Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has announced the second edition of the Distinguished Philanthropic Award in Schools, after the hugely successful inaugural award that was launched last year.
The UAE has a deservedly excellent reputation for enormous generosity and this award, launched by Dubai Cares in 2015, proves how enthusiastic and enterprising school children can be when it comes to philanthropy. All public and private schools across all seven emirates, were invited to participate last year, with the aim of encouraging the integration of philanthropy into the educational agenda of youth across the country. What resulted were extremely well thought out and executed fundraising campaigns.
Commenting on last year’s award, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares said: “The enthusiasm displayed by schools and students throughout the UAE was truly inspiring and the award was even more successful than we had hoped. All of us at Dubai Cares eagerly look forward to witnessing the energy and the forward thinking displayed by this country’s remarkable youth who are, in effect, the next generation of philanthropists.”
Scoring highly in 2015 were GEMS the Millennium School in Al Qusais, GEMS The Kindergarten Starters and Dubai National School in Barsha, GEMS Jumeirah College, Dubai English Speaking School and Pristine Private School, as well as Adnoc Schools (Female Branch) in Abu Dhabi. For the 2016 awards, with the support of our strategic partners, the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Knowledge & Human Development Authority (KHDA) and Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), Dubai Cares is seeking the participation of at least 100 schools in the award.
The award is divided into two categories; The Young Philanthropists Award and The Philanthropic School Award. The first recognizes the school with the most creative fundraising concept, while the second rewards the school that raises the biggest amount of funds. All schools throughout the UAE will again be invited to register, with emails and instruction manuals sent out to each. Between 3 October 2016 and 5 March 2017, registered schools will carry out their fundraising activities and, during April, an executive committee will evaluate all submissions according to the established points-based scoring system and will recognize the winning schools and students at an awards ceremony.
Students participating in The Young Philanthropists Award will be required to submit a fundraising report and schools will be permitted to nominate one project each for consideration by the awards committee. Dubai Cares will shortlist the top 10 to 15 concepts, after which the relevant students will present their cases to an executive committee that will select the top three winners.
For The Philanthropic School Award, schools will encourage students to work in groups on fundraising initiatives within their school grounds. The school that raises the highest amount of funds will be declared a winner. The fundraising activities launched will be planned, executed and led by the school and Dubai Cares will not require a specific type of activity/fundraising concept to be launched. Again, a points-based system will be applied, with the amount of funds raised and the level of participation in the initiatives (students, teachers, parents, etc.) all being scored.
Amal Al Redha, Director of Fundraising at Dubai Cares said, “This year’s award will no doubt build on the impressive momentum that we established last year and we are working towards enhancing the excellent relationships we already enjoy with schools, their student bodies and parents.”