Innovative collaborative fund by and for young people
The Demaimpact collaborative fund was created in response to two observations. First, that some segments of society – young people in particular – were more severely affected than others by the Covid-19 crisis and, second, that beneficiaries are rarely included in the funding decision-making process.
The first initiative of its kind in Switzerland, Demaimpact is co-funded by four foundations, including Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, which partnered with WISE to get the fund off the ground. It provides a group of young people from a range of backgrounds with the opportunity to engage in philanthropy by working as a committee to select projects designed by and for their peers, thus enabling them to play a part in shaping the world of tomorrow. Following a call for applications, 10 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 from French-speaking Switzerland were selected. WISE organized four co-creation workshops for the group, focusing on the principles of public interest and providing participants with the tools they needed to select projects that address the issues they care about. They were then entrusted with an amount to allocate as grants, applying the selection criteria they had defined.
Impact of the project
Following the first few sessions, the 10 young people agreed on the issues they wanted to focus on and defined their selection criteria. A call was issued for projects targeting youth in French-speaking Switzerland, with a focus on education for social inclusion and on the environment, specifically biodiversity in and around urban areas. The group ultimately selected four projects.
WISE played a central role in the creation of the Demaimpact fund, which is hosted by Swiss Philanthropy Foundation. First, their belief in the importance of the issues the fund seeks to address convinced us to come on board alongside three other foundations. Second, they provided invaluable support to the young people, helping them choose the issues they want to target and define selection criteria.
How WISE added value
Our contribution to this initiative was in two parts. First, we approached several donors to contribute to a collaborative fund. Our conviction that it is important to include young beneficiaries in the decision-making of a fund designed to meet their needs persuaded several foundations to partner with us. We also outlined processes to ensure that young people were included in every stage of decision-making and drew up the corresponding guidelines. We then we facilitated a series of workshops for the group, sharing our perspective as practitioners on the state of philanthropy today and how we monitor grant recipients.