TakingITGlobal

3 TakingITGlobal's #RisingYouth Community Service Grants program, launched in 2017, has approved 4,700 micro-grants led by young Canadians (15-30) amounting to $4,923,500 in funding distributed to date. These projects have resulted in 325,000+ volunteer hours and over 30,000 volunteer placements across the various fiscal years to date, made possible through funding by the Government of Canada as part of Canada Service Corps. Over 80% of projects are led by youth who identify 80% of projects are led by youth who identify from underrepresented communities from underrepresented communities, with approximately 30% of application referrals coming from over 100 community partner organizations who have offered support with promoting the grants and mentoring youth during their project journey. Each year, continued improvements have been made to support the participant experience including the launch of various tools and resources to support applicants, grantees, and alumni. Our program has maintained a Net Promoter Score of 90, reflecting high levels of satisfaction in the program delivery experience which has aimed to provide responsive service to applicants. Our average turnaround time for review and approval was 17 days, and improved to just 11 days in 2020, exceeding our promise of a response within 30 days. Given the context of a global pandemic, we are amazed at what has been achieved together with our team and partners involved. We asked all of our 2020 grantees to reflect on these questions: What was your biggest success in your project? What lessons did you learn? Analyzing over 2,200 responses, a key theme in both success and learning was related to self- growth. Words such as "realize", "possible", "learn", "impact", "feel", and "proud" were most often mentioned in the overall responses. Grantees expressed not only learning about skills vital to managing their projects, but also a change in outlook in what they are capable of, and what is possible for themselves and their communities. These responses were fit into the theme of "Overcoming Challenges" and "Self-Growth" respectively. Introduction Introduction Introduction 201,695 hours volunteered through #RisingYouth projects in 2020 12,277 team members collaborating with grantees on implementing their projects in 2020

• Cover