We want our students to wake up every day and know that their ideas can make a difference. Thanks to our community's generosity they see their dreams put into action with the UNIS Impact Fund, designed to help Change the World for Good!
By 2021-2022:
2,052 Lives impacted by Impact Fund Grants
301 Students impacted with Impact Fund projects
111
kWp Capacity solar system funded
2,825 kWh Solar power from
pilot project (as of Jan 31, 2022)
2.95
Tons of carbon offset from pilot project (as of Jan 31, 2022)
A Solar School with its own Botanical Garden and Sustainability Centre was the vision set by our students passionate for our community to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
And this year, thanks to the community’s support for the UNIS Impact Fund with donations of more than $120,000, their dream is becoming reality.
This year, we have already started to generate clean electricity with our pilot solar project, generously donated by SEV Solar, a local company inspired by our students’ passion for learning (pictured above). And due for completion before the end of the year, will be solar panels covering 445m2 (covering 2 of our 10 buildings) with a 111kWp capacity system producing clean energy every day for the UNIS grid.
The Impact Fund solar project and the Sustainability Centre, already in action recycling our community’s plastic, were joint projects with the School’s Sustainability Committee and an important part of our new Strategic Plan placing students at the centre.
It is our students that launched the projects and they will also be the ones leading community action empowered by these new resources.
When we started our UNIS Impact Fund more than two years ago in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Board of Directors decided to hand over the goal making to our students and community, and more than 1200 votes were registered for our Solar and Botanical Garden flagship projects.
Who better to choose the goals for our Impact Fund Philanthropy than our student generation? Our young people driving change was the theme at the UN’s Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow and our UNIS Impact Fund seeks to empower exactly that. At UNIS we leverage our identity as one of only two UN international schools to engage our students in creating real world solutions to real world problems.
Last year, our students worked with others from International Schools in Hanoi to present the urgent need for climate action directly to UN Under Secretary General, Fabrizio Hochschild, who joined the students in a live session to hear their bold messages and take them to the UN’s General Assembly. And of course, when our students articulate what they need to be successful, our UNIS community listens and responds. Thanks to donations from parents, faculty, staff and alumni the two Impact Fund projects are now operational with the next phases planned.
We are already well on track to become one of the first schools in the region operating with clean energy from solar and with our ongoing Impact Fund campaign, we hope to both role model and inspire other schools to make this commitment.
In addition, our Botanical Garden with its Green Learning Zone for planting and experimentation, the Sustainability Centre and the planned Garden of Philanthropy celebrating Vietnamese indigenous plants, ensures the School has a hub for its sustainability ambitions.
The work empowered by philanthropy has become so embedded into the School that what began as Impact Fund initiatives have been adopted by the School as part of its long-term sustainability strategy.
Realises our ambitions as educators - Learning Impact!
Ensures opportunities for everyone - Community Impact!
Furthers our Mission, driven by our Values and Vision - Strategic Impact!
Delivers Agenda 2030 - World Impact!
Goals & Grants
The Impact Fund supports two kinds of projects:
Big Idea GOALS - ambitious projects for the benefit of our UNIS Hanoi community, selected through a community process and then adopted for our year-long Impact Fundraising campaign.
Project GRANTS - smaller projects designed to support individuals or small groups with risk-taking, piloting, prototyping ideas or advocacy. Applications for Grants are open all year. You can send the Impact Fund Committee your application for a project funding today!
Approved projects must create impact in the following areas:
Sustainability initiatives
Service Learning
Learning Excellence: Academics, Arts, Athletics
Facilities improvements
Professional Development
Impact Fund Committee
At the heart of the UNIS Impact Fund is the community. This is a project fund to support learning made possible by community fundraising and all the decisions will be taken by the Impact Fund Committee - made up of students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni!
The UNIS Hanoi Impact Fund Committee (IFC) will ensure that funds raised in the name of the UNIS Hanoi Impact Fund are disbursed in accordance with their defined purpose, provide oversight of process and ensure integrity for donors.
The UNIS Hanoi IFC is a decision making group at the designation of the Head of School who shall only intervene in the process if the spirit of the UNIS Hanoi Impact Fund is not respected, the guidelines not adhered to or the institutional reputation of the School is at risk.
Proposals are sought for projects from small groups or individuals which align with the outlined ambitions of the UNIS Impact Fund but are smaller scale (less than 2,500 USD) than the annual community projects.
GRANTS are designed to support risk-taking, pilot programmes and advocacy initiatives. They may also be used to respond to immediate or urgent opportunities for learning.
Proposals are evaluated and approved by the Grants Sub Committee, consisting of members from the Impact Fund Committee who are able to commit to the rolling timeline of the Grants programme.
The Grants Sub Committee meets on a monthly or quarterly cycle (as needed) to:
Review and evaluate proposals
Invite finalists to present/pitch their projects (if appropriate) and award grants
Receive reports from funded projects.
Rolling Grants are supported through the generous support of the School Community Organisation.
