A resource roundup from Erin.
By Flickr user markhillary
With a slumping global economy contributing to even fewer available resources for professional development, many in the nonprofit sector may find that attending trainings and workshops is increasingly difficult to do. Fortunately, innovative, accessible, and affordable methods for gaining and honing needed skills are going more and more mainstream. One such option? Webinars.
Two that may be of interest to our readers include the Everyone Ready® online volunteer management training program offered by Energize, Inc., and Idealist's own webinar series for career service professionals at colleges and universities.
There are a couple of different types of webinars available. One version is to participate in a real-time training, following along with online visuals while listening to presenters and participating in discussions by phone or Internet. This style of webinar provides attendees with the opportunity to interact directly with presenters and colleagues, asking questions and contributing to the dialogue in real time.
Idealist.org is offering its first series of real-time webinars for professionals who offer career advice about understanding the nonprofit sector. Upcoming topics for webinars and expert panels include “What job seekers need to know about the nonprofit sector” and “International volunteering and service options.”
Other types of online trainings are guided training programs or distance learning courses delivered via the Internet such as the Volunteer Engagement and Leadership Program Online Courses (VELP) offered by Portland State University or Energize, Inc.’s Everyone Ready® online volunteer management training program for volunteer resource managers and those who work with volunteers. While these trainings don’t allow for live interactions with the trainers and other attendees, there is more ability to go at the pace that works best for you and interaction with peers and trainers is encouraged and facilitated via discussion boards. These types of trainings also tend to offer a variety of learning tools.
For example, the Everyone Ready program offers pre-recorded, go-at-your-own-pace Online Seminars or downloadable Self-Instruction Guides plus continuous access to a professional volunteer management online journal and links to other resources for in-depth learning. Participants can choose the pace of their own training, deciding whether to complete the materials in one sitting or parceling them out over 30 days. The result? Busy volunteer managers with little time and limited budgets have an accessible way to learn from national and international experts in their field.
Ready to get started? If you are a career advisor, learn more about the Idealist webinar series. And if you’re a volunteer resource manager interested in exploring the Everyone Ready series of trainings, click here; next month’s online seminar will be on “New Approaches to Volunteer Recruitment” and Energize, Inc. is offering a two-month trial membership.
Advice from Steve, who can't say enough about getting offline to boost your job search (especially after you read this blog post!). This is entry #12 in our Career Corner blog series.
By Flickr user foxypar
Yes, nonprofits are tightening their belts, implementing hiring freezes, and otherwise watching their pennies closely, but that doesn't mean that opportunities don't exist. A bit of understanding about how (U.S.-based) nonprofits recruit will go a long way to opening doors that you might otherwise think are closed. The nonprofit hiring process is different for three key reasons:
- Nonprofits have decentralized job postings
- They hire on unusual cycles
- And they often hire from their own close-knit community
While it is harder to find a central nonprofit job posting location, it is not impossible to stay up-to-date. Many nonprofits (especially smaller ones) only post on their own websites, on local free job sites, and in local newspapers. Larger nonprofits utilize resources like Idealist.org, as well as their own organizations’ websites and local free job websites. A lack of centralized job posting locations makes it all the more important to know the local nonprofit community (organizations, networking contacts, and local resources). Additionally, you can set up alerts (both Yahoo! and Google, for example, offer alert systems) for keywords that pertain to your interests (grant writer, United Way; Program Director, America's Second Harvest).
Though many nonprofits do not follow a hiring calendar per se, there are definitely busier hiring times to keep in mind. Some organizations assess their hiring needs at the end of their fiscal year and then do a wave of hiring for the start of the new fiscal year. If you are interested in a particular organization, learn when their fiscal year begins (look at Annual Reports or their IRS 990 forms on Guidestar) and keep close tabs on them during this period. Other organizations may not hire on a fiscal cycle but may be influenced by other factors. Organizations that attract young professionals sometimes have a high turnover during the summer as employees depart to pursue further schooling in the fall. If you have a target career area, think about the connection between current events and cyclical calendars that may influence an organization’s hiring practices. For example, jobs in education mostly hire in the spring and summer and jobs that involve a lot of work outside are typically most active in the spring, summer, and fall.
Finally, remember that the nonprofit sector is a close-knit community and that many positions go unadvertised because they are either filled internally or through a network connection with another organization. This makes getting out (see Chapter 4 of The Idealist Guide) and getting involved (see Chapter Five) a vital step toward gaining visibility and finding those unadvertised nonprofit employment opportunities.
The bottom line here: with limited budgets for job postings and recruitment, the lack of a hiring calendar, and the fact that nonprofits often look internally first and then to other nonprofits in the community next when hiring for new positions, many job openings are never publicized.
Announcement from Scott.
Today we're excited to announce a new project: idealistNews.org.
With this new service we hope to highlight the remarkable things happening in the nonprofit world, as well as important and timely news affecting the nonprofit sector. From the smallest of commitments to the greatest of possibilities, there are plenty of amazing projects and ideas promoting change around the world.
If you're not familiar with Reddit.com's technology, here is a brief introduction:
Reddit is a "social news" service where users submit stories and site community votes on the submissions. Based on those votes the submissions float up or down in ranking. Digg.com and StumbleUpon are also "social news" services.
What makes these services so interesting and useful is that they're great at bringing fresh and relevant news to people's attention often faster than traditional media outlets. They're also people powered, so there's no editorial decision making on which stories move up or down.
If you're interested in a quick video tutorial on how to use idealistNews.com, please follow this link.
Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, is excited about the potential of the new site:
Last month we saw nearly 5 million unique visitors to Reddit, many of whom participated in our recent FEEDaNEED project, volunteering their talents to non-profits that needed them. We've already seen what good can come from our community...
Please take a moment and check out the new site at http://idealistNews.org, submit your news and vote!
Erin writes about International Women's Day.
From Flickr user angela7dreams
They are half of the world’s population. They comprise 42% of global Internet users. They control $14 trillion in assets. Yet they also do two-thirds of the world’s work while only receiving 10% of the world’s income. They are the subjects of only a little over one-fifth of news coverage. They are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. In many parts of the world, they lack basic economic, social, cultural, and political rights.
Who are they? Women.
This Sunday, March 8th, marks the 99th annual International Women's Day (IWD). IWD is a global event to celebrate the diverse and far-reaching achievements of women – both throughout history and yet to come. According to the IWD website, “Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.”
So what can you do to celebrate International Women's Day? Visit the IWD website to find an event near you. Volunteer with a local organization that supports and empowers women and girls. Keep up to date on issues affecting women around the globe and inform others. Post links to news stories on your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace page, etc. Contact your government representatives to voice your opinions and learn more about legislation that affects women and girls in your community, country, planet.
Finally, in the words of the IWD site, “Make every day International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.”
Statistics are from the IWD website: www.internationalwomensday.com.
Posted by Julia.
On Saturday, Buzzing4Change tweeted: Anyone read the new @idealist book? Worth buying?
That book would be the Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World. It's part career guide and part activist's handbook, and for those who are wondering whether it's worth the investment, there is an excerpt up on Alternet. To read part of the section titled "Changing the World Through Your Workplace," click here.
You can also read reviews here. We would love to hear your feedback; if you've zipped through the book already, please leave a comment below or, if you're on Twitter, feel free to send us a message there.
Thoughts from Celeste.
Image courtesy Flickr user reway2007
Phrases like "economic crisis" and "global downturn" have inundated our vocabulary so much that they're starting to become as common as our greetings. But have you heard much about the "core economy"? It's a different way of viewing how we exchange goods and services – and Time Banking is its biggest proponent.
Time Banking works like this: I spend an hour tending my neighbor's garden, for example. That hour goes into a Time Bank as a Time Dollar. I can then cash that in by asking someone in my community to spend an hour of their time helping me with something I need. The system revolves around the concept of "core economy," which Time Bank founder Edward Cahn cites as as "...another, invisible economy that we take part in every day of our lives. It is the economy of home, family, neighborhood and community. We don’t think of it as an economic system—but it is."
While it may not be the be-all-end-all solution to the situation the world is in now, it's something small that can potentially give your community a boost. I love how Time Banking highlights the fact that we are all assets who have something to give back – my time is equally as valuable as yours. Time, then, becomes the great social leveler.
Critics of Time Banking say that there may be a lack of skills in the community, which inevitably makes reciprocity difficult. Each Time Bank also has a coordinator, which can lead to problems of sustainability. On a practical level, what if the service somebody provides for you is, well, bad?
Despite the criticism, 26 countries from Senegal to Japan have active Time Banks, many which have met with success. The Youth Court in Washington, D.C., for example, uses Time Dollars as a way to incorporate young offenders back into the community instead of entering the juvenile justice system. Housed within a health care center, staff from the Rushy Green Time Bank in the United Kingdom encourage participation in the system as a way to reduce patients' feelings of anxiety and isolation – prescribing time credits over medication when appropriate.
So, how can you or your community get involved? You may surprised to learn that churches, nonprofits, hospitals and more have used Time Banking to support their programs. There may be some already up and running around the corner; the first thing to do is to ask around or search the Time Bank directory. If you don't find one, starting your own with neighbors and friends is an option. In this time of economic uncertainty, it's an investment you can't lose much on.
----
Previous entries in our A Little Bit More series:
February 27: Donate Your Birthday
February 23: Support the Arts During the Economic Downturn
February 19: Use the Internet to Stretch Your Organization's Dollar
February 17: Asking One Another: What Can We Do Now?
Posted by Hannah.
By Flickr user mckaysavage
If you're familiar with the person-to-person microlending site Kiva.org, or the work of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, you might be interested in the recently released Social Investing Guidelines from the Grameen Foundation.
Over the past several years the concept of microfinance (providing financial services to the poor), and specifically microcredit (providing small loans to the poor who would otherwise not qualify for traditional credit), has gained a lot of attention. Many see it as part of the solution to poverty – research shows that microfinance helps poor households meet basic needs and protect against risks. It's received its fair share of criticism as well – arguments include the fact that the touting of microcredit programs as a solution to poverty can lead to budget cuts for public programs, and that small loans generally do not lead to job creation which is fundamental for countries trying to reduce their poverty rate.
If you're interested in becoming a lender with a micro-lending site such as Kiva (where you can make loans as small as $25, choose the exact entrepreneur you want to support, and know that the default rate on loans distributed through Kiva is only 2.2%), or if you already are, you might want to read the Social Investing Guidelines. The guidelines are based on the Progress out of Poverty Index, a tool that measures poverty levels of groups and individuals. The Guidelines encourage individual investors to ask questions of the microfinance institutions they're working with, including: What measures are taken to ensure that investments really support the poor and poorest populations? and How does the investment manager define poor, very poor, and extremely poor?
Tools like these Guidelines seem crucial in order for micro-lending programs to truly be effective, accountable and part of the solution.
Update from Scott S.
It's been a week since last Thursday's launch of IdealistNews.org and we're very excited about the positive buzz generated around the service.
In the coming weeks and months we'll be working to build the IdealistNews community by engaging the nonprofit sector with tips, tools and tutorials on using the site. We believe it's important to grow the site to ensure that the news is fresh and relevant and, as one blogger wrote, ...a GIANT timesaver – no more checking websites for CNN, MSNBC, NYT, etc. when you want to know what is going on with nonprofits in the world. You can get everything with one easy bookmark!
Here's a roundup of recently popular stories that users submitted and people voted up:
If any of these topics concern you, there are plenty of ways to move from information to action. Let's say you're concerned with battling world hunger. You can search Idealist for related opportunities and resources and get involved.
Please check out the new site, sign up if you haven't, submit some stories and get voting!
----
Related entry:
March 5, Idealist and Reddit Launch IdealistNews.org
The entry is by Put.
CouchSurfing "pillow fighters" by blmurch
CouchSurfing, the loose informal network of people around the world who welcome visitors to their communities and sometimes to their homes, is getting close to having 1,000,000 members. The top of the six-figure range is going to be reached sometime this month, somewhere on the globe.
Since there’s no turnstile to click and no ticket-stub to punch, CouchSurfing is celebrating Million Member March by encouraging its members to throw a party wherever they happen to be. The list of events scheduled so far is online at http://www.couchsurfing.com/meeting_tagged.html.
The CouchSurfing concept is truly engaging. In every city and town there are people who love meeting strangers, pointing out local attractions and points-of-interest, and maybe even have a spare room (or couch) where a visitor can stop for a day or two. And every day, travelers arrive in strange cities, look around with interest, and wish they could get just a little more of a feeling for everyday life in these unfamiliar streets and squares. Enter CouchSurfing. Sign up on their website and you too can be a host, or a couchsurfer – and you just might be that one-millionth member!
At first it can be a little intimidating. I looked up Barcelona before visiting there a few months ago, and found there are more than 1,000 hosts already in that cosmopolitan city. CouchSurfing offers many ways to screen the list of hosts, though, and after a little refinement of the way I looked at the list, I found a small handful of people who looked like they would be great fun to meet. (Unfortunately, the reason for my trip was a meeting that took up too much time, so I can’t report on an encounter with anyone in Spain.)
But a couple of weeks ago a visitor from Atlanta asked if I would provide a brief introduction to Seattle. I met her outside the building where her meeting was happening and we drove around the city of an hour on a personalized narrated tour. I had a great time introducing my city to someone who was genuinely curious about our history and our quirks. She told me that she’s had over 20 travelers stay at her house in Atlanta, people from every continent save Antarctica!
So…during this Million Member March, if you’re already a member of CouchSurfing, think about going to or hosting a celebration. And if you’re not, think about whether your first CouchSurfing adventure will be to meet someone in a far-away city or, like me, to show off your hometown to an appreciative visitor.
Posted by Julia.
Courtesy Kiff Gallagher
In the newest Idealist.org podcast, Amy Potthast talks with Kiff Gallagher about the need for music and arts education in schools, about his role in developing the national service legislation that shaped AmeriCorps in 1993, and about the future of the Music National Service Initiative.
Kiff Gallagher is founder of Peacelabs Music and the Music National Service Initiative (MNSI). In 2008, The Aspen Institute named MNSI's MusicianCorps—a developing AmeriCorps-type program that will enable musicians to serve in low-income schools—one of the top ten public policy proposals that would strengthen the United States.
You can listen to our interview with Kiff Gallagher now, or read more about this episode and about Kiff Gallagher's work on our podcast homepage.
A quick note from Meg, who co-authors our Career Corner series.
This spring we launched a series of webinars designed to help career service professionals at colleges and universities to understand and speak to the unique issues around the nonprofit career search.
We’re getting close to capacity for this Thursday’s webinar, "What Job Seekers Need to Know About the Nonprofit Sector," so if you’re interested, let us know.
The first webinar, "Welcome to Idealist," was well attended and well received. We got a number of comments, but this one really swept us off our feet:
Thank you for the informative webinar today. It gave me useful, current, and applicable information as well as action steps (like signing up for email alerts) that I can share with students. I appreciate your straight forward approach when presenting information, and the clear, concise way it is presented. In my 6 years in this field I've come away from more than one webinar/seminar that did not do this, so I felt the need to thank you for doing it so well!
If you’re interested in signing up or reading more about this series, here’s the link:
http://www.idealist.org/webinars
Ideas from Dave.
By Terminalnomad Photograhy via Flickr
In this dismal economy, we've been writing about ways we can make small, positive changes that become much bigger when added together. After reading a post about The Fresh Air Fund on our Idealist in NYC blog, I was reminded that our homes and apartments are assets that can help us take action.
The Fresh Air Fund gives free summer vacations to young New Yorkers and lets them experience a wide-open rural life. This is made possible by volunteers in small towns in New England and Ontario who volunteer to open up their homes.
The Fresh Air Fund is just one of many ways you can be a good host. You could...
- Offer to babysit for a neighbor who's working long hours to make ends meet.
- Find an after-school or weekend youth engagement project where you can provide adult contact for young people whose households are too stressed, or too overwhelmed by financial needs, to create the full range of community contacts themselves.
- Participate in an international exchange program. Search our volunteer listings for a long, long list of opportunities.
- Invite your friends and neighbors over and hold a house party dedicated to your favorite cause or nonprofit. Collect donations while having a great time
Are there other ways to be a host for good? Post your ideas in the comments.
----
Previous entries in our A Little Bit More series:
March 10: Exchange Services Through Time Banking
February 27: Donate Your Birthday
February 23: Support the Arts During the Economic Downturn
February 19: Use the Internet to Stretch Your Organization's Dollar
February 17: Asking One Another: What Can We Do Now?
Celeste wrote this entry. You can meet her if you join us in Quito next week.
By Flickr user L.Marcio_Ramalho
We're teaming up with the Mesa de Voluntariado en el Ecuador, an initiative of the United Nations Volunteer Programme, to host an event next week for and about international volunteers. We want to hear specifically from you about both what it's like finding free or low-cost volunteer opportunities in Ecuador, as well as what it's like to be involved in your local community.
Go to idealist.org/volunteerinecuador to RSVP for the event.
Current or former volunteers: join us to share experiences, resources and lessons learned.
Prospective volunteers: Join us to discuss the challenges of getting connected to a meaningful experience, and learn more about the Quito Nonprofit Open House Week we are coordinating.
Everyone: join us to meet other like-minded people, and give your ideas on how Idealist.org can better support you in Ecuador.
We know it can be hard to find volunteer opportunities, especially if you're a foreigner in another country. We also know it can be tough to figure out if it will be worth giving your time to a specific organization. That's why we're holding this event.
If you can't make it but want to let us know what you think about volunteering in Latin America, we'd love it if you could take 15 minutes of your time to fill out this quick survey.
Thanks, and hope to see you in Quito!
Meg's latest column is #13 in our Career Corner series.
By Flickr user Daquella manera
As I mentioned yesterday, this Thursday we’re hosting our second webinar for career service professionals around helping students connect to nonprofit careers. This one will be chock-full of specific information to make the job search more effective and efficient.
One of my favorite tidbits of information is with regard to what nonprofits look for in candidates.
A few years ago, Idealist surveyed nonprofit professionals who are responsible for their organization’s human resources (recruitment, retention, salary, benefits, etc.). We asked them what life experiences they value most in a candidate. Of the nine choices, “volunteer work with your organization” was far and away the most valued life experience. Second and third place? “Internship in a relevant field” and “Volunteer work with another organization in a relevant field.”
The top three most valued experiences all speak to the need for nonprofit candidates to know the sector, the issue area, and (ideally) the organization. For the breakdown of results from this survey (and other suggestions for how to strengthen your nonprofit resume), see Chapter Five of The Idealist Guides.
We didn’t ask for reasons why people ranked particular life experiences more highly than others, but if you’ve ever worked for or with a nonprofit, I’m sure you can come up with a number of reasons. If you’ve not found a way to connect with a nonprofit yet as a volunteer, intern, board or staff member, now is a great time to look into ways to volunteer or intern to get an up close look at why organizations value nonprofit experience in job candidates.
And whether you’ve spent time with nonprofit organizations or are thinking about how you can get involved, the organization search on Idealist is a great way to begin researching the next nonprofit you’ll connect with.
From Hannah.
From Flickr user Nikolay Bachiyski
How many times have you read a blog entry about something that made you angry or sad, but were left feeling helpless because you didn't know what you could do?
That's why we love the concept behind this "Related Ways to Take Action" blog plug-in from Social Actions. If you're a Wordpress.org blogger, simply download and install the free plug-in and each of your blog entries will magically feature a list of related actions people can take based on keywords in your writing. The actions themselves are from a diverse pool of sources including Idealist.org, DonorsChoose.org, Change.org, GlobalGiving.com, Kiva, Care2, and more. So, if you blog about an earthquake, the "Related Ways to Take Action" list might include volunteer opportunities with disaster relief agencies or ways to make online donations.
The immediacy is key. Without tools like this, someone may read your blog entry and make a mental note to "do something later." But if the action is right there in front of them, they're more likely to actually do it.
Very cool idea. We're looking forward to seeing how it works!
Hannah wrote this entry, the latest in a series of ways individuals can do just a little bit more to help people and organizations during the financial crisis.
Natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies tend to inspire an outpouring of relief efforts; we see evidence of this in the number of people who browse Idealist for volunteer opportunities in an affected region immediately following a disaster. And, of course, through the organizing efforts of The Red Cross, Oxfam, and other disaster relief agencies, we see opportunities for individuals to contribute in other ways - small donations of money, food, clothing, or blood add up to the critical support these organizations need to do the life-saving work they do.
For this edition of "A Little Bit More" we want to call attention to the small ways you can help:
- Stay up to date on emergencies, disasters, and funding appeals on ReliefWeb. Sign up for daily or weekly email updates, or subscribe with an RSS reader.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross is another extensive resource for the latest news on victims of war and other violence.
- Donate blood. Find a blood drive (United States only).
- Donate your spare change to the American Red Cross through a Coinstar machine.
- Register to help in a disaster. Sign up on HelpinDisaster.org, list your skills and availability, and you'll be contacted if you're needed.
- Join Oxfam America's Humanitarian Action Team and help influence United States legislation on humanitarian issues such as the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the earthquake in China, and the global food crisis.
----
Previous entries in our A Little Bit More series:
March 17: Open Up Your Home
March 10: Exchange Services Through Time Banking
February 27: Donate Your Birthday
February 23: Support the Arts During the Economic Downturn
February 19: Use the Internet to Stretch Your Organization's Dollar
February 17: Asking One Another: What Can We Do Now?
This entry is by Scott S. Full disclosure: on IdealistNews, his username is BlueOrange.
Two weeks after launching IdealistNews.org, we're happy to see a constant stream of new users and an interesting mix of submitted news items.
Looking back on last week, a number of interesting and relevant headlines found their way to the top of IdealistNews that we might not have seen on front pages of other news outlets. What are some of this week's top stories? If you're interested in these stories and similar news, be sure to check out IdealistNews for more headlines and Idealist.org for related volunteer opportunities.
Update from Scott S.
Last year Idealist published two versions of our Guide to Nonprofit Careers: one for first-time job seekers and the other for "sector switchers" (people who are moving into nonprofit work after years in other fields).
We've just made the entirety of both books available through Google Book Search. Now you can read the books for free, purchase hardbacks, and embed them into your website.
Did I say embed the books into your website? I did.
Here's where you can find the code (and an example of the widget) for our Guide to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers.
And here is the version for sector switchers.
Enjoy!
Update from Celeste.
By Flickr user Michael Woodruff
The other day we blogged about an event we're hosting tomorrow (Wednesday, March 25) dedicated to international volunteers. If you won't be making it to the equator, follow along on Twitter!
From Noon-1 p.m. Quito time (10 a.m. PST / Noon CST / 1 p.m. EST), we will be live Tweeting questions from the event. Wherever you are in the world, we invite you to share your know-how regarding volunteering abroad and more specifically, volunteering in Ecuador.
The idea is to not only facilitate connections and ideas between people in the room, but with you, the greater Idealist community. Maybe you had a great experience at an arts organization in Guayaquil, Ecuador a few years ago. Or can point to a fantastic resource about community organizing in Latin America.
If you have knowledge such as this and more to give away, first follow us on Twitter if you haven't already. Then on Wednesday, simply respond to any relevant tweet from us, making sure to use the hashtag #idealistecuador.
Looking forward to having you join us from afar. It's going to be Twitterific!
This post is by Amy.
By Flickr user cliff1066
I wrote on The New Service blog today that national service is a popular way to give back. More than that, it is effective and cost-efficient. It's expanding the human resource capacity of nonprofits, and providing many people with much needed bridges into meaningful career paths.
To find out if your senator agrees, read this list of Senators who voted yesterday to allow discussion on the Serve America Act.
The Serve America Act, a piece of legislation introduced by Senators Hatch and Kennedy last fall, is under close scrutiny on the Senate floor this week. If it passes, the bill will: - Create 175,000 new service opportunities—many of them full-time—in areas of national need, including education, health, poverty and clean energy, building on the success of AmeriCorps
- Link the full-time education award to the maximum Pell Grant award amount in order to keep up with the rising cost of college
- Create a Veterans Service Corps to provide additional support to returning vets and engage them in service
- Provide Encore Fellowships for retirees who commit to longer-term service, building on the model of the Senior Corps Programs
- Create opportunities for young people in low-income, high-need communities to volunteer to improve their own communities
- And take several more steps to allow organizations, social entrepreneurs, and volunteers to meet growing needs in effective ways.
If you want to contact your Senator in support of the Act but are unsure how to do it, read this.
This is the eighth piece in our Little Bit More series. It was written by Put, who runs the Nonprofit FAQ.
Family photo of Annie
We weren't the first to think that a world where lots of people do a little bit more would be a better place to live. And we won't be the last.
(But since you're reading this now, we invite you to join in to "Do a Little Bit More" – especially during this time when support for community is needed so badly in every part of the world. And let us know what you come up with. You can comment on this post if you're logged into Idealist, or send email to pbarber@idealist.org.)
A month or so ago, my neighbor Annie R.—a 7th grader—was restless and pesky. Her mom said to her "why don't you just do something, instead of hanging around here complaining that you're bored?" So Annie decided to put flyers on her neighbors' steps asking for usable clothes that kids in foster care might want to wear. The result was, well, very satisfying. About half the households contributed something – from a lovely yellow duck wearing a cheerful hat to new outfits for third and fourth graders still on the store-bought hangers. Annie guesses that there's something in her haul for "maybe 100 kids, I don't know for sure." In the picture, she's on her porch swing with some of the clothes she collected. Last Saturday she and her mom packed the donations into the car and carried them to Treehouse where staff and volunteers can sort out which kid fits into which of all these new and new-ish items of clothing that Annie and her neighbors contributed.
Online kids are finding ways to do a little bit more too. Consider 25 Days to Make a Difference where Laura started something big by pledging to do something every day in December while saving her allowance that month toward a year-end donation. This month she's working up to a Blog Carnival on March 31st to help Special Olympics' campaign "Spread the Word to End the Word" that's focused on the end of March. (You can read about that campaign at http://www.r-word.org.)
Laura and her blog have been receiving a lot of favorable attention. But more to the point, she's giving us all ideas about ways that we could be doing just a little bit more. When better than....now?
By Amy Potthast, who also blogs at The New Service.
Every year in the United States, four out of five low-income people in need of legal assistance are denied services because of overwhelming case loads at legal services offices and a dire shortage of attorneys who can help them. Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps plays a crucial role in closing the gap between the supply and demand of legal assistance. AmeriCorps attorneys secure affordable housing, lost wages, orders of protection, health care, public benefits, adoption services, and education for low-income and underserved communities.
Our guests on this Idealist.org podcast are Marty Costello, Program Manager, and Cole McMahon, Senior Program Manager, from Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps. They joined me to talk about the Summer Corps, a 300-hour AmeriCorps Education Award program for law school students, as well as its one-year, full-time AmeriCorps Legal Fellows program.
Listen to the episode now, or visit our podcast page to learn more about Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps and this episode.
An announcement from Hannah, a project manager on our web development team.
Launch photo by jurvetson on Flickr
Do you want to share your opinions about how to improve Idealist? Have you ever wondered what goes into creating and running a website like this one?
We're excited to announce a new blog where we will be writing about the Idealist.org web development team's work on a re-design of Idealist. We're working on a new look and feel, as well as a series of new features, and we'd like to invite you to contribute your ideas and opinions.
We'll use the blog to post questions and polls for you – the people who use Idealist to find and advertise job and volunteer opportunities and learn about good things going on in the world. We'll also provide updates on our progress. Our hope is that many of you will contribute comments and ideas, so that we can make sure the next iteration of Idealist is as useful as possible.
Find the blog at idealistdev.wordpress.com. Don't forget to bookmark it!
News update from Amy Potthast who also blogs at The New Service.
Late Thursday in the United States Senate, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act passed, 79-19. The legislation expands domestic and international service opportunities for all Americans. This afternoon, the House of Representatives will consider the version amended and passed by the Senate.
If the House passes the bill, the legislation will be sent to President Obama to be signed into law, as early as tonight.
An enormous coalition of 131 nonprofit organizations—including Idealist—pulled together to back the legislation in the name of Service Nation under the leadership of Alan Khazei, head of Be The Change, Inc. The coalition worked tirelessly to educate their constituents about the legislation, and with lawmakers to help shape updates and innovations in policy.
Some of the greatest changes that will result from the legislation include service opportunities for people of all ages, support for social innovation, an educational award that is tied to the maximum amount of the Pell Grant, strengthening the ability of U.S. citizens to serve abroad for shorter-term assignments (fewer than two years), and expansion of national service participation to include 250,000 corps members serving on specific challenges facing local communities. National service will remain completely optional – rumors that it will become mandatory are false.
To read more about national service programs, career and grad school advice for corps members, new policy implications for program staff, and service corps news, check out The New Service blog and podcast from Idealist.
Compiled by Scott S., who is known on IdealistNews as BlueOrange.
By Flickr user christopher.woo
Each week we bring you a roundup of some of the hottest nonprofit-related stories "voted up" by IdealistNews users the previous week. Check out some of the more interesting headlines from the past seven days:
If you'd like to submit stories or read many other headlines related to social change, visit IdealistNews and start exploring.
Some of you may have had trouble accessing pages on Idealist yesterday and today. We're having an issue with our server load and are working on getting everything under control. We apologize for any inconvenience.
As always, thanks for being a part of this community.
An open call from Steve. This entry is one in our ongoing Career Corner series.
By Flickr user avye
Our Nonprofit Careers Team has been chatting with a range of people to find out what Idealist can do to help them be advocates for working in this sector. I figure that since you're here on the site, you get why nonprofit jobs are worth touting – so maybe you'll be able to help us out.
We're wondering: - How can we help people understand that 'nonprofit career' isn't an oxymoron?
- What resources do you wish you had to better answer questions about nonprofit careers?
- In what ways can you be involved in advocating for and helping people to understand the nonprofit sector?
- What can Idealist do to help you be stronger advocates?
- What are the best tools and resources you know of to empower advocates?
Maybe you've checked out our free Nonprofit Career Guides, maybe you've had a chance to peruse our hot-off-the-press Handbook to Building a Better World, and maybe you've even visited the new IdealistNews site where folks can stay up to date on the latest nonprofit headlines.
And maybe you're like me and you're thinking, "This is a pretty good start... but there is so much more potential!"
You know and I know that the nonprofit sector is so often misunderstood: it is often defined by what it is not (non-profit, non-governmental) or stereotyped as the social worker/soup kitchen sector where folks go to work for a few years after graduating before they decide to get a "real job." Yet we also know that these generalizations are just a very small part of a very, very big picture. ("Just how big?," you ask. Check out What exactly is a nonprofit? to learn more.)
In light of these limited views of the sector we so love, we constantly strive to create resources and connections to help people help others understand nonprofits. Whether this means talking to your family, your colleagues, your students, your congregation, your teammates, or even your favorite barista, you need ways to illuminate the range of organizations and opportunities that exist.
Sometimes it just isn't enough to say, "Nonprofits are a great way to make a difference." We want to help you articulate why.
So consider this an open call for people to weigh in and answer some questions of those questions above. Leave a comment below. Help us help you help others see the value of having a nonprofit career.
|
