Global Citizen Year

Global Citizen Year (renamed Tilting Futures in 2024) is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, which equips young people with the intellectual and emotional toolkit to develop empathy to connect with people of all backgrounds, define their own path, and create meaningful impact on global issues.

Founded by Harvard Business School graduate Abby Falik in 2009, based on the blueprint that she presented and won first place in the 2008 Pitch for Change, the organization has launched over 2700+ leaders from 100+ countries since 2010.

Activities and recognition
Global Citizen Year launched its pilot program in the 2009-10 academic year, as part of which U.S. and United World College students who had finished high school and not yet enrolled in college could participate in the organization's intensive service learning and leadership program, and receive training and mentorship through individualized apprenticeships with Global Citizen Year field staff and local partners in countries that varied each semester. The organization, partnering with colleges from Tufts to Claremont McKenna, hosted its programs in countries including but not limited to Brazil, Ecuador, India, and Senegal.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as lockdowns were implemented in numerous countries and territories around the world, Global Citizen Year adapted its transformative learning model to launch the Global Citizen Year Academy. Designed in partnership with Minerva Project, the program offered online courses accredited through Minerva Schools at KGI for students to develop the insights and interdisciplinary skills required for success in college and beyond through an engaging blend of academic and experiential learning, workshops with leading innovators, and collaborators with peers from around the world. As part of their commitment to curate a diverse international cohort, Global Citizen Year partnered with the Shawn Mendes Foundation to provide $250,000 in financial aid.

In 2023, Global Citizen Year launched Take Action Lab (TAL), a 12-week program at the core of the organizations current direct-impact work. Students in the program complete a four-week virtual curriculum before living with a global cohort and learning how to create meaningful impact on human rights while apprenticing at non-governmental organizations in Cape Town, South Africa.

Recognition
In 2018, Outside named Global Citizen Year one of the best places to work in the United States. At the 2019 Builders + Innovators Summit, founder and the then CEO Abby Falik was honored by Goldman Sachs as one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs for the third consecutive year. In 2023, the Gap Year Association awarded Global Citizen Year with the Karl Haigler Excellence in Research Award for the groundbreaking research the organization had conducted on the positive impact the Academy has had on its participants on a variety of competencies related to success in careers, further education, and life.

Vision and goals
With a growing demand for leaders who represent society's diversity and approach situations with a set of global competencies in mind from colleges and employers alike, Global Citizen Year has allocated a $50 Million New Leaders Fund to realize its five-year mission, as part of which the organization aims to:


 * Launch 10,000 new leaders equipped to build a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world
 * Change the composition of future changemakers through grants and scholarships
 * Activate a dynamic and recognized alumni network that has an outsized impact on society
 * Redefine leadership in a way that puts people, purpose, and the planet ahead of personal gain