Mission
Mobilize.org empowers and invests in Millennials to create and implement solutions to social problems.
Mobilize.org believes that in order to create long-term, sustainable and community based solutions to the challenges facing our generation, Millennials (young adults born between the years 1976 and 1996) must authentically engage their peers in identifying problems, proposing solutions, and most importantly, must work together to implement these solutions on their campuses and in their communities.
History
Founded in 2002 on the campus of UC Berkeley by David B. Smith, Mobilize.org grew out of a successful student-led effort to challenge tuition increases that would make the cost of earning a UC degree prohibitive to many students. Over the past decade, Mobilize.org has grown into an organization that harnesses the unique attributes and passion of the Millennial Generation to identify and address problems of concern to society, and provide Millennials with resources needed to implement solutions.
In 2007, Mobilize.org launched the Democracy 2.0 Campaign to call attention to the ways our democratic process and institutions were both serving and failing to serve the interests of the Millennial Generation. Since then, the emphasis of Mobilize.org’s programs has been Democracy 2.0 Summits, during which Mobilize.org brings its unique process of problem solving and collaboration to various communities around the country. Mobilize.org facilitates an authentic process for a group of Millennials to identify problems and propose solutions, then receive awards as investments in a variety of projects that address issues on their campuses and in their communities. Mobilize.org has invested in more than thirty Millennial-led projects over the past four years, at 10 Democracy 2.0 Summits. Other Mobilize.org projects have included surveys of Millennials to identify the most urgent issues facing our society and ways in which Millennials can address them, the Mobilizer’s Guidebook, outlining tools to help Millennials improve their communities and their campuses, while becoming more engaged in the civic and political processes, and our growing practice of leadership development work, focused on empowering Millennials to lead change in their communities and encourage their peers to do so as well. The Democracy 2.0 Campaign is an important part of the history of Mobilize.org, and has shaped current Mobilize.org programming.
Today, Mobilize.org is a dynamic organization with a staff of nine, a committed Board of Directors, a team of dedicated interns and and an annual operating budget of approximately $1 million. Mobilize.org, led by Millennials and engaged in an authentic process of identifying issues impacting the Millennial Generation, has pioneered a transformative engagement and leadership development model that has resulted in Millennial-led solutions to some of the most critical problems being faced by our communities, and our country.
Mobilize.org is a mission-driven, financially sustainable organization with a robust board and staff, operating in a culture of accountability, community, and collaboration. Ever-ready to increase its impact, Mobilize.org is data-driven, committed to learning, and most of all, committed to leveraging the unique strengths and approaches of the Millennial Generation in service to building solutions to social problems. When Mobilize.org succeeds in accomplishing our mission, a critical mass of members of the Millennial Generation will have the networks, resources and skills necessary to lead change in our communities, and the confidence in their own leadership abilities and the transformative experience of building an idea into a movement.
Investments
Since 2002, Mobilize.org has inspired Millennials to take on our country’s most pressing issues by hosting 10 summits and investing over $160,000 in 34 Millennial-led projects. Mobilize.org invests in Millennials who are creating more opportunity for community college students, who are increasing the power of our generation in philanthropy, who are starting their own non-profits, who are addressing the challenges young veterans face reintegrating into civilian life, who are challenging the crippling belief that there is anything that this generation cannot accomplish. Read more about the amazing work of Millennials across the country and the Investments in the Mobilize.org network.
