Milliken Garza: RGV Philanthropic Foundation to expand Youth in Philanthropy Initiative 

The Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation plans to expand its Youth in Philanthropy Initiative to McAllen ISD, Mission ISD and Point Isabel ISD, beginning in the Spring semester 2025.

The Youth in Philanthropy Initiative is made up of classes of students from public high schools. They spend a semester learning all about the world of local nonprofits and philanthropy. 

The RGVPF wrote a curriculum that was passed by TEA so that the class qualifies toward high school graduation. It covers areas such as “Why are local nonprofits important? What would our community look like without these local nonprofits? What does it mean to “Give Back” and why is that important?”

Each class is given actual grant dollars by the Foundation to be granted to local nonprofits who apply for their grants through the process of the program. At the end of the semester, there is a Student Grant Presentation. The students invite the nonprofits for a luncheon where they make presentations about what they have learned and then finally they announce the nonprofit who will receive their grant and why they chose that particular nonprofit. It is inspiring.

Another integral part of the program are the Class Mentors. These are professionals within the community of each school district who are invited to participate. They volunteer their time to visit the Youth in Philanthropy classes and ‘mentor’ the students. They describe their life journey with local philanthropy with their personal experiences. They travel to visit the nonprofits that are matched with their class. They meet again to help the students evaluate the nonprofits and decide who should receive their Student Grant and why. Then they are there to support their class at the Student Grant Luncheon.

The Youth in Philanthropy Initiative has been going on in Brownsville ISD continuously for the last nine years! Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been given away in Student Grants to local nonprofits through this initiative of the RGVPF.

But now, the Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation has begun to serve the entire Rio Grande Valley Region.  

The Foundation has been in existence since the 1970s, but only served Brownsville. They expanded at the beginning of 2024 to include all of the Rio Grande Valley.

The Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation serves the community through many and varied avenues. First of all, it provides many vehicles for local donors to support the causes that are important to them, while providing different forms of tax exemption credits. One of the best vehicles may be a Donor Advised Fund. The Donor Advised Fund offers investment growth potential on charitable contributions, allowing donated assets to appreciate tax-free, which can increase the impact of giving over time and lower tax burdens in many creative and valuable ways.

The Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation also solicits and receives funds for causes on behalf of our region. They can help organize or structure charitable efforts in many ways. Most recently they hosted and funded the GIRLS in STEM Conference held at Point Isabel ISD, with NASA and SpaceX. More than 850 local girls attended. This was the third year of the GIRLS in STEM Conference.

We think that creating an awareness in our youth of what local philanthropy really is, of the endless possibilities of benefit involved in local philanthropy and of the many ways the RGV can take of the RGV, might just change some lives.

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Diane Milliken Garza, executive director of the Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author. Milliken Garza can be reached by email via: dmgarzaphd@gmail.com

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