Cardinal Commitment

Get support for your sustained commitment to a community, organization, or issue.

Cardinal Commitment offers advising, funding, connection to the community, training, and opportunities to reflect—all you need to improve your public service.

What is Cardinal Commitment?

Making a Cardinal Commitment means engaging with a community to address a problem or need for at least three quarters while you’re at Stanford. You’ll develop a personal mission statement describing your commitment, receive advice and guidance from a mentor or supervisor, and spend time documenting and reflecting on your service experience.

New to Cardinal Commitment

Have you met the requirements for a Cardinal Commitment and only realized it afterwards? You deserve to be recognized for your service! Now, you can retroactively certify your Cardinal Commitment for work you've already completed. To do so, simply fill out the same form that you would use to start the Commitment process.

How to Make a Cardinal Commitment

There are three steps to making a Cardinal Commitment. Before you begin, think about what you hope to learn from your public service experience. You might want to note down your goals or a write personal mission statement, and choose which kind of Cardinal Commitment is right for you.

1. Declare your Commitment
   Based on the kind of commitment you chose, fill out the appropriate form:
   - Engagement Commitment
   - Leadership Commitment
   - Impact Commitment
2. Engage in service work
   Work with your community or issue for three quarters while continually reflecting on your public service goals. The Principles of Ethical and Effective Service should inform your work. Contact the Cardinal Commitment team whenever you need support. 
3. Certify completion
   You can conclude your Cardinal Commitment by certifying completion, with a concise reflection on your experiences.

Note: If you made a Commitment prior to the 2023-24 academic year, you can still certify.  Contact the Cardinal Commitment team if you have any questions regarding your Commitment.

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