Teach Your Children (How to Give) Well, W.S.J., Dec. 12, 2010.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this to my attention.