Press release

Sun Life Foundation is Crowdsourcing Financial Literacy Initiatives through the Brighter World Builder Challenge

Sun Life Foundation with the help of The Spark Project is looking to crowd source and fund financial literacy projects for 2018.

In celebration of 10 years of building a brighter world, Sun Life Foundation has partnered with The Spark Project, the leading crowdfunding platform and community in the Philippines, to search for, fund and accelerate 10 financial literacy initiatives for 2018. This collaboration will crowd source creative and innovative solutions from social innovators and change makers, helping them deepen their impact with the communities they serve.

This project is called the Brighter World Builder Challenge and was launched during Sun Life Foundation’s 10th year anniversary celebration last November.

“We’re giving a shout out to people who have ideas on projects focused on financial literacy, as it’s our company’s core competency,” said Alex Narciso, President of Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) and Sun Life Foundation “It’s our way of communicating, too, that we are entering the digital age, modernizing the foundation.”

Applications for the Brighter World Builder Challenge are open to all mission-driven groups, social enterprises, and nonprofit organizations creating positive change in their communities. “We’re very excited to work with Sun Life Foundation on this, and we’re looking forward to crowd source new financial literacy projects for the foundation,” said Patch Dulay, Founder and CEO of The Spark Project.

Applicants have a chance of receiving grant funding worth P100,000 from Sun Life Foundation, crowdfunding support from The Spark Project, and a chance to develop their initiatives in a Social Impact Bootcamp by The Spark Project.

Deadline for applications are until February 16, 2018. For more information, visit the Brighter World Builder Challenge website at https://www.thesparkproject.com/sun-life-brighter-world-builder-challenge.

Key Information

Sun Life Foundation in partnership with The Spark Project invite all financial literacy initiatives to apply to the Brighter World Builder Challenge!

About the Challenge

In celebration of 10 years of creating a brighter world, Sun Life Foundation has partnered with The Spark Project, the leading crowdfunding platform and community in the Philippines, to search for, fund and accelerate financial literacy initiatives for 2018. This collaboration will crowd source creative and innovative solutions from social entrepreneurs and change makers, helping them deepen their social impact on the communities they serve.

Applications for the Brighter World Builder Challenge are open to cause oriented groups, social enterprises, and nonprofit organizations creating positive change in their communities.

Applicants have a chance of receiving grant funding worth P100,000 from Sun Life Foundation, crowdfunding support from The Spark Project, and a chance to develop their initiatives in a Social Impact Bootcamp by The Spark Project.

Low rate of Financial Literacy in the Philippines

According to Standard and Poor’s survey last 2015, only 25% of Filipinos are financially literate. This would equate to approximately 75 million people who have no idea of financial concepts such as inflation, risk diversification, insurance, compound interest or let alone the idea of having a savings account.

While the government is pushing to increase financial inclusion by boosting access to bank accounts and other financial services, there is a need to also come up with innovative and non-traditional ways to increase financial literacy beforehand to different sectors in the country, as having little to no skills in financial concepts and management can still result to having high debts, mortgage defaults or insolvency.

This is most apparent for people in poverty and the less educated. While different government and non-government organizations have targeted them in expanding financial inclusion, there has always been a certain disconnect with approaches of how to educate and empower them. It is therefore necessary to bridge informational and methodological gaps with creative tools to best cater to the literacy needs of the ordinary Filipino.

Are you building a brighter world for your community?

The Brighter World Builder Challenge aims to discover and support high potential Financial Literacy initiatives that:

• Have a committed and passionate founding team
• Have a proven concept tested through a pilot or small-scale enterprise
• Have the potential to scale and be replicated
• Show significant social impact
• Are built on a sound and sustainable business model
• Are creative and innovative

The BWB Challenge will be selected based on their entries as determined by members of the Brighter World Builder screening committee curated by Sun Life Foundation and The Spark Project.

Awards and Benefits

Top Finalists will:

• Participate in a Social Impact Bootcamp to further refine their initiatives
• Get the opportunity to pitch their initiatives to the Brighter World Builder screening committee
• Have access to exclusive networking opportunities

Top Winners will:

• Be given a grant amounting to money of P100,000 to be used for the implementation of their proposed initiative.
• Get crowdfunding support from The Spark Project
• Be featured in media activities of The Sun Life Foundation and The Spark Project

Key Dates (dates may still change)

November 28, 2017 – January 31, 2018 (11:59 PM) – Application Period
January 31, 2018 - Application Screening and Deliberations
March 2, 2018 - Phase 1: Deliberation of Top Finalists
March 5-9, 2018 - Announcement of Top Finalists
March 24, 2018 - Social Impact Bootcamp for Top Finalists
April 5 or 6, 2018 - Phase 2: Pitching of Top Finalists
April 9-13, 2018 - Announcement of winners

Eligibility

Applications for the Brighter World Builder Challenge are open to organizations, social enterprises, and nonprofit entities in the Philippines, with at least one team member based in Metro Manila.

Sun Life Foundation and The Spark Project are looking for initiatives that aim to increase financial literacy of the community it wishes to serve.

If your answer is ‘yes’ to each of these questions, and are aligned with the terms, you are eligible to apply.

• Are you the founder, co-founder, CEO or hold an equivalent leadership position within the initiative your application represents?
• Is your initiative beyond proof of concept stage, with a successful pilot underway?
• Does your initiative have the potential to grow on a broad-scale, or replicate in a new community or context?
• Are you making a social impact in financial literacy through your initiative?
• Does your initiative have a viable business model or financial sustainability plan?

Terms of joining

• One application per group/organization will be accepted.
• Initiatives that are already financed or supported by Sun Life Foundation are not eligible.
• Employees of Sun Life Foundation, their parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries, joint ventures, participating advertising and promotion agencies are not eligible.

Criteria

Winning applications will show strength in the following areas:

• Social Impact (20%)- The initiative must have proven its worth on a pilot or small-scale basis, and already have measurable, quantifiable social impact.
• Creativity and Innovation (20%) - The initiative must represent an innovative approach to the problem it seeks to address, either through new methods, new models, new technologies, or application of old methods, models or technologies in a new, innovative way.
• Potential for scaling up and/or replication (20%)- The initiative should have strong growth potential and/or replicable to other social, cultural or geographical settings.
• Financial viability (20%)- The initiative must be built on a viable business model, and / or show realistic and long term plans for financial sustainability, and must have the potential to continue beyond the BWB Challenge.
• Organizational Leadership (20%)- The initiative and its leaders must show leadership to influence the field in which they work, as well as the ability to incorporate and leverage the grant by Sun Life Foundation and support offered through the BWB Challenge.