Plan it, fund it, do it!
You’ll need
- A4 paper
- Big pieces of paper
- Coloured pens or pencils
- Sticky notes (optional)
- Timer, watch or mobile phone to keep time
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There’s also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.
Planning and setting up this activity
- Some ideas include setting up a second-hand Scout uniform shop, or a book or toy library.
- You could use different ways to help people come up with ideas. One example is Crazy Eights, where people have to come with eight ideas in eight minutes.
Aim of the activity
This activity helps young people take action and make a real difference by creating a community project that teaches others how to handle money problems and bounce back from unexpected expenses.
Financial resilience means being able to cope with and recover from sudden money troubles.
Source: 'What you need to know about financial resilience' (PDF), HSBC Life, 2024.
Understanding the Important Role Money Plays in our Lives
- Personal and economic links with the wider world
- Links between work, life choices and financial planning
How to manage money
- Planning and budgeting
- Financial Planning and budgeting
Running this activity
- Ask if anyone knows what being financially resilient means. Financial resilience means being able to cope with and recover from sudden money troubles.
- As a big group, ask everyone who might struggle with money and the problems they may face. For example, it might be new parents, people looking for work, people struggling with mental health or students.
- Everyone should get into small groups.
- Each group should come up with a community project idea that could help other people look after their money.
- Then, everyone should get into small groups, to plan and pitch a community project.
- Here's some project prompts/ideas you could use:
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- A Scout uniform donations bank
- A toy library
- A clothes swap
- Collect donations for a food bank from local suppliers
- A school uniform and school supplies exchange
- Collect coats, hats and gloves for people during colder months
- Set up a place where people can donate and take books for free
- Gather nappies, baby clothes and supplies for new parents
- Create a guide to local businesses offering discounts or affordable options (such as charity shops or low-cost cafes)
- Grow fruits or vegetables and share the produce
- Offer free car washes
- Run a pop-up café or bake sale where people donate what they can afford
- Have some pay-what-you-can tickets for Gang shows
- Each group should choose their favourite idea and think about it would work. Some questions to consider include:
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- What do we need?
- Would your idea need any ‘start-up’ money to get going? How could you raise this money?
- Where would it happen?
- Who would it help?
- Who do we need to speak to?
- How will it be advertised?
- Next, each group should create a something (such as a short presentation or poster) to pitch their idea. It's a good idea to prompt groups when it's time to move on to planning their pitch.
- Once everyone has finished, get back together as a big group.
- Each group should present their project idea.
- After all the groups have shared their idea, everyone could vote on which projects they’d most like to see happen.
- Once you’ve voted on the ideas, you could then discuss its potential impact and how practical the project could be in real life.
This activity may touch on sensitive topics, such as food, money or food banks, which some young people or their families might be affected by.
It’s important to create a safe, positive and supportive space where everyone feels comfortable. Let everyone know it’s okay to ask questions, say if they feel unsure, or step away at any time. Always follow the Yellow Card.
You might need to make adjustments, such as:
- Tell people about the activity in advance
- Offer the option to leave or do an alternative activity
- Speak with parents or carers beforehand
- Remind everyone they can talk to a trusted adult if they’re upset or worried
You can offer trusted support services if needed, such as Childline (0800 1111), Citizen’s Advice (0808 223 1133) and Crimestoppers (0800 555 111).
The Trussell Trust is a great place to start looking for a food bank near you. You can find details of independent food banks online. The UK Government have some debt advice support too.
Make sure that all adult volunteers and young leaders keep all discussions age-appropriate and supportive.
Reflection
This activity was all about think creatively about how to support other people to build money skills and become more financially resilient. You worked as a team to design a project that could make a real difference. How did your group decide which idea to go with? What made it feel important or realistic?
This involved a lot of collaboration. What was it like working in a group to come up with ideas? How did you listen and involve to everyone’s ideas? Do you think you collaborated or worked with each other’s ideas well? Would you have done anything differently if you’d worked by yourself?
You also had to work well as a team. What worked well in your group, and what could have gone better? What was the biggest challenge you faced? Is there anything you'd do differently next time? Is there anything you'd like to learn more about? How did your team decide to pitch your project?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
- To make it easier, Provide the groups with a list of ready-made project ideas to consider.
- To make it harder, Challenge people to identify a unique community need and develop a detailed, step-by-step plan including budgeting, partnerships, and marketing strategies.
- People can share their ideas in various ways, including writing, drawing, using stickers, making collages. They may want to work in pairs or small groups.
- People should only be asked to speak in front of the group if they want to. One or two people could speak on behalf of their group, or an adult or young leader can present ideas on someone’s behalf if needed.
- Some people may not be able to sit down for a long amount of time, such as for a discussion. People should be allowed to sit in different positions if safe to do so, such as sat on a cushion or led down. They may like to use something to help them, such as fidget toys, colouring in, weighted blankets or wobble cushions. You could also offer movement breaks.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
Young people could run their project, with support from adult volunteers. Always follow Scouts safety and safeguarding guidance, including having a risk assessment. If the project will involve running an event, you can use the Scouts Event safety and planning guidance.