Hello! I am currently a Junior in high school that started a nonprofit midway through freshman year. My academics are fine - a 3.9 UW at one of the most rigorous public schools in the nation (hoping it’ll keep going up). I also got 1410 on the PSAT score (with a predicted score of 1480 on the SAT). I still have close to a year to bring that above 1500.
Anyways, I co-founded a registered nonprofit midway through freshman year. It’s been around for just about one year. We have 470 interns, over 100 influencers (15k followers or more), over 3-million website visits, and several social media accounts run by us with over 1 million followers. With thousands of applications, we are looking to expand big this summer. We’ve interviewed big names such as Stephen Fry, Jo Jorgensen, Howie Hawkins, and countless professors. We’ve partnered with dozens of organizations including the Harvard Kennedy School and NYU Center for SM and Politics for several events.
We are currently focused on politics and policymaking - promoting political discourse as the centerpiece of the organization. We run many programs to do so and have launch 240 chapters. We also managed to pass a discourse-based curriculum in 7 states which will reach over 1.2 million students this year. I have been investing most of my extracurricular time into this. Spending between 2-4 hours per day on this I barely have time for anything else.
I am an Eagle Scout and have had a couple of internships including two in congressional campaign management, one as a deputy campaign director on the Jorgensen for President campaign, and one in VC. I didn’t know that a nonprofit like this could genuinely be counted as an extra credit back when I started it, I was genuinely just thinking of filling the gap that other political nonprofits such as JSA or HSDA weren’t filling.
WHAT I AM WONDERING - Is it worth spending that much time on this? Could starting such a successful nonprofit be considered a spike? If not, how successful would a nonprofit need to be in order to be considered a spike?
So you were maybe 14 when you started this? Did your parents pay for a lawyer to help you get 501c3 status?
This non-profit sounds very impressive but I don’t understand how you can manage such a massive undertaking while going to school.
Regardless of college admissions concerns, are you enjoying running this on-profit? Are you wishing for a different high school experience? Is COVID a factor here since we have all been living online, and you haven’t had access to “normal” high school activities anyway.
I think high school is a great time to explore interests but the current situation makes that hard to do. However, I would only continue this non-profit if it is rewarding to you. If not, perhaps you could hand it over to someone else.
It’s certainly going to be noticed. Pretty impressive that you achieved all that in one year. Any AO will definitely check to see that you did what you say you did and that the facts you provided check out, as this sounds like a major enterprise and the time frame is very short.
It matters if your nonprofit is sustainable. As in, will it continue to exist after you leave the school? If it’s as impressive as you describe, then yes, it’s worth spending time on. I’m not sure what the issue is. You spend time doing it everyday. There are other things you do, but what do you need to extra time for? You seem like a high achiever. Are you just burnt out, or are you unable to do other things you’d like to do because the nonprofit eats all your time?
It depends on why you’re doing this. Are you doing it because you’re deeply interested in it and believe in the cause? If so, then it’s worth it and you may accompolish something that will make you pride. On the other hand, if you’re doing it for elite college admissions, it may not seem worthwhile to you if you aren’t ultimately accepted by one of these colleges.
Your organization sounds very impressive but be careful about exaggeration. You say you have 470 interns. Do you know what an intern is? The main purpose of an internship is to get job experience through on the job training. Very large companies can have 470 interns, not brand new startups. I think maybe you have 470 volunteers. And I question whether they are all really active, or did some just put their names on a list. I won’t go through the rest, but don’t try to make it seem like more than it is.
You say you spend 2-4 hours per day on it. That is about the same as many athletes spend on their sports, or theater kids spend in the theater, etc. it is a lot if time to spend on an EC but not more than many others are doing. You should cut back if it’s affecting your grades, but otherwise there is no problem spending all your time on something you really care about.
Just to add regarding interns, there are legal requirements in order to call positions “internships.” Make sure to check those out before using the term.
Your problem is that this sounds too impressive for your age and grade level, so credibility is important.
If you have been home during this whole COVID period, living online, as I said, this kind of activity makes sense and may have kept you more connected to the outside world as well as given you a feeling of being productive.
In less than a year, from a standing start, you developed an academic curriculum and persuaded 7 state legislatures to accept it? all while being a full-time sophomore in HS, finishing your Eagle Scout at a faster than usual rate, working on political campaigns, onboarding 470 interns, helping 240 chapters get started, etc, etc.? Color me skeptical.
I am always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to CC posters- there are some truly amazing teenagers in this world! but the organization you describe takes a lot more than a 2-4 hours / day from a couple of full-time students.
I suspect knowing how many people were co-founders, their backgrounds and financial resources is relevant. What is your actual role in the organization?
The organization you describe is very impressive. If you truly were responsible for developing and leading a team strong enough to accomplish all of the above (including finding the necessary financing) that will stand out.
But: as presented here, my bet is that any AO is going to also be skeptical.
I appreciate all of the valuable commentary + feedback!
To clear some things up, here is a timeline of my involvement in politics:
Sept. 2019 - Started policy-oriented work with Hoover Institution @ Stanford
Dec. 2020 - Opportunity popped up to work in DC with Mike Faulkender @ the Treasury and later the CEA at the White House - I used both and lived in DC w/ parents for 5 months. Then, moved back to California
June 2020 - Began involvement in a congressional campaign. Received 8 MVP awards and rose to a Sr. Field Manager position from intern within 3 months.
June 2020 - Began political TikTok (this would get me ~70k followers by the end of July)
July 2020 - Joined another congressional campaign + became Deputy Campaign Director (built out an internship program for the campaign that would prove quite effective by November)
July 2020 - Got other TikTok creators together, brainstormed the idea of the nonprofit, leveraged our collective platforms of over 3 million followers to promote the nonprofit
This is where my nonprofit began taking off - it was off to a very strong start thanks to the creators backing it
I am the Executive Director and have been since the inception of this nonprofit. We are incorporated and have been a 501(c)3 for quite some time. In January, we also started up a 501(c)4 by advisory of our legal team for lobbying funds.
My main job is ensuring that our three branches/prongs we’ve developed are properly staffed, operated, and as effective/innovative as possible. Our core team of ~35 people (who get paid in stipends) is mainly college students from across the nation. They lead the three prongs (policy media, advising, and curriculum) well and have done a great job building up the smaller teams from there.
I have developed the management structure, fundraising infrastructure, and connections under the guidance of some great people. Notably including a VP at Adobe, SVP at a high-level security firm, Sr. Managing Director and Partner at a $300 billion investment firm, and some fortune 500 former CEOs and founders. I’ve seen that this is a project you can get many former execs/rich people excited about and I took advantage of that. Many had connections to school districts and people on educator boards which we were able to take advantage of.
In regards to the active number of people/community/interns/volunteers, our numbers are fairly accurate. We have 724 active volunteers and 472 active interns – this means being active on our slack at least 75% of the months (22 days) and filing work reports on a monthly basis. This number obviously fluctuates but our retention rates are quite good with about 84% of interns completing 3-month internships they began with us.
Regardless, I hope this message has cleared some things up - thank you so much!
It sounds like you were part of an active group of stakeholders who were doing important policy work at the state level. These sound like terrific experiences but the outcomes you seem to be attributing to yourself don’t seem consistent with an involvement of 2-4 hours a day. Readers of your file will take you more seriously if you don’t oversell.
Your parents moved to DC and back to California? Did you set up the 501c3? How did you make the connections with corporate officers? Do you hold seminars or what’s the output?
I assume you’ll have a very strong recommendation from this activity. If it has a board of directors and other officers below you, it sounds sustainable. I know someone who started a HS club to “mentor middle school students by teaching them about how to succeed in high school and avoid peer pressure/drugs/alcohol.” The officer position and founding was mentioned on the college acceptance letter.
I am not sure why the OP is asking us if there is “value” in starting this. Is this question related to college admissions? If so, sure, apply to Harvard or wherever and you will most likely get in and join the ranks of other early and high achievers.
If the question relates more to how to spend your time in high school, are you burnt out, too busy, feeling like you missed out on teenage years?
OP asks: Is it worth spending 2 to 4 hours a day on this endeavor ?
It is difficult for me to reconcile the question asked with the accomplishments claimed.
If you, the founder / executive director, are disposable to such a large organization in its infancy (about 13 months old), then one might question your claims.
The more logical question might be whether the founder of such an expansive organization in its infancy should take a gap year in order to devote more time to his “passion”.
Are you getting burnt out from this and looking to quit? Is that why you are asking the question? Is sounds like that may be it from the way you describe how many hours you spend and ask if it’s valuable.
I think what the OP is wondering about is whether his accomplishments will provide a significant boost to him in his college admissions (correct me if I’m wrong OP).
And to answer you question, I don’t know. I keep reading in our local newspaper about teens that have started nonprofits. So you’re in good company. You sound like an interesting young person with a genuine interest in politics (do you maybe have family connections that bolstered this interest?). I agree with previous posters that if you don’t oversell your nonprofit (as in make claims about personal effort that are hard to believe) you will have a good shot at whatever college you’re interested in.
Now as far as the time commitment goes. You seem to have many years under your belt of juggling work and school so you should be a pro at this by now. If you’re tired and want to experience a more “normal” senior year you should do that. Your organization seems to be well supported so you can maybe take a sabbatical.
College admissions is pretty nuts if you will be aiming for highly selective schools (which I have a feeling you will be). As long as you have a back-up plan, give it your best shot. I wish you well!
To be clear on concept, if the OP wants to post the name of his group (which I strongly discourage), that’s his business.
For anyone else to post it is an invasion of privacy, a blatant violation of ToS, and totally at odds with the mission of a site called College Confidential.
I have a feeling that admissions officers are going to look at your application and think that you’re going to be a political kingmaker in the future, and hence want to have you as their alumnus. Your grades are very good, and your standardized test scores hopefully will be also. Don’t underestimate the hours you have spent and continue to spend on this, your most important EC.
It’s not that you started a non-profit. It’s that you’ve been closely involved in starting what sounds like a significant political organization for young people, who of course are new or soon-to-be voters. This is going to be the centerpiece of your application.
When we totaled up the number of hours my kid spent on their main EC, we realized that it had been at least 40 hrs/wk, all through high school, while also maintaining high grades in rigorous classes. I thought it would be hard to believe, but the level of achievement supported that figure. If the organization that you have been involved in founding and expanding is what you describe, I’d expect that you have probably invested over a thousand hours in it over the past two years, probably more, and to very good effect.
So the answer is a resounding YES, this activity that you describe will have great value in your application process. Be truthful in describing your involvement, without selling yourself short. This is the kind of activity that will make you stand out from all the other top applicants to colleges with leading poli sci departments.