6 Easy Ways Millennials Can Make a Difference in 30 Minutes Or Less

Millennials often get a bad rap. A simple Google search involving the words ‘millennial’ and ‘negative’ turns up over 647,000 results. They’re characterized as lazy, self-absorbed, greedy and obsessed with social media. However, the negative stereotypes of millennials get way too much press compared with all the ways that millennials are working to change the world. Here are some easy tips for you millennials to make a difference and change that stereotype — all in 30 minutes or less.

Download Some New Apps

Since you’re already on your phone all day anyway, there are a ton of apps you can download that can help make the world a better place. Check-in for Good lets you donate to a cause you choose every time you check-in via their app at participating locations. The business donates a dollar to the cause that you choose, and also provides you with things like coupons to give you reasons to keep coming back.

If you’re into taking pictures of your food, Feedie lets you share a photo of your meal from participating restaurants, and in turn the restaurant makes a donation to The Lunchbox Fund, feeding underprivileged schoolchildren in Africa.

And for Android users, HTC Power To Give uses your phone’s excess processing power when you’re connected to Wi-Fi to help fuel research for various scientific projects that you can choose from.

Start Giving

Ready to get the new iPhone and not sure what to do with your old one? Why not donate it? Cell Phones for Soldiers is dedicated to providing free communication for troops and veterans. Donating your cell phone gives troops around the world an easy way to communicate with their families back home. Verizon also has a program called HopeLine that recycles old phones and accessories and turns them into cash grants to help victims of domestic violence.

Since millennials are often strapped for cash, donating is often the best way to give back. Organizations like ABWE are always looking for things like books, computers and office equipment and other things to help them run smoothly.
Donating blood through the Red Cross is also an option if you can’t find any material possessions you want to part with. The actual process only takes about 10 minutes and you can help save a life every time you donate.

Throw Back Some Beers

Yes, you read that correctly. Anheuser-Busch has been making a huge effort to be greener. They have a recycling subsidiary that recycles more than 27 million cans each year, has started to produce more organic beers and has begun to rely more on solar panels and Bio-Energy Recovery Systems (BERS) for its power.

BERS is technology that converts brewing wastewater into fuel, and is currently in use in nine of Anheuser-Busch’s breweries. The company said that the energy BERS generated last year was enough to heat more than 25,000 homes. Choose a beer that makes a difference.

Want to know more? Check out these facts about Anheuser-Busch and other companies going green in ways that are equally as innovative.

Become an Organ Donor

The next time you have to go to get a new photo for your license, choose to have the “Organ Donor” designation put on. There are thousands of people waiting on the transplant list for an organ. If something happens to you, you can still make a difference for someone. You can save a life, giving someone a second chance at it. You let their family keep someone that means a lot to them. It’s an amazing thing to be able to do, and it only takes a minute to register as one.

Take Some Surveys

Take a break from Facebook and Twitter the next time you’re on the computer, and head over to SurveyMonkey. All you have to do is give feedback by taking surveys, and each one helps you donate to the charity that you pick. As a bonus, you can enter to win awesome prizes while you’re giving back!

Just Be Friendly

You never know what the people around you are going through. It can be as simple as a wave and a smile to someone you pass on the street to make someone’s day. Engage someone in a friendly conversation. So many people are lonely or may be having a bad day and it’s easy to help them have a better one.

These are just a few ways for millennials to make a difference. Get out there — or live up to the stereotype and stay connected via computer or mobile phone — and change the world!