Philanthropy
Service should matter.
At National Outstanding Miss™, Philanthropy isn’t an optional competition. It isn’t an extra award. And it isn’t something we added because service is expected in pageantry.
It’s 40% of your competition score.
We gave Philanthropy the largest percentage of the score because service is an integral part of who we are as Directors and what we want National Outstanding Miss™ to recognize.
But we also know that service looks different for every woman.
Some people have spent years volunteering with the same organization. Some serve through their church, school, neighborhood, or community. Some have founded organizations or led major projects. Others quietly show up every week and do the work that needs to be done.
All of those stories can matter.
Philanthropy Is Not an Hours Contest
Every National Outstanding Miss™ Delegate must complete at least 24 hours of verified service during the qualifying period.
But 24 hours is the requirement to compete. It isn’t the formula for winning.
Twenty-four verified hours gets you through the door. What you did with those hours matters more.
Completing 100 hours does not automatically score higher than completing 30. Judges aren’t simply adding up hours and ranking Delegates from highest to lowest.
We want to know what you did, why you chose to do it, how you were involved, and what impact your service had.
NOM Evaluates Service, Not Privilege
Meaningful service should not depend on how much money you can spend, where you live, who you know, or whether you have access to a large organization.
You do not need to:
- Create your own nonprofit.
- Have an official platform.
- Organize a large-scale service project.
- Donate large amounts of money or goods.
- Travel to serve.
- Accumulate hundreds of volunteer hours.
You can serve an established nonprofit. You can volunteer through your church, school, neighborhood, or community. You can return to the same organization month after month.
The size of the project doesn’t determine the value of the service.
What matters is how you served and what your involvement meant.
Service Takes Many Forms
Service isn’t limited to addressing one particular kind of need—and it isn’t limited to your own hometown.
It can mean helping provide food to families who need it. It can mean environmental conservation and community beautification. It can mean volunteering with an animal rescue, supporting a nonprofit arts or cultural organization, teaching children who might not otherwise have access to arts education, or performing for residents of a nursing home.
It can also mean traveling to help build homes or schools, participating in humanitarian work, or using your professional skills to serve people and communities in need.
There is no single cause, organization, or type of service that NOM considers more worthy simply because it looks more traditionally “charitable.”
Choose a need that matters to you. Then show us how you served.
What Are Judges Looking For?
Philanthropy judging looks beyond the number at the top of your service log.
Judges consider your verified service, the quality and impact of the work, your leadership and initiative, the consistency of your involvement, and what they observe when you serve during the National Event.
We aren’t looking for the Delegate with the most impressive résumé.
We’re looking at the work.
Show Up Ready to Serve
Philanthropy doesn’t end when you submit your service documentation.
Service is part of the National Event itself.
Delegates will participate in an official service project during Nationals, giving us an opportunity to serve together and giving NOM an opportunity to see something paperwork can’t always show:
How you serve when it’s time to work.
You don’t need to perform service for the people around you. You don’t need to make sure someone notices what you’re doing.
The 2027 Philanthropy Requirement
Service may be completed with one organization or across multiple organizations, and recurring service is welcome.
Your service does not have to relate to food insecurity or to the organizational mission of Crown to Community, Inc. Choose service that is meaningful to you and meets NOM’s eligibility and verification requirements.
What Counts?
Qualifying service is unpaid volunteer work performed for the benefit of others or the community.
Your service must be verifiable by someone who can reasonably confirm your participation, such as an organization representative, teacher, clergy member, volunteer coordinator, or other appropriate contact who is not a family member.
Donated money or goods cannot be converted into volunteer hours.
Court-ordered or otherwise mandated community service does not qualify.
If service cannot be verified, it cannot be counted toward the 24-hour requirement.
Tell Us About the Impact
Along with your verified service, you’ll submit a 300–500 word Impact Statement.
This is your opportunity to tell us more than a service log can.
Why did you choose this work?
What did you actually do?
What did you learn?
Who or what was affected by your involvement?
Did your understanding of the need—or your own role in addressing it—change along the way?
We’re not looking for the best writer. We’re looking for your understanding of the work you did and the impact it had.
No Scrapbooks. No Photo Evidence.
You do not need to create a scrapbook, portfolio, presentation, or other physical record of your service for competition.
We don’t want you spending time and money creating elaborate materials to prove that your service mattered. Your verified service, Impact Statement, and participation during the National Event give our judges what they need to evaluate your Philanthropy competition.
NOM does not accept photographs as verification of service.
First and foremost, the people and communities we serve are not props for a photo opportunity. We never want a Delegate to feel that she needs to photograph someone experiencing hardship in order to prove that she served them.
There is also a practical reason: a photograph does not verify that service occurred. Images can be staged, altered, taken out of context, or digitally generated. Technology now makes it remarkably easy to create a convincing image of something that never happened.
That’s why NOM relies on verifiable records and real people who can confirm your service, not photographic evidence.
You are welcome to take appropriate photographs when an organization permits them and the people involved have consented. You may share your service experiences on your own social media if you choose. But those photographs are not part of your NOM philanthropy submission and will not be considered by the judges.
We evaluate the service—not how well it photographs.
Keep Your Documentation
Delegates are responsible for maintaining documentation of their service.
NOM accepts appropriate verification such as a verification letter or signed service log from an eligible verifier. Detailed submission instructions and the official philanthropy submission process will be provided to Delegates.
If it cannot be verified, it does not count.
24 Hours Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
We aren’t asking you to stop serving when you reach 24 hours.
We’re simply telling you that you don’t need to chase an arbitrary number because you think more hours automatically mean a higher score.
Serve because the work matters.
Stay because you’re needed.
Lead when there’s an opportunity to lead.
Learn from the people and communities you’re serving alongside.
Then come to Nationals prepared to tell us about it.
Service should matter.
We don’t stand still. We stand out.™