Ideas grow faster when someone has your back.
Ecosystem and community for the next generation of youth-led social impact. Everyone is welcome — founders and founders-to-be. Every high schooler gets a Monthly Hero Talk — and for the fellows we select, funding, a peer cohort, and a team that believes in you, especially for first-generation and underserved students.
Of the high school students, by the high school students, for the high school students.
"I was lucky enough to have that support system with me, even ten years after. What about so many others?"
Ariel Zhu grew up on the path that was set for her, became a teacher, and only found out that founding something was possible ten years later. YouthFund exists so that no high schooler has to wait that long for someone to believe in their idea.
Most programs teach teenagers about entrepreneurship. We actually fund it, and high schoolers lead our programs, from outreach to the peer community.
Real funding, not just a certificate
We put real funding behind student ventures — the difference between a good idea and a launched one.
Role models for everyone, funding for the selected
Founders and founders-to-be alike get a hero talk every month, just by signing up. The fellows we fund also get a cohort building beside them and a team that checks in as they grow. No one builds alone.
Built for who needs it earliest
We focus on first-generation and underserved students — the founders most often overlooked.
The most ambitious idea in the room often belongs to a teenager who has no way to fund it.
University funds back college founders with funding and mentorship, and it works. We asked a simple question: why wait until college?
So we built a fund that pairs real funding with real people — role models, a peer cohort, and a team that believes in you — for founders who are still in high school, especially the first-generation and underserved students who rarely get a first yes or a first believer.
We're inspired by the funds and fellowships that prove what belief plus support can do. YouthFund brings that conviction to the people who need it earliest — and puts high schoolers at the center of building it.