Philanthropy wants to build Gen Z's confidence in institutions. Will youth empowerment foster trust?

NEW YORK — Gen Z is disillusioned with major institutions and the philanthropic sector knows it.

The generation tends to lack faith in the political, economic and social structures expected by their predecessors to safeguard their futures. Born out of the idea that young people distrust institutions because they don't feel served or included, civil society is launching numerous initiatives to reverse that trend by empowering Gen Z to make the systemic change they so often seek. The hope is that more responsive institutions will be seen as more legitimate ones.

''Young people -- we're not just victims of these systems. We have agency and we have power,'' said Summer Dean, 27, who breaks down complex environmental topics into actionable information for the 116,000 followers of her Instagram, @climatediva.

''If you want to inspire us, actually include us in solid structures of your organization,'' she added.

However, public opinion suggests an uphill climb.

Around 1 in 10 adults under 30 had ''a great deal of confidence" in the people running the Supreme Court in an AP-NORC poll from June 2024. A May 2023 survey found 44% of adults under 30 had ''hardly any confidence at all'' in those running banks and financial institutions — about twice the share of adults ages 60 and older, who felt the same way.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in March found only about one-quarter of adults under 30 volunteered their time to charity in the past year or provided non-financial support to people in their community, compared to 36% of those over 60. Younger adults were also more likely than older adults to say they or their household donated $0 to charity, according to the poll.

The outlook could have developed when COVID-19 upended their young lives, hardened as the worst of climate change's harms grew likelier or even formed from early memories of the Great Recession's financial insecurity. Whatever the reason, the most optimistic believe those life experiences can bring about alternatives to the status quo — if they hold meaningful roles.

DoSomething doesn't want to do just anything

When DeNora Getachew became DoSomething CEO during the pandemic, she acknowledged the platform largely provided ''slacktivist'' opportunities — or low-effort ways to support social causes online. DoSomething was not meeting the desires of its 13- to 25-year-old audience for lasting community change.

The nonprofit was founded in 1993 to boost youth volunteering. Getachew said the ''new DoSomething'' sees volunteerism as a ''step on the ladder" but not "the top rung.''

She pointed to a new program called Talking Trash that does more than just encourage volunteers to recycle plastic bottles. Through educational campaigns and microgrants, DoSomething prompts members to think more deeply about improving overall waste management infrastructure.

''We're their cheerleader,'' she said. ''We're the person who has their back and are helping them figure out how they tap into that, at least initial, sense of curiosity about what they can do.''

Katelyn Knox, a 25-year-old former police officer, is part of the inaugural cohort of ''binfluencers'' receiving $250 and peer support. After moving from Florida to Los Angeles, Knox noticed many neighbors did not understand recycling guidelines and that recycling bins were scarce.

She is designing an app that identifies which recyclables go where and brings door-to-door recycling services to her community.

''It is very hard to make change. You have to convince so many people to make this change -- especially people who are older than you,'' Knox said. ''It's not so scary knowing that other people are with me and doing it right next to me in their own cities."

DoSomething brought Knox and Dean together for a video educating college students about broken recycling systems. Dean said she's seen many young folks respond to overwhelming issues in one of two ways: accepting they'll ''just have to learn to survive'' or ''realizing that we can just really imagine a new system of being and governing.''

''A lot of us feel powerless at some point through all of this because there's many times where these systems make us feel like there is nothing we can do,'' she said. ''I always just tell people to hold onto these heavy emotions because that is what moves you to take action and not feel so much like a victim.''

One Silicon Valley entrepreneur's $10 million call

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman launched The Trust in American Institutions Challenge last December with philanthropic accelerator Lever for Change. The $10 million open call will scale local solutions to restore public confidence in anything from education and government to media and medicine.

Hoffman, a 57-year-old Democratic megadonor, finds philanthropy offers more opportunities ''for beginning the trust stuff.'' He said that's because there are no conflicting interests other than the mission.

The challenge is not focused solely on youth. Hoffman said ''just about everybody'' can recognize society's trust issues. As he sees it, the problem isn't that institutions don't work for young people. They do work, according to Hoffman, and ''part of being young is learning that.'' The idea, he added, ''is to reconnect and revivify."

''We're like fish in water. We don't realize how important these institutions are to our ongoing environment,'' Hoffman said. ''Revitalizing them is an important part of a society that works.''

A semiquincentennial opportunity

Another effort is connecting youth representatives with decision-makers to help civic institutions reach new generations ahead of the United States' 250th anniversary.

Recognizing that today's teens and young adults will inherit American democracy, Youth250 is passing the microphone to young people as the country reflects on its past and looks ahead to its future. Institutions can request free input from the Youth250 Bureau. The initiative includes 100 advisors ages 18 to 30 — all compensated by the civic network Made By Us — who are working with museums, historic sites and libraries to center Gen Z's perspectives.

Dillon St. Bernard, the 25-year-old Youth250 documentary series director, said the campaign ''is about turning representation into power.''

He emphasized the need to build intergenerational coalitions. Today's challenges — climate change, democracy and racial justice — haven't been solved by their predecessors, according to St. Bernard.

''We as a generation have known nothing but a house on fire and want to see what it would look like to stop that spread,'' he said.

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