Mini Money - Colorado Gives Campaign

Mini Money: Help a Young Person Turn an Idea Into Income

Lorne Jenkins, Founder & CEO

Help a young person turn an idea into a business, and a business into a path toward wealth.

Mini Money helps under-resourced young people ages 12 to 24 move from learning about money to creating it through hands-on entrepreneurship, mentorship, and seed funding.

Your gift gives young people the tools, confidence, and capital to launch something of their own. Mini Money is a Black-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to close the racial and economic wealth gap by helping underrepresented young people build financial agency and create wealth.

Meet Elijah

During a week-long session in North Carolina, a student named Elijah mentioned, almost in passing, that he made rugs. We asked what he meant. He told us he tufted custom rugs for friends and family. It had never once occurred to him that it could be a business.

Nobody had ever told him his idea mattered. So we did. We pushed him to take it seriously, and we bought one of his first rugs.

That moment is the reason the Youth Side Hustle Incubator exists.

A few weeks ago, Elijah emailed us on his own. He had kept going. His tufting had gotten sharper, his business had grown, and he wanted to make us a rug as a thank-you. Free, he said. All he asked was that we cover shipping so he could keep investing in materials and growing.

That is not a student who took a class. That is a founder.

Elijah tufted this Mini Money rug by hand. When we met him, he didn't know his rugs were a business.

We believe every young person's ideas matter. Mini Money is the launchpad. Then they go out and do things nobody saw coming.

Why this approach works

Most financial literacy programs teach budgeting in a vacuum. But for families living paycheck to paycheck, you cannot budget your way out of poverty. We shift the conversation from scarcity to creation. We guide students through self-discovery, community problem mapping, and real business launches using our flagship Youth Side Hustle Incubator and proprietary Side Hustle Builder software.

We meet students directly in their communities, which removes the isolation and shame that so often surround money.

Young entrepreneurs during our Camp Finance summer cohort in North Carolina. This is the session where we met Elijah.

What your gift does

$25: Helps a young person take the first step toward turning an idea into a business.

$50: Helps provide hands-on entrepreneurship education and tools for a young entrepreneur.

$100: Helps a student develop, test, and validate a business idea.

$250: Helps provide mentorship, resources, and support for a young person building their venture.

$500+: Helps provide seed capital and launch support for youth-led businesses.

Make your impact last all year

A monthly gift helps Mini Money provide consistent opportunities for young people to learn, build, and launch.

$10/month · $25/month · $50/month

Small monthly gifts add up to big opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

Where your dollars go

Colorado Gives Day donations go directly toward expanding our incubator to 5+ sites across the Denver Metro area, strengthening the operational backbone that keeps programs running, and putting seed capital into youth-led ventures at our upcoming Launchpad events.

Student founders selling and pitching directly to Denver customers and business leaders at The Launchpad.

There is another Elijah in every cohort. Your gift is what finds him.

Can't give right now? You can still help.

Share Mini Money with someone who believes young people deserve the opportunity to build wealth, not just learn how to manage money.