Dear YF Community,
Coming of age in the digital world has never been this complicated. As a mother of a 10- and 8-year-old, I often imagine the world I want them—and all young people—to inherit: a world where every young person and family has the tools, agency, and optimism they need to thrive in an increasingly tech-filled reality. This vision is at the heart of Young Futures, and it drives everything we do.
2024 was a remarkable year for us. We built a brand new organization from the ground up—Young Futures didn’t exist a year ago, and today we’re driving momentum toward systemic change. What kind of change are we working toward, and what will it take to get there? This inaugural Young Futures Impact Report is our opportunity to share our progress with you, as well as our ambitious plans to scale our impact.
As we built Young Futures in our first year, we established our brand, identity, and point of view. We created a transparent and respectful grantmaking process to run two $1M funding challenges, each featuring RFPs and themes informed by a research-driven process centered around listening to young people. We launched Young Futures Academy—our accelerator designed to help our grantees scale. We created a powerful community of visionary Young Futures Innovators (YF Innovators), built partnerships across our ecosystem, and told stories of hope and progress in our field. Now that we have two grantee cohorts under our belts, we know with absolute certainty that we are onto something. Now is the time to scale our work boldly and thoughtfully—this moment cannot wait, because scaling our efforts is the only way to scale our impact.
None of this would have been possible without the support of our Founding Partners—Pivotal Ventures, Susan Crown Exchange, and The Goodness Web. Their unwavering belief that Young Futures is essential, and their investment in our vision, has been critical in creating a foundation that allows our YF Innovators to thrive and transform the lives of youth across America.
Young Futures is more than just a nonprofit, a grantmaking organization, a community, or a storytelling engine—it’s a movement. By funding, organizing, and amplifying the work of nonprofits across the country, we’re shaping a new ecosystem that provides young people with the compass they need to navigate our digital world. To take our work to the next level, we’re launching YF 500—an initiative to support 500 YF Innovators in five years. This bold plan reflects our commitment to scaling impact, shifting narratives to a hopeful and solutions-oriented place, and driving us towards our ultimate goal—ensuring that 40 million young people across America are able to build balanced, socially connected and healthy lives.
Thank you for believing in Young Futures, and walking alongside us in this journey. Together, we are shaping a future where every young person can find their way forward.
With gratitude and hope,
Executive Director, Young Futures
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Young people are wonderfully, wildly diverse
At Young Futures, we’re transforming digital wellbeing for young people—helping them grow up smarter, kinder, and better. We take a holistic approach to helping every teen thrive. Through bold funding challenges, we support a wide range of solutions—from school-based programs and educational tools to peer mentorship, community initiatives, and cutting-edge tech innovations—uncovering and supercharging ideas that address their most critical needs.
Our Approach
Big ambitions, bigger impact
We’re here to amplify and scale solutions that empower every pre-teen and teen to thrive. Here’s how we’re making it happen:
Two funding challenges in 2024 / three funding challenges to launch in 2025
· To date, we’ve awarded ~$2 million to 20 exceptional Young Futures Innovators (YFIs)—visionary founders and directors bringing solutions to market
· Hands-on support: mentorship, community, and connections through the YF Academy
YF Innovators
Lonely Hearts Club (LHC) Cohort
· Impact at scale: 7 of 10 YFIs operate nationally
· Growth in action: YFIs have served 190,589 youth in 2024, a 6x growth in reach since joining us
Under Pressure (UP) Cohort
· The incoming YF Innovator cohort, who are working to alleviate the pressures pre-teens and teens feel growing-up in a tech driven world, have served approx. 55,490 pre-teens and teens in 2023-2024
Building a Robust and Healthy Pipeline
The numbers speak volumes:
400 applications received across two challenges
330 unique applicants
$43,792,826
42 states represented 75% of 2nd challenge applicants serve underrepresented communities
Over $43M in funding requests— $2M delivered, the opportunity for greater impact is clear.
YF Academy
Where leaders level up
1 in-person retreat
What Our YF Innovators Say:
· Intentional programming: dedicated 1-1 mentorship, Masterclasses, Peer Circles, office hours galore
A virtual Showcase that drew 189 attendees and inspired 500+ poll responses and 13+ requests for personal connections per Innovator
of YFIs report having grown as a leader and feel celebrated for their unique strengths within the YF Academy community 88%
“This program has enriched me both personally and professionally, giving me tools and connections that will continue to propel our mission forward well beyond the Academy.”
Larissa May, #HalfTheStory, YF Innovator
of YFIs would recommend YF Academy to a peer 75% 100%
of YFIs report having sharpened their ability to articulate the mission, impact, and goals, improving how they communicate their organization’s needs and value to funders
40% of YFIs secured additional funding post-Academy, raking in over $1M.
Where We’re Headed
In 2025, we’re launching three bold funding challenges that address urgent needs—Phones in Schools, Digital Play & Gaming, and Youth Wellbeing & AI.
And beyond that? Buckle up for YF 500: A collaborative funding initiative to power 500 YF Innovators over the next 5 years—scaling impact and driving lasting systemic change for youth across America.
Navigating the Digital Wilderness THE STATE OF TEENS
In the year since our launch, we’ve learned a lot about the state of pre-teens and teens in today’s tech-driven world. In short, it’s complicated.
Zooming out, studies suggest that pre-teens and teens are growing up with varied experiences and outcomes. While nearly half (~47%) of young people report doing well (Surgo Health, 2024), almost half also report feeling overwhelmed by stress (U.S. Surgeon General Advisory, 2024). CDC findings show 40% of high school students— and half of female students—reported feeling a persistent sadness or hopelessness (CDC, 2023). While the numbers are sobering, there are known solutions and interventions. For example, research consistently points to meaningful adult relationships as a critical protective factor for young people, which is why it’s so important to also focus on the role caregivers play in navigating the digital wilderness.
Teens and Tech by the Numbers
47% of young people report doing well (Surgo Health, 2024)
50% report feeling overwhelmed by stress (U.S. Surgeon General Advisory, 2024)
95%
40% of all high school students reported feeling a persistent sadness or hopelessness (CDC, 2023)
50% of female high school students reported feeling a persistent sadness or hopelessness (CDC, 2023)
of youth who feel cared for are twice as likely to find meaning in their life and twice less likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety (Surgo Health, 2024).
Now, layer on top of this where and how technology fits into their lives, and we have a far more nuanced picture. This plays out in research that is—at best—at odds with one another. Multiple studies indicate that youth are spending a lot of time in front of digital devices—approximately 50% of teens (ages 12-17) spend 4+ hours a day (CDC, 2024)—leading to classroom distraction, increased social comparison, unhealthy digital habits, etc. But despite the purported harms of screens, pre-teens and teens also find value across digital spaces.
80%
of teens view social media as a way to stay in touch with friends (Pew Research, 2023)
67%
of teens report having people who can support them through tough times on social media (Pew Research, 2023)
80%
of teens report social gaming causes a reduction in the feelings of pressure that traditional social media can create (Surgo Health, 2024)
Navigating the Digital Wilderness WHAT IS DIGITAL TENSION?
Teens today are feeling the "pull of the screen"—drawn to their devices while balancing very real adolescent priorities, from getting good grades to managing friendships both offline and online. This tug-of-war is what we refer to as digital tension.
Teens live in a constant state of digital tension. They’d like to have a healthy relationship with tech, but how?
Teens live in a constant state of digital tension. They’d like to have a healthy relationship with tech, but how?
Most proposed solutions amount to… limiting or eliminating screen time. It’s a solution as ineffective as it is inconsiderate of the reality teens face. If their digital lives go pitch-dark while their peers continue on online, what will they miss? Take, for example, these very real dilemmas:
You delete your Instagram, but every high school club you’re in communicates through stories, reels, and posts
· Your friends are planning a birthday party and a group chat is the only way to find out about it
So what help are teens getting, then? Young people report that current resources feel prescriptive, fear-based, and out-of-touch.
Youth are not a monolith and their mental health challenges are shaped by a complex web of factors. While technology contributes to teens’ mental health challenges, it is only one part of a larger picture. Economic pressures, academic stress, social isolation, climate anxiety, and a growing loneliness epidemic all play significant roles. Despite digital connections, many teens feel isolated, underscoring the need to address these intertwined issues and foster genuine connection and resilience.
Demonizing Tech Won’t Help
With over half of teenagers reporting that it would be hard to give up social media (U.S. Surgeon General Advisory, 2024), the solution lies not in demonizing technology but in empowering teens to use it in healthy ways—ways that foster connection, spread joy, and address the underlying issues impacting their wellbeing. This may also mean helping them establish boundaries and guiding them to opportunities to meaningfully engage with the physical world.
Pre-teens and teens today, together with their trusted adults, need a flourishing of nonprofit solutions—activities, resources, and tools— that can ease digital tension and provide a social compass for growing up in a tech-filled world.
Who We Are: HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE
FIND THEIR WAY FORWARD
Young Futures is on a mission to make it easier to grow up in the digital world
Grantmaking
Across two funding challenges 2024, Young Futures has invested ~$2 million to help 20 nonprofits scale their impact and reach more teens. When designing funding challenges, we begin with high-need themes affecting young people. We prioritize teen perspectives to refine our approach by conducting Youth Listening Tours and partnering with leading researchers, like Harvard’s Center for Digital Thriving and the Foundation for Social Connection.
In 2025, we will run three funding challenges addressing urgent needs— Phones in Schools, Digital Play & Gaming, and Youth Wellbeing & AI.
YF Academy
The Young Futures Academy (YF Academy) is a five-month accelerator program designed to help YF Innovators amplify their impact. Through a structured curriculum focused on leadership, fundraising, storytelling, and subject-matter expertise, participants gain skills to strengthen their organizations and positively impact more youth. Most importantly, YF Innovators are networked together in a powerful community of fellow leaders.
YF Community
Addressing a major challenge like youth mental health requires a collaborative, community-driven approach. If you’re reading this report, you’re already part of the Young Futures community. What does that mean? It means you show up—whether by boosting an Instagram post, offering mentorship, contributing funds, attending a Young Futures event, or simply learning more—to support teens and the nonprofit leaders dedicated to serving them. The Young Futures community brings together nonprofits, funders, parents, educators, researchers, clinicians, and—most importantly—teens themselves, united in a shared mission to create a brighter future.
YF Studio
Our storytelling arm serves as a vital bridge, connecting innovative solutions with the teens and families who need them most. By amplifying practical resources, groundbreaking voices, and actionable research insights, we ensure impactful ideas reach and empower those navigating the complexities of growing up in a tech-driven world. You can find and engage with our stories on LinkedIn, Substack, Instagram, YouTube and Bluesky.
Who We Are THE YOUNG FUTURES TEAM
Katya Hancock
Executive Director
Katya is a mission-driven public health champion, serial entrepreneur and executive with over two decades of impact leadership across healthcare, technology, and philanthropic ventures.
Sierra Fox-Woods
Program Manager
Sierra is a social impact operator passionate about supporting change-makers and advancing philanthropy to equitably serve marginalized youth.
Program Associate
Cassie is a program specialist whose work is rooted in community and social impact. She has served across the arts and nonprofit sectors, with a special focus on youth wellbeing.
Kristine Gloria, PhD
Director of Strategic Partnerships & Innovation
Kristine is a dedicated steward of tech for good and a champion for youth with decades of experience as a researcher, data scientist, and nonprofit leader.
Brooke
Messaye
Communications Associate
Brooke is a storytelling guru with a passion for impact-driven journalism, marketing, branding, strategic communications, and criminal justice.
YF INNOVATORS LEADING THE CHARGE
The inaugural YF Innovator cohort from the Lonely Hearts Club challenge was announced Summer 2024. These grantees represent a breadth of solutions championing the protective impact of social connection and belonging for today’s youth. These incredible YF Innovators are a testament to the many different ways pre-teens, teens, and their caregivers find their way in today’s digitally-driven world.
Connections Through Curiosity: Dr. Niobe Way, agapi.teens
Reach: National (based in New York, NY)
Mission: To address the crisis of connection among youth around the world, we are creating an AI-driven friendship app, co-designed with and for teenagers. The app gamifies an empirically proven method to build relational intelligence by teaching the skill of listening with curiosity, which is essential for human-to-human connection.
Wins: Translating decades of research into a mobile gaming app experience, agapi.teens hit its stride by expanding their team and launching a co-design process with kids and teens grounded in creative play.
Supporting Students to Be Loud: Diana Turner, Be Loud
Based: Local (based in New Orleans, LA)
Mission: Amplifying kids’ confidence through radio and media production, turning screens and other creative tools into opportunities for self-expression and courageous collaboration.
Wins: With YF’s support, Be Loud grew their team, enhancing their ability to provide specialized support to their DJs, deepen their programming, and expand their curriculum materials.
Driving Civic Connection and Engagement: Josh Thompson, Civics Unplugged
Reach: National (based in New York, NY)
Mission: Creating an ecosystem training, funding, and connecting young people to solve challenges in democracy, climate, digital life, and beyond.
Wins: In 2024, Civics Unplugged increased their capacity and level of support for two key initiatives. They brought together 125 Fellows at Georgetown and UCLA for the Civic Innovation Academies and launched their micro-grant program, Launchpad, to support 45 Fellows to start their own initiatives back in their communities.
Stories That Heal: Larissa May, #HalfTheStory
Reach: National (based in Sonoma, CA)
Mission: To empower the next generation’s relationship with social media through advocacy, education, and access to resources by and for youth.
Wins: This past year, #HalfTheStory raised more funding than ever before, scaled operations through a landmark national partnership with Girls Inc., and secured a federal grant—an extraordinary trifecta for this nonprofit.
Across its programming, #HalfTheStory reached 1,500 teens and 250 parents and caregivers in 2024. With backing from Pivotal Ventures, Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, and Archewell Foundation for their Social Media U program, #HalfTheStory is poised to empower more teens and families and reshape the way young people navigate the digital world in 2025 and beyond.
Where Hip Hop Meets Purpose: NyRee Clayton-Taylor, HHN2L
Reach: Local (based in Louisville, KY)
Mission: To provide African-American youth a platform to use Hip Hop Culture to change culture and provide leadership, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and knowledge of self.
Wins: HHN2L’s T.R.A.P. Camp continued to empower youth through identity exploration and self-expression. The Real Young Prodigys’ viral song “Where My Bus At,” created at camp, brought national attention to Louisville’s bus driver shortage, earning coverage on CNN, The New York Times, and USA Today, as well as Grammy consideration. Its music video has surpassed 68,000 views in just four months.
Additionally, thanks to connections made through the YF Academy, HHN2L secured a partnership with an HBCU.
Fostering Meaningful Connection in a Digital World: Luke Wall, Only7Seconds
Reach: National (based in Chelan, WA)
Mission: Ending the youth loneliness epidemic through awareness initiatives, education resources, and empowerment programs for youth.
Wins: In the past year, Only7Seconds served over 30,000 teens across five states, expanded their team, completed Season 3 of I Know Lonely, and began redesigning their Youth Ambassador program.
A Gentle Nudge to Prevent Cyberbullying: Trisha Prabhu, ReThink Citizens
Reach: National (based in Chicago, IL)
Mission: To transform digital literacy and anti-cyberbullying tools for underserved communities, and empower youth-led efforts to conquer online hate and foster kindness.
Wins: In 2024, in partnership with local and national organizations, ReThink Citizens impacted over 50,000 young people, up from 7,000 in 2023. A standout moment came through the support of Trisha’s YF Mentor, CeCe Morken, who facilitated introductions to senior executives at Pinterest, Headspace, and Google. These connections have sparked meaningful opportunities, including ongoing conversations about bringing ReThink Citizens’ offerings and powerful anti-cyberbullying message to new communities.
Promoting Intergenerational Connections: Lewis Bernstein, Sesame 3G
Reach: Statewide (New York, NY)
Mission: Building intergenerational relationships by deepening connections, strengthening communication, and growing confidence—through the joy of Sesame Street.
Wins: In the past year, Sesame 3G grew their team, established new partners, tapped into Sesame Workshop alumni to supercharge fundraising efforts, and built out the ”Sesame 3G-in-a Box toolkit”—an easily accessible package of materials to onboard users.
Cultivating Community for LGBTQ+ Youth: Domenico Ruggerio, We Are Family
Reach: Statewide (based in Charleston, SC)
Mission: South Carolina’s oldest nonprofit providing life-affirming, measurable-impact programs for LGBTQ+ youth, with a focus on BIPOC and low-income communities.
Wins: Over the past year, We Are Family has tripled the number of youth served and expanded to three hybrid youth groups across the state.
Here to Help You Find Your Inner Weirdo: Tony Weaver, Weird Enough Productions
Reach: National (based in Atlanta, GA)
Mission: To transform youth mental health and representation through anime, empowering young people to embrace their unique stories, feel seen, and know their voices matter.
Wins: Tony released his graphic novel, Weirdo, in September 2024, selling 21,000 books in the first 7 weeks of its release. Weirdo was named one of the best books of 2024 by School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kikus Reviews, New York Public Library, and People Magazine. In 2024, Weird Enough Productions served over 100,000 young people.
Weird Enough Production’s influence in education and media continues to grow, positioning it as a leader in creative, socially-conscious media production.
Full Throttle Ahead POWERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHANGEMAKERS
2024 was just the beginning, and we’re grateful for the immense support we’ve received along the way.
But, we’ve done the numbers.
And, to drive systemic change, we need scale.
Enter YF 500—a bold, collaborative funding initiative designed to supercharge our impact over the next five years. Think of it as an index fund for social good. YF 500 is both an index comprising the nonprofits we support, and a collaborative funding vehicle that powers our grantmaking, funding challenges, YF Academy, YF Studio, and community building efforts.
For funders, YF 500 offers a unique opportunity to back a diverse group of vetted nonprofits, with enhanced chances of success thanks to our catalytic support.
That’s 500 opportunities to redefine youth mental health and wellbeing.
Our 2025 Roadmap:
Where we’ve been and where we’re going
Successes:
10 grantees selected
Launched at SXSW 2024, this challenge focused on social connection, belonging, and the youth loneliness crisis
This challenge focuses on alleviating the pressures pre-teens and teens face in today’s techdriven world executing partner:
Commitments: call
maybe
funding solutions to navigate the complexities of phones in schools executing partner:
Current Commitments: digital play & gaming Challenge
Funding solutions that promote and prioritize teen wellbeing through digital play
executing partner:
Funding solutions focused on the intersection of AI and teen wellbeing
executing partner:
Contact us if you’re interested in partnering
• Sleep and tech
• Classroom solutions
• Intergenerational tools
• Youth agency, norms, behaviors
• Digital moderators and mentors
• Future of tech
