NEO Philanthropy is proud to welcome the Youth Engagement Fund (YEF) as a new project of NEO. In this partnership, NEO and YEF will work together to further YEF’s mission of engaging marginalized young adults in civic life, building their long-term power and helping secure permanent individual and organizational efficacy for social change.
NEO will provide YEF with day-to-day management, fiscal and legal oversight, budget planning, fundraising and administrative support to ensure peak operational efficiency. With NEO’s support, YEF can create a hub for efforts to double the civic leadership pipeline and generate a culture of year-round democratic participation among young people of all life circumstances.
“NEO Philanthropy understands that today’s diverse youth and emerging leaders have enormous potential, when actively engaged, to transform our world for the better,” said YEF Director Austin Belali. “In the face of rising inequality and rapid technological change, young adults need sustained investment to help unleash their creative potential and to save American democracy.”
Additionally, YEF will work closely with NEO’s State Infrastructure Fund (SIF). SIF is a donor collaborative fund focused on engaging historically disenfranchised voters in the democratic process – including 18-29 year olds – and protecting their right to vote. YEF will collaborate with SIF, along with other projects housed at NEO, to ensure strategic alignment and increasing civic participation in young people.
“Civic engagement and participation runs through every aspect of NEO’s work, including collaborative funds, fiscal sponsorships and special projects,” said NEO President Michele Lord. “Bringing YEF into the NEO fold will only allow them, and other players in the field, move the issues forward.”
More about YEF
The Youth Engagement Fund is the largest network of donors dedicated to increasing democratic participation among young people in the U.S. YEF invests in every aspect of youth power-building – from policymaking to organizing grassroots communities to state and national issue and electoral campaigns.
For more information about the Youth Engagement Fund, please visit http://youthengagementfund.org/. For more information about NEO Philanthropy’s donor services, please visit neophilanthropy.org/donor-services.