Anne Sim - Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI)

ANNE SIM - YOUTH PHILANTHROPY INITIATIVE (YPI)

Our speaker this week was Rotarian Anne Sim taking us on a “whirl wind taster with audience participation” about (Youth and Philanthropy) YPI Scotland.

Anne explained that in Scotland there are 275 schools participating in this initiative including 9 in Moray and 3 in Highland. YPI involves S2 & S3 pupils from each school who work together as a team to develop creative presentation bids to try to secure £3000 grants for their chosen local charity.

Participation in YPI encourages and teaches the pupils to work as a team, encouraging team negotiations and learning to identify and use team members talents. Team members are encouraged to research local social issues, think about what social issues are important to them as an individual and what local charities are involved in these and how specifically funding could help.

Anne informed us that there are 25,470 registered charities in Scotland and 521 within Moray and that participation in YPI brings in £27,000 each year to Moray charities alone.

Each team work together for a 10–12 week period researching their chosen charity, thinking “out of the box” on how they can present their bids by developing a creative presentation lasting 8-10 minutes. The Rotary group then enjoyed watching some of the clips from S2-3 pupils demonstrating the excellent presentations produced. 

A comprehensive Q&A session then occurred within the Rotary members. Anne finished off her talk by sending a short information update about YPI which can be found below.

About YPI

Since it was introduced to Scotland in 2008 by The Wood Foundation, it has engaged more than 230,000 young people who have taken responsibility for £5m of charitable giving.

YPI is the biggest independent initiative being delivered in Scottish education. Each school is responsible for directing a grant of £3000 to a local charity championed by its students through a unique programme of teamwork, research, and competition.

YPI engages a full year-group of students, developing skills and confidence through a contextualised learning experience. The programme raises awareness of social issues and local charities and is a vital means of devolved, locally driven grant-making. 275 school throughout Scotland are participating this year from S1 to S6 (Moray are primarily S2 & S3)

YPI is managed and principally funded by The Wood Foundation.
A dedicated team works closely with all participating schools to fully realise the opportunity for their settings.

Examples of local charities previously supported:

Clan Moray, Moray School Bank, RDA Moray, Anderson Care Home, Logan’s Fund, Men’s Shed, Kieran’s Legacy and Abbie's Sparkle to name but a few.

For more information visit the YPI website https://ypiscotland.org.uk/