DETAILS:

THE PROJECT

We’re asking you to embody Riley’s Way values to design a project that inspires kindness, strengthens your community, and brings people together. Working with your school or a nonprofit partner, you can submit a brand new idea or tell us how you want to improve or expand an existing teen-led initiative.

Past projects have included school clubs that made sure no one sits alone at lunch or taught robotics and STEM to younger students; local community projects that provided birthday gifts to those in need or planted community gardens; and national projects that brought folks together from across the political spectrum or a podcast supporting those dealing with mental health issues.

For inspiration, check out our past winners:

THE PRIZE

Riley’s Way will award up to $3,000 to as many as 30 teen-led projects, of which 5 will be specifically dedicated to projects related to food insecurity.

In addition to the funding, Call for Kindness Fellows will also participate in a dynamic leadership development experience as one of our Kind Leader Fellows that will help you grow your project, your network, and your leadership skills. Each course is designed around the needs of the group of Fellows, with some of the classes taught by peers and other teen leaders.

THE PARTNERS

Each project is required to have both a partner organization and an adult mentor.

The partner organization will act as your fiscal sponsor and will receive the grant on your behalf. They must be a 501(c)(3), which means they can be either a non-profit organization or a school partner. This organization’s work should be related to your project and should help further advance your initiative. If you are creating a school club or doing work more locally, you might want to consider your school as a partner. If you are doing work on a larger scale, it might be easier to have a non-profit partner. If your project is already a registered 501(c)(3), please fill out the information below and include a letter stating so. Projects with 501(c)(3) status are exempt from requiring a project partner.

Your adult mentor is a person who will help and guide you with your project and will be in touch with Riley’s Way staff as needed. If applicable, your mentor can be a part of your partner organization, but they do not have to be. They can be a teacher, coach, after school counselor, camp counselor, art/music/theater teacher, troop leader, or another adult mentor in your life. Ideally, your adult mentor is not your parent or guardian.

THE PROCESS/TIMELINE

Step 1: Click on this link to start your application. You can submit a written or video application, and you can submit individually or with a group of peers. All applicants will need to have an adult mentor sign-on to support their project and confirmation of support from their school or nonprofit partner. Complete applications are due at 11:59pm EST on April 7, 2021.

Step 2: Our judges (made up of past Call for Kindness Fellows, Riley’s Way teens, and kind adults) will review the applications. Projects will be judged on how they embody Riley’s Way values, their feasibility, need, and impact. Click here for the judging rubric.

Step 3: We will announce the winners on May 6, 2021, in honor of Riley Sandler’s birthday.

Questions?

Or email callforkindness@rileysandler.org.

For inspiration, check out our past winners:

Add your voice to the growing number of organizations that celebrate kindness and empathy as leadership qualities by signing our #callforkindness Partnership Pledge!