The McGill Mastercard Foundation Transitions Fund provided opportunities for Mastercard Foundation Scholars and Alumni to engage individually and in cohorts, with McGill partners and alumni working on concrete short-term and long-term projects. Mastercard Foundation Scholars and Alumni had themed funding they could apply for to work collaboratively, building on internship and other work-integrated learning experiences, as well as opportunities through entrepreneurship and employment-creation projects. Relevant professional development and career placement opportunities were made available in addition to academic and professional mentorship by peers and senior mentors from networks of partners and alumni.
The three different levels of funding allowed for Mastercard Foundation Scholars and Alumni to initiate or scale projects by developing collaborations with organizations that could potentially lead to future employment. The funding streams were:
- Tiny Stream: below $1,000 for initial ideation and minor projects (e.g., conducting initial needs assessments, participating in events);
- Startup Stream: between $1,000-5,000 for projects beyond the initial ideation phase (e.g., prototyping, testing, conducting market research for scaling); and
- Partnership Stream: above $5000 for longer-term partnership projects (e.g., implementing projects with organizations, especially those that provide matching contributions; funding of up to $15,000 typically for partnership projects of about 4-6 months, with higher levels of funding for projects up to 2 years).
Central to our approach was the activation of a McGill Mastercard Foundation Transitions Fund Governance Council (GC) that includes McGill staff, students, alumni, and industry/community partners with relevant experiences and networks in the review of proposals and allotment of funds.
