Students in Youth in Philanthropy program distribute $115,971 in grants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 20, 2008

Winnipeg high school students are supporting a suicide hotline at Klinic, breakfast programs for inner-city elementary schools, a summer program at Graffiti Art Programming, and dozens of other community projects. The support comes in the form of grants, made through The Winnipeg Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy program. The program will be celebrated tonight at a special event at 7:30pm at Canad Inns Fort Garry, Celebrations Dinner Theatre, 1824 Pembina Highway.

Launched in 1999, Youth in Philanthropy is an initiative of The Winnipeg Foundation that gives local youth responsibility for allocating a portion of the Foundation's granting budget to support community charities. In 2007-08, student grantmakers in Winnipeg's Youth in Philanthropy program made 153 grants to 92 charities, for a total of $115,971. More than 300 students, representing 22 Winnipeg high schools and the Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg, participated in the program this year.

"Youth in Philanthropy introduces hundreds of high school students to the needs of our charitable community," says Richard L. Frost, Chief Executive Officer of The Winnipeg Foundation. "Students gain leadership skills that will last a lifetime and make thoughtful, high impact grants that benefit our community. Our future is in good hands with these students."

The Winnipeg Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy program is part of an international movement by community foundations to engage youth in community development and grantmaking. Each participating school is allocated $5,000 to use for grantmaking in the community. The year-long project is run as an extracurricular activity in schools and begins with participants identifying areas of focus, researching community charities and visiting organizations before deciding how to award the grant money.

The Winnipeg Foundation, your centre for community philanthropy, is a community foundation that supports local registered charities through grants generated from permanently endowed funds. Last year the Foundation made grants totaling more than $17.8 million to more than 680 organizations, including grants recommended by Youth in Philanthropy committees.

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For more information, contact:
Kerry Ryan, Communications Coordinator
p: 944-9474
e: kryan@wpgfdn.org
www.wpgfdn.org