Nonprofit Founded by Metro Detroit Man Takes Hip New-World Approach

GiveYoung.org members promote the upcoming March 27 Engage fundraising event. (Photo via Facebook)

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A nonprofit founded by a southeast Michigan man is offering a path for millennials to get involved in charity work.

Royal Oak-based GiveYoung.org and its parent organization, The Van House Foundation, asks for time instead of money, Crain’s Detroit Business reports.

GiveYoung founder and co-chairman Rick Van House II, 35, of Bloomfield Hills, said the organization uses tools like social media and festive parties to connect young people with nonprofit opportunities and build a greater community of support around nonprofits.

Van House’s epiphany came in 2011 when he and his wife, Nicole, attended an Alzheimer’s Association benefit in Birmingham.

“The event was targeted at our age group, targeted at a hip bar, so we went and there were only four people there,” Van House said. “It got us thinking, maybe we could get more people here.”

The foundation was established within a year, and since then GiveYoung has offered initiatives such as Cause Finder, a database of nonprofit opportunities, and events, such as the annual Engage fundraising event, all designed to increase young people’s involvement in nonprofits.

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Van House said it’s an uphill battle, but one he hopes will be effective in developing a cadre of future community volunteers and philanthropists.

“It’s not easy to convince them to get involved, or else we wouldn’t be doing this. But we’re using different methods, we’re creating new-world charity, which is fun parties, dancing, no sitting down,” Van House said. “We’re communicating in short bursts over social media, making things more affordable, like $40 ticket prices.”

Young people have a special role in the rebirth of Detroit, he said.

“... The youth is where that activity is coming from. They have the drive, they can do anything. They’re not tied down by children or geography,” Van House said. “In a rebuilding city, you need to build a bigger workforce and a better support system, and what a better way than to get them involved in nonprofits?”

This year’s Engage cocktail and dance fundraiser will be held March 27 at Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. Representatives of GiveYoung’s featured charities – Oak Park-based Forgotten Harvest, Detroit-based The Empowerment Plan and Pontiac-based Humble Design – will attend the gala.

Tickets for Engage are available for $40 each at GiveYoung.org/engage. Revenue supports foundation activities. In the 2014 fiscal year, the foundation raised about $145,000.