Ways to Give

Why it matters

One of our members moved seventeen times before their fifteenth birthday. Seventeen bedrooms, seventeen sets of house rules, a new school almost every time, and a garbage bag that held everything they owned. In all of it, no adult ever asked them what would have made it different. That question is CYC’s entire job. Since 1988, young people who lived through California’s foster care system have used CYC to write the laws that govern it: the Foster Youth Bill of Rights, care extended through age 21, sibling visitation, housing for youth aging out. Today 270+ members across 32 chapters are still at it.

Your gift puts them in the room.

Matching Gifts

Your Employer Can Double Your Donation

Thousands of companies match the donations their employees make to nonprofits. Most of that money goes unclaimed every year, usually because people do not know the benefit exists. If your company has a matching program, your $100 gift to California Youth Connection becomes $200, and it costs you nothing more.

Some companies also match gifts from spouses, retirees, and board members. Some convert your volunteer hours into a cash grant.

Find out in about thirty seconds. 

Search your employer’s name below. 
Matching Gift and Volunteer Grant information provided by
Powered by Double the Donation

If your company appears, the tool will hand you the forms, the deadlines, and the submission link specific to your employer.

Three steps
  1. Give.

Make your gift at calyouthconn.org/donate. You will get an emailed receipt. Keep it, because most employers ask for it.

  1. Submit the match request.

Search your employer above and follow the instructions it gives you. Most companies now handle this through an online portal such as Benevity, YourCause, or Blackbaud, and it takes a few minutes. If your company uses a paper form, mail it to the address below.

  1. We take it from there.

Your employer verifies the gift with us, and the match arrives. You will have doubled what a young person in foster care can do with your support.

Information your employer will ask for:

Legal name: California Youth Connection

EIN: 94-3141616

Mailing address: PO Box 10675, Oakland, CA 94610

Contact: development@calyouthconn.org | 510-708-4922

Mission category: youth development, child welfare, civic engagement

Do not see your employer?

Ask your HR or personnel team whether a matching program exists. Programs launch and change often, and the databases lag behind. If you find one that is not listed, email development@calyouthconn.org and we will get it added.

Deadlines are real

Most employers require match requests within 90 days to one year of the original gift, and many close the calendar year on December 31. If you gave earlier this year, it is probably not too late.

Give Online

The fastest way, and the one that costs us the least in processing.

  1. Go to calyouthconn.org/donate.
  2. Choose a one-time gift or a monthly gift.
  3. Enter your amount, or use one of the suggested levels below.
  4. Pay by card, bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, or Venmo.

Your receipt arrives by email immediately. Save it for your taxes and for your employer match.

What your gift covers

$50 | Meeting supplies for a chapter for a month, keeping a local space open for youth voice 

$100 | One member’s travel and materials for a day of advocacy 

$250 | A leadership training session for a chapter of youth advocates 

$500 | A young leader’s participation in CYC’s statewide conference 

$1,000+ | Launches an entire local chapter 

Every individual gift to CYC is unrestricted, which means it goes where the need is greatest that week. When a member gets a hearing date with three days’ notice, unrestricted dollars are what put them on the plane.

Give monthly

Monthly donors are the reason we can say yes to a young person on short notice.

  1. Go to calyouthconn.org/donate.
  2. Select Monthly.
  3. Pick your amount. $25 a month is $300 a year.
  4. Confirm. You can change or cancel your gift anytime from the link in your receipt email.
  5. Double your gift through your employer

Your company may match what you give, at no cost to you.

Follow the instructions the search (above) gives you, usually through Benevity, YourCause, or Blackbaud.

We confirm with your employer and your gift doubles.

Start a Fundraiser

Birthdays, races, memorials, weddings, and workplace campaigns.

  1. Start a fundraiser on Facebook or Instagram and select California Youth Connection, or email development@calyouthconn.org and we will set up a personal fundraising page for you.
  2. Tell people why you chose CYC. That sentence raises more than any graphic we could send you.
  3. Share it three times over two weeks. Most gifts come after the second post.
Fundraising Toolkit

Give by Mail

  1. Make your check payable to California Youth Connection.
  2. Mail it to: California Youth Connection, PO Box 10675, Oakland, CA 94610.
  3. To direct your gift somewhere specific, or to give in someone’s honor, write it in the memo line or enclose a note.
  4. We will mail you an acknowledgment letter for your records.

Give in honor or memory of someone

Honorary gifts celebrate a person who is still with us: a social worker who showed up, a foster parent, a mentor, a birthday, a graduation.

Memorial gifts honor someone who has died.

  1. Give online or by mail using the steps above.
  2. In the tribute or notes field, enter the name of the person you are honoring.
  3. To have us notify the honoree or a family member, include their name, mailing address, or email address. We will send a card that names you as the donor and never states the amount.

Give Through a Donor Advised Fund

If you have a DAF at Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, a community foundation, or elsewhere:

  1. Log in to your DAF sponsor’s portal.
  2. Recommend a grant to California Youth Connection, EIN 94-3141616, PO Box 10675, Oakland, CA 94610.
  3. Ask your sponsor to include your name and email so we can thank you. Many DAF grants arrive anonymously by default.
  4. Email development@calyouthconn.org to let us know it is coming, which helps us track it correctly.

Give Stock or Appreciated Securities

If you own stock that has gone up in value and you have held it more than a year, giving the shares directly is usually better for you than selling first. You avoid the capital gains tax and you can generally deduct the full market value. Talk to your tax advisor about your own situation.

  1. Give your broker these transfer instructions: [BROKERAGE FIRM NAME], DTC number [DTC #], account name California Youth Connection, account number [ACCT #].
  2. Email development@calyouthconn.org with the stock name and number of shares. Transfers arrive without a donor name attached, and this is how we know to thank you.
  3. We will send you a receipt reflecting the value on the date of transfer.

Planned Giving

Leave the system better than you found it.

A planned gift costs you nothing today and can be changed at any time. It is how a supporter with a modest budget makes the largest gift of their life. It also tells the young people who come after us that someone thought their leadership was worth protecting for the long haul.

Please tell us if you have included CYC in your plans. It is not required, and there is no obligation, and knowing lets us thank you and plan responsibly. Email development@calyouthconn.org.

CYC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Legal name: California Youth Connection. EIN: 94-3141616. Address: PO Box 10675, Oakland, CA 94610.

Leave a gift in your will or trust

The simplest planned gift. You keep full control of everything during your lifetime.

  1. Decide what to leave: a specific dollar amount, a specific asset, or a percentage of your estate. A percentage keeps its proportion as your circumstances change.
  2. Give your attorney this language: “I give and bequeath to California Youth Connection, a nonprofit corporation with its principal offices at PO Box 10675, Oakland, CA 94610, EIN 94-3141616, [the sum of $______ / ______ percent of my residuary estate] to be used for its general purposes.”
  3. If you already have a will, your attorney can add this with a short amendment called a codicil, which is faster and cheaper than rewriting the document.
  4. Let us know at development@calyouthconn.org.

Name CYC as a beneficiary

This one takes about ten minutes and requires no attorney at all. Retirement accounts left to individuals are often taxed heavily. Left to a nonprofit, they pass entirely tax free, which makes them one of the most efficient assets to give.

  1. Contact the institution that holds the account: your 401(k) or IRA administrator, life insurance company, or bank.
  2. Request a beneficiary designation form, often available online in a few clicks.
  3. Name California Youth Connection, EIN 94-3141616 as a beneficiary, and enter the percentage you want to leave. You can name us for 5 percent or 100 percent, alongside family members.
  4. Submit the form and keep a copy.
  5. Let us know at development@calyouthconn.org.

This works for: 401(k), 403(b), IRA, life insurance policies, payable-on-death bank accounts, and transfer-on-death brokerage accounts.

Give from your IRA if you are 70½ or older

A qualified charitable distribution moves money straight from your IRA to CYC. It is excluded from your taxable income, and if you are 73 or older it counts toward your required minimum distribution. You get the benefit whether or not you itemize.

  1. Confirm you are 70½ or older and the gift comes from a traditional IRA.
  2. Contact your IRA custodian and request a qualified charitable distribution.
  3. Direct it to California Youth Connection, EIN 94-3141616, PO Box 10675, Oakland, CA 94610. The funds must go directly from the custodian to CYC. If the check is made out to you first, the tax benefit disappears.
  4. Email development@calyouthconn.org with the amount and custodian, since these checks often arrive with no donor name.
  5. Annual limit is $108,000 for 2025, indexed annually.

CYC does not provide legal, tax, or financial advice. Please consult your own advisors about how any of this applies to you.

Questions about ways to give?

Email development@calyouthconn.org or call 510-708-4922. We are glad to talk it through, and there is never a catch.