A Manual for Youth Advisory Council Members

Best Practices are operational standards for Community Foundation Youth Advisory Committees updated in 2012 by the Arkansas Community Foundation YAC team. ARCF expects each YAC group to adhere to all Best Practices and to supply this knowledge to each YAC member upon member orientation. It intends for Best Practices to provide YAC members and YAC Advisors with specific strategies for assessing and identify specific areas in which the YAC can improve.

• Youth Advisory Council Members should relate well to youth, be flexible and be comfortable with ambiguity. Tweet
• Youth Advisory Council Members should provide support rather than leadership. Tweet
• Assess the diversity of the local youth community to insure that the membership of the Youth Advisory Council is representative of that community. Tweet
• Target 13-15 year-olds for recruitment onto a Youth Advisory Council. A multiple year experience has the greatest impact on members and improves their ability to contribute as grant-makers. Tweet
• Have an agenda for each meeting. Youth Advisory Council members should develop the agenda and run the meetings. Tweet
• Current Youth Advisory Council members should plan and lead the new member orientation. Tweet
• Examine what roles will suit your Youth Advisory Council best and establish officers and committees who are responsible to those roles. Responsibility guidelines should be available and be studies by all current office holders. Tweet
• In assessing local youth issues, consider the pros and cons of different approaches to collecting info, including conducting surveys, focus groups, individual interviews, using existing data from other sources or other means and consider partnering with other local youth-serving organizations to gather info. Tweet
• In assessing local youth issues, make sure that you are gathering info from youth who represent the many kinds of diversity found in the local community. Tweet
• Consider doing a service project with a grantee (it’s a good way to evaluate the grant at the same time!) Tweet
• Share opportunities for community service involvement with information from websites like www.volunteermatch.org and other organizations in your community. Tweet
• Let the local TV station or newspaper know when you are working on a community service project. It could be great publicity. Tweet
• Identify and implement a fund development strategy: Why should someone support your Youth Advisory Council (YAC)? Who in your community might support your Youth Advisory Council (YAC)? How should the your Youth Advisory Council (YAC) approach prospective donors? Tweet
• Review and update the grant-making process and materials each year for your Youth Advisory Council (YCA). Tweet
• Proactively seek grantees that involve youth in the development, implementation and evaluation of projects and offer volunteer opportunities for youth in the project. Tweet
• Develop an evaluation process that helps determine the community-wide impact of grants made by your Youth Advisory Council (YAC). Tweet
• A young person on the Board of Trustees of a community foundation provides adult members with a valuable perspective and the young person with a valuable and unique leadership opportunity. Consider adding at least one Youth Advisory Council member as a voting member on the Community Foundation Board of Trustees. Tweet
• Communications provide increased understanding of Youth Advisory Councils and youth as resources to the broader community. Make sure to highlight their activities in the foundation's annual report, website, newsletters, public presentations and other communication tools. Tweet
• Establishing relationships between Youth Advisory Council members and trustees, staff and donors increases understanding of the various roles in the community foundation. It can also generate discussion about the ways in which youth and adults can work together for the benefit of the community as a whole. Tweet