GOOD Maker Challenge Winners: 5 Nonprofits that Are Changing Young Lives

This content is produced by GOOD with the support of Microsoft

Recently, we asked our community to nominate youth-focused nonprofits to participate in the Give for Youth Challenge on GOOD Maker. Give for Youth, a Microsoft YouthSpark program in partnership with GlobalGiving, helps nonprofits reach new donors and crowd fund for their projects.

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The community voted and selected the top 20 organizations, and each now has the opportunity to fundraise on Give for Youth. From March 18 to 27, Microsoft will match funds raised up to $100,000 across the 20 featured organizations. Now is your chance to help bring their projects to life. By making a donation on Give for Youth, you are supporting young people with opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.

UPDATE: Due to the overwhelming response of donors, the $100,000 in matching funds was claimed in the first hour. Microsoft wants to continue to encourage donations and will be providing an additional $100,000 in matching funds.

Take a look at five of the top twenty finishers, and be sure to check back as we continue to highlight the inspiring organizations you voted for.

Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund

The Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) is hoping to improve low postsecondary education attendance rates in the Pacific Islands (PI). By raising funds to sponsor four PI students, the organization hopes they can empower these students to create a dialogue with key stakeholders around higher education policies and programs.” As the only national scholarship nonprofit supporting PI students, APIASF hopes to support and empower the next generation of PI leaders; find out how they plan to do so here.

To donate now, click here.

Break Away

With more than 160 college chapters across the U.S., Break Away offers alternative breaks to students, immersing them in service programs across the world. Students spend anywhere from a weekend to multiple weeks making impact in communities. Break Away hopes to raise funds to support alternative break students who want to do service with a school or education program.Participants work to improve the organization’s capacity or spend time with younger students. Learn more about Break Away and their students here.

To donate now, click here.

American Foundation for Children with AIDS

The American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA) serves to connect the needs of HIV+ children in Sub-Saharan Africa with resources from the western world. The nonprofit works to train youths in animal husbandry and gardening, allowing young people to become self-reliant entrepreneurs through their own gardens and livestock, which they learn to sell, barter, consume and care for. Through funding, AFCA hopes to help even more kids, who can in turn share their knowledge and a portion of their herds and flocks with others in the community. Learn more about AFCA’s work here.

To donate now, click here.

ACT Today!

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ACT Today! offers a two-week film program for youths with autism spectrum disorders. While producing a 35-minute film, students learn social and job skills such as cooperation, negotiation, animation, set design, and budgeting. Upon completion of their film and the program the students premier their film at a red carpet event during the San Diego Film Festival. Through funding ACT Today! hopes to offer the program to more students this summer. Read more about their program here.

To donate now, click here.

Rock Paper Scissors Children’s Fund

Rock Paper Scissors Children’s Fund has two projects underway to help the youth of Cam Duc, Vietnam. The Fund works to offer art and music classes to poor children living in the area, including those at a local orphanage. The Fund’s goal is to provide the school’s music teacher, Tuan, with professional instruction as well as continue to provide art supplies and paper for their Dream of Art School and other community schools. Read more here on how the Fund plans to help youth living in poverty through art and creativity.

To donate now, click here.

You can donate to any of the causes above, as well as others from the Give for Youth GOOD Maker challenge on Give for Youth.