Youth Board Grants

Youth Board Grants is sponsored by The Morris J. & Betty Kaplun Foundation. Grants for nonprofit organizations aligned with the foundation's mission areas, empowering high school and college students to engage in Jewish philanthropy.

Religious entities may apply only for projects distinct from religious activities.

Youth Board — Kaplun Foundation Kaplun Foundation Youth Board The Kaplun Foundation Youth Board is an initiative of the Morris J. & Betty Kaplun Foundation.

The Youth Board, established in 2019, gives high school and first-year college students an opportunity to learn about concepts of Jewish philanthropy, explore Jewish values, dive into grant making, and review and analyze grant proposals during a series of online board meetings over a school year.

Students who are in high school or first year of college the year after they enter the Kaplun Essay Contest are invited to serve on the Youth Board. A new youth board is seated each year. Youth Board members from around the country meet online roughly every two weeks from October through May.

They explore concepts of Jewish philanthropy, identify values the board will use to guide its decision-making, develop a mission statement, invite nonprofit organizations to submit proposals for funding, review their proposals and narrow the list, go on virtual “site visits,” and make a final choice about how to distribute $5,000 of the Kaplun Foundation’s funds.

Since 2024-25, we convene an Alumni Youth Board each year, in addition to the regular Youth Board. Board meetings are facilitated by Trisha Swed, a Jewish educator who comes to us via Honeycomb , the authority on Jewish teen philanthropy. Honeycomb developed and delivered our program in 2019 and we continue to be thrilled to have them as a partner.

View current RFPs and submit online Samantha Camiker, a member of the 2021-22 Youth Board, wrote about her experience in the Detroit Jewish News.