Unveiled during the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, the three-year commitment will invest $15 million
The Western Union Foundation has announced Opportunity Beyond Borders, a three-year commitment to provide vulnerable youth with the skills and education needed to succeed in today’s global digital economy.
Unveiled at Concordia Summit, during the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the program will focus its $15 million investment on non-governmental organization (NGO) programs and research across five continents by 2022. Supported programs will equip people on the move with the technology and entrepreneurship skills needed to thrive in the jobs of the future as well as provide other critical supports like counselling, career guidance and scholarships.
The Western Union Foundation has already begun executing on its Opportunity Beyond Borders commitment. Some of these initiatives include:
Programs: Through the funding of programs like MIT D-Lab and Watson Institute which focus on innovation and business development skills programs for future entrepreneurs, we are able to support underrepresented youth in partnership with the Techstars Foundation. Learn more here.
Research: Funding a multi-year joint initiative between the Center for Global Development (CGD) and Refugees International to generate global and local evidence for the need for policy changes that improve refugees’ formal labor market access (LMA). Learn more here.
Grantmaking Challenge: Grassroots non-profits who align with our mission will have the opportunity to receive funding, with an open grant process launching in Fall 2019 across 25 key geographies. Additional details will be made available on wu.com/foundation in October.
Opportunity Beyond Borders follows the successful completion of Education for Better, a goal set in 2015 to provide 50,000 women, youth, migrants and refugees with workforce training and education, enabling access to the global economy. Thanks to the generosity of Western Union and its partners, the Western Union Foundation has exceeded its goal, impacting the lives of more than 75,000 people. To learn more about Education for Better, see our wrap up report here.
The Western Union Foundation believes that education is the surest pathway to economic opportunity. After nearly 20 years of impact, we are continuing to deliver against our mission with our Opportunity Beyond Borders commitment, to invest $15 million by 2022, with a focus on empowering forcibly displaced and marginalized youth with the training and education needed to succeed in today’s technology-driven global economy. We also provide funding to communities in crisis through disaster relief and other humanitarian efforts, a key reason for forced migration. To date, more than $124 million has been given to fund projects and scholarships in 174 countries across the globe. The Western Union Foundation is a separate charitable corporation that is tax-exempt under 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code, and receives support from The Western Union Company, its employees, agents and business partners.
Contributions to the Foundation are tax-deductible for US income tax purposes. To learn more, visit wu.com/foundation or follow us on Twitter @TheWUFoundation.
