What Traditional Philanthropists Are Missing About Young People
Why It Matters
There's a frustrating myth that today’s young people are apathetic and broke, so they are overlooked in many ways, but it's not true. Overlooking youth cohorts is a blind spot in the world of impact.
We started #FutureOfGood Twitter chats to dive deeper into hot topics that have been resonating with our community. It’s hosted Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. ET.
This week, we spoke with Aneil Gokhale, Director, Philanthropy at Toronto Foundation about #NextGenPhilanthropy and the organization’s #Vision2020 program.
Young Donors Have Not Been Central to Philanthropic Engagement. Why?
We’re living in an increasingly divided world. Young people care deeply about the inequities they see and they want to be part of real change. Their version of philanthropy, one that is collaborative, engaged, and humble, is an important part of driving that change.
Young people also bring energy and optimism to today’s challenges. Many issues that are top of mind today will definitely affect them tomorrow, so they should have a say in the solutions.
A2 Though we may not have had access to opportunities to build wealth yet, we put our money into the things we believe in. And we have a lot of knowledge and perspective to add that is very important. #timetalenttreasure #futureofgood #Vision2020
— Aneil Gokhale (@a_goks) April 25, 2019
Tell us about Toronto Foundation’s #Vision2020 Program
A3 #Vision2020 teaches young philanthropists about Toronto's most pressing issues and responsible grant-making, and connects them to community leaders. They'll ‘graduate’ with their own permanent endowments and the knowledge to help them become social change agents #futureofgood
— Aneil Gokhale (@a_goks) April 25, 2019
On Myth-Busting and Assumptions
How have you balanced the requirement to be patient when working with a new cohort of donors (i.e. young people), alongside the pressures to show performance and show that the program is “working”?
A6 It was more about being patient with others 😅 Our Board, a group of incredible Toronto leaders, weren’t convinced we could recruit 50 young people. When we surpassed this after just a few months of promotion, they were sold (1/2) #Vision2020 #futureofgood
— Aneil Gokhale (@a_goks) April 25, 2019
Next Up
For our upcoming #FutureOfGood Twitter Chat, we’ll be talking about corporate social innovation with Allyson Hewitt, Senior Fellow, Social Innovation at MaRS. Thursdays at 12-1pm ET. Follow from anywhere. RSVP here to receive exclusive insights from the chat and get a reminder closer to the date.
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