The start of a new school year means the beginning of the Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) program at four Brandon area High Schools: Neelin High School, Vincent Massey High School, Crocus Plains High School and Elton High School.
The YIP program is facilitated by the Brandon and Area Community Foundation (BACF) in partnership with Brandon’s United Way, where each of the 4 schools are given $3000 to be divided between 3 different organizations, each receiving $1000. The teaching element here is that youth learn about the granting process, from application to allocation to the awarding of the grant – in person!
“The YIP season is always fun,” says BACF Executive Director, Laura Kempthorne. “It’s always nice to see the students and who’s all participating.”
This program is a hands-on experience to learn the process of collecting applications, researching the specific projects presented, and then assessing the applications, to finally make the difficult decision on which organization actually receives the $1000 grant.
The number of students participating in each school ranges from about 12-20, all from Grades 9-12. Through the YIP program, students can focus on the details of each of the projects that are looking for the funding, and how these projects, and furthering their stability through the grant, will affect their communities in a positive way.
School staff members guide the students throughout the process, and by March 1st the students must make their decisions. Their decisions are presented to the BACF to which the Board sees what the students have presented and which recipients they’ve decided on. An awards program is the formal aspect of the program where the students award the grants to their chosen organization at an evening event next spring.
“This year the students at Vincent Massey is hosting the grants award evening, so the students will actually put together the program, the evening structure and the snacks,” explains Kempthorne. “Everybody quite enjoys it because everyone gets to see these youth and understand why certain organizations and certain programs were granted to.”
“But it’s a really fun night, not a long night, but it’s definitely a great impact for everyone who’s there,” she adds.
“These students, they’re moving forward into college and university and other areas of life where we hope they take this philanthropy with them and kind of carve out some of this in their own future.”
Please listen to Laura Kempthorne as she shares more on the Youth in Philanthropy program at the Brandon area High Schools below!
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