Talia Leman founded RandomKid in 2005 after raising over $10 million for hurricane relief at age 10. RandomKid now supports youth globally to address social issues through entrepreneurship. The Big Return initiative in St. Louis aimed to engage hundreds of students in social projects that impacted over 100,000 people while building youth skills. The program's success demonstrated the potential to expand it to all 50 US states to multiply the positive impact of youth social entrepreneurship.

2. It all begins with 10 year old TALIA LEMAN
• At 10 Talia mobilized thousands of kids to
trick-or-treat for Katrina relief.
• Together they raised over 10 million dollars.
• Talia launched RandomKid with the mission to
“help kids help others” based off of what she
learned from running her Katrina campaign.
Today she works with:
• 12 million youth
• 50 states
• 20 countries
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ST. LOUIS

3. What is a
RANDOMKID PROJECT?
Planting Gardens to Feed the Homeless
Katie’s Krops plants gardens to feed the
homeless. Today there are 10 community
gardens around the US that have
produced over a ton of food and have fed
over 14,000 people.
Correcting Club Foot
Two hundred kids organized a walk for club
foot and raised $15,000. This went to train
sixty doctors how to treat club foot resulting
in 3,000 kids being able to walk.
Providing Water Wells
Kids run awareness raising campaigns
around water bottle usage and sell
reusable water bottles to put water wells
in communities in need globally. Thus far,
$63,000 have been raised resulting in
pump instillation on 4 continents.
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ST. LOUIS

4. How did THE BIG RETURN start?
• Talia spoke in St. Louis in partnership with
The Desmond Lee Institute.
• Her message was about “The Power of
ANYone”.
• The community wanted to take action.
• Talia joined forces with local groups to launch
a campaign that will give youth the power to
create change in the St. Louis community
and beyond.
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ST. LOUIS

5. What is the idea behind THE BIG RETURN?
$1 DONATED TO
A CAUSE
$1 GOING TO THE
CAUSE
$1 DONATED TO
A YOUTH-LED
VENTURE
$2 - $10 GOING
TO THE CAUSE
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(200%-1000% ROI!)
ST. LOUIS

6. Examples of THE RETURN
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ST. LOUIS

7. THE BIG RETURN Process
St. Louis community
comes together to
launch The Big Return.
Schools, youth & organizations sign up to
be part of The Big Return and work with
RandomKid & Ashoka to engage and support
young entrepreneurs.
There is a
BIG return for
the world.
Local area businesses and
individuals provide the initial
support for a revolving fund
that will offer seed loans to
youth teams. This fund will reap an
even greater return when it supports
teams in the coming years.
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Hundreds of kids launch
social projects to benefit
the community and
beyond.
RandomKid & Ashoka, two
organizations that support
young entrepreneurs, offer
guidance, tools and a global
network to support teams.
ST. LOUIS

8. Funding PARTNERS
In-kind Support
PARTNERS
From PDF
Organizational PARTNERS
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ST. LOUIS

9. The CALL TO ACTION Fall 2011
Mayor Francis Slay, County Executive Charlie Dooley, and
16-year-old Talia Leman hold press conference and call
all schools in the area to join THE BIG RETURN.
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ST. LOUIS

10. Recap - THE BIG RETURN 2011-2012
Workshop 1
• In October, 250 teachers and students from 33 city and county schools came
together at Build-A-Bear Workshop Headquarters to come up with project
ideas.
• Mayor Slay, Country Executive Dooley, and Maxine Clark kicked off the day.
• Channels 5 and 9 covered the workshop.
Trial Launch
Schools performed a trial launch of their project ideas and recruited their
student bodies to participate in their projects.
Workshop 2
In December, students and teachers came together at Junior Achievement
Finance Park to build the community, share successes in their project launch,
and troubleshoot around challenges they experienced.
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ST. LOUIS

11. Recap - The Big Return 2011-2012 Continued...
Project Launch
• Youth launch their projects and begin to create impact.
• Local businesses support project ideas with a revolving fund and
program support. Corporations include: Build-A-Bear Workshop,
Centene, Guard, and Trimaco.
Celebration
• On March 1st students and teachers came together to celebrate
their successes and plan for future changemaking.
• Mayor Slay and County Executive Dooley announced the impact
they had thus far.
• The community’s investment in St. Louis youth yielded a return of
1011%, impacting over 100,000 people in the St Louis community.
Plans for
2012-2013
• Raise the funds needed to launch the second Big Return in St.
Louis come September 2012.
• Development of blueprint to expand The Big Return to all 50 states
in the next five years.
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ST. LOUIS

12. IMPACT
• The community’s investment in St. Louis youth yielded a return of 1011%.
• Youth impacted over 100,000 people in the St Louis community.
• 25,000 students were rallied and engaged.
• 813 teachers were involved.
• 6,993 items were collected valued at $37,327.
• $33,041.67 in donations were collected.
• 17,900 people attended youth events.
• 39,831 people were engaged beyond school communities.
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13. The QUADRUPLE Bottom Line
1. RandomKid leverages philanthropic dollars for a much higher return.
2. Creativity of kids is translated into meaningful social impact.
3. Youth gain valuable skills:
• Empathy
• Entrepreneurship
• Leadership
• Problem solving
• Teamwork
4. Public awareness due to the message of their campaign.
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ST. LOUIS

14. The BLUEPRINT for what is to come:
It all starts in ST. LOUIS
Hundreds of cities across the
world will be learning from St.
Louis and the launch of THE
BIG RETURN. The movement
we create in the coming months
will be used as a template to
propel the power of youth to
create change across the globe.
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ST. LOUIS

15. RandomKid was founded in 2005 after then 10-year-old Talia Leman rallied and unified kids from across the United States to raise over $10 million for
Hurricane Katrina/Rita relief, ranking the giving power of youth with the top 5 U.S corporate donors. RandomKid now works to support youth globally to
harness their creativity and giving power for other great causes. By guiding youth to become innovative and successful world problem-solvers, RandomKid
is preparing this generation to meet the challenges and drive the successes of the 21st century.
Youth Venture is an international network of powerful young social entrepreneurs. We aim to help an entire generation of young people develop as
entrepreneurs who will improve their communities now and throughout their lives. We believe that the greatest contribution we can make to the world is to
increase dramatically the number of social entrepreneurs today and in every future generation. This is the key factor for success in every part of society,
from a school to a company to an entire country.
Visit www.TheBigReturn.org
Contact tia@randomkid.org
Write a check to “The Big Return - RandomKid”
and mail to:
RandomKid c/o Ashoka
1700 North Moore St.
Suite 2000
Arlington, VA 22209
or donate online at donate.TheBigReturn.org