How kids made a difference

I am fortunate to live in a big community in the suburb of New Jersey and have had the privilege of making many new friends with varied interests in sports, cultural activities, entertainment and many more. What I also like about our community, among other things is the sense of belonging, coming together for common and great causes when participation from our community really made a significant difference in peoples' lives and our surroundings.

I spend part of my free time developing kids by conducting public speaking, coding, building robots and personality development programs. Almost 2 years ago - 6 kids from my community, aged 12 years at the time participated in about 15 hours program (over 10 weeks) I conducted to educate them about the entrepreneurial spirit and fundraising. Goal was to raise funds for charities of their choice by making & selling their own products, while leveraging their interests, passion & skills. 

My endeavor is to share my experience of working with kids and the overview of this program in this blog. I have tried to capture the structure of the program, overall planning and the activities carried out.

Following activities were planned over a period of 10 weeks:

1. Ideation.

2. Pitching ideas to a group of people (my own version of Shark Tank; well, sort of).

3. Making products.

4. Preparing for the sale.

5. Raising funds by selling products.

6. Donating money.

7. Celebrating the achievements and success of the program to recognize kids' efforts.

Here is how it was planned:

1. Week 1 & 2: Ideation

a. Discussed what is fundraising, ways, ideas, goal, overall approach to making products, timelines, responsibilities of kids & parents, Shark Tank concept, preparation for the sale, fundraising / sale, donation and conclusion.

b. Kids documented the ideas for products, materials required, cost, benefits / use of the product and any help they required from their friends in the group.

c. Reviewed their ideas about products and prepared for Shark Tank presentation.

d. Some ideas & aspects we reviewed were:

- Cost to make the products, right quantity for the sale.

- Skill-sets & roles required for making & selling a product.

- How much would the products sell for.

- Will we make profits.

- How to price the items so we can make profits (considering the fact that kids would put in their time / efforts as well)

- Total expected revenue.

- Next steps.

e. Fundraiser raffle was also planned by kids to maximize fundraising.

2. Week 3: Pitched ideas to Shark Tank

a. Shark Tank was a group of my friends (& not any of kids' parents themselves that were involved in the program). Idea was for kids to present to an outside group. I had a criteria defined for Shark Tank to choose the products. Only difference in this case was, Shark Tank was not required to write any checks :) but to select the best possible products for each kid and share ideas to make better products that could possibly help with raising more funds.

b. Kids presented their ideas of products to Shark Tank. Thereafter, Shark Tank selected products to be made by kids.

c. Kids decided on the quantity of items to be made and discussed / understood the responsibilities.

d. Each kid purchased the items required to make selected products with their parents (we had budget limits for parents to procure materials).

3. Week 4 to 6: Made products

a. Total cost of the materials was less than $125.

4. Week 7 & 8: Prepared for the sale

a. Decided price for each item.

b. Each kid chose a charity to support.

c. Prepared brochures, posters and item list for the sale.

d. Decided roles & responsibilities for the sale.

e. Decided a sale date (2nd week of Jun in 2017).

f. Prepared FAQs for the sale.

g. Kids presented to parents - about the products made, prices, experience of making products, lessons learned, budget details, charity of kids' choice & why they chose their respective charity organizations.

h. Invited family & friends for the sale.

5. Week 9: Raised funds by selling products

a. On the day of sale, kids sold the products and raised money.

b. 2 Winners were picked from the raffle.

6. Week 10: Donated money & celebrated

a. Kids presented to parents on the overall sales, lessons learned.

b. Donated the money to charity organizations of kids' choice.

c. Kids raised a total of $388.

d. Dinner with kids & parents.

Products 

Out of the 20+ product ideas that kids had presented, following 6 were chosen / made for the sale:

1. Paintings.

2. Bracelets.

3. Ear rings.

4. Key chains.

5. Key chain holders.

6. Slime (sticky, gooey kind of dough that kids love to play with).

Below are some of the images of the products; creativity & skills can clearly be seen from these wonderful products.

Some posters created by kids

Some of the brochures prepared by kids

I would be remiss if I didn't mention about parents & my friends (Shark Tank) for their support, cooperation and sponsorship. Parents participated in the sale with their kith & kin and in 3 presentations when kids:

1. Shared their ideas of products, overall plan to procure materials and make products.

2. Presented to Shark Tank for finalization of the products.

3. Presented their experience of the sale, skills & lessons learned.

This was a unique sale event. I was amazed at the quality & elegance of the products and the finesse with which kids made the same. This was one of the best experiences of my life. Working with these kids has been a great privilege and an opportunity that I will cherish forever. It was an enriching experience to see kids learn new skills and be part of giving back to the community. This was also a great display of community coming together to support kids and their respective causes. I am extremely proud of the kids, parents and the entire community for concerted efforts to have made this event a huge success. 

It was a tremendous effort from kids as they executed the end to end activities from planning, selecting charity organizations, purchasing materials, making products, pricing & sales. Kids deserve huge appreciation for their patience, efforts and enthusiasm. They made a difference; I am sure these young, talented leaders will continue to contribute & shape our future.

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