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.
Chief Operating Officer
Julie Chelovich Perconte
Urban Initiatives
Founder and CEO
Lauren Buitta
Girl Security
Dr. Claudia-Santi Fernandes
Chief Executive Officer
Tazin Khan
Cyber Collective
Product Lead
Darryl Hutchinson
Joy Education
Founder & Executive Director
Juliana Lozano
Despierta
Assistant Professor
Dr. Erin Truesdell
Skyscraper Games (Entrepreneurial Game Studio at Drexel University)
Managing Director of Programs
Tesia Zientek
Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
Davida Padi
Co-founder
Anahita Dalmia
Agents of Influence
AISES PK-12 Program Officer
Cheyenne Skye Branscum
Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
Pratika Katiyar
Founder
Michelle Culver
The Rithm Project
Lead Director of Learning
Andy Neilsen
Urban Initiatives
Alice Lassman
Anika Dugal
Jay'Shun Matthews
Chief of Staff
Samantha Ng
Letters to Strangers
Margaret Garcia
Founder & Executive Director
NyRee Clayton-Taylor
HipHop N2 Learning (HHN2L)
Interim Superintendent
Pat Ross
Holmes Consolidated School District
Ariana Soto
Beck Tench
Managing Director
Sam Lee
Screen Sanity
Chief of Research and Development
Emily Love
Colorado Education Initiative
Senior Director of Implementation and Partnership
Marcus Bratton
Colorado Education Initiative
Executive Director
Carolyn Gan
California Partners Project
Founder
Tony Weaver
Weird Enough Productions
Alexis Williams
Joon Baek
Founder and CEO
Demetrius Lancaster
Joy Education
School Partnership Coach
Brandon Wiley
Challenge Success
Director of Research, Translation, and Dissemination
Andrew Pool
Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Executive Director
Domenico "Dom" Ruggerio
We Are Family
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Chief Operations Officer
Kat Eves
Give Us The Floor
Co-founder & CEO
Samin Bhan
Lookupp
Co-founder & Executive Director
Mike Fauteux
GiveThx
Executive Director
Luke Wall
Only7Seconds
Lead Digital Producer
Rawan Elbaba
PBS News Student Reporting Labs
Director of Development
Abby Binder
Civics Unplugged
Chief Learning Officer
Charlotte Dungan
Mark Cuban Foundation
Chief Executive Officer
Alex LeeNatali
Health Connected
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Dr. Jennifer Chace
The Source School
Founder & Director
Regisha “Reggie” Rijkaard
Pause4Peace
Tara Mandrekar
Founder & Executive Director
Beth Rosenberg
Tech Unlimited
CEO and Founder
Marianne Smith
Code Girls United
CEO & Co-Founder
Josh Thompson
Civics Unplugged
Founder & President
Emily Bell McCormick
The Policy Project
Founder and Executive Director
Neha Shukla
Innovation For Everyone
Dan-Mircea Mirea
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Outreach
Jacques Louis
Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Co-founder
Diana Turner
Be Loud Studios
Ramiro Hernandez
Executive Director
Diana Chao
Letters to Strangers
Director, Division of Library Development
Dawn La Valle
Connecticut State Library
Arielle Galinsky
Director of Programs
Kimberly Tsai
Challenge Success
Oliver Huang
Maddox Guerilla
.avif)
Co-founder
Alex Owens
Be Loud Studios
Program Lead
Amulya Panakam
Girl Security
Executive Director
Leah Clapman
PBS News Student Reporting Labs
Founder & CEO
Maddie Freeman
NoSo Connection Collective
Alex Edgar
CEO and Co-Founder
Tracy Foster
Screen Sanity
Katherine Myers
Head of Responsible AI and Digital Wellbeing Strategy
Mariel Emanuel
NoSo Connection Collective
Fund Development Director
Melissa Dunning
Code Girls United
Founder
Jennifer Chiou
CodeSpeak Labs
Co-founder & Executive Director
Jake Stika
Next Gen Men
Co-founder & COO
Atiksh Bhan
Lookupp
Nora Sun
Rameen Sajjad
Oleksandr Sharlai
Administration and Communications Specialist
Suzanne Kiss
Connecticut State Library
Lennon Torres
Education Administrator
Daniel Merin
The School District of Philadelphia - Office of School Climate and Culture
Andrew Brennen
Research Engineer
Dr. Kathryn Youngblood
Debris Tracker Junior (University of Georgia)
Sarah Gardner
Director, Technolochic@s
Astrid Viveros
Televisa Foundation Inc.
Alyssa Goldberg
.avif)
Founder & Executive Director
Valerie Grison-Alsop
Give Us The Floor
Founder & President
Lewis Bernstein
Sesame 3G
Chief Program Officer
Amanda Slavin
Learning Economy Foundation
Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble
Founder
Larissa "Larz" May
#HalfTheStory
Founder & CEO
Trisha Prabhu
ReThink Citizens
Executive Director, Televisa Foundation
Alejandro Villanueva
Televisa Foundation Inc.
Ava Smithing
Chief Program Officer
Alise Dixon
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Detroit
Co-Chair
Zamaan Qureshi
Design It For Us
Apuroopa Kavikondala
Managing Director
Randy Depew
KQED
Program Manager
Samira Kamal
Cyber Collective
Policy Implementation & Grants Manager
Lindsay Butrum
The Policy Project
Executive Director
Michelle Parker
KQED
Founding Director
Dr. Lynn E. Fiellin
play2PREVENT Lab
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.