Gander Markus
Organization: Infoklick.ch
Year Founded: 1998
Country: Switzerland
Website: www.infoklick.ch
Geographic Area of Impact: Switzerland.
Model: Hybrid Non-Profit
Focus: Children and Youth.
Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Switzerland, 2006 The Innovation Infoklick offers financial and in-kind support to children and youth that come with an initiative or idea to contribute positively to society. Often a small impulse, a mentor, a room to meet, a plug or a small start-up financial contribution are enough to get an initiative going. In addition, Infoklick is the biggest online portal for information concerning young people in Switzerland. Through the projects and the information portal, young people are actively engaged in solving the problems of their generation in a proactive way. Every year, Infoklick supports more than 250 projects initiated by children and young people in Switzerland. The projects are particularly in the areas of youth participation, respect and tolerance, youth and media, intergenerational projects and integration of immigrants. One of the projects, “buntkicktgut”, is a street soccer league to integrate young immigrants. Tink.ch is a magazine made by young people for young people, covering topics that are underrepresented in the general media. “Jugend mit Wirkung” is run in 22 districts in Switzerland to foster the active participation of youth in communal political matters. Background In most societies, particularly in Switzerland, young people only receive attention if they are in trouble and have committed a crime, taken drugs or are unemployed. The majority of programs are directed at these offending groups. Infoklick realizes that 85% of young people have immense creativity and resources that are underutilized. Strategy Infoklick.ch answers more than 30,000 questions submitted by young people to the website. It links youth with similar ideas or issues and creates a network of engaged groups. It has created a center for children and youth activities in Moosseedorf, close to Bern, where it offers meeting space and rooms for seminars. Currently, more than 10,000 young people are actively involved in projects with Infoklick, receiving the financial and inkind resources and support they need to convert their ideas into reality. In 2005, the financial support towards these projects was more than CHF 250,000. Infoklick is mainly financed through projects administered for public entities, foundations or other donors. Membership fees and private donations cover a smaller part of the budget. Infoklick has introduced the 'club ramoneur', which gives companies the possibility to be featured on the website and act as sponsors of particular projects. In 2007, Infoklick is also starting a fund for children and youth development with a Swiss private bank. Infoklick offers a youth card, which is offered through the local communities and allows access to a range of offerings and activities. Both the communities, which benefit from a closer access to the young people, as well as the institutions providing the offers pay a fee for this service. The club ramoneur, the fund and the youth card will lead to more sustainable income streams in the medium term. The Entrepreneur Markus Gander was an active boy scout, participating in every project that came his way. He studied music and sociology in Bern. As a youth worker in the community of Moosseedorf, he was troubled by the focus on teenagers with problems and deficits. He decided to start Infoklick with two other colleagues in 2000 to stimulate the potential in young people to engage in society by providing them with information, financial and inkind support. Markus Gander has also co-founded a Swiss network for youth development, conceptualized the Moosseedorf Center to host a range of youth organizations from across Switzerland and is actively engaged in a range of projects that have been spun-off by Infoklick.
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