We create practical pathways for young people to lead, build, and turn their ideas into lasting community impact.
Our founder kept watching students’ ideas stall for lack of guidance, funding, or a way in. We work on that gap directly: mentoring for students with a plan, funding for school clubs and community projects, and competitions where students practise leading in front of real judges.
Only events with a published date are listed.
June 2025
Open Minds Foundation is founded
Vancouver
April 11, 2026
UBC Sauder School of Business
September 19, 2026
UVic Elliott Building, Victoria
October 9, 2026
Published online
December 5–6, 2026 Upcoming
UBC Sauder School of Business
January 30, 2027 Upcoming
UBC Sauder School of Business
April 2027 Upcoming
UBC, Vancouver
May 2027 Upcoming
IMPACT Case Competition
Toronto
01Programs
One-to-one mentoring turns a student’s idea into a project plan. Youth-serving non-profits get advice, outreach help and connections.
02Competitions
Momentum, Velocity, Inspire, Lord Byng Case Competition and IMPACT. Teams read a business case, build a recommendation and present it to judges.
03Funding
Funding and planning help for school clubs and community events, from logistics to outreach.
Momentum, Lord Byng Case Competition and Inspire are held at UBC Sauder in Vancouver. Velocity was held at the University of Victoria. IMPACT comes to Toronto in May 2027.
UBC Sauder School of Business
Vancouver
UVic Elliott Building
Victoria
Toronto
Ontario
Free to attend. First planned as a 50-person competition at Windermere Secondary, it grew into a student-led event at UBC Sauder.
More than 180 high school students took part2 in Victoria’s first high school business case competition.
Teams from across the Lower Mainland compete for a $2,500 prize.
A full day of business strategy and mentorship, with a $1,000 grand prize.
Our first case competition outside British Columbia.
01With the BC Youth Volunteer & Charity Society
A mock trial workshop, a cultural food exchange, a craft fair and badminton brought more than 200 participants together3.
02A Community Leadership Initiative project by S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Keynote speakers included SFU professor Frederick Willeboordse and Hugo Hu of the SFU Beedie School of Business.
03With VSB SWIS Byng Project 3B
A book swap in the Lord Byng Secondary library, with a guest from the Vancouver Public Library.
Our teams and events bring together students from different schools, cultures, and backgrounds, including newcomers to Canada.
Momentum and Velocity are free to attend, so cost isn’t what decides who gets to compete.
We respect Indigenous histories and communities and ground our work in the First Peoples Principles of Learning.
Students plan and run our events themselves, with teachers, mentors, and volunteers backing them up.
Ten executives coordinate programs, events and operations. Applications for executive and volunteer roles are reviewed on a rolling basis.
The marks below are the school clubs and youth groups we partner with. Our sponsors in 2025–26 were Ocean Wise, Divercity, Service Canada and the Frontlines Foundation5.
Students
Join the team that runs Open Minds.
Join Open Minds↗Projects
Applications are open year-round, for new ideas and running projects.
Apply to a program↗Organizations
School clubs, youth groups and non-profits working with young people.
Partner with us↗Everything else
Questions, ideas and anything else.
admin@openmindsfnd.org↗Totals for Open Minds Foundation programs and events since 2025, supplied by Open Minds Foundation. ↑
Velocity Case Competition, September 19, 2026, UVic Elliott Building. Source: “A six-month dream came to life”, posted October 17, 2026. ↑
Open Arms Project, run with the BC Youth Volunteer & Charity Society: a mock trial workshop, a cultural food exchange, a craft fair and badminton. ↑
Across the foundation’s internal and external teams, 2025–26. The ten-person executive team is listed on the Team page. ↑
As named in the 2025–26 Annual Impact Report. ↑