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Voter-Approved Children’s Fund Profile: Baltimore, MD

The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund invests in community-rooted, youth-centered organizations, particularly those historically excluded from traditional philanthropy, to ensure that all Baltimore youth can live, thrive, and lead.
Kids playing hand drums together
Photo provided by Baltimore Children and Youth Fund. Photo of Lab visit with Sankofa Children's Museum of Africa.

Voter-Approved Children’s Fund Profile: Baltimore, MD

Name of Fund: Baltimore Children and Youth Fund

Percent of Locality’s Children in Poverty: 26.4%

Annual Revenue: $14.82 million on (2023, most recent year available)

Funding Mechanism: Set-aside equal to $0.03 per $100 of assessed property value

Year Established: 2016

Percent of Voters Who Approved the Fund, 2016: 82.17%

Expiration Date: None

Fund Purpose: Comprehensive support for children, youth, and families

Children’s Funding Project thanks our partners at Baltimore Children and Youth Fund for their help with this profile.

Worked with Children’s Funding Project

  • Children’s Funding Project community of practice member

Filed under:

Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Youth, Advocates/Intermediaries, Policymakers/Agency Leaders, Publication, Voter-Approved Children’s Funds

QUICK LINKS

Fund History and Description

Fund Purpose and Impact

Governance and Administration

Relevant Links

More Resources

Updates and Events

Fund History and Description
Boy doing wheelie on motorbike
Photo provided by Baltimore Children and Youth Fund. Photo of BCYF Grantee B-360.

In April 2015, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died from a spinal cord injury he sustained while in the custody of Baltimore City police. His death and the circumstances surrounding it sparked widespread protests and civil unrest across the city. Beyond the immediate calls for justice, many Baltimore residents and community leaders called for lasting changes, specifically long-term investments to address racial and economic inequities affecting the city’s children and youth. 

In response, then City Council President Bernard “Jack” C. Young led an initiative to establish a permanent public fund dedicated to supporting children and youth in Baltimore. This effort culminated in November 2016, when more than 80% of Baltimore voters approved a charter amendment creating the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund. The fund was a direct result of the community’s call for the city to make sustained investments in its young people. 

A community task force was convened in 2017 to shape the fund’s vision and framework, with Associated Black Charities serving as interim administrator. In 2020, the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund was formally launched as an independent organization. The fund is sustained by a dedicated annual allocation equal to $0.03 for every $100 of assessed property value in Baltimore City.

Fund Purpose and Impact
Adult looking over art wall.
Photo provided by Baltimore Children and Youth Fund. Photo of The Learning Lab opening plenary.

Grounded in the values of racial justice, intergenerational leadership, and authentic community engagement, the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund is committed to building a more just and equitable future for Baltimore’s young people. The fund aims to invest in community-rooted, youth-centered organizations, particularly those historically excluded from traditional philanthropy, to ensure that all Baltimore youth can live, thrive, and lead. The fund provides grants to grassroots and community-based organizations across the city, supporting a wide range of programs that include academic enrichment, the arts, leadership development, and mental health. In addition to financial support, the fund offers infrastructure support, capacity building, and technical assistance to help organizations grow, strengthen their impact, and remain accountable to the communities they serve.

Highlights of the fund’s impact include the following.

Since 2020:

  • More than $41 million in grants awarded 
  • Over 17,000 youth engagement opportunities supported through funded initiatives 

In 2024:

  • $9 million in grants distributed to 83 nonprofit organizations 
  • Grantees received over 150 hours of free technical assistance 
  • Black-led organizations received 91% of the fund’s grants

During the summer of 2025:

  • 43 in-person site visits conducted to strengthen relationships with grantees 

The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund’s investments are strengthening and sustaining youth-serving organizations across Baltimore. Specifically, many small and under-resourced nonprofits are gaining the tools and infrastructure needed to improve operations, expand reach, and deliver more consistent support to Baltimore’s youth. Through shared learning opportunities, capacity-building initiatives, and community-led partnerships, the fund supports long-term organizational growth. By 2026, more than 2,500 individuals are expected to participate in community capacity-building events hosted or supported by the fund, demonstrating the fund’s commitment to building a stronger network of youth-serving organizations citywide.

A cornerstone of the fund’s capacity-building strategy is the Learning Lab, a professional development initiative designed to ensure that grantees not only receive funding but also gain the knowledge and skills to use the funding effectively. In alignment with this commitment, the fund invests 20% of its budget in professional learning. This decision, made by the fund’s inaugural board during its early governance period, reflected a deliberate effort to position the fund as more than a grantmaker by strengthening the broader youth-serving ecosystem through systems building and community engagement. This investment has strengthened grantees’ operational readiness. Within a single year, the percentage of organizations that prepared and provided the documentation necessary to receive a grant increased from 30% to 94%.

In addition, the Learning Lab offers immersive learning trips that provide hands-on experiences and peer exchange, with participation growing from 12 to 55 attendees in one year. Grantees reported that these professional development opportunities not only enhanced their organizational capacity, but also improved the quality and effectiveness of the services they provide to children and youth.

Governance and Administration

The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund is financed through a mandatory annual appropriation set forth by the City of Baltimore, equivalent to $0.03 per $100 of assessed property value in the city. The establishing charter amendment required that the mayor and city council “provide for the oversight, governance, and administration of the Children and Youth Fund” by City Ordinance. The city council president convened a task force to make recommendations that would inform this ordinance, including the recommendation that a temporary fiscal agent should run the initial grant cycle in 2018. Next, in 2019, the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, Inc. was established as a nonprofit organization responsible for managing and distributing the fund and, in 2020, it was named the permanent fiscal agent.

The fund is governed by a board of directors, consisting of 9-20 members, that holds legal and fiduciary responsibility for the organization. Board members are appointed by the city council from a slate of nominees submitted by the outgoing board. The board includes both adults and youth, with five youth members currently serving, and requires that at least one-third of members be youth ages 14-24. At least one youth is required to serve on the board as the youth director, working alongside the adult director. All members must either reside in Baltimore City or if members live in Baltimore County they must have current ties to the city. The board seeks members whose experience reflects and supports the fund’s work. Four government appointees serve on the board:

  1. City council president (or designee), considered a voting board member
  2. Director of the Office of Children and Family Success (or the mayor’s representative), also considered a voting board member
  3. City solicitor (or designee), considered a nonvoting board member
  4. Director of finance (or designee), also considered a nonvoting board member

The board meets quarterly, and members are expected to actively participate in decision-making, committee work, and continuous learning. Key responsibilities of the board include hiring the fund’s president, providing financial oversight, and ensuring that the fund’s mission is carried out.

The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund is committed to a community-driven grantmaking process that invites local residents (who have either professional or lived experience in youth programming) to serve as grant reviewers. Community grant reviewers cannot work for organizations that are applying for funding. They must attend five in-person sessions, read and score applications, and collectively participate in selecting the final grantees. In accordance with the City Ordinance, the fund may award grants to organizations operating in Baltimore City that do the following:

  • Assist young people
  • Offer youth-centered programming
  • Demonstrate credibility and accountability to the youth they serve
  • Show how their work will improve outcomes for young people

This community-based review process helps ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with the needs of Baltimore’s youth, as well as those of the broader community.