About Rise

Rise supports promising young people and provides opportunity for life as they work to serve others.

The program starts at ages 15-17 and encourages a lifetime of service and learning by providing support that includes need-based scholarships, mentorship, networking, access to career development opportunities, and the potential for additional funding as Rise Global Winners work toward solving humanity’s most pressing problems.

In partnership with the Rhodes Trust, Rise is one of Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s philanthropic initiatives to foster global talent.

Rise supports a life of service
We support promising young people and provide them with opportunities that allow them to work together to serve others over their lifetimes

Rise is a global community.
If one person alone can change the world, imagine what a network of exceptional people can do together throughout their lives. That is the vision of Rise.

Rise looks for brilliance.
We look for brilliance, in whatever form it takes, wherever it is in the world.  From high school classrooms, to refugee camps, to science fairs, we believe that brilliance is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. We’re on a mission to change the odds for the world’s most exceptional people from a young age and throughout their lives.

Rise was founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt in partnership with the Rhodes Trust to support promising young people and provide them with opportunities that allow them to work together to serve others over their lifetimes

Rise partners with trusted global institutions that have long been committed to supporting young people with the potential to build a better world.

We’ve developed collaborations with a broad variety of organizations in the public, private, and social sectors—including schools, universities, nonprofits, advocacy groups, businesses, and others.

Every partnership with Rise is unique, expanding the program’s reach across the globe, sharing cultural insights, bridging gaps in knowledge, reducing barriers to access support and providing new perspectives across the initiative. 

The world’s most important problems will be solved by the next generation of leaders. Yet too often, the most exceptional people never realize their full potential for global impact. Either they are never discovered, become isolated at a young age, lack access to opportunities to develop their ideas, or face social and economic barriers. 

At the same time, systems for identifying talent—such as universities and employers—too often rely on existing, traditional networks. We’re leaving countless exceptional people on the sidelines.  

If one person alone can change the world, imagine what a network of exceptional people can do together throughout their lives. That is the vision of Rise.

Research shows that there are thousands, if not millions, of exceptional people around the world who could have made a large impact had they been discovered and supported earlier in life. 

Research also shows that the networks and information young people encounter in the final years of secondary school-—before college or entering the workforce—are critical to shaping the direction of their lives. At this time in life, young people are full of creative ideas, unhindered by the reasons something can’t be done, and more willing to work collaboratively. 

The world’s challenges are also bigger and more complex than ever. Today’s generation of young people confront climate change; lack of access to healthy food and safe water; educational setbacks due to COVID-19; and racial, gender, and other inequality. At the same time, we have better tools than ever to solve these problems.  We need a new generation of leaders that can deal with the growing complexity of the world—and that can use the power of new tools and technologies to solve our greatest challenges. 

We support emerging talent across disciplines and their ideas as they work on solutions we can't even imagine today. If one person alone can change the world, imagine what a network of exceptional people can do together throughout their lives. That is the vision of Rise.

Everyone who applies joins a global community of leaders and gains access to opportunities from our partners around the world. 

Finalists participate in educational and social impact online learning experiences, offered through Rise, to level up their skills and grow their networks. They also gain access to funding on a competitive basis. 

The Rise Global Winners receive benefits to help them scale their impact. These benefits include a fully-funded residential summit, need-based higher education scholarships, funding for ideas on a competitive basis, access to a network of other Rise Global Winners, starter technology packages, mentorship, and career services.

In addition, the program may provide additional benefits and services to Winners and other members depending on need and funding.

The program provides the following benefits to Rise Global Winners:

• Residential Summit: One fully-funded residential summit with other Rise Global Winners from their cohort—to be held in a rotating location globally. Attendance at this Summit is required to maintain Global Winner status.
• Higher Education Scholarships: A four-year, post-secondary scholarship at any accredited university, including tuition and a living stipend, based on need and where not already covered by financial aid.
• Funding for Ideas on a Competitive Basis: Opportunity to apply for funding for innovative ideas—ranging, for example, from seed money to start a social enterprise to grants for a non-profit. Funds will be designated for these purposes in a total pooled amount of at least $5M/year of the program and will be available competitively to Winners and Finalists
• Network Matching: Access to a network of other Global Winners, community members, and partner organizations, as well as career development programming, delivered primarily through technology.
• Starter Technology Packages: Technology packages, such as laptops or tablets, to be determined each year based on budget and individual needs.  
• Mentorship & Career Services: Mentorship to provide personal, academic, or professional guidance, and specialized career services for internships and jobs. 

The application is free, and there is no cost to Rise Global Winners or their families to participate in the Rise program.

The selection process and many subsequent phases of the Rise program will be administered virtually. We intend for each cohort of Rise Global Winners to convene after their selection; however, we are committed to ensuring the safety of all participants and are therefore evaluating the timing for in-person meetings for 2022 and beyond given the coronavirus pandemic.

We are committed to ensuring our application process is as accessible as possible, and we invite you to review our Accessibility Statement.

Additionally, Rise is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community that reflects a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. We care about the potential applicants demonstrate in their work, not the opportunities they’ve had so far.