I have wanted to do this for some time, and feel I’m finally in a position to make it happen.
I would like to offer up a big scholarship, available to students in communities my stores are in, who exhibit a drive for entrepreneurship.
Problem is:
College or trade school isn’t necessarily in th cards for these kids, so I can’t count on putting it towards tuition.
I don’t really know if it’s a good idea to hand over this kind of money to someone 17 or 18 years old. But then that might be a good lesson for them if they blow their scholarship tricking out a 1993 Oldsmobile.
Can I put it in trust to only be spent on certain things to help their venture?
This kind of award is normally made as a something you have to apply for. So you can make any kind of conditions after evaluating the applications. You just have to publicize the competition, which, if you have stores, you can do just by posting fliers in your stores.
The big thing about academic scholorships is that you can just give the money to a school, and let them worry about the administration and selection. If don’t want to do that yourself, you may be able to convince somebody is state or local politics to take it on, or a service group like Rotary to handle it (they would be likely to have an accountant in the group, and somebody who could do marketing).
You should see if you have a local community foundation that might have some ideas. Maybe there’s a local non-profit that works with small start-ups and works as an incubator who could best use the funds, or they have a donor-advised fund that would be a good fit.
Or not necessarily as a scholarship, but how about some angel investing money? If you want to support entrepreneuerial spirit, have the rules be: “Pitch me your idea and your plan to make it successful. I deposit the money in your business account at your bank to start you on your way.”
As someone who has started a couple of companies, having that first person be willing to put money in is a huge derisking step for other investors. Also, you can give them advice on their pitches etc. So be an “angel” investor that doesn’t want stock for your investment.
This could also work for technical college folks, high schoolers, etc. Many people have great ideas and just need a little bit of money to take a first step- buying a vehicle or a tool, etc.