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Directors' Nonprofit Award Recipient |
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Boys & GIrls Clubs of America
Nominated by Charles Schwab Foundation
 About Money Matters
Recognizing the pressing challenge of helping teens become financially literate, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) and Charles Schwab Foundation formed an extraordinary partnership in 2003. Together, they created Money Matters: Make It Count – a program that offers teens living in underserved communities the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of budgeting, spending wisely, banking, savings, credit, investing, entrepreneurship, and saving for college and education beyond high school.
To conceptualize and develop all aspects of Money Matters, representatives of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, known for exemplary youth development programming, and Charles Schwab Foundation, recognized for financial expertise, abandoned the traditional roles of grantseeker and grantmaker and formed a successful collaboration. Together, they identified the challenges teens face in managing money. Then, they created a comprehensive, multi-week program that features financial literacy learning experiences, guest speakers, field trips, games, plus the Teens Personal Finance Guide, and a Web site filled with content about money matters. They also established a scholarship and awards program along with a teen ambassador initiative. Each year the selected National Money Matters Ambassador travels throughout the country to promote financial literacy among peers.
The program’s reach has enabled Schwab employees from coast to coast to serve as volunteers for the Money Matters program at their local Boys & Girls Clubs. Energized by these experiences, many employees become further committed to local Clubs through personal service or monetary gifts, which Schwab matches dollar for dollar.
By the end of 2008, nearly 180,000 members of more than 1,500 Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the U.S. participated in Money Matters: Make It Count. Charles Schwab Foundation had awarded $260,000 in college scholarships to 127 Boys & Girls Club teens who completed the program and demonstrated exceptional abilities in their newly-acquired knowledge of personal finance.
Surveys of Money Matters participants indicate that this model partnership between BGCA and Charles Schwab Foundation successfully helps teens to develop sound financial habits that include savings, budgeting, and prudent use of credit cards, as well as to create strategies to set aside funds for a college education.
Watch video on Boys & Girls Clubs of America's program.
Learn more about Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
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