Youth Organization

Hello All!
I am Christopher Norwood, I have started a organization called "Youth 1ST" . I assist the youth in my community here in Inland Empire ,CA . We provide fund-raising projects to pay for college tuition and books for the young adults in our local college communities, I am looking to pay for the first semester of college as another supportive aspect. I am funding the project with my 401 k i cashed in and donations on occlusion when we receive them.
Can anyone tell me if there is a grant out there for a organization like ours. And if they know anyone who can help us get it?

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Permalink Reply by Sekai Senwosret on September 5, 2009 at 3:23pm

Hi Christopher,

This sounds like a worthwhile cause, however, how long have you been doing this, and if for more than a few years, do you have any results that can help support your case for funding? I only ask, because some fairly large foundations, like The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have a major emphasis on college-ready and secondary education. Also, you might go to the Foundation Center Online, there are some free search tools that allow you to look for local family foundations, who support scholarships for college students, typically they give to individuals, however, double check their guidelines, or call to see if they give to organizations who give out scholarships. The form that can be helpful once you find a family foundation of interest, is to then go to the 990 finder on The Foundation Center online, and pull of a recent year (its basically a tax return for a nonprofit) and see what they gave to. This will help you narrow your focus to foundations who are most likely to give to you.

Usually they make these decisions a lot quicker than the large foundations, and if your letter is really compelling, they will sometimes offer re-occurring support. Good luck on such a worthy cause.

Here are the links I mentioned:

Foundation Finder: http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/foundfinder/
990 Finder: http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990finder/

I hope this helps - :>) SS

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Fallsen on November 18, 2009 at 6:50pm

The links provided are great. I would suggest you check them out. Have you checked into online mba programs. Some of them may have grants that would meet your needs. Atlas Insurance provides travel insurance. They may have resources to get you going.

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Permalink Reply by Don Davis on November 18, 2009 at 9:05pm

Cindy Fallsen said:

The links provided are great. I would suggest you check them out. Have you checked into online mba programs. Some of them may have grants that would meet your needs. Atlas Insurance provides travel insurance. They may have resources to get you going.