As most return to campus, I randomly found a piece in Sunday’s New York Times on mom of Lady Gaga, Cynthia Germanotta, and her Sunday routine, and in that was a reference to #BeKind21. So, we went looking.
Here’s what we found…
Culminating on the U.N. International Day of Peace, #BeKind21 invites schools and colleges to kick off the new school year by establishing kinder habits, and for corporate partners, nonprofit partners, and all other participants to head into the fall with a spirit of compassion and kindness across their organizations and in their communities.
Those who signed up for #BeKind21 were encouraged to report whether they were inviting colleagues, classmates, or other members of their communities to participate in their “Kindness Teams” as well. The total number of Kindness Team members signed up via the online form is over 5.3 million and overall, participants pledged to commit over 112 million acts of kindness globally. Over 200 partners, including entire school districts, cities, nonprofits, and corporations, participated in the campaign and helped to spread the word. On Twitter and Instagram, #BeKind21 generated over 39,000 social media posts, reached over 132 million unique accounts, and received over 1.7 billion impressions.
A growing body of research has demonstrated the tangible benefits of kindness, for communities and for individuals. For example, according to a survey commissioned by Born This Way Foundation, young people who describe their environments as kind are also more likely to be mentally healthy. Performing acts of kindness has also been shown to boost reported levels of happiness, self-worth, and calmness while decreasing symptoms of depression.
So how does this tie to what we talk about? Well, how about NIL (name Image Likeness), now the rage on college campuses. One key beneficiary of NIL efforts and dollars has long thought to be efforts athletes can tie to around cause marketing and social responsibility. Student-athletes were not able to raise monies by lending their name, their image and their presence to a majority of causes where dollars were raised, now they can.
So why not #BeKind21? When you think about it, the premise is simple…awareness to do little things that can add up to big actions for young people. It helps address key initiatives that have risen up…gender and body shaming, bullying, mental health…all of which are front and center in discussions around students…and student-athletes as return to campus is now in full bloom. The program has a full list of brand partners who look to be engaged with young people, so why not target key on campus influencers, many of whom are athletes, and expand the program that way?
While Lady Gaga might not be rallying behind athletes on campus, the cause her mom supports are a great fit, and who knows…maybe some proactive athletes look to use their NIL opts to raise awareness and dollars, and get a shout out from Gaga, or her mom, as part of the program…not a bad way to start the semester.
