Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) is a conservative youth educational activism organization that was founded in 1960 as a coalition between traditional conservatives and libertarians on American college campuses. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the chapter affiliate of Young America's Foundation. The purposes of YAF are to advocate public policies consistent with the Sharon Statement, which was adopted by young conservatives at a meeting at the home of William F. Buckley in Sharon, Connecticut, on September 11, 1960.

While the 1960s were its most successful years in terms of numbers and influence, YAF has experienced a resurgence in recent years, becoming active as a national organization with chapters on college and high school campuses throughout the United States. YAF's official publication is The New Guard.

Historians have documented the volatility inside YAF during its early years as a coalition of conservatives and libertarians. Kenneth Heineman writes, "YAF itself suffered internal strife. In 1969 the organization split into competing, irreconcilable factions." Gregory L. Schneider states, "In the mid-1970s YAF suffered from weak leadership based on factions and personalities rather than ability". Jerome Tuccile writes, "The second faction of rebels consisted of radical libertarians or anarchists, most of them belonging to Karl Hess's son Karl Hess IV's Anarcho-libertarian Alliance. This contingent was more interested in splitting off from YAF entirely." Rebecca E. Klatch writes, "When one young libertarian burned his draft card on the convention floor, the crowd turned into an angry mob and, ultimately, purged all libertarians from YAF. One libertarian faction stormed out of the meeting." Lauren Lassabe Shepherd describes YAF members as "United by anticommunism, Christian moralism, and disdain for bureaucracy and planned economies".

In September 1960, about 90 young people met at the childhood home of William F. Buckley Jr. in Sharon, Connecticut. They gathered to lay the groundwork for a new national conservative youth organization. It is here that Young Americans for Freedom was born and their statement of principles, the Sharon Statement, was drafted. The New Guard magazine made its debut as the official magazine of YAF in 1961. In the first four years of its existence, YAF grew rapidly on college campuses.

Ronald Reagan joined the YAF National Advisory Board in 1962 and for 42 years served as the Honorary Chairman.

In the 1960s, the Republican Party was divided between its conservative wing, led by Barry Goldwater, and its more liberal wing, led by Nelson Rockefeller. YAF members fell squarely on Goldwater's side and spearheaded the campaign of Barry Goldwater for president.

On March 7, 1962, a YAF-sponsored conservative rally filled Madison Square Garden in New York City, drawing 18,000 people. In attendance was Barry Goldwater. The event has been described as "the birthday of the conservative movement."

The second national YAF convention was held in 1963 at the Gault Hotel in Florida. With over 450 voting delegates in attendance. Hotel management at the Gault Hotel refused accommodations to Don Parker, an African-American delegate from Brooklyn. As word of this spread around the YAFers in attendance, a number of delegates and numerous others began gathering in the lobby of the hotel demanding that either the Gault Hotel allow all the black YAFers to stay and the hotel change its segregation policy or YAF would move the convention to another site. However, Black membership has always been exceptional in YAF and many of the organization's national board members have been outspoken segregationists, including Strom Thurmond, William Colmer, and L. Mendel Rivers.