Without a single penny, people are being "socially beneficial" everyday - volunteers donate their time at an animal shelter or serve dinners for the homeless. Craftspeople create blankets and clothes in crochet for newborn babies.

With one million dollars, how much more can you afford to do?

That is your task: To decide what project you and your team will do, and use the one million dollars to do it.

Step A
Define the Project
What to do: As a team, you should decide what type of project you will do. For example, do you want to create a one-stop for single parents to get work clothes? Or perhaps you want to gather groups of artists together who can teach kids through the summer while their parents are at work. The ideas really are endless - the more specific you are with your project, the easier your job will be.

Step B
The Project In Words
What to do: As a team, completely write out your project using the headings below.

1.0 Project Summary

1.1 Mission Statement - Why does your project exist? What will it do?

1.2 Goals- Specific sub-projects, like "Building an Office", and "Helping 20 people in the first 6 months".

2.0 Services

2.1 Service Description - Exactly what services you will offer, like "Rehabilitating injured birds" and "Giving unemployed parents work products such as clothing, cell phone, and training classes".

2.2 Start-up Plan - Step-by-Step, what you need to do in order to get started. You might include "Hiring contractor for building the school", and "Recruiting 5 volunteer artists to teach".

3.0 Financial Plan

3.1 Estimated Profit and Loss - Use graphs and charts to show how much you expect to spend, what you expect to spend it on, and how your project will continue to "profit" - to receive money to continue operating.

3.2 Employee Records - What jobs do you need to fill, how much will you pay them, and how does that fit into your Profit and Loss statement?

4.0 Additional Materials

4.1 Charts and Graphs - If you have found a blueprint or building design that your project could use, include it here.

4.2 Project Materials - These are materials that you would use with your project. For example, if your project makes clothes for babies, you could include a sample of the patterns that you'll be using.

Step C
You Get To Choose
What to do: Build on your work in Steps 1 and 2 to finish your Million Dollar Project. Decide with your team who will perform what tasks. Break the tasks down by using the headings that you worked on in your project plan, Step 2. One team member will need to figure out what all of the building materials will cost, while another team member should figure out how much money will be paid to employees. After the math is all done, you can decide as a team who will type up which pieces.

Every single piece of your work needs to be made good-looking on the computer. Work with your teacher to put all of your work together using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. When it is all printed out, organize it in a way that makes sense to you, put it in a folder, and turn it in.

Grading:

30% of your grade will be based on the accuracy of your math work, and how you account for the money you spend. You need to spend almost all of it, without going over.

30% of your grade will be based on originality. If you're on a team, work together as a team to create something special - something that everyone will say, "WOW! I've never thought of that before!"

20% of your grade will be based on research. You must support your work with research. Write down every website that you visit, book that you read, or person that you talk to.

10% of your grade will be based on neatness and completeness. You and/or your team must turn in a final project that is nice enough to spread around the class.

10% of your grade will be based on participation. Work well as a team, or work your hardest on your own, fulfill your part, and you have this one covered.