Country of Residence
United States
Age
15
Project title
Project Money Matters
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Project Money Matters is a financial literacy program that provides interactive, specialized workshops and conducts annual research to improve our curriculum!
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://projectmoneymatters.com/home, https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-money-matters/?viewAsMember=true, https://www.instagram.com/project.moneymatters/?hl=en
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Growth (We’ve moved past the very first activities and are beginning to have consistent weekly or monthly impact)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
I started this program through a 4 series workshop. After the 1st one, people really liked the sessions. Learners said that it was really informative and had great interactive activities. I loved that I was able to help people. I originally started Project Money Matters as a passion project with a real purpose behind it, to show young people all around the world that they can handle their own money with skill, which is something I believe our society doesn’t put enough emphasis on. We host workshops at schools and community centers with interactive activities and have resources on our website for students to use all around the world. I think we've met our standards for education pretty well because our teaching style is very practical and that's why we continue to grow. Furthermore I noticed while as a teacher assistant and tutor that students had different styles of learning. They approached the same problems with different strategies and mindsets. This was later reinforced when I read the book The Psychology of Money which highlights how people have completely polar views on money depending on their past experiences. Inspired by this, I created a report that made data-backed financial personas and different activities for each of these learners. And that's why, Project Money Matters was created with the purpose of engaging education for all learners.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
The problem we're solving is the lack of engaging, age appropriate financial education for youth. Today, money management is a vital skill for everyone to learn but formal education focuses mostly on the core subjects rather than treating it as its own sector. While financial literacy resources do exist they suffer from these two flaws: either overcomplicated jargon which makes young people dislike the topic or oversimplified lessons that offer no value. This issue is very relevant to me and my community because habits are easily formed while you are young. Without this foundation, many people enter adulthood feeling stressed about their finances and vulnerable to debt. Our community deserves better. We want to bridge the gap to provide lessons adapted for elementary and middle school students. By translating complex lessons into engaging and hands-on activities we are teaching young people the skills in motion--like budgeting, opportunity cost or marketing--that they can build on later in their life.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
To make our education directly applicable for learners in different places and mindsets we conduct an annual research project called the State of Financial Literacy. The survey asks about financial confidence in different aspects and then tests financial knowledge. We analyze the data using Python and then create the financial personas as well as recommendations for schools and educators to incorporate in their learning. Aside from these reports we also lead our own workshops. The main highlight of this workshop is simulations, which are games that mimic real life related to money, saving and daily decisions. This has been one of the best things about our workshops and we believe the reason why is not just the fun of it, but the quick decision making students are building in the process, learning that sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes things go wrong but the best thing to do is keep a clear head and carry on. We also incorporate different aspects of finance such as teaching students marketing principles through activities like designing a simple product and making a pitch. As a student-led organization, we noticed that as we grow up we also learn how to market ourselves, which is why this is a valuable skill. Lastly, we plan to implement environmental science workshops to promote sustainable practices which is equally important as learning to manage your money.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Project Money Matters has reached hundreds of people(~200) in more than 3 countries. We have team members from around the United States and several volunteers for Asia. We started as a Google Form looking for team members that was sent on our social media. There was some initial interest about volunteering, contributing and starting chapters. That's how we started growing. For the founding team(Research Director, Program Director), I personally interviewed each applicant to ask how they planned to carry out our mission and the ideas they had to build our project. Now that we have a team, our goal is to become coordinated as a whole unit. We're already planning fundraisers and chapter committees but we need to make sure everyone is on the same page and feels like they are on a team. If each of these chapter founders and executive positions starts to grow in their role, Project Money Matters could become a great organization and resource. We're very proud to have reached different countries, made a team and started to host workshops at schools and this is only the beginning. I'm looking forward to see how Project Money Matters further brings positive impact on the community!
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Our solution is different than other financial literacy programs because we are specifically aimed at youth, with the goal of engaging and hands-on activities. Many people have approached this problem by teaching youth with slideshows or delivering information, which is helpful, but we chose to take it to the next level by adding activities that make students think and act themselves. We also don't make our program a one-size-fits-all type. Learners are so unique in their mindsets, experiences and styles. Adapting lessons in order to fit their understanding is vital, and we do this by using our survey to create main categories of financial learners and making lessons and activities to fit each of them. On our social media we're also starting a series called "What's Your Take?" which interviews people of different backgrounds and careers. We intend to expose youth to perspectives that they might not see in the classroom. These people are not financial experts but they share their own experiences relating to money and pass some of their own advice down to our learners. Lastly, young people are the creators of our content, not just the recipients. As a youth-led organization, we also offer opportunities for students to lead and grow, so they can develop their skills into tangible impact. By combining personalized, experiential learning, real world perspectives and youth leadership our program offers something for everyone, a rare quality of financial literacy programs.
How many people are on your team?
3
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
There are three 3 leadership positions on our team currently. I am the founder and CEO. My main job is to oversee that Project Money Matters is meeting its mission--whether that's through community grants, fundraisers or workshops. Next we have our Education Director. He makes our materials for workshops including simulations, slides and games. He is also part of our Tennessee chapter. And finally we have our Program Director. He oversees the fundraisers and annual events.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
In addition to our workshops, Project Money Matters is currently developing several initiatives to expand our impact and connect with our community. To make this as effective as possible, we want to partner with a business such as Stan's Donuts or Vitality Bowls which could help with our fundraising and increase awareness of financial literacy in our community. We are also developing a project called “What’s Your Take?”, a series of short financial and career interviews with everyday people from different professional backgrounds. We plan to ask questions about their careers, what they enjoy about their work, and what advice they would give a 15-year-old about money, financial decisions, and planning for the future. We believe these interviews can provide relatable, real-world perspectives to help young people explore career possibilities and build financial confidence. We hope to establish partnership with youth-serving organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club, as well as other non profit organizations. Through these partnerships, we aim to make financial more accessible and ensure that many people have access to our resources. Lastly, we would like to get the official non profit status. Official nonprofit status could open doors to additional grants and build trust with partners and students.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We regularly post application cycles on our social media channels(Instagram, Linkedin) and we also are trying to implement having flyers at schools, community centers and other spaces. We believe that the more people who hear about our mission, the more opportunities we have to grow and make a meaningful difference. We've engaged hundreds of people through our survey and workshops. Many of these individuals have gone beyond participating as learners by volunteering, contributing their ideas, or becoming involved with our team. This growing community motivates us to continue expanding our reach and creating more opportunities for young people. Looking ahead we plan to have more community events, such as guest speaker events, and partnerships with banks. By building these connections, we want to make financial literacy a topic that is embedded into students' lives, no matter where they come from. We also aim to create an environment of collaboration, continuous growth and inspire young people all around the world---you can be the change maker too.
