15 ways small businesses can partner with a school

What is one way that your small business has partnered with a school?

To help you partner with a school, we asked small business owners and entrepreneurs this question for their best insights. From hosting virtual team building events to creating a fundraiser, there are several tips that may help your small business team up with a school.

Here are 15 ways small businesses can partner with a school:

Host Virtual Team Building Events
Volunteer as a Guest Speaker
Participate in An Internship
Sponsor a Career Day Event
Donate Regularly
Participate in the SMART Reading Program
Assist Teenagers With Creating Resumes
Join a Local Advisory Board
Conduct Training for Safe Driving
Offer Internship Programs at Job Fairs
Volunteer as a Mentor
Host Mock Interviews
Provide Externships for Teachers
Conduct Cooking Classes
Create a Fundraiser

12 ways small businesses can partner with a school

Host Virtual Team Building Events

TeamBuilding has run virtual team building events for schools in addition to companies. The ages of attendees range from elementary and middle school to university and graduate school. Our events are educational as well as fun and teach skills like teamwork and critical thinking, and thus are ideal for distance learning and online classroom activities as well as corporate team building. It has been a joy to be able to repurpose our services to bring fun and togetherness to students as well as workers and to empower future leaders to do their best.

Michael Alexis, TeamBuilding

Volunteer as a Guest Speaker

You should volunteer to be a guest speaker at a school to help inspire students to discover their dream. Students don’t necessarily have to want to go into your business or follow your path, but hearing your story may spark a dream of becoming an entrepreneur. You have no idea how inspirational it could be for them to see an example of a real one. Your presence and advice as a guest speaker could make a huge difference in the path they take in life.

Eric Blumenthal, The Print Authority

Participate in An Internship

Internships provide opportunities for students to experience the day-to-day reality of certain careers. An internship exposes students to real life, and can help them discover whether the path they’re on or the career they’re interested in is the right one for them. It might even lead the student to know they need to change course. It doesn’t hurt that internships look good on college applications, and can even provide university credit in some cases.

Randall Smalley, Cruise America

Sponsor a Career Day Event

As students get older, they wonder where life will take them, and what career options are available to them. By participating in, or even sponsoring, a school’s Career Day event, you’re providing a very useful service for students. The educational experience should be all about preparing students for real life, and a Career Day event is a part of that. You can help them find a career they’re interested in, or even inspire them to become their own boss!

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Donate Regularly

Our community is incredibly close to our hearts, especially the young people learning at local schools. We allocate a portion of our annual charitable budget to local schools, so they can freely use it to fund their most urgent needs. Additionally, every September, we donate all of the extra office supplies we have on hand. Teachers are often paying for these supplies out of pocket, so we try to offer them as much support as possible.

Stephen Light, Nolah Mattress

Participate in the SMART Reading Program

SMART reading is a school program where adults come into schools and read with children. It is an easy and engaging way to connect with your local community and bettering kids for the future. We want to see children succeed and flourish, and assisting in their education is impactful and engaging.

Shaun Price, MitoQ

Assist Teenagers With Creating Resumes

Assisting teenagers to prepare their CVs and resumes is a fantastic way to give back and work alongside students. It is fairly easy to partner with a local high school and secondary education, plus it is fun to assist your community. It gives you hope for the next generation and peace knowing you are helping them better their future.

Michael Jankie, Natural Patch

Join a Local Advisory Board

You should always strive to give back to school communities, and one of the best ways to do that is by joining a local advisory board. Even if students are not interested in your industry, your participation in an advisory board has an impact. Your input can help change academic outcomes for the better and improve the overall educational experience for students. All you’re donating is your time and expertise, but it makes a huge difference.

Henry Babicheknko, Stomadent

Conduct Training for Safe Driving

Part of our company advocacy is to teach students the basics of safe driving by conducting theoretical training at schools. Road traffic accidents contribute to 15 percent of deaths among young people in the U.K. As a responsible automotive firm, we aim to reduce this number every year by educating young drivers on their respective campuses. We also provide free driving lessons to those interested in learning to ensure that they know the do’s and don’ts before engaging in actual driving.

Jake Smith, Absolute Reg

Offer Internship Programs at Job Fairs

We partner with state colleges to join job fairs and offer internship programs for students to explore entry-level job opportunities. Job fairs are also a great opportunity for our company to scout for employee prospects and conduct employee marketing. We have a few excellent interns whom we eventually absorbed into the organization because of their performance during their stay. It is exciting when an intern shows interest in working for our company afterward because there is already a bond and sense of camaraderie established.

Brogan Renshaw, Modelers Central

Volunteer as a Mentor

We work closely with student athletes, with the goal of that mentorship to help make their dreams come true. When you volunteer as a mentor, you’re showing students that you care about who they are and what they want to achieve. Sometimes, all a student needs is a little push and a lot of direction to get them closer to their goals. You can be a source of advice and strength that keeps them on the path to success.

Mike Orchard, College Athlete Advantage

Host Mock Interviews

We’ve partnered with a local school to offer some “real-world” experiences through mock interviews and roleplaying with a real business in the industry. It’s an excellent way for our team to provide some volunteer time to help young people in their community just about to enter the job market, and it doesn’t require extensive costs or time investments on our end. Students get to practice their skills, and we get to integrate, deepen relationships, and serve our community at large—it’s a total win-win.

John Li, Fig Loans

Provide Externships for Teachers

Since they’re at the forefront of helping young minds grow in an evolving world, teachers need to learn, too, to continue to offer accurate and up-to-date knowledge for their students. That’s why we’ve partnered with schools to provide two-week externships, in which HR & DEI teachers come into our workplace to learn and develop new skills, refreshed industry passion, and witness real-world examples they can take back to their students. We immerse them into our culture and allow them to take any professional development training course we provide in our team while they’re with us, too.

Samuel Devyver, EasyLlama

Conduct Cooking Classes

My small business has partnered with a number of local schools. We help kids understand the scientific process of cooking by conducting fun cooking classes. In one of our recent activities, we have helped kids get creative with their cooking by involving them in making muffins. It was a lot of fun, but it also made them understand that cooking is not just a one-way process. The ingredients in a muffin don’t just magically come together. The kids took on various roles in the cooking process, including measuring ingredients, mixing ingredients, and decorating muffins. They also learned that cooking requires patience and some trial and error.

Rachel Hemsley, MakeBreadAtHome

Create a Fundraiser

We host consumer reviews for all sorts of industries, from travel sites to solar companies to pest control. We offer a fundraising program where schools, teams, or other groups help us by gathering reviews for these industries, and in return, we donate $2 per review published to the school, team, or group. Schools benefit from the funds to use as they please, and we benefit from increased review counts on our site, which increases our authority.

Jenna Vasquez, Best Company

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