On January 3, nearly 100 people from 41 countries brought energy, passion, and the spirit of giving to the World’s First Global Youth Giving Circle. Hosted by the Global Youth Philanthropy Network, YouthRoots, Philanthropy Together, GivingTuesday, GADeF International, Honeycomb, and the African Youth Philanthropy Network, this event brought youth philanthropists from across the globe together to learn, share their insights, and gift funds to global organizations serving the biggest global needs.

Speakers included Rosmarie Jah, Lead for Education Advocacy and Partnerships at UNICEF, and representatives from every continent who shared about their youth philanthropy work. Thank you to those who participated in the “Youth Philanthropy Around the World Tour!”

After hearing from the speakers, participants self-selected into 5 issue-focused groups to participate in the World’s FIRST Global Youth Giving Circle. There were breakout rooms on Economic Security, Education, Environment, Access to Food/Water, and Health. Each issue area was seeded at $2,000 and participants additionally had the opportunity to personally contribute to the funding pool.

Selected Organizations

Congratulations to the selected organizations who received funding at this historic event: 

• Economic Security: Street Business School 
• Education: Global Partnerships for Education
• Environment: Human Impacts Institute 
• Food/Water: Water for People
• Health: YLabs

Event Response

Young people are our future (and the present!) and should be part of the decision-making process on how funding should best be spent to tackle youth issues. Bringing together youth philanthropists and change-makers from around the world for this event was proof of young people’s ability and desire to make a change at any scale and the power of youth philanthropy.

But don’t just take our word for it… Here’s what the participants had to say:

• “The best part of The World’s First Giving Circle is that it demonstrates the power of collective action. It is an inspiring example of how people can come together to tackle social issues and create positive change in their communities. Seeing people living in Tanzania and Israel was so cool! Knowing we were all in different time zones. It is an exciting and rewarding area to explore and indeed, I would be interested in learning more about philanthropy and what role I can play in it.”
• “Thank you for this amazing opportunity to take part in something so big and transcontinental.”
• “Hearing from the youth philanthropists was such an awe-inspiring experience.”
• “I keep realizing just how big and diverse the philanthropy scene is and hope it continues growing.”

Thank you to the participants, observers, and our partners for showing up, sharing, and making this event possible. 

Global Youth Philanthropy Network (GYPN)

A handful of youth philanthropists and organizations around the world are working to launch the Global Youth Philanthropy Network (GYPN). This event served as a catalyst to bring together people around the globe working in this niche sector to start conversations around a potential network and building out a leadership team.

We know the power of philanthropy. We know the power of youth. The GYPN strives to bring together youth involved in philanthropy across every corner of the globe, with every identity, and from every background who are working in this powerful sector to maximize the impact that we can all have. Youth are our future. Youth philanthropists are the future of philanthropy. Building a strong youth philanthropy sector will set future generations up for success in achieving a more just and equitable world where every individual and community can thrive.

Click here to stay updated about the Global Youth Philanthropy Network and/or join the leadership team!

Photos

What an honor to work with this stellar planning team! Dante with GivingTuesday was a fabulous emcee.

Regilon (Regis) from Brazil shared about his environmental philanthropic work with Fundo Casa.

A representative from one of the breakouts shared about their process and final grant decision. Thank you Philanthropy Together for facilitating the breakout giving circles! You rock.

A wave from the World’s FIRST Global Youth Giving Circle