Launched at CGI University (CGI U) 2016, the CGI U Innovation Fund will source, support, and feature the most effective, high-impact student innovators and entrepreneurs from around the world. Working within the CGI U Commitment to Action model, Innovation Fund grants will provide students with critical seed funding to help launch and scale their early-stage projects. The awarded funds will range from approximately $2,000 to $10,000. Accepted students receiving funding through the Innovation Fund will also be invited to attend the CGI U 2017 meeting.
There is a two-phase online application process for prospective Innovation Fund grantees. Phase one is the pre-application, which invites interested and eligible students to provide a personal statement, outline their Commitment to Action, and demonstrate a tangible need for early-stage seed funding.
The pre-application is followed by phase two, an invitation-only full application, which will select students to provide greater detail on their Commitments to Action, project budgets, and specific spending projections.
Click here to apply.
More about the CGI U:
Building on the successful model of the Clinton Global Initiative, which brings together world leaders to take action on global challenges, President Bill Clinton launched the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) in 2007 to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world.
Each year, CGI U hosts a meeting where students, university representatives, topic experts, and celebrities come together to discuss and develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton hosted CGI U 2016 at the University of California, Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area on April 1-3. The meeting brought together more than 1,200 students to make a difference in CGI U’s five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.
But CGI U is more than just an event. It is a growing community of young leaders who don’t just discuss global challenges–they take real, concrete steps toward solving them. Throughout the year, and as a prerequisite of attending the CGI U meeting, students develop their own Commitments to Action: new, specific, and measurable initiatives that address pressing challenges on campus, in local communities, or around the world. Commitments range from manufacturing wheelchairs for developing countries to establishing campus bike share programs, from creating free vision clinics to developing e-learning applications for mobile phones.
Throughout the year, students are also invited to apply to become CGI U Campus Representatives. Colleges and universities can engage with CGI U by joining the CGI University Network to support and mentor innovative student commitment-makers from their respective campuses by providing seed funding for new projects and initiatives.
CGI U is proof that young people have the power to make a significant impact by confronting some of the world’s most urgent challenges. Since 2008, students have made more than 6,250 Commitments to Action, and nearly $3 million in funding has been awarded to these commitment-makers through CGI U.