Like the birds and the bees and the 123s, philanthropy should be taught early and often.

By Katherine Falk , Janet R. Wakefield and Nancy Swanson

Since 4-H is a community-based, youth-development program, the community becomes a learning laboratory. The real-life experiences take young people through the entire fundraising cycle, from needs identification to writing a case statement, from donor identification and relationship building to personal solicitation, fund allocation and donor stewardship.