Try social entrepreneurship
Create a mini social enterprise: identify a local need, design a simple product or service, plan fundraising, and share impact with your community.
About this activity
Create a mini social enterprise: identify a local need, design a simple product or service, plan fundraising, and share impact with your community.
What you need
Step by step
- 1
Step 1
Look around your neighborhood or ask a family member and pick one local need you want to help.
- 2
Step 2
Write one sentence saying who will benefit from fixing that need.
- 3
Step 3
Decide on one simple product or one service that could help that person or place.
- 4
Step 4
Draw a quick sketch of your product or how your service will work on your paper.
- 5
Step 5
List the materials and the steps you need to make the product or give the service on a sticky note.
- 6
Step 6
Pick one price per item or one suggested donation amount.
- 7
Step 7
Choose one fundraising goal for how much money you want to raise.
- 8
Step 8
Choose one way to raise the money such as a small sale a donation jar or a mini event.
- 9
Step 9
Create a simple flyer or sign on paper that explains your idea in one short message.
- 10
Step 10
Make one sample of your product or practice giving your service once.
- 11
Step 11
Decide one simple way to measure impact for example number of people helped items donated or money raised.
- 12
Step 12
Write one short plan that says how you will use the money you raise.
- 13
Step 13
Ask an adult to help you tell one neighbor teacher or family member about your plan.
- 14
Step 14
Run your fundraiser or deliver your service one time and collect the results.
- 15
Step 15
Share your finished mini social enterprise on DIY.org
Fun facts
How do I help my child create a mini social enterprise?
Start by helping your child notice a local need—ask neighbors, look at school or park issues, or choose a cause they care about. Brainstorm simple product or service ideas, make a quick prototype, and set clear goals. Plan roles, costs, pricing, and a straightforward fundraising idea (bake sale, car wash, or online fundraiser). Pilot with friends, gather feedback, track results, and present the impact to your community with photos or a short report.
What materials do we need to set up a mini social enterprise?
Gather basic planning tools: a notebook or whiteboard, pens, sticky notes, and simple craft supplies for prototypes. You may need poster board, markers, labels, and packaging materials. For fundraising, bring cash box, donation jar, flyers, and a smartphone or camera for photos. Optional: a computer for budgeting and flyers, permission slips for events, and extra adult volunteers for supervision and safe handling of money.
What ages are suitable for a mini social enterprise activity?
Children as young as 6 can try simplified versions with lots of adult help—focus on spotting needs and simple tasks. Ages 8–12 can take more responsibility: design products, run small fundraisers, and learn basic money ideas. Teens (13–17) can lead planning, manage teams, use online tools, and handle larger projects. Always match complexity to the child’s skills and provide supervision for finances and public interactions.
What are the benefits of kids starting a mini social enterprise?
Running a mini social enterprise builds empathy, problem-solving, and communication skills while teaching basic budgeting and responsibility. Kids learn teamwork, leadership, and how projects affect real people. It boosts confidence, civic awareness, and pride in measurable results. With adult guidance, it’s also a safe way to practice decision-making, public speaking, and fundraising—skills useful at school and beyond.
Watch & Learn
Need help?
What can we use if we don't have sticky notes, paper for a flyer, or a jar for donations?
Use an index card or a scrap of printer paper instead of the sticky note for your materials and steps, a torn cereal-box panel or plain printer paper for the flyer, and a shoebox or empty food tin labeled with a slit instead of a donation jar.
What should we do if our sample product fails or we don't get any donations when we run the fundraiser?
If your sample breaks or you get few donations, simplify the materials and steps on your sticky note, practice giving the service once more, lower the price or suggested donation, and ask an adult to help tell a neighbor or teacher beforehand while showing the one-line flyer and the sample product.
How can we change the activity for younger children or make it more challenging for older kids?
For younger children, have an adult help write the one-sentence 'who will benefit' and list materials on the sticky note while the child draws the sketch and practices the service, and for older kids, set a bigger fundraising goal, design a polished flyer, make multiple samples, and measure impact with counts and photos.
What are easy ways to extend or personalize our mini social enterprise after the first run?
Personalize and extend the project by adding a hand-drawn logo to your flyer, making extra sample products to sell as bundles, partnering with a local charity in your short money-use plan, and sharing before/after photos or numbers of items donated when you post on DIY.org.