Reality Changers Legacy Circle
Reality Changers' students will impact our region's quality of life for generations to come and your gift to Reality Changers will change our students' futures forever.
Reality Changers believes that college changes everything. This is why Reality Changers helps low-income youth become first generation college students and guides high-performing 12th graders to the nation's top colleges. The mission of Reality Changers is to transform lives by providing youth from disadvantaged backgrounds with the academic support, financial assistance, and leadership training to become college graduates. Our vision and ultimate goal is to create universal access to college, one community at a time.
Since the program’s inception, we have helped more than 2,000 program graduates earn on
average $67,000 in college scholarships and aid over 4 years of college and have grown to
serve nearly 1,000 individuals each year. Program graduates have attended institutions such as
UCSD, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley,
and UCLA (among other top-25 institutions), including 29 Gates Millennium Scholarship
recipients.
Reality Changers students come from neighborhoods characterized with low educational
attainment, high crime and twice the amount of high school dropouts. About 30% have
immediate family members in prison. Uncertain citizenship status impacts the majority, including
being undocumented or having undocumented family members; others come from war-torn
nations. More than half speak English as a second language. In addition, 52% report they
experience depression, anxiety and/or anger.
Reality Changers is redefining the idea of opportunity for low-income and underrepresented
students in San Diego. Our comprehensive curriculum and activities build the academic,
socio-emotional, and college readiness skills for students to rise above their challenging
situations and become successful college graduates and productive community members.
Our youth's futures are in our hands. Join us by making a simple bequest, creating a charitable trust, purchasing a charitable gift annuity or contributing a property through a life estate to guarantee a stream of income for yourselves, and for future generations.
When you join our Legacy Circle you will be making a difference in the lives of thousands of San
Diego youth that are the leaders of tomorrow.
Consider these questions:
Have you considered creative ways to give that involve your estate plan?
Did you know you could consolidate all your regular donations for the next 5 years and take the entire tax deduction this year?
If you own real estate, you probably know you will have to pay nearly 25% tax when selling the property. Would you like to hear about how you can avoid that 25% tax by committing to a 10% gift at the end of your lifetime?
Did you know that you can give your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) directly to Reality Changers, avoid the income tax, and get a tax deduction for the gift?
Are you aware that key financial tools (ie. 401(k), IRA, Life Insurance, etc) are critical to your safeguarding your future? And they can be excellent tools to use in your charitable giving too?
Would you like to learn how to pass on your philanthropic passion to your children and grandchildren?
If any of these topics are of interest to you, or you have further questions, please contact Dawn
Wensel at Dawn@RealityChangers.org or 619.516.2220. Dawn will be happy to connect you with a team member that can discuss your needs.
CHARITABLE PLANNING
For an overview on charitable planning, take a minute to watch the presentation below.
About Reality changers
Our founder, Christopher Yanov, worked with gang-involved youth from 1996-2001. He
witnessed that poor academic results quickly opened the floodgates to a plethora of even more
problems, including violence, vandalism, teen pregnancy, and even death. Chris decided he
would offer students a real chance to change the realities of their lives.
Reality Changers started in 2001 with just four students and $300 to its name, shifting from a
gang-prevention program to a college-preparatory organization focused on building first
generation college students. Our founding principle was that it just wasn’t right that most
inner-city students knew more people who have been harmed or killed in the streets than people
who were on the road to college.
Students are coached to focus on their goals of becoming first generation college graduates,
using Reality Changers as their support system. We help students shift from a deficit-based to
an asset-based mindset and approach to life, reminding them that hope, resilience, and
community go a long way.
We couldn't do what we do without the individuals and organizations that support Reality Changers.
We are hoping to have you join us as we move forward with our mission.