The bulb-a-thon has something for everyone...little kindergartners getting their hands dirty digging for worms; third graders negotiating and deciding who gets to dig, who gets to plant, and who gets to cover; eighth graders helping each other with the strong jobs of moving sod with wheelbarrows. I think everyone had fun!

Linda R., parent

Program Benefits

The InspiringKids website connects students, schools and recipient nonprofits in an interactive learning community, where kids can focus on demonstratively changing the world. The more students participate, the more powerful the learning tools become and the more potential for substantial impact. InspiringKids collects and manages four areas of focus for the community: Impact, Children's Voices, Collective Knowledge and External Resources.

Impact

As part of the program's philanthropy allocation, students determine where to spend 30% of the money they have raised. InspiringKids distributes the dollars and translates the value into tangible impact that students can own and reflect on. Contributions are presented on community web pages, and the collective good is presented for the benefit all site visitors.

Children's Voice

Our web tools link together thousands of young children, who share their ideas about how to improve their communities and maximize their local, national and global impact. They can share and discuss their successes and ideas for making change-- which they test in their own schools-- through the InspiringKids online community.

Collective Knowledge

InspiringKids recognizes that there are many interesting and effective activities at schools, but these best practices are often not shared with the greater educational community. We are dedicated to broadcasting best practices for experiential-learning to the 83,000 plus elementary schools around the country. Our blueprint framework captures the collective knowledge in a user-friendly format, acknowledging contributors and promoting best practices.

External Resources

InspiringKids collects and maintains a database of complementary educational and experiential resources for each blueprint: reading lists, service-day suggestions, curriculum tie-ins, and links to location-specific resources that help make blueprints relevant to a school's community (such as local philanthropies, tie-ins to local museums, libraries and environmental programs). The more the blueprints are used, the more useful the database becomes.

The Full Effect: Educating and Empowering

Our combination of environmental and social philanthropy activities, curriculum tie-ins and community building transform one-dimensional fundraising into an experiential-learning program. Reinforcement of the students' actions provides benefits beyond their tangible successes.

Educating: Children exchange ideas, share insights and interact with the InspiringKids community. They learn to articulate their feelings, develop self-awareness, and gain an understanding of and respect for their impact on the environment. As they become aware of local, national and global problems, they develop original ways to help to through newly learned critical-thinking, fiscal, and problem-solving skills.

Empowering: Children track their project benefits, realizing that small steps can make a difference in the breadth of their actions and contributions. They gain confidence as their ideas are validated by both peers and adults, and can take on new roles, responsibilities and ways of self-expression.