Do Something

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This article is about the non-profit organization. For other uses, see Do Something (disambiguation).
Do Something
Non-profit
Industry Nonprofit
Founded 1993
Founder Andrew Shue
Headquarters New York, New York, United States
Key people
 Nancy Lublin, Former CEO Aria Finger, CEO
Products Global Campaigns
Website dosomething.org

Do Something (also DoSomething.org) is a non-profit organization with the goal of motivating young people to take action around social changes through national campaigns and grants for projects that make an impact. The organization's CEO is Aria Finger.

History

The organization was co-founded in 1993 by American actor Andrew Shue and his childhood friend Michael Sanchez.[1] He stated his motivation was to encourage young people to become active citizens and leaders while also making community involvement fun.[2]


Overview

Do Something strives to create a culture of volunteerism and activism through social change among young people. According to the organization's website, it is one of the largest global organizations that helps young people take action on causes they care about. Do Something assist these young people with any costs of making social change. By leveraging the web, television, mobile, and pop culture, the organization seeks to inspire, empower, and celebrate a generation of young people 25 and under who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and take action.[3] According to The New York Times, "teenagers become members by completing a project suggested by Do Something or one they have created themselves and uploading photos or other evidence of their efforts to the organization’s Web site."[4]

Do Something has monthly causes sponsored by companies like Sprint, H&M, 3M, and Toyota, that address issues that concern young people including voting, homelessness, education, and texting while driving. The teen-led web-based organization has over 4.5 million members on its website, and it is estimated that through media and marketing the organization reaches over approximately 11 million young people annually.

Campaigns

DoSomething.org spearheads national campaigns so young people can take action on things they care about.

Teens for Jeans

"Teens For Jeans" was born out of a partnership in 2008 with Aéropostale. The campaign looks to help clothe the over one million homeless teens across the country, by providing a top requested item: jeans.[5] People are encouraged to bring their gently worn jeans to Aéropostale, and they are then donated to over 1,000 homeless shelters in the United States and Canada. In 2011, 542,000 pairs of jeans were collected, and over one million pairs of jeans have been donated since the campaign started.[6] In 2012, 902,500 pairs of jeans was collected – enough to give jeans to every 1 out of 2 homeless teens in the U.S.

Celebrities that have worked with the Teens for Jeans campaign include Nigel Barker,[7] Jay Sean,[8] Nikki Blonsky,[9] Chace Crawford,[10] David Archuleta, Ashley Greene, Justin Long, Demi Lovato, Rachel Crow and Fifth Harmony.

Craziest Thing I Did to Save Money

Partnering with H&R Block, "Craziest Thing I Did to Save Money" asked young people to submit photos of some of the bizarre things they have done to save cash. Over 9,000 stories were sent in, helping over 40,000 people learn how to make smarter financial decisions. Every year computers, TVs, and other "energy vampires" waste $10 billion of power when they're not in use. The "Don't Be a Sucker" campaign calls on young people to unplug these vampires in their classroom and mark them, so others are encouraged to the same.

Band Together

DoSomething.org partnered with Phillip Phillips and VH1 Save the Music to create a crowd-sourced music video of his hit song Gone Gone Gone. The goal of the video was to raise awareness about the fact that music education programs are being cut across America. There were 900 participants in the "Band Together" campaign. The video received over 19,000 views, and six schools received a scholarship to help revive their music education programs.

Comeback Clothes

DoSomething.org's "Comeback Clothes" campaign was launched in April 2014 in partnership with H&M. Young people are encouraged to recycle used and old clothes by bringing them to their nearest H&M.[11]

Notes From Shawn

DoSomething.org partnered with singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes to help boost the self-esteem of millions of young people across the nation. Inspired by lyrics from Mendes's song "Life of the Party", the organization teamed up with the musician to spread positivity. By posting sticky notes with positive and uplifting messages written on them, Do Something members sought to bring happiness to people, aiming to stop teens from self-harming.[12]

Clubs

There are thousands of DoSomething.org clubs all across the country working to make a difference. Anyone is eligible to create a club, so long as they complete two community projects or DoSomething.org campaigns a year. All clubs are eligible to submit grant applications for the opportunity to receive funding for those projects or campaigns. Anyone looking to start their own club can find the necessary resources (a handbook, action guide, and letter to their school administration) at DoSomething.org.

Do Something Awards

Formerly called the BR!CK Awards, the awards were inaugurated in 1996 to recognize young people 25 and under who have done outstanding work in their communities and the world. The Do Something Awards include both young people making social change and individuals from the entertainment industry who have dedicated their time to activism and charity. The top four Do Something Awards nominees receive a $10,000 community grant, while the grand prize winner receives a $100,000 grant to push their community projects forward. The Awards were broadcast for the first time in 2007.

In 2011, the Do Something Awards was hosted by Jane Lynch at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, and was broadcast on Vh1.[13] The list of performers include Demi Lovato, Foster the People, OneRepublic featuring B.o.B and many other celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert, Kristen Bell, Nick Cannon, David Beckham and Kim Kardashian.[14]

In 2012, the Do Something Awards were hosted by New Girl cast members Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, and Lamorne Morris.[15]

In 2013, the Do Something Awards was hosted by Sophia Bush at The Avalon in Hollywood, California and was broadcast on VH1. The list of presenters include Harry Shum, Joan and Melissa Rivers, Darren Criss, Russell Simons and Roselyn Sanchez, among others. Celebs honored at the Do Something Awards include: Patrick Dempsey, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jennifer Hudson, LL COOL J, and Kelly Osbourne. Performances were made by: Fitz and The Tantrums, J.Cole, and Sara Bareilles.

Past Award Winners

  • 1996 - Van Jones: Founded and directed the San Francisco-based Bay Area Police Watch, an organization that assists survivors of police misconduct and brutality. In 1996, Van founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Named for a civil rights activist Ella Baker, the Center "promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration".[16]
  • 1998 - Mark Levine: Founded Credit Where Credit Is Due and Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union, to help low-income families in Northern Manhattan in New York City gain access to and control over financial services.[17][18]
  • 2005 - Students for Organ Donation: Founder Richard Ludlow started this non-profit organization at Yale. It eventually spread to 20 universities and won a BRICK award in 2005.[19]
  • 2006 - Jordan Schwartz age 12, receives a Do Something Brick Award as founder and artistic producer of The Children's Bilingual Theater which is committed to bridging the language and cultural gaps in our community through the theater and arts and is dedicated to giving a diverse group of young people the theater experience while offering the benefits of confidence and public speaking in a bilingual setting. www.childrensbilingualtheater.org
  • 2007 - Jacob Komar: Created "Computers for Communities",[20] which obtains discarded computers, teaches prison inmates how to refurbish them and distributes them to locals in need of a computer. This program has distributed more than 1,000 computers and Jacob plans to expand his services.
  • 2007 - Kimmie Weeks: Created Youth Action International, which rebuilds war-torn African communities. Thousands of children in post war African countries have benefited from YAI's centers, micro-credit loans, scholarships, peace schools, playgrounds and agriculture programs.
  • 2008 - Chad Bullock: Trained 45,000 teens to do anti-tobacco projects and has developed an anti-tobacco activism site called helloCHANGE [21]
  • 2009 - Maggie Doyne: Opened and manages the Kopila Valley Primary School with her life savings. As of 2011, there are 35 children living in the orphanage and over 230 children attending the school.
  • 2010 - Jessica Posner: Co-founded Shining Hope for Communities to combat gender inequality and poverty in Kibera. As the first free school in Kibera, Jessica has helped over 5,700 residents gain education and employment.[22]
  • 2011 - Sarah Cronk: Founder of The Sparkle Effect, an innovative student-run program encouraging teens nationwide to include students with disabilities in high school cheerleading programs. The goal of the program is to enable students with disabilities to experience true acceptance and gain confidence as high school students and to inspire entire communities to embrace inclusion.
  • 2012 - Katia Gomez: Provides education to the youth of Honduras through her foundation Educate2Envision, which also helps show the opportunities that education can bring.
  • 2013 - Daniel Maree: Founded the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, which helps combat the issues of racial profiling and Florida's Stand Your Ground Law in the wake of the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

See also

References

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  6. ↑ [1] Archived August 22, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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  16. ↑ [2] Archived September 13, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ [3] Archived December 11, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ Computers for Communities
  21. ↑ [4] Archived December 21, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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