Morehead-Cain Scholar Jake Bernstein is finishing up his first year at Carolina, but he was 15 years old when he started his first nonprofit with his sister, Simone. Their organization, VolunTEENnation.org, was originally designed to help teenagers in their hometown of St. Louis, Mo., find volunteer opportunities. Now VolunTEENnation is helping teenagers around the country do just that. Jake and Simone were recently recognized by Forbes magazine as top “30 under 30” social entrepreneurs. We talked to Jake about how he started the organization — and his future plans as a social entrepreneur.
What inspired you and your sister to start VolunTEEN Nation?
As a high school student, I was encouraged, and sometimes even required, to volunteer. Finding organizations that accepted 15-year-olds was a challenge: many organizations do not accept volunteers under age 18. The idea that you cannot volunteer until you are 18 is unacceptable. My sister and I decided to compile a list of organizations that accepted middle and high-school aged volunteers.
How did you start it? How did you set up the website?
My sister and I contacted local organizations. We created a list of organizations and recorded minimum volunteer age and descriptions of the opportunities. At first, I wrote a simple directory that sorted volunteer opportunities in St. Louis by age and organization’s mission. Web hosting and acquiring the domain were covered by our $48 budget. With domain and hosting discounts available today, our first website probably could have been established today for the grand total of 99 cents.
How has the program changed since its conception? Are there plans to expand it further?
While the mission of connecting volunteers and organizations has not changed, we have expanded to a national base. We currently have over 4,000 nationwide volunteer opportunities uploaded on our website. Thanks to pro-bono web development from our friends at Binary Lily (binarylily.com), our website has progressed from a phonebook-like organization listing to a national website with added search functionality for volunteer opportunities, scholarships and grant listings, and a blog. Our social media presence has continued to grow (@volunteennation).
Forbes also said you two also created a Youth and Family Volunteer Fair. How did that work out, and did you organize other similar events?
The success of our first volunteer fair let us truly realize the potential of VolunTEEN Nation. We held volunteer recruitment fairs for three consecutive years between 2010 and 2012, bringing in more than 1,500 students from across the St. Louis metropolitan area. The fair was very well received by both organizations and volunteers — by the second year, organizations were emailing us a year in advance to reserve a table. I hope to reach out to organizations in this community and ask if a similar volunteer recruitment event would be helpful to them. As an organization, we also hosted a variety of large service events.
Has your involvement changed since you’ve started at UNC? Do you do a lot of volunteer work while at school now?
I spend a few hours a week working on developing partnerships with the website and helping grow our social media presence. I‘m helping organize events both on campus and in St. Louis on Global Youth Service Day, April 28.
Are you involved in the entrepreneurship minor or any social entrepreneurship initiatives at UNC? Or do you have plans to pursue the minor?
I am enrolled in an economics seminar with entrepreneur Buck Goldstein, but I haven’t decided on my plans yet.
What are your plans for the next few years, and after graduation?
Get more involved with on-campus volunteer projects, attend more UNC sporting events, improve my coding skills, win a few more fencing bouts — and see where that takes me.
What advice would you give to other students who want to start a nonprofit?
You don’t have to do everything on your own. Law firms, larger organizations and community leaders are willing to lend support.
We are so thankful for the assistance we have received in growing VolunTEEN Nation. You don’t need to have any coding skills or money to set up a website: hosting discounts and free web templates give everyone the chance to publish something online. Additionally, social media can be your friend in making professional connections — use it.
[ Interview by Kristen Chavez ’13 ]
