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Northern New York Community Foundation

Northern New York Community Foundation

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Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge

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About the Challenge

The Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge began in 2017 to introduce middle school students to the concepts of philanthropy and community.

The challenge seeks to engage Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence county seventh, eighth, and ninth-graders as they explore the meaning of community while empowering them to recommend grants to nonprofit organizations that support their concepts and strengthen the quality of life in the region.

Students write an essay that articulates their definition of community and explains what makes it a great place to live, work and play. Participants are then asked to name a charitable organization that makes their community a better place through its service to residents.

Students compete for a chance to award a $1,000 grant that they recommend. Winning students each personally present a $1,000 grant to the nonprofit they have chosen while spending time with the organization’s leadership, learning about its mission and how it serves tri-county residents.

In the past nine years, 153 students and an entire class have been selected to present 149 grants totaling $100,000 to nearly 115 different nonprofit organizations that serve tri-county residents. Since the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge began, 1,040 students representing 28 school districts across the region have applied to the program, recommending grants to nearly 240 different charitable organizations.

Watch a video 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.

Hear from past Challenge winners

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.

Check back to view a photo gallery of past Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge winners!

More than 150 nonprofit organizations in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties presently partner with the Community Foundation.

View a list of nonprofit partners

Check back to view a photo gallery of past Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge winners!

Program Sponsors

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

The Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge is CLOSED for the current academic year.

Click here to to view an announcement of 2025-2026 winning students and the nonprofit organizations they chose to receive a $1,000 Community Foundation grant.

The Foundation team is now working to schedule grant presentations with winning students at their chosen organizations.

The Giving Challenge will open to participants for the 2026-2027 academic year this fall. Winning entries will be announced in January 2027. Email Gwyn Monnat, director of scholarships and programs, to learn more.