This fall, Global Youth Fund is pleased to offer a unique challenge to FOUR schools in the Vancouver-Lower Mainland area: form a group of 20 youth and use GYF’s bottom-up democratic process to select a project for change, and we will fund your project up to $1,000.

Ask yourself – What can you do with $1,000 to create maximum impact in your community or the world?

HOW IT WORKS 

The process can be adjusted to accommodate each group’s needs but the following 7 steps can be completed in less than 2 months: 

1. Form Chapter 
   Find 20 students who are interested.  You don’t have to be in the same class.  All you need is a common desire to help the group create positive change. 
    
2. Global Youth Fund Presentation 
   Invite Global Youth Fund’s founder to come in and give a presentation, explaining the bottom-up democratic process and its benefits. 
    
3. Brainstorm Ideas 
   Work individually or in pairs to come up with project ideas for the group to consider and evaluate.  Post them on Global Youth Fund’s website in your chapter’s discussion forum (coming soon). 
    
4. Online Dialogue 
   Engage in discussion about the ideas that your group has come up with.  Ask questions.  Make sure you understand each idea’s purpose, potential impact, and its strengths and weaknesses. 
    
5. Vote for Finalists 
   Take part in online voting to choose your top 3 ideas.  These are the finalists.  
    
6. Prepare for Youth Assembly 
   Pick a day when your group can set aside 3 to 4 hours to evaluate the finalists and pick the winner. The finalists should prepare 10-minute presentations to give to the entire group.  You may revise your ideas to incorporate comments if you wish. 
    
7. Youth Assembly 
   Global Youth Fund facilitates your group through presentations, evaluations, dialogue and voting to choose the winning project.

RULES & GUIDELINES

To ensure the best outcome and to fulfill our program goals, we need to impose the following conditions: 

1. No Fundraising or Funding Campaigns
   Fundraising can serve a lot of good but we want to encourage you to come up with your own solutions to the problems you want to address.  Asking yourself “How would I solve this problem?” is very different from “Who do I want to give money to?”     

   Also, the funding you receive from GYF is for you to use.  It’s not meant to be redirected to organizations or persons in need.
    

2. Project Should be “Charitable”
   Your project should benefit society and the planet in some obvious way.  If GYF thinks your project would not fall under Revenue Canada’s fairly broad definition of what’s “charitable,” then it cannot be one of the three finalists.
    
3. Under $1,000
   You should be able to implement your project with the funding Global Youth Fund gives you.  You should not have to raise more money from other sources.  Keep this in mind when you’re brainstorming ideas.
    
4. No “Canvassing” for Votes
   Make the best case for your project idea by talking about its benefits.  But do not ask others in the group to vote your project.  Respect their right to make their own decision about what’s best.  Do not ask them to vote for you because you’re their friend.
    
5. Impartial Organizer
   The process works best if one of the lead organizers of your group remains impartial throughout the selection process.  That means you are not trying to get other students to support one particular idea.  Rather, you are encouraging everyone to come up with their own ideas and get involved in the discussions, dialogue and voting.

Download Changemakers Challenge document (PDF) for more information and instructions on how to proceed.

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