In 1995, Youth, I.N.C. began with a simple mission: to improve nonprofit organizations serving young people. The plan was clear; we would use business expertise, honed in highly competitive enterprises, to nourish small, grassroots organizations toward sustainability. Now, fifteen years later, Youth, I.N.C. has coached more than 85 organizations, building capacity in fundraising and board development, raising over $12.5 million through the Celebration program, and serving nearly 600,000 youth.

As a consultant to nonprofits in New York City, former Goldman Sachs investment banker Steve Orr noticed that many organizations struggled to connect with powerful networks to maximize the funding sources they needed to fulfill their missions. Steve sat down with friends John Whitehead, Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and Jim Duffy, former President of ABC Television, to strategize how they could help.

The threesome believed that corporate leaders would donate to nonprofits if they could be assured that the money would be leveraged for the best use. There was a real need to build the capacity of promising nonprofits, enabling them to become organizationally mature, well-structured, financially responsible, and self-sufficient. With the belief that nonprofits could best be empowered to achieve long-term success through "learning by doing," the vision of a model to help nonprofits build their capacity was developed and Youth, I.N.C. (Improving Nonprofits for Children) was born.