Provided by The Allstate Foundation

In support of The Allstate Foundation's youth empowerment strategy, the Center for Expanding Leadership & Opportunity (CELO) is proud to partner in their efforts to empower youth to serve and improve communities. The Allstate Foundation is dedicated to engaging youth with opportunities to serve, equipping youth with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to make an impact, and preparing adults to support youth-led service. You can read more about the work here.

As part of that strategy, $10,000 grants will be distributed to support youth-led, youth-driven community service at U.S.-based higher education institutions across the United States.

The Allstate Foundation College Service Grant allows campuses to further champion youth-led, youth-driven service projects that place youth at the forefront of these initiatives. Through this process, campuses can encourage students to harness their unique perspectives and talents to increase their impact and build a generation of confident, capable leaders committed to lifelong service.

Institutions are required to apply by Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 5:00pm PT / 6:00pm MT / 7:00pm CT / 8:00pm ET for consideration. Please contact tafyouthservice@expandingleadership.org with any questions.

Eligible Initiatives
Funded initiatives must fall into one of the following categories:
  • Microgrants: Directly provided to students for new, youth-led initiatives.
  • Access Support: Initiatives that increase student access to service experiences.
  • Increasing Impact: Initiatives that enhance the depth of impact of existing youth-led service initiatives.

Ineligible Initiatives
Grants may not be used for:
  • International initiatives;
  • Alternative break/immersion service trips;
  • Service-learning initiatives;
  • "Re-gifting" funds directly to a charity or cause, or using funding to purchase resources for a charity or cause;
  • Support for political campaigns, candidates, parties, or political issues; OR
  • Salary support or institutional overhead.
Grant Requirements:
  • Funds must be distributed to support youth-led, youth-driven community service at your institution. For the purpose of this grant, community service is defined along a continuum from volunteerism to civic engagement (Dugan, Skendall, & Weatherford II, 2024). Significant funding is already directed toward service-learning, consider opportunities beyond that modality. You do not need to launch a new program to receive funding.
  • Funds must be spent by May 15, 2026. Given the size and scope of funding, no overhead will be provided.
  • Grantees agree to provide a final grant report outlining the use of funds by June 5, 2026.
  • Grantees commit to participating in an in-person convening with The Allstate Foundation and CELO August 14-15, 2025.
  • Grantees commit to participating in three (3) virtual convenings with The Allstate Foundation and CELO in October 2025, February 2026, and April 2026.
  • Grantees commit to sending at least one youth involved in service from their campus to participate in a virtual focus group coordinated by CELO (Date TBD).
  • Grantees commit to contributing success stories and photos of student service work done as part of this grant.
  • Grantees may be invited to contribute to media and dissemination efforts. Our goal is to amplify stories of your youth and campus efforts to ignite a renewed and sustainable investment in community service.

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* 1. First Name

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* 2. Last Name

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* 3. Email

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* 4. Institution

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* 5. Department *(f Applicable)

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* 6. Position/Title

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* 7. Institution Website

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* 8. College Service Grants are currently only available to higher education institutions (colleges and universities) based in the United States with 501(c)3 status. Please confirm below that your institution fits this criteria.

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