Local Youth-Based Philanthropy Forms Hopkinton Board

HOPKINTON, Mass., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- This fall marks the formation of the 495 Hopkinton Youth Board of the Make the DASH Count Foundation -- the sixth board headed by local youth and dedicated to serve at-risk youth through its grant-making efforts. It joins the MetroWest Youth Board in Wayland, MA as the second area board serving the greater Boston area.

Established in 2002, the Make the DASH Count Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization designed to teach young people about philanthropy through direct experience, has formed youth boards serving the Seattle, Renton, Columbia Valley and South Puget Sound areas in Washington and the Metro West area serving Massachusetts. Since that time, the foundation, through its Youth Board members, has distributed over $210,000 to more than 55 non-profit organizations serving at-risk youth.

The mission of the Make the DASH Count Foundation is to inspire and empower youth to become our next-generation philanthropists. To do this, local board facilitators and advisors come together to actively engage youth members in the process of hands-on philanthropy, serving young people at risk.

Make the DASH Count Foundation is dedicated to nurturing all youth, through the way it operates and organizes itself at its most fundamental level. The Foundation strives to also significantly impact the lives of its Youth Board members themselves.

"It is important to remember that our most thoughtful, influential leaders of tomorrow are our youth today," said Hope Moore, founder of Make the DASH Count Foundation. "Giving young people the opportunity and responsibility to make choices that impact the life of another person can be a very powerful lesson, for both the recipient and the grantor."

The 495 Board will be comprised of 15-18 school-aged youth from different high schools in the Metro 495 area. They meet monthly to learn about the grant-making process overall, how a board operates, and how to work as a team. The board members are tasked to establish evaluation criteria for the grants, identify community organizations as potential grantees, make grantee selections, and evaluate impact results at the end of a 6-month period. Throughout the process, board members are assigned specific grantees and regularly provide corporate sponsors status reports on the progress of the organizations applying the grant funds.

The board members come from diverse backgrounds yet possess a common interest in teamwork and making effective change. To recruit for the board itself, foundation leadership will be working with faculty at local high schools. The foundation has grown from its two inaugural youth boards in Wayland, MA and Tacoma, WA. The most recent addition, prior to the new 485 Board, was in Seattle, WA.

"Some of the students asked me why they should participate," said Bo Lee, a financial advisor at Smith Barney and facilitator of the Seattle Youth Board. "Actually, the answer lies directly with them, because the reasons they personally have for participating are the ones that are the most important."

Overall, the process is very enriching for the Youth Board members, the sponsors, and the grantees directly serving at-risk youth. "I wanted to be a part of a Youth Board that allows young adults to make important decisions that will produce a significant change in our community," said Bao-Tram, a two-year Youth Board member from Seattle, WA. "I really want to build relationships with other teens who have the same aspirations in humanitarian service as I do."

The grant proposal deadline is December 31, 2010. For more information about grant guidelines, potential grantees can visit http://www.makethedashcount.org and submit an online application. The 495 Youth Board is self-funded and currently recruiting corporate sponsorship.

About Make the DASH Count Foundation

The Make the DASH Count Foundation is committed to introducing a diverse group of young people to the realities and responsibilities of philanthropy. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation dedicated to developing the next generation of community leaders while also benefiting at-risk youth. All of our Youth Boards are currently accepting grant applications from organizations in their communities that serve young people at risk of not meeting their full potential. For more information on the Make the DASH Count Foundation and our grant guidelines, please visit http://www.makethedashcount.org.

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SOURCE Make the DASH Count Foundation