Spotlight on CGK Foundation Grantmaking

Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas

Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas (YEK), a Section 501(c)(3) public charity, seeks to advance human well-being using market principles. The organization teaches high school students entrepreneurial and business skills and exposes them to the inner-workings of markets and the prosperity created therein. Students engage in a specialized business curriculum, including a business plan competition during which they compete for venture capital awards, and a wholesale/retail experience during which they have the chance to earn a profit.

The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation was so drawn to these concepts that it brought YEK, an affiliate of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, to Kansas in 1991. Since then, the program has flourished; YEK is now in 12 Wichita-area schools, three in northeast Kansas and four in Kansas City. More than 7,500 students have graduated from the program.

Through programs such as Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation strives to expand the understanding of how free societies enable individuals, institutions, and societies to survive and prosper. http://www.yeks.org/

Bill of Rights Institute

In 1999, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation provided seed funding to launch the Bill of Rights Institute in order to help young people understand our nation’s Founding principles. The Bill of Rights Institute is a Section 501(c)(3) public charity. The Institute works with thousands of high school teachers and students in all fifty states to explore our Founding documents, the principles and values they embody, and their relevance to our daily lives. Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, James Madison wrote “a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free.” The Bill of Rights Institute takes these words seriously and works to ensure that the next generation of Americans understands the rights and responsibility of citizens in a free society. http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/

Koch Summer Fellow Program

The Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program was established in 1992 to provide a hands-on approach to learning market principles for up-and-coming leaders. During the 10-week summer program, Fellows explore market-based solutions to critical public policy problems and gain the skills necessary to affect policy change. This program is open to undergraduate students, graduate students, law students, and recent graduates aged 18 to 30. The program was created by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, but is now administered by the Institute for Humane Studies.

Koch Summer Fellows are placed at an internship with a non-profit organization either in Washington, D.C., or at a state-based think tank. Fellows also attend educational seminars on policy analysis and career workshops on public speaking, writing for publication, resume writing, and job interviewing.

The Summer Fellow Program and the Koch Internship Program are similar in various ways. Both programs give interns a chance to learn about market principles and have an opportunity to solve problems using knowledge gained in the public policy arena. The difference between the two is that Summer Fellows intern at one of several nonprofit organizations, while Koch Interns stay in-house at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Some of the benefits of being accepted as a Koch Summer Fellow include:

  • An internship with a market-based public policy organization
  • Furnished housing (or housing allowance for state-based Fellows)
  • $1,500 stipend
  • Travel expenses to and from DC or state of internship
  • Seminars on public policy analysis
  • Career development workshops
  • Writing assistance from a professional editor
  • Joining a network of 80 fellows and over 600 alumni working to change policy

For more information and answers to frequently asked questions, please refer to the program website: www.TheIHS.org/intern. All questions about the program should be directed to IHS.