Monday 24 August 2015

Youth in Philanthropy 2015

The Youth in Philanthropy program provides students with an opportunity to learn about and be involved in philanthropy. The program was established in 2002 and is a part of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. The role of the foundation is to apply a combination of grants, research, community education and partnerships with donors and other funders to increase life opportunities and promote social inclusion.

The aim of the Youth in Philanthropy program is to inspire young people to use their enthusiasm, creativity and energy to begin a life-long commitment to giving through activities that have a positive impact on the community. Schools are invited to be a part of the program and then students are given support and training through a number of initiatives. A mentor is appointed to assist students in their decision making and a coordinator within the school assists with the organisation of activities.

This year Ivanhoe Grammar School was allocated three charities for funding applications:

Monash University – Sustainability Institute (Climateworks): aims to educate the youth of Australia on climate change and the submission was to convert information and research already completed by Climateworks to a useful online tool kit in the classroom.

Disability Media Inc.: aims to deliver a weekly training program in media production to students with disabilities. This charity requested funding to upgrade computer and filming equipment to better assist their students in their learning.

Women with Disabilities Victoria: work with disabled women from across Victoria to empower them to achieve their rights and seek change through education. Their submission requested to facilitate their new course ‘Enabling Younger Women’.

Each charity sought funding for a specific program and requested the amount they would like to receive and provided a grant application, supporting documents and an annual report. Careful and thorough assessment was made and research and discussions were conducted before the team visited each organisation.

After further discussion with the team mentor on the merits of each application and deliberation over the amounts to grant, working within the limits of the $15,000 the group reached a conclusion on the amounts.

Monash University: $9,500

Media Disabilities Inc.: $2,000

Women with Disabilities Victoria: $3,500

The team officially presented the decisions to the Foundation’s Board of Directors in the Council Chambers at the Melbourne Town Hall on Tuesday 11 August. It is hoped that each charity will then be presented with the grant after approval from the Foundation. The program has been very rewarding for everyone involved, in particular meeting and talking to organisations that are trying to help those disadvantaged groups in society was very inspiring.

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