"If you're not angry, you're not paying attention." While this old bumpersticker catchphrase may sound a little pessimistic, there is some truth to the idea that our world has its share of suffering and injustice, and ignoring it won't make it go away. If you're not sure where to start looking for causes to champion, why not open a news feed and get reading?

Before long, you're likely to find a story that grabs your interest, and maybe even makes you angry. Most world problems you won't be able to do much about, or awareness about the issues will already be quite high. But if you keep at it, you can find a cause that affects a lot of people, that few of us know about, and that can be improved with better policy or cultural attitudes. Bingo!

Nothing makes a cause more relevant or meaningful than having it come close to home. Unfortunately, many of us know what it's like to face inequity, or to struggle with invisible problems that other people just don't understand. We may have friends and family who deal with rare diseases, or are silent victims of persecution or exploitation. Or we may notice problems in our communities and neighborhoods that no one seems to pay attention to.

While problems that affect you directly are great for building passion for your cause, make sure your issue isn't exclusive just to you. For example, few people outside your circle would care about your new public service announcement: "My Chemistry Teacher Mr. Williamson Should Give More Extra Credit!"

Every successful campaign needs a clear and specific audience. Whatever your issue may be, you should figure out early on who needs to hear your message most. Is it people of your own age group, who like the same things you do? Or maybe it's nature lovers, or people who throw cigarette butts out their car windows, or people who want to volunteer in their community but don't know how?

Every decision you make as you develop your ad campaign needs to consider how it will appeal to your audience. Remember, if you try to make your work appeal to everyone, it will ultimately appeal to no one.

So you've found a great cause, identified the target audience, and are ready to start making a change. But what do you want to accomplish exactly? What would a successful campaign look like, and how will you measure if it's working? For example, this Public Service Announcement was aimed at 8-12 year olds, and was designed to "increase knowledge, foster proactive attitudes, and change energy usage behaviors."

Can you identify the goal of this campaign? It reminds us that turning off lights is super duper simple, and anyone with a brain can do it. It's easy to understand and gets straight to the point. It wants kids to remember to turn off lights they're not using. That's the goal. And according to research, it worked! The campaign produced "a small but measurable and statistically significant effect on energy-saving behavior."

What do you want people to do when they see your ad? Change their mind? Change their behavior? Donate money or time? Whatever it is, decide beforehand what your goal will be and give your campaign a clear purpose from the start.