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Northern NY Community Foundation

Northern NY Community Foundation

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Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge

 

The Northern New York Community Foundation’s 2022-2023 Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge is NOW OPEN for new applications. The deadline to apply is Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Winning entries will be announced in early January 2023. Contact the Community Foundation, info@nnycf.org, or 315-782-7110, with questions or to learn more.

Click to download a 2022-2023 Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge flyer.

About the challenge

The Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge began in October 2017 as an effort to engage middle school-aged children in the principles of community and philanthropy. That year, the Community Foundation selected 23 winning entries from more than 60 submissions by 7th- and 8th-grade students in Jefferson and Lewis counties, awarding grants to 19 nonprofit organizations totaling $10,000 in support. The Watertown-based nonprofit Stage Notes was a 2017-2018 Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge partner. The 2018-2019 Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge was expanded to also include 7th- and 8th-grade students in St. Lawrence County. Community Bank N.A., joined the effort as a program partner, providing a corporate gift to help underwrite grant awards.

Through a written essay contest, the initiative strives to help participants explore their concept of community and provide funding to eligible 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that embody and support what students feel makes their community a great place to live, work and play. Students compete for a chance to award a $1,000 grant from a total of $10,000 available that the students themselves recommend. Ten students are selected and each will personally present a $1,000 grant to the nonprofit they have selected while spending time with the nonprofits’ leadership, learning about the organization’s mission and how it serves tri-county residents.

In the past five years, 102 students and an entire class have been selected to present 99 grants totaling $50,000 to 82 different nonprofit organizations that serve tri-county residents. Since the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge began, 590 students representing 23 school districts across the region have applied to the program, recommending grants to 210 different charitable organizations.

Watch a video here about the challenge and hear from past winners and nonprofit leaders about how they used a Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge grant to help their organizations.

Charitable organizations students selected for funding range from those that provide support for essential human needs, fire protection, and animal welfare to those that strengthen and enrich our communities through education, arts and culture, health and wellness, and recreation.

Click to view a list of nonprofit organizations that presently partner with the Community Foundation.

We are pleased to continue this initiative with support from an anonymous donor, a corporate gift from Community Bank N.A., as well as all who give to the Friends of the Foundation Annual Community Betterment Fund.

Click to view a list of 7th- and 8th-grade students whose essays were selected as 2021-2022 Youth Giving Challenge winners and the nonprofit organizations they chose to receive a grant. Check back to view a photo gallery of past Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge winners!

Apply today using the online form below or, click here to download an application to complete and send or drop off by Friday, Nov. 4 to: Northern New York Community Foundation, 131 Washington Street, Watertown, NY 13601.

“

Northern New York Community Foundation

131 Washington Street
Watertown, NY 13601

Phone: 315-782-7110
Fax: 315-782-0047

info@nnycf.org

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Northern New York Community Foundation

Northern New York Community Foundation

3,258

Working with donors to benefit the community through grants and scholarships since 1929.

DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING: Apply by this Friday, Feb. 10!

This is a great opportunity to join a terrific team and make a lasting difference in your community!

Complete details: www.nnycf.org/about/employment

#NNYCF #Team #Hiring #Community

DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING: Apply by this Friday, Feb. 10!

This is a great opportunity to join a terrific team and make a lasting difference in your community!

Complete details: www.nnycf.org/about/employment

#NNYCF #team #hiring #community
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Meet Cullen Miller, an eighth grader at Lowville Academy and Central School.

For Cullen, community is “a place where people motivate and support each other to make better decisions.”

“What I love about my community is all the people. Good people make a good community. It’s a great place to live because the community is grateful, respectful, and helpful to each other,” Cullen wrote in his winning essay. 

As a Northern New York Community Foundation Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge winner, Cullen had a chance to present a grant to the Lewis County Agricultural Society, an organization he chose for its work to build community. 

“The Agricultural Society brings people together to show their love for the community and animals,” Cullen wrote. 

Cullen met with Lewis County Fair Manager Rachel Lisk last fall and presented a $500 Youth Giving Challenge grant that will help the Agricultural Society continue its work and mission. The grant is supported by donors to the Friends of the Foundation Annual Community Betterment Fund, a partnership with Community Bank, N.A., and a leadership gift from an anonymous donor. 

Pictured, from left, Fair Manager Rachel Lisk; Lowville Academy and Central Schools Middle School student and Youth Giving Challenge winner Cullen Miller; and Community Bank Lowville Branch Manager and Vice President Tammie Lambert.

Cullen is one of dozens of thoughtful youths who looked inside his community to recognize an organization that works to improve quality of life in the region. The 2021-2022 Giving Challenge asked students from Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties to explain in an essay what community means to them and to choose a nonprofit that embodies their definition of community. Cullen’s essay is one of 20 chosen from 193 submissions.

Look for more photos and stories behind the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge in the coming weeks.

#NNYCF #ThoughtfulGiving #YouthGivingChallenge #CommunitySpirit

Meet Cullen Miller, an eighth grader at Lowville Academy and Central School.

For Cullen, community is “a place where people motivate and support each other to make better decisions.”

“What I love about my community is all the people. Good people make a good community. It’s a great place to live because the community is grateful, respectful, and helpful to each other,” Cullen wrote in his winning essay.

As a Northern New York Community Foundation Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge winner, Cullen had a chance to present a grant to the Lewis County Agricultural Society, an organization he chose for its work to build community.

“The Agricultural Society brings people together to show their love for the community and animals,” Cullen wrote.

Cullen met with Lewis County Fair Manager Rachel Lisk last fall and presented a $500 Youth Giving Challenge grant that will help the Agricultural Society continue its work and mission. The grant is supported by donors to the Friends of the Foundation Annual Community Betterment Fund, a partnership with Community Bank, N.A., and a leadership gift from an anonymous donor.

Pictured, from left, Fair Manager Rachel Lisk; Lowville Academy and Central Schools Middle School student and Youth Giving Challenge winner Cullen Miller; and Community Bank Lowville Branch Manager and Vice President Tammie Lambert.

Cullen is one of dozens of thoughtful youths who looked inside his community to recognize an organization that works to improve quality of life in the region. The 2021-2022 Giving Challenge asked students from Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties to explain in an essay what community means to them and to choose a nonprofit that embodies their definition of community. Cullen’s essay is one of 20 chosen from 193 submissions.

Look for more photos and stories behind the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge in the coming weeks.

#NNYCF #ThoughtfulGiving #YouthGivingChallenge #CommunitySpirit
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We are proud to partner with The Orchestra of Northern New York to present “Winter Serenade” this Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Marys Church in Canton and Sunday, Feb. 5, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Watertown.

Dont miss this chance to see a wonderful live orchestral music event. The Community Foundation, with the support of its loyal donors, is a major underwriter of the entire ONNY season. Hope to see you there!

#Winterlude #WinterConcert #LiveMusic #ONNY #NNYCF

We are proud to partner with The Orchestra of Northern New York to present “Winter Serenade” this Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Church in Canton and Sunday, Feb. 5, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Watertown.

Don't miss this chance to see a wonderful live orchestral music event. The Community Foundation, with the support of its loyal donors, is a major underwriter of the entire ONNY season. Hope to see you there!

#Winterlude #WinterConcert #LiveMusic #ONNY #NNYCF
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