Starting a Youth-Led Nonprofit: Developing Your Idea and Producing Results
Perhaps you’re a teen looking to start your own nonprofit or initiative. After you come up with an idea, how do you get it off the ground? In this article, I will leave you with frameworks and examples for you to use while following the story of TeenTechSF, a teen-run organization started by Founder Marc Robert Wong when he was a sophomore in high school.
Founding Story
TeenTechSF started with an empty room. Marc arrived at the first meeting of the technology club at his high school with high expectations…but no one else did — no one else showed up.
“Everyone else was too busy to meet at lunch. I decided to create a new kind of club. A club that didn’t meet at lunch. A club that extended beyond the walls of a single school to our community, our world.” — Marc Robert Wong, TeenTechSF GLOBAL Founder and Executive Director
TeenTechSF Today
TeenTechSF’s mission is to inspire and empower the next generation of tech innovators and civic entrepreneurs. We are committed to equal access to tech for all teens because diversity fuels innovation. Run for and by teens, all our events are free.
Since launching, TeenTechSF has connected over 3,000 students in the Bay Area and on five continents with STEM resources and opportunities through speakers/panels, STEM workshops, Civic Hackathons, Global Youth Summits, and forums on inclusivity.
Using the power of digital communication tools, the TeenTechSF team has been able to bring its three major events — the Civic Hackathon, Global Youth Summit, and STEM Inclusivity Forum — online, while serving hundreds more students with new interactive workshops on machine learning, animation, prototyping, 3D printing, and COVID data analysis designed for the online space. In addition, TeenTechSF is leveraging tech for civic engagement through the PPE Initiative, with the goal of 3D printing 700 face shields and sewing 1300 masks by May of 2021.
In mid-March, TeenTechSF was able to make its first delivery of 875 face masks to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, in order to distribute to the Latino Task Force and other organizations serving people needing support during the pandemic!
Thanks to the struggle of Marc getting his initial idea off the ground, he was able to create an organization with a much larger impact than a traditional school club, and a much larger community.
Purpose, Mission, Vision
When it comes to creating a nonprofit or community organization, start with a strong purpose or core value(s) and work your way towards the vision.
Purpose/Core Values: Why you’re doing what you’re doing
Mission: What you plan to do now to uphold your core values
Vision: The result of your work
Here’s what this looks like for TeenTechSF:
Core Values: (1) Technology puts the power into the hands of the people — equal opportunity, global outlook, (2) Entrepreneurial spirit, relies on student initiative, open to new ideas, (3) Run by and for teens, all events are free
Mission: To empower the next generation of tech innovators and civic entrepreneurs through equal access to tech for all teens because diversity fuels innovation.
Vision: Global interactive community to innovate, collaborate and create for a better world
Initial Feedback and Support
An important step when you have an idea in mind is developing a plan to implement it. This applies as much to non-profit organizations as it does to for-profit organizations and startups; many people have ideas but only a few go after it. You need to be one of the people who are willing to invest the time and energy to make your project work.
The best way to do this is to get feedback with your initial idea: what do others think of your idea? Will people be so enticed by your mission, vision, and values that they will want to join your team? And How do you present the brand/org you have just created to other people?
Then, think about fundraising. Even if you’re not expecting high costs to your project, there are always funding opportunities out there for youth creating their own project for community improvement. Three different methods of fundraising include:
- Monetary donations — e.g. raising funds through Kickstarter or GoFundMe
- Receiving in-kind donations — reaching out to companies, organizations, or any community member willing to help about materials your organization needs (e.g. Masks for All CA asked companies for sewing machines instead of a monetary donation to support their mask-making)
- Applying to grants/funds — Many cities award grants to nonprofits making a social impact. Although not all have grants specifically for youth, you can still apply! There are also tons of grants and competitions for youth nonprofits that are not location-specific. If you’re from SF, youth-specific taxpayer-funded grant opportunities include: YEF (Urban Services SF YMCA’s Youth Empowerment Fund), YFYI (Youth Funding Youth Ideas, and BLING (Bringing Leaders in Innovation Near Giving).
Idea → Plan → Execution
Even after you’ve established the vision you are going after, and have funding for your organization, you must have a specific plan for how you will execute your idea. If you have an idea for an event you will run, or a program your organization will offer, brainstorm the logistics, such as the roles of different leaders on your team, financial breakdown of your funds to support your work, how you will get people to hear about your organization, and producing your intended result. Here are two examples from TeenTechSF.
Idea → Plan → Execution: Civic Hackathon Planning
- Confirm site and dates
- Brainstorm theme, speakers to invite, etc.
- Invite speakers & event partners
- Develop outreach material
- Send out outreach material
- Finalize event program
- Actual Event
Idea → Plan → Execution: PPE Initiative
- Proposed idea in grant applications
- Met with organizations who have sewn & 3D printed in the past
- Created instructional slides for TTSF leadership, kicked off PPE Initiative on MLK National Day of Service
- Signed agreement forms, budget allocation, materials sent out
- Assigned initiative leaders to check in on PPE-making leaders
- Discussions with community groups to distribute PPE
- Coordinating PPE delivery date, location, and time
TL;DR: Key Takeaways
- An initial idea is just the beginning. When you have an idea, you need to take it, develop a plan, and execute upon it to achieve results.
- Determine your organization’s Purpose/Core Values, Mission, and Vision, and focus your work on your determined Purpose/Core Values, Mission, and Vision.
- You are as good as your team, so it is important to have a dedicated team that will put in the work and stand behind your mission. As we say at TeenTechSF, “you get the title if you put in the work”.
- Take initial struggles as a learning experience — whenever you’re starting any type of organization, there are always going to be hurdles and unexpected problems that you didn’t see coming, and you need to be willing to be someone strong enough to say, “I care so deeply around this project that I will find a way around this”. Because you’ll be able to successfully create something meaningful if you stay determined to make a difference.
This article was adapted from “Developing Your Idea”, the first workshop in Masks for All CA’s “Starting a Nonprofit: Youth Edition”, which was held from Friday, March 12th through Sunday, March 14th. Masks for All welcomed TeenTechSF and The STORM SF to share stories on how their organizations started, and helpful tips on ideation for youth nonprofit founders. Other workshop topics included how to establish an online presence, recruit and manage volunteers, fund your project, expand branches and chapters of your organization, and understand the world of fiscal sponsorships and tax nonprofit status.
Masks for All CA has compiled a toolkit based on the highlights of each session. If the final version is sent out to attendees, and they are okay with public distribution to non-event attendees, I will link it here. Check back for updates!
In addition, if you’re interested in getting to know more about TeenTechSF, and how to get involved in 2021 TeenTechSF STEM Inclusivity Forum Planning, STEM Workshop development, grant writing, or leveraging your tech skills to make Personal Protective Equipment for San Francisco’s most vulnerable populations, visit TeenTechSF.org and bit.ly/TTSFLeadershipForm!
