For the past three years The University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy hosted the “Do Good Challenge” through its Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership. This year the Robert H. Smith School of Business’ Center for Social Value Creation partnered with the Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership to create two tracks that teams can enter.
The “Do Good challenge” is an eight-week competition designed to give participants a real-world opportunity to advance causes they are passionate about and work towards solving those issues. Issues are addressed through volunteering, promoting awareness, fundraising or starting or advancing a social enterprise and is open to all University of Maryland undergraduate and graduate students. This year’s competition has already begun running from February 10, 2014 to April 6, 2014. But is still a matter worth talking about!
Although the program has already started, the idea behind it is one I often find myself thinking about. How can I “do good” in my everyday life? It’s so easy to see a problem in the world that I would love to solve but often find myself avoiding the problem because I don’t have the resources or a platform to help me make a change.
I also worry what others think about me; will I become one of those telemarketers, working day and night to raise funds to advance my cause? Or will I find myself standing on a sidewalk on campus with posters and pamphlets asking for donations? Whatever it is that stops me from advancing a cause is something that needs to be stopped in its tracks.
Doing good should not be reserved for special occasions or a competion. We must get out of bed each day with the intention of making a difference. Making a difference can be as simple as a smile to brighten someone’s day or words of encouragement to someone who is having a hard day. Doing good does not only mean solving world hunger or formulating a drug for a deadly disease. When a friend is hurting reach out to them, take some time out of your day to simply talk to them. Focus less on the trivial things in life and start thinking about the big questions.
Wondering what to do over the weekend? Try getting involved in your community, volunteering and focusing on making the world just a little brighter even if it’s for one person. Watch or read the news more often; learn how others are making a difference you may even find a story that moves you to make a change.
How do you spread awareness for it? Instead of that tweet about what you did all day you could social media sites such as Twitter to help spread the word about a pressing issue. Whatever you can do to make the world a better place is something. Start small! Make it a habit to do good each day and you never know where you will end up!
While participating in the “Do Good challenge” is out of the question for this year it is never too soon to start working on a project for a cause you care about for next year. Work towards improving a project over the next few months and with the help of some funds from organizations such as Morgan Stanley and Pepsi, this year’s sponsors. You may be able to make your project a reality. In the mean time like “Do Good Challenge” on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @DoGoodChallenge.
Or focus on the new campus trend #feedthedeed, a social media oriented campaign gaining populartity on campus over the past few weeks. What you do is do something nice like pick up walking students and help them get to class faster or bake snacks for your study group. Then, you take photos of your action, and inspire others by tagging Facebook friends around school and around the country to get involved!