Executive Summary          

In the 1990's, community foundations in Michigan and their affiliate funds participated in the Kellogg Foundation Youth Challenge as part of the Michigan Community Foundations' Youth Project (MCFYP). They have received more than $47.6 million to create 86 permanently endowed youth funds, matched by more than $100 million raised locally for unrestricted and field of interest funds. As a condition of the Challenge, each of those funds are overseen by a Youth Advisory Committee (YAC), involving more than 1500 young people annually as members of those YACs.

The role of the YAC is: to make grant recommendations, based on local youth needs and priorities, using income from the permanent youth fund, and to advocate for "youth as resources" to the community. Since the start of MCFYP, an evaluation has been conducted by FERA (Formative Evaluation Research Associates) of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The following Best Practices have been developed as a result of this evaluation and with input from a group of YAC advisors, program officers, executive directors, and representatives of the MCFYP Committee.

Each community foundation should strive to operate its YAC in accordance with these Best Practices. It is also suggested that these Best Practices be reviewed annually by each YAC as part of its ongoing evaluation process. The evaluation has also determined that the YAC can add value by serving as a resource to other community foundation youth oriented funds and provide opportunities for joint funding between the YAC and these other community foundation youth oriented funds.