B!G Mentoring Watch video

Support secondary school students by sharing valuable industry experience, knowledge and feedback throughout the programme

The B!G Idea is a free multi-award-winning, creative educational programme that helps 15-19 year olds to develop game changing creative skills like problem solving, resilience, empathy, critical thinking, research, communication and collaboration. These critical skills will help them through their education, life and work.

Students apply these new skills and tools to seek out innovative solu...

Read more

The B!G Idea is a free multi-award-winning, creative educational programme that helps 15-19 year olds to develop game changing creative s...

Read more

Join the communities already benefitting from starting a B!G Mentoring

You'll get guides and resources on how to bring this idea to life.

There is no funding available for this idea, but these resources will still help to make your project happen!

Start a B!G Men...

I would say to anyone considering being a mentor on the 2023 programme is to do it absolutely without any hesitation. It’s been a fantastic journey for a mentor and just to be here and to see what it’s meant to so many people has been really sort ...

Read more
B!G Mentoring
Glyn Griffiths - Design Partners
2022 Mentor and Partner

How to start a project on ChangeX

  • 1

    Create your project page

    Click the green start button to register and set up your project page. It’s quick, free and easy.

  • 2

    Complete a 30 Day Challenge

    Complete simple steps in 30 days to get your project off the ground.

  • 3

    Activate your project

    Follow the 5 Step Guide and your action plan to bring the project to life.

  • 4

    Share impact

    Share impact by posting a summary and photos and completing a survey.

Great for

  • Any professionals from graduate to CEO levels
  • Professionals who want to help young people to learn new skills and tackle B!G issues
  • Professionals who are passionate about innovation and creativity
  • Professionals who want a flexible and impactful way to mentor without a huge time commitment
  • Professionals who want to join a community of like-minded B!G Mentors!

B!G Mentoring project essentials

5 Step Guide

  • Register with The B!G Idea via email
  • Mentor Dashboard Set Up
  • Online Training
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Join the B!G Mentor Community

Time

Suggested: With a minimum commitment of just 4-6 hours of your time in 2023 your B!G Mentoring group will join hundreds of other professionals in our B!G Community and have a real impact on our students. In February you will be asked to support student teams online with feedback and advice on 3-5 projects through our bespoke online platform (2-3 hours, flexible and online). In May we will send you a number of projects to review and grade on your dashboard and you can select a potential B!G winner (1-2 hours, flexible and online). There are lots of other ways to get involved including our B!G Showcase in May, programme development, networking and profile raising so there's something for everyone.

Resources

More information on how to get started and any resources shared by the B!G Mentoring

Meet the Social Innovator

Welcome to The B!G Mentoring on ChangeX, we can’t wait to work with you! As a B!G Mentor you will play a key role in The B!G Idea, providing a crucial link between industry and education. By supporting students online with your time and expertise you will help them to become more curious, resourceful, confident and engaged in the world around them.

B!G Mentoring is flexible, fun and can be done as an individual or as a team. With ChangeX you and four friends or colleagues can join forces to create your own B!G Mentor team and experience it together! It’s not a lot of time commitment but has a B!G impact on students. With just a few simple steps you can join us on our journey to equip over 4,000 students with game-changing new skills, helping them to gain confidence to tackle the biggest challenges in the world.

Niamh Cooney, Head of Development and Sustainability, The B!G Idea

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why a 30 day challenge?

    The 30 Day Challenge was developed by our Team based on our experience working with communities. We’ve learned that the first weeks are critical to build momentum and get off to a good start with any community project. Teams who complete these steps within the first month are much more likely to successfully complete their project!

    The Challenge is a series of simple steps that each applicant has to complete to get their project off the ground and unlock funding, if there is funding currently available for that idea in your region. Steps include watching a video and/or reading content, having a call with a ChangeX team member, forming a team so that you have support, having your first team meeting, sharing a team photo, and sharing a project action plan.

  • What can funding be used for?

    Once funding is received it can be used to cover direct set-up costs of the new community project. For example space rental, insurance fees, seeds and planting materials, tools, training fees; pretty much any materials you might need for a project that benefits your community.

    Funds cannot be used for the costs of work that has already been carried out, costs unrelated to the setup and maintenance of the new project, payments to group members for their work on the project. Funds can’t be used for the promotion of religious causes, non-charitable activities, sponsorship or fundraising events. Please read the terms and conditions for further details.

  • How do I know if there is funding available?

    On idea pages, if there is funding available for the idea in your region you will see “Funding available” and the region listed in the turquoise box. When you first login you will also see a green banner at the top of the screen saying “live funds near you” if there is funding available in your region. The ChangeX homepage will feature those live funds near you.

    A note on the waitlist: when all the funding has been allocated to applicants, new applicants will go on a waitlist. If some applicants that are in the fund don’t successfully complete the 30 Day Challenge their funding will be released and can be then allocated to those on the waitlist. To see if you are going on a waitlist check the main fund page, ideas fully allocated will have the note “Join the waitlist” instead of “Apply to start”.

  • What is ChangeX?

    ChangeX is a platform that connects communities to proven ideas and funding.

    By empowering local changemakers with proven ideas from social innovators and accessible funding from our partners, we aim to build healthier, more inclusive and sustainable communities. Our work is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and together with our partners, we aim to impact 1 billion people globally by 2030.

    • Communities: Get the funding, resources and support you need to start impactful projects in your community.
    • Social innovators: Connect with local changemakers, access funding to scale your idea, and impact more communities globally.
    • Funders: Fund the themes and regions they care most about, with measurable impact, and at global scale.

    We believe that by bringing the best social innovations and the world’s changemakers together in a shared community, we can accelerate the spread of innovations across the world and have a bigger impact. Together we aim to unleash the potential of changemakers by enabling collaboration, by sharing knowledge and resources, by connecting changemakers across different disciplines and innovations and by opening up access to the world’s best proven social innovations to everyone.

Other ideas

Start a B!G Men...
×