OFFICE Maison Jeanne Sauvé 1514 avenue Docteur-Penfield Montréal, QC, H3G 1B9 MAILING CP 42071 CSP Roy Montréal, QC, H2W 2T3 514.844.2472 [email protected] apathyisboring.com citizenfactory.com @apathyisboring Ce rapport annuel est aussi disponible en français. APATHY IS BORING ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 1st, 2014 - MARCH 31st, 2015 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND THE PRESIDENT Dear friends and supporters, On behalf of the staff and the Board of Directors of Apathy is Boring, we are pleased to present to you our 2013-2014 Annual Report. We are grateful to every donor, funder, partner, artist, and volunteer who has supported our efforts this year. We are inspired by all those who have reached out to lend a hand in strengthening our communities and our democracy. This year our three core program areas took on new and challenging projects, which stretched our scope as an organization and greatly enhanced our understanding of how to make real impact on youth electoral and civic engagement in Canada. Our Get Involved program connects us directly to youth across Canada. This past year we were in youth employment centres and community spaces across the country where we discussed the issue of youth voter apathy face-to-face with disengaged youth. These conversations were as engaging for us as they were for the participants. Our Elections program tests and researches mobilization techniques in an attempt to better understand the impact of our activities and the needs of Canadian youth. This past year we worked closely with the National Association of Friendship Centers to address the pressing need for conversations around Indigenous youth voting behavior. We also began work with Elections Canada and Elections BC to conduct and test the effectiveness of by-youth-for-youth registration drives. Our growing Youth Friendly program allows us to scale our impact by providing other organizations and government bodies with the tools they need to better integrate youth as decision-makers and meaningful participants within their organizations. This past year we provided youth-engagement audits to the Canadian Red Cross and the City of Grand Prairie, and conducted consulting services for Canadian Parks Council and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. We are excited that our work in this area continues to grow and deepen, creating greater spaces for youth to engage as valued citizens in our society. As Canada’s leading youth organisation working to inspire, motivate and engage young Canadians as active citizens, our continued development proves to us the importance of and the appetite that exists for the involvement of Canada’s youth in our democracy. Looking back on this year gives us the confidence to look forward. Next year will be a big one, as we plan our 5th federal election campaign in the history of Apathy is Boring. We are grateful for your continued support and look forward to the change that we can make together. Sincerely, Carolyn Loutfi Ilona Dougherty Director of Operations (2014–) President (2013–) & Co-Founder VISION A Canada where every young Canadian is an active and creative citizen, and youth are meaningfully engaged in all aspects of the democratic process. 80% 70% 60% Overall Turnout 50% Est. Youth Turnout 40% 30% 1975 1985 1995 2005 THE CONTEXT Canadian youth are not opting into the democratic process. In the 2011 Federal Election only 38.8% of Canadians aged 18-24 voted, continuing a long-term downward trend. Voting – or not voting – is a habit. If we don’t address this issue, in a generation we will have a country where the majority of citizens don’t vote. Meanwhile, millions of young Canadians aren’t volunteering, and 45% say it’s because no one asked them to. With the looming retirement of the baby boomers, young people will not be there to meet our country’s increasing need for volunteers unless we change the way we are engaging them in our communities. Young Canadians deserve to be a part of the democratic process and we need them to be active citizens. An engaged citizenry is key to the strength of our democracy. If we don’t engage young people now, we are setting ourselves up for the dangerous reality of a fragile democracy and a disengaged generation. MISSION Apathy is Boring is a non-partisan charitable organization that uses art and technology to educate youth about democracy, with the aim of increasing youth voter turnout, increasing youth engagement in the democratic process, and building a sustainable dialogue between youth and elected officials. METHODOLOGY GATHER KNOWLEDGE Every activity undertaken by Apathy is Boring begins with a discussion of the research that we need to do. Starting with this “homework” has two benefits: it ensures that we’ve correctly identified and analyzed the problems we’re tackling, and it helps us be efficient. We draw on knowledge from both practitioners and researchers. If there’s a lack of information, we start by conducting our own research. EXPERIMENT + INNOVATE Apathy is Boring is not afraid to experiment and innovate. Before we commit to a new activity, we test different ways to accomplish our mission. We also gather program level and strategic level data for each of our activities and programs. This data is used not only to evaluate the performance of each activity and program, but also allows us to identify high- impact solutions for the problems we’re tackling. MAXIMIZE IMPACT Apathy is Boring is a social innovator in the field of youth engagement. After testing and refining an activity, our next step is to maximize its impact. When we have the capacity to do so, we expand the reach of our own programs. Otherwise, we give our ideas away. By taking this “open source” approach and sharing our knowledge and strategies with other youth engagement stakeholders, Apathy is Boring can affect far more youth than any one organization could ever reach directly. PROGRAM AREAS VOTING We increase youth voter turnout through mobilization campaigns during federal, provincial, and municipal elections that inform our research projects which focus on improving youth mobilization tactics. GETTING INVOLVED We encourage youth to get involved in the democratic process and create opportunities for dialogue with their elected officials through ApathyisBoring.com and CitizenFactory.com, and workshops, street teams, and live events. YOUTH-FRIENDLY We give civil society and government the concrete tools they need to engage youth in decision- making through workshops, organizational audits, and other ‘Youth Friendly’ services and resources. ABOUT PHILOSOPHY YOUTH AS DECISION-MAKERS We believe that creating spaces for dialogue and decision-making opportunities for youth are critical to youth engagement in democracy. IMPACT We believe in solving the problem of declining youth engagement in democracy, not just raising awareness about it. We make sure our work has impact. REACHING THE UNENGAGED We believe in doing the hard work to reach and activate unengaged youth. INTERGENERATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS We believe in the importance and value of intergenerational partnerships. LOW-RISK ENTRY POINTS We believe in going to where young people are and not expecting young people to come to us, and that sometimes taking the first step towards civic engagement is the most important one. PROVIDING CHOICES AND INFORMATION We believe in providing information in an accessible way to educate and inform young people. We don’t believe in preaching. 11 000+ SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS WORKED WITH 17 YOUTH- SERVING AND YOUTH-LED ORGANIZATIONS THROUGHOUT B.C., ALLOWING US TO EXPAND OUR REACH TO GET OUT THE YOUTH VOTE DURING THE 1730 BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL ELECTION. 3 VIDEOS WERE INDIGENOUS YOUTH PRODUCED FROM THE GIVEN INFORMATION ABOUT WORKSHOP WITH 900+ VIEWS. HOW TO VOTE DURING THE QUEBEC PROVINCIAL ELECTION 10 000 YOUTH DIRECTLY REACHED IN PERSON DURING THE BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL ELECTION 73 000+ UNIQUE VISITORS THROUGHOUT BC THROUGHOUT +EVENTS CONCERTS TO VOTE AT VOTE TO ENCOURAGED THEM ENCOURAGED 51 TO APATHYISBORING.COM NEW ARTISTS SUPPORTED 7800+ VISITS OUR WORK AND WERE PROFILED ON APATHYISBORING.COM FROM TO CITIZENFACTORY.COM STARS TO SUUNS TO MOTEL RAPHAEL 2 COUNCIL ON YOUTH ELECTORAL ENGAGEMENT MEETINGS IN TORONTO AND OTTAWA LED BY 80+ MEDIA APPEARANCES WITH THE CBC, VANCOUVER SUN, CJAD RADIO, COUNCIL FOUNDING CHAIR LA PRESSE, LE DEVOIR, GLOBAL, INCLUDING WEEKLY JEAN PIERRE KINGSLEY FORMER CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER OF CANADA (1990-2007) APPEARANCES ON CTV NEWS CHANNEL CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOPS GIVING YOUNG CANADIANS THE TOOLS AND INFORMATION THEY NEED, AT INSPIRIT FOUNDATION - CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY, THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, PROJECT INTEGRATION MONTREAL, MAISON TANGENTE 40+WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS AND AT MANY OF THE CARREFOUR JEUNESSE EMPLOI MONTRÉAL, TO NAME A FEW. YOUTH-FRIENDLY PANELS AND PRESENTATIONS SHARING THE VALUE OF YOUTH ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CANADIAN RED CROSS, INSTITUT DU NOUVEAU MONDE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDSHIP CENTRES, AGA KHAN FOUNDATION, ELECTIONS BC, ASHOKA CANADA, THE ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO MUNICIPALITIES AND THE CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP. 278 SURVEYS COLLECTED IN OUR GRANDE PRAIRIE MUNICIPAL AUDIT GAVE YOUTH THE TOOLS THEY NEEDED TO CAST A BALLOT IN 4 PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS INCLUDING: BC PROVINCIAL, MONTREAL MUNICIPAL, GRANDE PRAIRIE MUNICIPAL, QUEBEC PROVINCIAL A KEY PARTNER IN ELECTION CANADA’S 3RD ANNUAL CANADA’S DEMOCRACY WEEK 400+ PEOPLE ATTENDED EVENTS IN HALIFAX, WINNIPEG, OTTAWA, AND VANCOUVER 2013 marked yet another busy year for Apathy is Boring. We are proud to have developed new partnerships with the NAFC, the City of Grande Prairie, and Elections BC. We travelled across Canada to lead projects, researched how to best engage diverse communities of young people, and of course, encouraged young Canadians to vote. YOUTH ELECTORAL AUDIT Apathy is Boring, in partnership with the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethical Leadership, collaborated to develop a ‘Youth Electoral Audit Tool’ over the summer of 2013.