Young people are rarely given the funding—or the agency—to shape the future they'll inherit. Despite being closest to the challenges they face, their ideas are often overlooked. Philanthropic funding overwhelmingly flows to established organisations rather than emerging young leaders; in the climate sector alone, less than 1% of funding reaches youth-led projects. This leaves many of the people best placed to tackle today's challenges without the resources or opportunities to act.

We will boldly address the gaps in funding and development opportunities for young leaders through the Spark Awards. We'll find overlooked young leaders with lived and learned experience of the challenges they're trying to solve. We'll fund their ideas at an early-stage, at a pivotal moment when most funders aren’t willing to take a risk. We'll provide them with tailored capacity-building support to bring their ideas to life while supporting their development to lead change over the long-term.