DoSomething is a nonprofit exclusively for young people and social change with millions of members. Its mission is to fuel young people to change the world by taking action on the issues that are most pressing to them.
Through various campaigns and opportunities, DoSomething members can begin their civic engagement journey through volunteering, making a positive impact on their community, and working as a collective to build the future they hope to see.
Making it Easy for Students to Volunteer
One of the most important features of DoSomething is that it provides a very easy, clear-cut approach to volunteering.
With its youth-led campaigns, volunteering and making positive impacts on the world around us no longer have to feel so overwhelming or, to some of our most disillusioned souls, impossible.
Most of the organization’s campaigns focus on how daily activities like sharing a post on our social media accounts can be as meaningful as going overseas to volunteer when these activities are done by millions of people.
For example, DoSomething’s We are The Voters campaign helped 350,000 voters to learn about the importance of voting and got them to register to vote. Through its Teens for Jeans campaign, 5 million pairs of jeans were donated to homeless shelters. Its GTFO (Get the Filter Out) campaign brought together so many young people that they collected 3.7 million cigarette butts.
For post-COVID causes, its It’s (NOT) All in Your Head campaign helps students to educate not only themselves but also other young people on how to deal with pandemic-related traumas.
And through DoSomething’s STEM Works For Me campaign, students can educate themselves and their friends about careers in STEM, which significantly lacks diversity in its workforce. Just 15 percent of the scientists and engineers across the country are women, and only 20 percent are Black, Hispanic or Native American. As a result, students from underrepresented communities may not learn about STEM career opportunities beyond the basics, but the campaign aims to fill this void.
The campaign offers a quick and fun quiz for students to figure out what STEM careers best suit them. Just by sharing the quiz to their friends, students are not only helping to diversify the future STEM workforce, but also applying for the opportunity to win a $2,500 scholarship.
Rewarding Students for Volunteering
DoSomething campaigns don’t just offer students opportunities to make positive impacts, but even motivate them through practical means.
Many of its campaigns offer opportunities to win scholarships for volunteering. None of its scholarship-offering campaigns requires essays, applications, recommendation letters or high GPA.
All U.S. citizens between the ages of 13 and 25 can apply for DoSomething’s scholarships by signing up for its campaigns, some of which only take five minutes or less.
Over the past five years, DoSomething has awarded $800,000 in scholarships to over 350 winners.
Also, students can participate in campaigns that are eligible for volunteer credits and a signed certificate to fulfill volunteer or service learning requirements for school.
Through its clean and easily approachable campaigns, DoSomething seeks for all students to feel confident that anyone can make positive impacts on the world around them.
Follow DoSomething on TUN
Students can also follow DoSomething on TUN to get news and learn about new campaigns!
