why not me?
We help students of all ages and majors turn ideas into impact.
If you could change something in the world, what would you change?
We are an organization at the University of Michigan that offers programs, courses, mentorship, and funding for students of all ages and majors to work on self-directed projects.
We create a supportive community for you to build skills, pursue passions, and take action —whether that means starting a company, creating a student org, collaborating with an existing organization, launching a creative project, developing an activist effort, or whatever method works for you to create impact!
Our flagship program is the optiMize Social Innovation Challenge.
It’s an incubator for students to develop self-directed projects and ideas for social impact. It offers personalized mentorship, supportive community, action-based workshops, and a chance to pitch for up to $10,000.
You can join with an existing project or new idea. Everyone is welcome — from first-year undergraduates to PhD candidates, from all 3 UM campuses, from all degree programs, and from partner community colleges across the state of Michigan.
Our Transfer Student Programs are aMplify and moMentum.
Through moMentum, you can participate in a fellowship to connect to University of Michigan’s resources and engage with other moMentum fellows and community college students.
After transferring to UM, you can join us at aMplify and have continual support in the transfer student experience with programing that is bought to you by transfer students, for transfer students.
Ask yourself, “Why not me?” and start making impact.
Stop waiting for someone else to change the world.
Ask yourself,
"why not me?"
We support projects that illuminate possibilities.
Who We’ve Funded
We've incubated thousands of student-led projects over ten cohorts since 2013. Hundreds of them have been funded with up to $20,000 to become optiMize Fellows. Learn more about how optiMize students and alumni are making an impact.
Featured
![Trinity Barbara [the brand] A jewelry brand exclusively using ethically-sourced fine metals and gemstones to create versatile and durable luxury jewelry](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/574341bb8a65e27900eb5610/1685648538222-UA10F90LTSP24P120FK9/trinity+barbara.jpeg)
We are a supportive community.
Keep Up With Us
Our community is made up of innovators of all backgrounds. From first-time entrepreneurs to experienced founders, we all support each other as we develop our own self-directed social impact projects. And we get lots of help from our great mentors.
