Do Something

This article is about the non-profit organization. For the Macy Gray song, see Do Something (song). For the 1929 song, see Do Something (1929 song). For the Pepper song, see Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations.

Do Something

Type	Non-profit
Industry	Nonprofit
Founded	1993
Founder(s)	Andrew Shue
Headquarters	24-32 Union Square, New York, NY
Key people	Nancy Lublin, CEO
Products	Nationwide Campaigns
Website	dosomething.org

Do Something (also DoSomething.org) is a non-profit organization that motivates young people to take action around social changes through national campaigns and grants for projects that make an impact. The organization's CEO is Nancy Lublin, who founded Dress for Success in 1996.

History

The organization was co-founded in 1993 by American actor Andrew Shue.^[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, DoSomething.org, it is one of the largest organizations in the U.S. that helps young people help causes they care about. A driving force in creating a culture of volunteerism is that DoSomething.org is on track to activate two million young people in 2011. By leveraging the web, television, mobile, and pop culture, DoSomething.org inspires, empowers and celebrates 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] As the New York Times ^[4] stated in their article about Do Something and their use of mobile media that, "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." Do Something has become a leading non-profit organization for young people by directly communicating with youth in a way that is normal to them.

Five guidelines of the mission statement^[5]

1. Believe in young people. Young people have the power to lead. We don't require old people!
2. Trust young people. We provide reliable, easy-to-access information and activation strategies, but young people decide for themselves what to do.
3. Celebrate young people. We think all contributions from young people are valuable.
4. Respect young people. We understand that young people have diverse abilities and constraints.
5. Value young people. Our programs and products are free. We're not after young people's money; we want their passion, time, and creativity.

Do Something has monthly causes sponsored by companies like Staples, Aéropostale, Pepsi and Del Monte, that address issues that concern teenagers including healthy eating, caring for pets and recycling. The youth-led web-based organization has over 300,000 members on its website, and it is estimated that through media and marketing the organization reaches over approximately 11 million young people annually.

Campaigns

Do Something motivates young people to get involved by sponsoring campaigns that are open to anyone. Some past campaigns are the Staples for Students school supplies drive, the Epic Book Drive, and the Sport Equipment drives. The 2010/2011 Epic Book Drive collected thousands of books for the recovering school districts in New Orleans, Louisiana. Some current campaigns are The Foot Locker Scholar Athletes which honors school athletes for flexing their hearts on their sports teams and in their communities, Give A Spit About Cancer allows teens 18 - 24 to be swabbed and sign up for the Be The Match registry, and potentially save the life of a blood cancer patient, Sport Equipment Drive is the largest running national sports equipment drive, which collects new and gently-used sport gear to benefit athletes in need at Boys & Girls clubs in your community, Step Up to Bullying during this back-to-school season we're asking young people from coast to coast to tell us what they're doing to Step Up for chance to be featured on our interactive map and win awesome prizes, Teens For Jeans, Do Something and Aeropostale's annual campaign, which asks teens to donate there old slighty used jeans, this campaign is the largest jean drive in the nation!, Do Good Look Good with Macy's this campaign allows you to do something good and be entered into a sweepstakes to win a $250 shopping spree at Macy's, Play eMission today! the brand-new Facebook game that was launched with support from the EPA's Energy Star program, you can advance in the game by taking the action offline action around energy efficiency the goal is to get 100,000 people to start playing and saving our planet.

Clubs

Anyone can start a Do Something club. Clubs do any projects that matter to the members; Do Something gives its members the ideas and resources to create their own projects. Clubs have to post a minimum of two projects a year, and once signed up, members are eligible for a Club Grant and monthly prizes. Do Something sends its members three packages a year with free project resources, upcoming opportunities, and Do Something swag.

Do Something Awards

The Do Something Awards is the only national awards ceremony for social action. Formerly called the BR!CK Awards, the awards culminated in 1996 to recognize young people under the age of 25 who have done outstanding work in their communities and the world. The Do Something Awards not only include young people involved in activism, but also includes individuals from the entertainment industry who have dedicated their time to activism and charity. The top 5 Do Something Awards receive a $10,000 community grant, while the grand prize winner receives a $100,000 grant to push its community projects forward. The Awards were broadcasted for the first time on April 12, 2007, on The CW, making it the first televised awards show about changing the world. In 2011, the Do Something Awards was hosted by Jane Lynch at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, and was broadcasted on Vh1.^[6] 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 and Kim Kardashian.^[7]

Past Award Winners

• 2007 - Jacob Komar - Created "Computers for Communities",^[8] 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 ^[9]
• 2009 – Maggie Doyne - Opened up 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.^[10]
• 2011 - Sarah Cronk - Founder of The Sparkle Effect. It's an innovative student-run program, encouraging teens nationwide to include students with disabilities in high-school cheer-leading programs. The goal is that students with disabilities experience true acceptance and gain confidence as high-school students inspire entire communities to embrace inclusion.

Teens for Jeans

Teaming up with Aéropostale, the campaign Teens for Jeans was created in 2008 to raise awareness among teens about the one-third of homeless people who are under the age of 18.^[11] 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^[12] Celebrities that have worked with the Teens for Jeans campaign include Nigel Barker,^[13] Jay Sean,^[14] Nikki Blonsky,^[15] Chace Crawford,^[16] Ashley Greene and Justin Long

List of Celebrities Involved With DoSomething.org

DoSomething.org receives a great deal of help from many well-known figures from the entertainment industry. Some of the celebrities associated with DoSomething.org are:

• Nelly
• Sean Kingston
• Ludacris^[17]
• Jordin Sparks
• Usher
• Corbin Bleu^[18]
• David Archuleta^[19]
• Kristen Bell^[20]
• The Jonas Brothers^[21]
• Ciara^[22]
• Olivia Munn^[23]
• Amber Riley^[24]
• Sophia Bush^[25]
• Monique Coleman^[26]
• Andrew Jenks
• Demi Lovato^[27]
• Nikki Reed^[28]
• Meaghan Martin
• Nick Cannon ^[29]
• Tinie Tempah^[30]
• Rihanna^[31]
• Rachel Bilson^[32]
• Hayden Christensen^[32]

See also

• List of awards for volunteerism and community service

References

1. ^ Education World
2. ^ Teen Ink Interview with Andrew Shue
3. ^ About Us | Do Something
4. ^ New York Times
5. ^ Our Team | Do Something
6. ^ "2011 Do Something Awards". VH1. http://dosomething.vh1.com. 
7. ^ Brown, Len. "Demi Lovato to Perform at Do Something Awards". The Insider. http://www.theinsider.com/tunes/43262_Demi_Lovato_to_Perform_Live_at_2011_Do_Something_Awards/index.html. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
8. ^ Computers for Communities
9. ^ helloCHANGE
10. ^ Huffington Post
11. ^ Huffington Post
12. ^ Aeropostale And DoSomething.org Collect Over One Million Jeans For Homeless Teens Through 4th Annual ‘Teens For Jeans’ Campaign | Do Something
13. ^ A. Anaiz Photography
14. ^ Rickey.org
15. ^ PopEater
16. ^ Seventeen
17. ^ In Flex We Trust
18. ^ Popdirt
19. ^ Look to the Stars
20. ^ YouTube
21. ^ YouTube
22. ^ Staples
23. ^ Treehugger
24. ^ VH1 Save the Music
25. ^ Look to the Stars
26. ^ Seventeen
27. ^ Johnson & Johnson
28. ^ JSYK
29. ^ "Do Good Look Good". Do Something. http://www.dosomething.org/macys. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
30. ^ "Tinie Tempah: Battle for the Bands". You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/user/DoSomething1#p/u/34/RPNL_6WkX5s. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
31. ^ "Rihanna -- DO SOMETHING PSA". You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-gADWUHfPU. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
32. ^ ^{a b} "Rachel Bilson & Hayden Christensen together!". You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvUVLGFMWzo. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 

External links

• Do Something
• Charity Navigator Evaluation of Do Something
• Do Something Awards Official Website
• Young Activists Practice Their Pitches For Non-Profits, New York Times
• Charity Goes Mobile to Appeal to Young, New York Times