King's College London

King’s Volunteering and the King’s Entrepreneurship Institute collaborated to deliver Community Impact Lab, a programme bringing students together with charities and social impact experts to explore how entrepreneurial thinking can support communities and social change.

Delivered through two full‑day events at King’s Waterloo Campus, Community Impact Lab created a space for over 70 students from different faculties to work on live challenges facing the charity sector. The programme combined King’s Volunteering’s community partnerships with the Entrepreneurship Institute’s focus on entrepreneurial skills and mindset, offering students a practical learning experience grounded in real‑world contexts.

The first event, Supporting Local Charities, connected students directly with five of King’s Volunteering’s charity partners: Serve On, Refugee Education UK, Screen Share UK, Carers UK and Volunteer Centre Kensington and Chelsea. The five charities work across disaster response, refugee support, digital inclusion, carers’ support and volunteering infrastructure. Each organisation shared a current business challenge, from creating youth leadership opportunities and simplifying technology donations, to celebrating volunteers and growing sustainable local fundraising. Students worked in interdisciplinary teams to analyse these challenges, develop ideas and present practical, actionable suggestions back to charity representatives.

The second event, Designing Solutions for Social Change, broadened the focus to wider social issues. Students explored two themes: digital inclusion and education that is inclusive by design. Guided by experts from the charity sector, the groups were encouraged to balance innovation with empathy and real‑world constraints. Using design thinking tools, teams developed early‑stage ideas that could evolve into future social enterprises or community initiatives.

For students, the opportunity to develop their skills and work in teams with students across various disciplines was a key highlight of the programme.

Students also highlighted the value of receiving direct feedback from charities and seeing how their ideas could be taken forward in practice. From a community partner perspective, the quality and thoughtfulness of student engagement stood out.

Community Impact Lab reflects a shared commitment across King’s to student success, innovation and impactful partnerships.

By bringing students, charities and experts together, Community Impact Lab creates learning experiences that are academically enriching and deliver meaningful benefits for local communities.

Learn more about King’s Volunteering and King’s Entrepreneurship Institute.