Non profits started by high school students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get it - your kid would rather play video games then do community service...

I'm sure there are "empty" non-profits, but don't bash the kids who are putting in hard work to try to make a difference...

The kids I know do REAL community service, not just play video games while mommy and daddy register a non-profit in their name.
Can you give a specific example of these kids that are putting in hard work in creating and maintaining their non profit that actually "makes a difference?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get it - your kid would rather play video games then do community service...

I'm sure there are "empty" non-profits, but don't bash the kids who are putting in hard work to try to make a difference...

In the nonprofit world, a premium is placed on not duplicating infrastructure and administrative costs. It is always better to dedicate yourself to an existing non-profit than it is to create a new one from scratch. The options aren't service or video games. It's volunteer with an existing organization or drain their resources by competing with them to try to make yourself look extra special.

And play video games. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.

[Anonymous]

I thought this fad had passed, but know a senior just admitted to Stanford with a lame non profit as one of the centerpieces of her resume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this fad had passed, but know a senior just admitted to Stanford with a lame non profit as one of the centerpieces of her resume.

Happened last year too. All part of the game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get it - your kid would rather play video games then do community service...

I'm sure there are "empty" non-profits, but don't bash the kids who are putting in hard work to try to make a difference...

In the nonprofit world, a premium is placed on not duplicating infrastructure and administrative costs. It is always better to dedicate yourself to an existing non-profit than it is to create a new one from scratch. The options aren't service or video games. It's volunteer with an existing organization or drain their resources by competing with them to try to make yourself look extra special.

And play video games. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.

This is a really important point. A kid who starts a nonprofit risks looking both uninformed and arrogant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get it - your kid would rather play video games then do community service...

I'm sure there are "empty" non-profits, but don't bash the kids who are putting in hard work to try to make a difference...

In the nonprofit world, a premium is placed on not duplicating infrastructure and administrative costs. It is always better to dedicate yourself to an existing non-profit than it is to create a new one from scratch. The options aren't service or video games. It's volunteer with an existing organization or drain their resources by competing with them to try to make yourself look extra special.

And play video games. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.

This is a really important point. A kid who starts a nonprofit risks looking both uninformed and arrogant.

But yet it is working

[Anonymous]

I think it still works at my kid’s big3. We know kids admitted and attending Penn, Columbia, Princeton, Brown and Stanford who went all in on starting a non-profit. All in the last 4 years.

[Anonymous]

agree with pretty much all of this but also know 3 kids who started one right off in beginning of COVID where their families were quarantining - a resort community where so many workers had been laid off. They raised cash, solicited food donations, held pick ups. Ran it through winter 21.

[Anonymous]

Fillers. I started a nonprofit. I did not realize I should have used my kid. It’s not very expensive or hard.

[Anonymous]

It still works. My kids didn’t want to start ones, and spent many hours volunteering at existing ones. But the kids who made their own and made it flourish, and were excellent students, got into Ivies.

I think there’s a reward for initiative.

[Anonymous]

If parents are really smart their kids start one together and then all get into Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who thinks a high school student is actually running their own successful non profit: I would love to sell you a timeshare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If parents are really smart their kids start one together and then all get into Ivies.

Let's call it "Students Helping Students"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year countless nonprofits are founded by high schoolers, only never to be heard of after they graduate, am I missing the point here or are these just resume fillers?

This is an old ploy that stopped working about 3 years ago. AO’s are wary of these now.

Really? Then how are kids still getting into these top colleges when their best activity is starting one of these non-profits?

Because it signals wealthy, connected parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks a high school student is actually running their own successful non profit: I would love to sell you a timeshare.

THIS! I know a student who started a non profit where she ostensibly baked hundreds of cupcakes a week and sold them, donating the proceeds to her charity. The kicker- it was actually the family's nanny who did all of the baking and packaging!!