Palm Beach Philanthropy Tank recently announced that Julie Fisher Cummings, William Meyer, Avy Stein and Christine Stiller have each committed $25,000 and 12 months of one-to-one mentoring to Palm Beach County students.
Palm Beach Philanthropy Tank is a Shark Tank-style competition for students in grades seven through 12. They compete by pitching their original community betterment projects to the panel of philanthropist-investors.
The quartet serves as competition judges, underwriting philanthropist-investors and mentors for the individual student winners. In this unique twist on philanthropy and community service, the four partner with student winners to operate their community betterment projects as ongoing enterprises making meaningful, sustained positive impact in Palm Beach County.
“I appreciate the opportunity Philanthropy Tank creates for innovation and learning,” Stein said. “While coming up with new ways to approach social problems, young people learn valuable entrepreneurial, organizational and execution skills that will serve them well for a lifetime.”
Stiller agreed. “Philanthropy is much more than charitable giving,” she said. “It develops our humanity, our ability and need to care for one another. By financially and intellectually supporting young people in their desire to improve the lives of others, we are ‘paying it forward,’ helping to develop a future generation of engaged global citizens.”
Applications are being accepted from public, private and home-schooled students residing in Palm Beach County at www.philanthropytank.org. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 11. Finalists will be announced on Jan. 25, and students will have approximately six weeks to prepare their pitch. The finals event will take place March 8 at the Maltz Jupiter Theater.
To view complete bios of this year’s philanthropist-investors and learn more about their philanthropic impact in Palm Beach County, visit www.philanthropytank.org/philanthropist-investors.
