CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A money-skills nonprofit that three North Carolina high school seniors started as a sophomore club has grown into a national effort, with student chapters in about 20 states and lessons delivered to thousands of children.
The nonprofit, known as BFF of America, says its curriculum has now reached more than 6,500 students at upward of 100 schools. It counts more than 80 chapters and wants a presence in every state before this year is out.
Two of the founders attend East Chapel Hill High School and the third goes to Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw. The group became official in the summer of 2025, and its first district partner was Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
The founders have said the idea grew from seeing how unevenly money lessons were reaching students in their own community. Their own families shaped the mission as well, since two are children of first-generation immigrants who faced financial strain and the third was raised by a single parent.
The organization runs as a student-led 501(c)(3). It sends volunteers into schools to teach personal finance, holds donation drives and fundraisers, and offers BFF Academy, which pairs an online classroom with an app so students can practice what they learn.
The teens are also working with state lawmakers, pushing to add basic economic ideas such as scarcity and opportunity cost to the eighth-grade curriculum in North Carolina so students start building those skills before high school.
Its stated longer-term targets include reaching more than 50,000 students by the end of next school year and partnering with more than 100 school districts.
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