Vanessa Beresford is a senior at Forsyth Country Day School who plans to major in international relations at the University of Pennsylvania.
She is also a philanthropist.
Beresford, who took part in the Youth Grantmakers in Action program this school year, is part of a new wave of philanthropists who look markedly different from the older men who traditionally dole out largess. Yesterday, Beresford and 15 other area teenagers awarded six grants totaling $1,690 to programs that benefit young people in Forsyth County. They include:
□ $200 to Cancer Awareness and Research for Everyone Club to distribute breast-cancer awareness and prevention materials to Reagan High School students and their families.
□ $370 to Carver High School Lunch Bunch Book Club to buy books for a student book club.
□ $300 to Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Mount Tabor High School to sponsor a carnival for children at the Children's Center.
□ $320 to Forsyth Country Day Cooking Club to prepare meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House.
□ $200 to tennis instructors at Mount Tabor High School for a clinic highlighting tennis basics and the importance of physical fitness for young people.
□ $300 to Winston Lake Family YMCA Black Achievers to begin a teen golf club.
"We tried to choose ones that we thought had a good chance of going through and being successful," Beresford said of the projects that received money.
The program was created in 2005, said Andrea Falden, a program officer for the Winston-Salem Foundation. Youth Grantmakers offers a way for young people to learn about philanthropy and their community, as well as to allow the community to see teenagers working toward positive change.
Teenagers apply for the program in the spring and participate during the following school year. They learn how foundations and endowments work. At the end of the school year, they take a day to review proposals and choose which programs to finance.
Participants in the program have taken on more responsibility each year, Falden said.
The staff used to plan yesterday's celebration and grants announcement, she said. This year, the young grant-makers did the planning.
This year's group also raised more money -- more than $1,000 -- to go into the endowment that the grant money is drawn from.
In past years, the young people have raised a few hundred dollars, Falden said. Most of the money comes from contributions that the teens solicit from family, friends, teachers and other people they know.
There is very little difference between how young people and adults make decisions about awarding money, Falden said.
"They're very mindful, knowing that they're making some very big decisions," she said.
This year's grants involved the smallest amount of money awarded since the program began, Falden said.
Beresford said that the teenagers could have awarded $2,500 in grants, but they chose to put some of the money aside to ensure that the program would continue. Beresford said she came away from the program knowing more about the community. And she is considering a career in the nonprofit world.
Beresford said that, in a lean year, some of the requests were for more money than the group felt that they could give.
The students looked at which programs stood the greatest chance of doing well, even if they had to do it with less money.
"The most fun part was I really enjoyed interviewing all of the people who applied for the grants," she said. "It was amazing to see how passionate they were about bettering the community."
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
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