The YF500
A systems-level investment in the infrastructure young people need to thrive
We’re committing $50 million to support 500 nonprofit leaders over five years.
Founder
Larissa "Larz" May
#HalfTheStory
Oleksandr Sharlai
Founder and Executive Director
Neha Shukla
Innovation For Everyone
Executive Director
Carolyn Gan
California Partners Project
Program Lead
Amulya Panakam
Girl Security
Policy Implementation & Grants Manager
Lindsay Butrum
The Policy Project
Apuroopa Kavikondala
Chief Learning Officer
Charlotte Dungan
Mark Cuban Foundation
Chief Executive Officer
Tazin Khan
Cyber Collective
Assistant Professor
Dr. Erin Truesdell
Skyscraper Games (Entrepreneurial Game Studio at Drexel University)
Beck Tench
Director, Division of Library Development
Dawn La Valle
Connecticut State Library
Director of Development
Abby Binder
Civics Unplugged
Lennon Torres
Managing Director of Programs
Tesia Zientek
Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
Ramiro Hernandez
Executive Director
Diana Chao
Letters to Strangers
Interim Superintendent
Pat Ross
Holmes Consolidated School District
Founder & Director
Regisha “Reggie” Rijkaard
Pause4Peace
Director of Programs
Kimberly Tsai
Challenge Success
Chief Program Officer
Amanda Slavin
Learning Economy Foundation
Dan-Mircea Mirea
Tara Mandrekar
Director, Technolochic@s
Astrid Viveros
Televisa Foundation Inc.
Chief of Research and Development
Emily Love
Colorado Education Initiative
Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Director of Research, Translation, and Dissemination
Andrew Pool
Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Lead Director of Learning
Andy Neilsen
Urban Initiatives
Executive Director
Leah Clapman
PBS News Student Reporting Labs
Head of Responsible AI and Digital Wellbeing Strategy
Mariel Emanuel
NoSo Connection Collective
Jay'Shun Matthews
Founder & Executive Director
NyRee Clayton-Taylor
HipHop N2 Learning (HHN2L)
Founder
Michelle Culver
The Rithm Project
Founding Director
Dr. Lynn E. Fiellin
play2PREVENT Lab
Davida Padi
Margaret Garcia
Chief of Staff
Samantha Ng
Letters to Strangers
Nora Sun
.avif)
Co-founder
Alex Owens
Be Loud Studios
Co-founder & Executive Director
Mike Fauteux
GiveThx
Co-founder
Diana Turner
Be Loud Studios
Oliver Huang
Chief Executive Officer
Alex LeeNatali
Health Connected
Chief Program Officer
Alise Dixon
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Detroit
Anika Dugal
CEO and Co-Founder
Tracy Foster
Screen Sanity
Arielle Galinsky
CEO and Founder
Marianne Smith
Code Girls United
.avif)
Chief Operations Officer
Kat Eves
Give Us The Floor
Chief Operating Officer
Julie Chelovich Perconte
Urban Initiatives
Alexis Williams
Executive Director
Michelle Parker
KQED
Education Administrator
Daniel Merin
The School District of Philadelphia - Office of School Climate and Culture
Sarah Gardner
Product Lead
Darryl Hutchinson
Joy Education
Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble
Executive Director
Domenico "Dom" Ruggerio
We Are Family
Executive Director, Televisa Foundation
Alejandro Villanueva
Televisa Foundation Inc.
Founder & President
Emily Bell McCormick
The Policy Project
Katherine Myers
Founder
Tony Weaver
Weird Enough Productions
Alyssa Goldberg
Co-founder & CEO
Samin Bhan
Lookupp
Founder & Executive Director
Beth Rosenberg
Tech Unlimited
School Partnership Coach
Brandon Wiley
Challenge Success
Administration and Communications Specialist
Suzanne Kiss
Connecticut State Library
Alex Edgar
Former Co-Chair
Arielle Geismar
Design It For Us
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Dr. Jennifer Chace
The Source School
Co-founder & Executive Director
Jake Stika
Next Gen Men
Research Engineer
Dr. Kathryn Youngblood
Debris Tracker Junior (University of Georgia)
Andrew Brennen
Ariana Soto
Managing Director
Sam Lee
Screen Sanity
Co-Chair
Zamaan Qureshi
Design It For Us
Executive Director
Luke Wall
Only7Seconds
Founder & Executive Director
Juliana Lozano
Despierta
Founder and CEO
Lauren Buitta
Girl Security
Pratika Katiyar
Founder and CEO
Demetrius Lancaster
Joy Education
Lead Digital Producer
Rawan Elbaba
PBS News Student Reporting Labs
CEO & Co-Founder
Josh Thompson
Civics Unplugged
Ava Smithing
Founder & President
Lewis Bernstein
Sesame 3G
Co-founder
Anahita Dalmia
Agents of Influence
Joon Baek
Co-founder & COO
Atiksh Bhan
Lookupp
Dr. Claudia-Santi Fernandes
Maddox Guerilla
Senior Director of Implementation and Partnership
Marcus Bratton
Colorado Education Initiative
.avif)
Founder & Executive Director
Valerie Grison-Alsop
Give Us The Floor
Founder
Jennifer Chiou
CodeSpeak Labs
Rameen Sajjad
Managing Director
Randy Depew
KQED
Founder & CEO
Maddie Freeman
NoSo Connection Collective
Fund Development Director
Melissa Dunning
Code Girls United
Program Manager
Samira Kamal
Cyber Collective
Alice Lassman
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Outreach
Jacques Louis
Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Supporting leaders shaping a healthier digital future
The YF500 is our five-year commitment to support 500 leaders helping young people thrive as they grow up in a digital world.
By 2030, we will back 500 visionaries with the capital and support needed to reach millions of young people and families, strengthening youth agency and expanding access to better tools and resources.
Scaling the most promising youth-serving
nonprofits into a powerful nationwide network
The YF500 model moves beyond transactional grantmaking by combining direct funding, capacity building and community.
Through multi-year investment, leadership development, national amplification and cross-cohort collaboration, YF500 forms the backbone of a new national infrastructure for youth wellbeing—one that is community-rooted, data-informed and shaped by the lived experiences of young people.
The YF500 is a collaborative funding vehicle with support from our partners:
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Featured Grant Recipients
Be Loud Studios
Amplifying youth confidence through radio and digital media production.
Be Loud helps kids turn screens into tools for self-expression and courageous collaboration in New Orleans, helping youth find their voice and use it powerfully through storytelling, podcasting, and media production.
Civics Unplugged
Cultivating the Future of Civic Innovation.
Civics Unplugged is an intergenerationally-led organization that equips young people with the training, funding, and community they need to become civic innovators.
GiveThx
Improving student mental health by ensuring every student knows they belong, one thank you at a time.
GiveThx is a digital program that strengthens student and educator wellbeing and social-emotional skills through gratitude.
Tech Unlimited
Diverse Minds. Unlimited Futures.
Tech Unlimited (TU) is a non-profit education organization that uses technology tools, computer science thinking, and social-emotional learning to ignite unlimited futures for neurodiverse students in need.
We Are Family
An affirming space for LGBTQ+ youth and allies
We Are Family is South Carolina's oldest nonprofit that provides life-affirming and life-saving programs for LGBTQ+ young people that have a lasting and measurable impact, with a focus on those who are BIPOC and/or low-income.
Become a YF500 PARTNER
A Philanthropic Index Fund
for Youth Wellbeing
The YF500 pools capital to support a broad portfolio of leaders and solutions shaping the future of youth wellbeing.
YF Academy
Going Beyond Funding
YF Academy is how the YF500 turns capital into lasting impact. Through cohort-based learning, peer connection and mentor support, we help nonprofit leaders strengthen their organizations and scale what’s working.
For YF500 partners, the Academy ensures that investments are paired with the leadership, infrastructure and network needed to build durable national impact.