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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/35182/full/35182/teens-set-a-great-example-for-all-of-us/ <br /><br /> <b>Teens set a great example for all of us</b> <br /> Friday, June 13, 2008 | by <br /><br /><p>Teen philanthropy? That sounds like an oxymoron on a par with civil war and random order. Aren’t teens supposed to be too self-centered and materialistic to think about philanthropy?<br /><br /> As our story this week on the Jewish Community Teen Foundation shows, the answer, at least for some young people, is a resounding “no.”<br /><br /> This year the 100 teenage members of the foundation’s five local chapters collectively raised nearly $204,000 — a new record, donating it to 35 local, national and international charitable organizations.<br /><br /> Making mostly small grants, the foundation supported diverse projects providing everything from clean drinking water in Africa (powered by a children’s merry-go-round) to schooling for impoverished Indian children. Locally, the Jewish Coalition for Literacy received a grant to teach non-English-speaking parents how to practice reading with their children at home.<br /><br /> The Teen Foundation is a partnership between the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of the Greater East Bay, and began five years ago with one chapter in Palo Alto that raised $11,500 in one year.<br /><br /> Since then, it has grown to five chapters with fundraising power rivaling more established, adult-run foundations.<br /><br /> That’s significant. In a world where teens are often told “You’re not old enough” or “Maybe next year,” their work with the Jewish Community Teen Foundation proves to them — and the organizations to which they donate — that they’re a formidable force in the philanthropic world. <br /><br /> More than 150 organizations applied for grants from the foundation, proving to the teens that adults take them seriously.<br /><br /> Sue Shwartzman, director of youth philanthropy for the endowment fund, said the yearlong program rests on a youth empowerment model. They take themselves seriously, too. They run their monthly meetings, write fundraising letters and make all the decisions about where the money goes.<br /><br /> That they’re doing this in a Jewish framework is significant. As much as we all would like to think children are born perfect little angels, the truth is, tzedakah—charitable giving—is a learned behavior.<br /><br /> For these teens, philanthropy is not about buzzwords like “requests for proposal” or “501(c)(3) status.” It’s about opening a window onto a wider world of compassion and civic involvement.<br /><br /> As donors, they come to understand that parts of their community and the world are broken, but they’re not too young to try to fix them. <br /><br /> If they can inspire their peers to take action, then we can rest a little easier that the next generation of Jews can be counted on to do the right thing.</p> <p> </p>

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