Best US Youth Charities for Mentorship, Sports, and Skills (2026)

If you are looking for a legitimate US youth charity to donate to, it helps to start from what you want to support: one-to-one mentoring, getting kids from low-income neighbourhoods into sport and the outdoors, or helping young people build creative and vocational skills. The charities below are all verified in the GiveReady directory, meaning their registration, mission, and donation route have been checked by a person rather than pulled automatically. Each entry lists where the organisation operates, when it was founded, and one verifiable measure of its work.

Youth mentorship

Reintegration Support Network (Carrboro, North Carolina). Founded in 2005 in memory of 18-year-old Matt McQuiston, RSN serves young people aged 13 to 20-plus across four North Carolina counties. It is staffed by certified peer-support specialists with lived recovery experience and provides one-to-one mentoring, weekly peer-support groups, and an eight-week life-skills curriculum. Young people are referred by schools, treatment programmes, families, and the justice system. RSN holds a three-year, $600,000 federal SAMHSA grant.

Grow & Lead (Marquette, Michigan). Founded in 1998 out of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Youth Initiative Partnerships, Grow & Lead supports rural youth across Michigan's Upper Peninsula with skill-building workshops, consulting, and training for local nonprofits. Its team brings more than 75 years of combined experience in youth development and community engagement.

Sports and the outdoors for low-income kids

Youth Determined to Succeed (North Minneapolis, Minnesota). Founded in 1999 by former NFL receiver Melvin Anderson, YFDS runs health, nutrition, and fitness programmes for children and families. Its evidence-based Fitness for Health programme serves families referred by physicians to address obesity, diabetes, and heart disease; over 350 families have taken part, 70% of them physician-referred.

Outdoor Youth Exploration Academy (Indianapolis, Indiana). Operating since 1988, OYEA teaches archery, fishing, target shooting, conservation, and hunting safety to young people in central Indiana — disciplines often unavailable in urban settings that can open routes to college scholarships and competitive sport.

Ironwood Tree Experience (Tucson, Arizona). Founded in 2005, ITE runs outdoor education in the Sonoran Desert, including youth leadership projects and conservation internships connecting young people to natural and urban environments.

Creative and vocational skills

YEScarolina (Charleston, South Carolina). Founded in 2004, YEScarolina is South Carolina's only organisation dedicated to teaching youth entrepreneurship and free enterprise. More than 1,500 teachers have been certified to deliver its curriculum, reaching tens of thousands of students in grades 6 to 12. Rated four out of four stars by Charity Navigator.

Community Works (United States). Community Works delivers school and community-based programmes across elementary, middle, and high school that build creativity, problem-solving, and workforce readiness, supported by annual symposiums and shared research.

How these charities were checked

Every charity here carries a verified status in the GiveReady directory: its legal registration, mission, and donation route have been confirmed by a person, not generated automatically. Several also hold independent ratings — Charity Navigator or Candid transparency seals — noted in their profiles. To compare more organisations, browse the youth empowerment cause page.