Ripple Foundation

Ripple Foundation
Formation	2015; 9 years ago
Founder	Ivy Wong
Type	Charitable Organization
Focus	Youth Education
Location	Toronto, Ontario;
Area served	Canada
Website	ripplefoundation.ca

Ripple Foundation is a Toronto-based Canadian charitable organization that fosters and cultivates reading and writing in youth across Canada. Ripple creates and delivers community programs for children and youth all over the country to improve their reading and writing skills, while harvesting creativity, a deeper literary understanding and confidence. Ripple believes that unearthing the creative flairs of youth across the country has the potential to shape the leaders of tomorrow. Ripple Foundation was founded in 2015 and is a registered charity that is 100% volunteer-led and is supported by donations. All of Ripple’s programs are free of charge.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Programs

Ripple Foundation’s goal is to empower the next generation of leaders by cultivating a passion for reading and writing while fostering creativity in youth. Ripple is grounded by three core pillars: Creativity, Education, and Leadership. Ripple offers the following programs that are intended to encourage these qualities in youth. Ripple’s programs also give High school students the opportunity to earn volunteer hours either by writing for the Wave Blog or by working as a Write It Workshop Facilitator Assistant. Students can earn up to five hours per post on the Wave Blog and five hours per week working as a Write It Workshop Facilitator Assistant.^[4]^[5]

Ripple has three core programs targeted at different age groups and designed to give an all-encompassing approach and support network to individuals at different stages of their writing journey.^[6]

Kids write 4 kids

The Kids Write 4 Kids (KW4K) is a Canada-wide annual short story contest for students in grades 4-8. The program is the only one of its kind that gives youth the opportunity to become published writers before high school. Proceeds from book sales are donated to the winner’s charity of choice. Ripple Foundation does this with the intention of fostering a sense of philanthropy in youth. Also, the winner’s school has the opportunity to purchase 300 copies of their book at a discount, which then can be used for their school’s fundraising efforts.^[7]^[8]

A panel made up of renowned Canadian authors and the previous year’s KW4K winners selects which submissions will be published in both print and digital format for an international audience. Judging panels have been curated by many renowned Canadian authors, editors, and producers such as Kit Pearson (The Sky is Falling), Manjusha Pawagi (The Girl who Hated Books), Judith Pereira (Globe and Mail Books editor), and Jane van Koeverden (CBC Books producer).^[9]

The KW4K program has been running since 2012 and is Ripple Foundation’s signature program. As of 2020, fifteen Canadian Kids eBooks by winners of Kids Write 4 Kids has been published worldwide at Amazon Kindle and Paperback, Google Play, Apple iBookstore and Overdrive for public libraries. Since 2012, all net proceeds from book sales of these have benefited local schools and charities.^[10]

List of books written by Winners of Kids Write 4 Kids

Book	Author	Age	City	Grade	Contest Year
The Shores of Miami	Lucy Szerminski	12	Barrie, ON	Grade 7	2018 – 2019
The Third Floor	Elijah Wachowiak	12	Barrie, ON	Grade 7	2018 – 2019
Mrs. Smafpaf	Emaan Ali	9	Toronto, ON	Grade 6	2017 – 2018
How to be an Abbott	Olivia Simms	13	Ottawa, ON	Grade 8	2016 – 2017
Summon the Magic	Emily Little	11	Port Elgin, ON	Grade 6	2016 – 2017
The Big Red Balloon	Mya Barnett	12	Halifax, NS	Grade 6	2015 – 2016
A Dog and a Squirrel	Alexis Morales	12	Winnipeg, MB	Grade 7	2015 – 2016
Escape from the Taco Shop	Christopher Smolej	13	Toronto, ON	Grade 7	2014 – 2015
Mika’s Fortune	Faith Emiry	13	Massey, ON	Grade 8	2014 – 2015
A Murder of Crows	Maisy Beo	13	Gatineau, QC	Grade 8	2013 – 2014
Aristotle and Galileo	Yeji Kim	13	Coquitlam, BC	Grade 8	2013 – 2014
A Truly Gross Adventure	Sofie Finn Storan	10	Victoria, BC	Grade 4	2012 – 2013
Why Peacocks Have Colorful Feathers	Safaa Ali	11	Toronto, ON	Grade 4	2012 – 2013
The Wish	Hannah Rennie	10	Whitecourt, AB	Grade 5	2012 – 2013
Half Asleep	Leah Oster	12	Napanee, ON	Grade 6	2012 – 2013

List of charities and schools that have received book proceeds

2012-2013: First Book Canada
2013-2014: National Reading Campaign
2014-2015: St. Anselm Catholic School
2014-2015: St. Mary Catholic School
2015-2016: Arthur E. Wright Community School
2015-2016: Sackville Heights Junior High
2016-2017: Glashan Public School
2016-2017: Northport Elementary School
2017-2018: Water First
2018-2019: RVH Foundation

Write it workshops

The Write It Workshop program focuses on improving the writing skills of children and youth in grades 4 – 8 through a series of fun and interactive activities that encourage participants to find their voice and gain confidence as a writer. Each workshop is 60 minutes and focuses on one particular aspect of creative writing such as brainstorming ideas, developing characters, creating plots, fine-tuning details, and keeping focus. In 2019, Ripple Foundation facilitated 80 writing workshops at local public libraries across Canada as an after school program. The Write It Workshops lesson plan was developed by an Ontario Certified Teacher with over 20 years of experience in education and is approved by the Toronto Public Library System. There is no cost to participate; all workshops are free of charge.^[11]^[12]

List of write it workshop locations

Venue	Location
Albion Public Library	Toronto, ON
Cedarbrae Public Library	Toronto, ON
Centennial Public Library	Toronto, ON
Cochrane Public Library	Cochrane, AB
Country Hills Public Library	Calgary, AB
Crowfoot Public Library	Calgary, AB
Cyril Clarke Public Library	Brampton, ON
Deer Park Public Library	Toronto, ON
Dufferin Clark Public Library	Vaughan, ON
Fairview Public Library	Toronto, ON
Forster's Book Garden	Bolton, ON
Humberwood Public Library	Toronto, ON
Jane Sheppard Public Library	Toronto, ON
Junior Festival	Harbourfront, ON
Kingston Frontenac Public Library	Kingston, ON
Mabel’s Fables Bookstore	Toronto, ON
Main Street Public Library	Toronto, ON
Maple Public Library	Vaughan, ON
Millenium Public Library	Winnipeg, MB
Pleasant Ridge Library	Vaughan, ON
Queen’s Books	Toronto, ON
Sanderson Public Library	Toronto, ON
The Word on the Street Festival	Toronto, ON
Vellore Village Public Library	Vaughan, ON
Walter Stewart Public Library	Toronto, ON

Due to COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of public libraries, in 2020 Ripple Foundation adapted its Write Workshops into an online format that included free, downloadable activity worksheets and virtual, interactive workshops hosted on social media.

Wave blog

The Wave Blog is dedicated to amplifying the voice of young Canadian writers. Posts are written by high school students in grades 8 – 12 and provide commentary and insight on various themes, topics and experiences that resonate with a youth audience. Blog posts can include book reviews/recommendations, creative writing tips, personal reflections, personal experiences, or unique perspectives.

The platform operates as the next step in youths’ writing journey, allowing writers to express themselves creatively to a different audience. The blog strives to increase the public’s awareness of young authors and their voices.

History

Ivy Wong, founder of the Ripple Foundation, launched Ripple Digital Publishing Corp. in 2010, which focused on creating eBooks and apps that shared educational values. In 2012, Ivy decided that she wanted to give back to the community by creating a writing contest for kids. Ivy chose a writing contest because she wanted to encourage creativity and imagination, while also being a medium that avoids excluding those who could not express themselves visually or musically.

In 2012, Ripple Digital Publishing started Kids Write 4 Kids as a not-for-profit initiative, which encouraged kids to be creative, and to read and write.

In 2014, Ripple Digital Publishing created its free Next Sentence app, which allows its users to collaborate in the creation of a story by adding one sentence at a time. The app is designed to help with team building and inspire kids in the classroom to write creatively. The free version encourages kids in a classroom to create a story together by passing around one device. The paid version also allows its users to play online with other players. The app doesn’t require an account to play and Ripple Digital Publishing does not keep user data. This is to ensure that the app is private and safe for kids to play.

Before becoming a charitable organization, the Ripple Foundation’s programs were founded through Ripple Digital Publishing Corp. In 2016, thanks to the support of volunteers, Ripple expanded its programs to include the Wave Blog and Write It Workshops. In 2018, Ripple officially became a charitable organization.