How can you raise a philanthropic teen? Talk about why you give.
That’s one of the results of a recent poll by the Pearson Foundation and Harris Interactive, the We Give Books Poll on Raising Future Philanthropists (6-page PDF).
The poll surveyed both parents and teens nationwide, focusing on what influenced teens to be more philanthropic. The results provide a top ten list for daily parenting techniques that differentiate “giving teens” from “non-giving” teens. It also showed a large gap between the hopes of parents in raising philanthropic teens and the parents’ actual actions.
Financial advisors and other family advisors, congregations, parenting groups, and community foundations could all easily use the results of the poll and parenting tips in their work. Nonprofits could also use the information to work with their donors in including teens and children in discussions about the nonprofits’ community impact.
The Pearson Foundation and Penguin Books have used the information to launch the We Give Books program to involve parents and their children in donating one million books to school libraries.
Tony Macklin 