A request from Joanna.
Screenshot of idealistdev.wordpress.com
Attention: anyone who posts or searches for volunteer opportunities! We need your input so we can enhance the experience for the next version of Idealist. Visit the Idealist.org Development Blog to chime in.
Or "Why We Love Twitter," by Scott Stadum.
It's always kind of funny when I hear people ask "Who cares what you had for dinner?" or "I don't need to know everything you're doing, what's the point?" when referring to Twitter.
I have to admit that I thought the same things when I first starting using Twitter, but after almost a year of using the Idealist account and interacting with our community, Twitter has proven to be incredibly useful.
Twitter has grown into an important part of our customer support, user outreach and brand monitoring. The recently launched IdealistNews began as a tweet that happened to reach the right person.
At a volunteer event in Quito we used Twitter to ask questions and post thoughts about volunteering in Ecuador. We were quite pleased with the responses and plan to use it again at more events.
We're so thankful to have reached the 5,000-followers milestone. We hope to continue to grow our network, so follow us at twitter.com/idealist to join the conversation.
Linked by Julia.
Photo courtesy Steven Pascal-Joiner
Our own Steven Pascal-Joiner, who blogs frequently for our Career Corner series, was a guest columnist recently at Encore.org, the Civic Ventures site for "the growing movement for work that matters in the second half of life."
In his piece Asking the Tough Questions About Your Encore Career, Steve writes:
Truth: Today’s nonprofit sector is a highly competitive job market. Encore careerists who accept this fact and then face these tough questions will be in a better situation to find ways to connect their passion and purpose with a paycheck.
To read the five questions, click here.
Update from Douglas, our Multimedia Producer.
More and more nonprofits use video to get their message out about the work they do and, of course, to fundraise. For instance, there are already a lot of nonprofits on YouTube ( Idealist included). But do people always see these videos and instantly connect with the idea to donate to the cause?
Just in case people are not making this connection, YouTube has opened up their text-overlay ad space to nonprofits. This allows an organization to include an ask for money in their own videos which can link to a contribution page.
This new feature, coupled with an effective video, can potentially be a very useful tool. The group charity: water added it to one of their videos that was featured by YouTube and raised over $10,000. You can watch the video here.
Check out the YouTube nonprofit program for more information.
If you are having trouble accessing pages on Idealist today, please try again in a few hours. We are aware of the problem (an issue with our server load) and are currently working on it. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Thank you for your patience!
Posted by Amy, who also blogs at The New Service.
By Flickr user eflon
Last week our Associate Director Russ and I participated in the Oregon Library Association’s annual conference. We had the chance to talk with dozens of librarians who rejected the notion that all librarians are introverted bookworms. They emphasized that the role of librarian is part educator, part volunteer manager, part social worker—and for public librarians, even part job counselor.
One library science student described her passion to help people educate themselves, referring to the saying that a public library is “the poor man’s university.” Several librarians there were former participants in Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, and had set up libraries and literacy programs in other countries, or in their own hometowns.
According to the American Library Association, when you consider a library career, you should take into account both the role you'd like to play as well as the kind of library you'd like to work in. (These are also two of the "lenses" developed by David Schachter of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and described in the Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers.)
Here are some examples of roles librarians play: - Help patrons access research and other tools on the internet, assist with homework questions, decide what new materials to bring into the collection and which older items to discard, lead groups and trainings
- Specialize in subject areas or populations (youth, seniors, English-limited groups)
- Maintain computer systems and/or online records
- Library managers (department heads, branch managers, people managers)
- Library directors (responsible for the budget, fundraising, strategic planning, answering to the board, the government, and the public, and more)
And as for the type of library: Libraries may be public or private, academic (open to the university campus at large, or focused in a certain field), part of a K-12 school system, or one of a slew of libraries specialized in topics from legal to medical to music.
For more information, check out the career resources from the American Library Association and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Posted by Hannah.
We recently started an Idealist development blog where we're posting updates and questions about the next version of Idealist. If you're interested in joining the conversation, please head on over. Right now, we're specifically looking for thoughts regarding what kind of content you'd like to see on Idealist. In addition to jobs, volunteer opportunities, and events, what other kinds of posted content would you find useful?
Thanks for reading!
An announcement from our team, written by Julia.
We’re happy to announce that government agencies can now post jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities, events, and programs on our site. Please help us spread the word by sharing the news with your friends who work at local, state/provincial, or federal agencies.
We've recently expanded the opportunities available to our members by inviting government agencies to post on Idealist. For people searching Idealist, this means more ways to connect with jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities related to helping the public good.
For government agencies, Idealist offers the possibility to reach an audience specifically looking for public service opportunities. Over 60,000 people visit Idealist each day, and listings posted on the site are sent out via our daily email alerts to over 400,000 members. Learn more. - To create a profile for your government agency right now, click here.
- If you are a hiring professional and want to learn more about posting jobs, click here.
If you have any other questions, please email our User Support Team or give them a call at (646) 290-7725.
Thank you!
By Celeste, who promises to start using Twitter more regularly. Follow her @smellyham.
by Flickr user 7son75
Last week Scott wrote about how thrilled we've been with our growing community on Twitter. The increasingly popular micro-blogging service has proven to withstand the test of time – not to mention the fickleness of the tech community. It's still all the rage. And with the difficult economic climate the world finds itself in now, why not use it to raise some money for a good cause?
My favorite example of using Twitter to get some cash is that of the Twitchhiker, a.k.a. Paul Smith. Casting aside the age-old upturned thumb method, Twitchhiker is instead using the social media service as means to complimentary accommodation and travel around the world. The United Kingdom native gave himself just the month of March to see how far the goodwill of the global community could take him. Why would he do this? Besides an opportunity to learn about other cultures and try exotic foods, he raised thousands of pounds for charity: water, a nonprofit that aims to bring clean water to developing nations.
The organization charity: water may sound familiar if you've been following Twitter-related news. Last month's Twestival brought together Twitter communities in 200+ cities around the world in an effort to support their projects, such as new wells in Uganda and water towers in India. Overall, the event raised $250,000. The director of development at Girls Inc. of Chattanooga was so impressed with Twestival's success that she decided to see if Twitter could work to raise funds for her local nonprofit. Within one day, the Tennessee-based organization was able to gather enough money to send three low-income girls to their science camp.
Tech guru Beth Kanter has a great blog post about using micro-blogging to fundraise. Know about any other successful examples? Leave a comment below. Bonus points if the project name is a clever play on words.
--
This is the eighth entry in our series A Little Bit More, which highlights the "little somethings" that people and organizations are doing to respond to the needs around them—things that, if done by many people all around the world, add up to make a big impact.
Thoughts from Scott
NetSquared asks an important question as part of their Net2 Think Tank project, "How can nonprofit organizations successfully manage multiple entry points for social media engagement?"
When developing your online presence, remember that you're developing a community first, and generating site traffic is a by-product of that community. Speak directly to your users and interact with them; they have amazing stories and experiences. A passionate user base is invaluable.
There are plenty of best practices to follow and philosophies to think about and you'll discover those as you research your own ideas. Below are a few simple thoughts of my own:
- Use the social media tools that are appropriate for your work and that will connect you to your target audience. For example, you don't need to spend an abundance of time on MySpace if the service doesn't match the demographic you're wanting to reach.
- Your organization doesn't need to be everywhere. It isn't vital that you post to Twitter AND Pownce AND Jaiku or that you upload photos to Flickr AND Picasa AND Photobucket. Invest fully in a few tools, and use them well.
- Develop your voice for each tool. How you use Twitter is going to be different than how you would use Facebook Pages. Develop a unique strategy and voice for each service, based on your research into the strengths and limitations of each tool.
- Consider how tools from one site may complement your posts on another site. You can post YouTube videos to your blog posts and Flickr photos to your Upcoming.org event listings. Your approach should be integrative.
- As your communities grow, your approach to sharing information and stories will change; nothing is formulaic.
How do you manage multiple entry points for your social media?
Advice for job seekers from Meg. Read all of the Career Corner posts here.
By Flickr user slushpup
At our Nonprofit Career Fairs these past few weeks, I’ve been doing presentations about how to find a nonprofit career. One of main topics of discussion has been how to make it easy for an employer to see the value you could bring to their organization. To this end, here is a great framework to use.
3 Questions
There are three questions that every employer (not just nonprofit) wants candidates to answer:
1. Can you do the job?
2. Will you do the job?
3. Will you fit in?
The first question is answered by your resume. This is where you show that you have the skills and experiences to actually do the job that you’re applying for. It’s why making sure your resume meshes with the requirements on the job description is essential, and why you really do need to do a unique resume for each job you apply for.
Your cover letter is where you answer why you will do the job. This is your story about why you will work 50, 60, or 70 hours a week, wear multiple hats, and view this as not just a job but as meaningful, long-term work. The cover letter is not about rehashing your resume but about putting a personal face to your application.
Finally, organizational fit is essential. Most nonprofits are small, so it’s important that each new person “fits” with the current staff and the organizational culture. This is something that is assessed during the interview and should be just as much a question of whether the hiring team thinks you fit, as whether you feel the organization and position match with what you’re looking for.
For more information on these three questions, this chapter will help.
2 Qualities
The two qualities that you need to clearly convey when applying for a nonprofit job are:
1. Passion for the mission of the organization
2. Clearly communicated, relevant skills
For these two qualities, it’s not either/or; candidates must both demonstrate a passion for the work and be able to hit the ground running when they start a new job.
1 PowerPoint
As I mentioned, these have been some of the most talked about points during my career fair presentations. For these, I have a standard power point that I offer to share with attendees after the event. Obviously, some of the slides will be confusing without my verbal talking points. However, there’s still some good info to be gleaned if you’re interested. Here’s the link.
Feedback, comments, and suggestions are always welcome!
Posted by Douglas, our Multimedia Producer.
By Flickr user Ryuugakusei
If you're thinking about taking some time to volunteer in another country, this podcast episode is for you. We collected common questions from attendees at the recent Idealist.org Global Volunteering Fair and our own Director of Volunteerism Initiatives, Erin Barnhart, recorded her answers for us. Take a listen!
Erin oversees the free Idealist.org International Volunteerism Resource Center, which contains tons of resources to help you make an informed decision. In our interview, she covers global volunteering topics like why you may have to pay, where to look for opportunities, how to evaluate an organization, if this is the best way to help and more.
Click here to download the episode.
Posted by Scott. On IdealistNews he goes by BlueOrange.
Via Flickr user inju
It's nice to see so many fresh headlines on IdealistNews! What are some of this week's top stories?
The link with the most comments for the week was To Abolish Child Labour You Have to Make it Visible.
Have you posted a link to IdealistNews yet? It's easier than ever with the "bookmarklets" tool. You can drag it to your toolbar or to your bookmarks and submit a link with the click of a mouse. Find out more.
To find more stories or share your own, be sure to visit IdealistNews.
From Amy Potthast, podcast host and blogger at The New Service.
The Resource Center, a website of the Corporation for National and Community Service, is the repository of over 8,000 nodes of training tools, publications, and effective practices to support volunteer programs, nonprofits, and people involved with the AmeriCorps family of programs. The Resource Center—free and accessible to all audiences—boasts a 3,000-item lending library as well as a calendar of events of interest to national service programs and nonprofits.
The guests on this New Service podcast are Laura Norvig, the Resource Center's librarian, and Jason Scott, the Training Officer and eLearning Specialist at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Listen to the podcast now.
Amy Potthast talks with Laura and Jason about how you can access, benefit from, and contribute to the Resource Center. Also check out sister websites VISTA Campus (free login required) and EnCorps.
Learn more about national service and the Resource Center on The New Service blog from Idealist.org. Learn more about our podcasts here.
via Flickr user Scottish Government
It's National Volunteer Week in the United States. This week honors the individuals who dedicate themselves to taking action and solving problems in their communities.
Here's what you can do to celebrate:
How are you recognizing your volunteers?
Earth Day reflections and ideas from Scott. This piece is one in a series highlighting small steps we can take to make the world a better place.
"Urban Compost" by Flickr user arimoore
In my little Washington, DC apartment I had a small kitchen composter that sat in the corner near the garbage. At the end of every day, instead of throwing my food scraps into the trash, I'd toss my leftovers into the composter, sprinkle in a small amount of bokashi, and close the lid.
"But doesn't that smell?"
Not at all, and as the food decomposed, the composted waste made great fertilizer for my house plants. I also noticed that I was taking out my garbage far less frequently than before I bought the composter.
The benefit of composting your food is that the waste decomposes aerobically, as opposed to anaerobic decomposition that takes place in landfills, releasing less methane into the atmosphere. From an MSNBC article: "Landfills are the largest source of methane emissions in the United States, accounting for 34 percent of such releases, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Methane is the second-biggest man-made contributor to global warming behind carbon dioxide."
At our Buenos Aires office, we want to do our part to curb the office's methane output, so the staff is chipping in to buy a larger kitchen unit suitable for a small staff. With the leftover composted waste, maybe we'll grow a small herb garden or a few tomatoes.
From passive composting systems to automated approaches, composting is a great way to help lessen our impact on the environment. To learn more, check out this Wikipedia article on composting.
Posted by Kara.
Via Beth Kanter's Flickr account, cambodia4kidsorg
Next week NTEN is holding their 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) in San Francisco to engage with the nonprofit community on a host of technology issues. If you can't make it in person, there will be six free webinars where you’ll be able to hear the presentations, see the slides, and chat your questions to the speakers. Registration is required.
Google Media: Google Grants, Blogger, YouTube, Maps
04/27/2009
10:30am - 12:00pm (US/Pacific)
Hear about how Google tools can help support and promote your cause.
Online Organizing for Community Organizers (and Vice Versa)
04/27/2009
1:30pm - 3:00pm (US/Pacific)
Explore the differences between community organizing and online organizing, and learn some of the best practices in integrating online organizing tools.
DIY Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
04/27/2009
3:30pm - 5:00pm (US/Pacific)
Get the basics on SEO and how to use it.
Unleashing the Ultimate Cool Factor: Case Studies of Conferences Energized Through Social Media
04/28/2009
9:29am - 12:00pm (US/Mountain)
From a panel discussion, hear about how to use social media to maximize the impact of your events.
Confessions of a Social Media Campaigner
04/28/2009
1:30pm - 3:00pm (US/Pacific)
Get the insider scoop about the successes, failures and challenges of executing social media campaigns.
What Nonprofits Can Learn from the Presidential Campaigns’ (and Other Nonprofits’) 2008 Online Efforts
04/28/2009
3:30pm - 5:00pm (US/Pacific)
Take a look at some of the strategies employed in the recent presidential campaign and how nonprofits may be able to adapt this to their own work.
For more information, or to register for any of these webinars, please visit NTEN.org.
It's also likely that many people will blog live as they sit in on sessions. Kivi Leroux Miller at nonprofitmarketingguide.com is one of them; earlier this week she posted a survey asking readers to weigh in on which of the many sessions she should attend.
Posted by Douglas, who goes by douglascoulter on IdealistNews.
From Flickr user Zarko Drincic
IdealistNews is a project of Idealist.org and Reddit where users like you can submit nonprofit news stories from around the web and vote on your favorites. Here's a roundup of some of this week's hottest stories.
The top story this week is PBS Launches Hulu for Public Broadcasting.
Other intriguing ones include:
Have you posted a link to IdealistNews yet? It's easier than ever with the "bookmarklets" tool. You can drag it to your toolbar or to your bookmarks and submit a link with the click of a mouse. Find out more.
To find more stories or share your own, be sure to visit IdealistNews.
This piece is part of our ongoing Career Corner series. View the archives.
Steve at a recent career fair.
American Public Media's program Marketplace sent reporter Lisa Napoli to our Los Angeles Nonprofit Career Fair a few weeks ago and produced a story called Working for free profits the soul.
Here is a bit of the transcript that I wanted to expand a bit:
Lisa Napoli: Idealist's Steven Joiner says experienced professionals are accepting that big-buck jobs are drying up. Others, he says, simply want to make a career out of social service work. He says working for free can be a good way in:
Steven Joiner: So I'll tell people, you know, never volunteer just to try to get a job, but if you're volunteering to be involved in the nonprofit sector, never volunteer without having it be some sort of professional development step.
Lisa Napoli: With so many professionals looking for jobs, even being strategic in your volunteer work can be a challenge. Nonprofits everywhere say they've been overwhelmed by the number of people who are raising their hands to work for free.
What exactly does this mean? Am I implying that you should only volunteer for professional gain? Yes and no.
Let me give you three quick examples:
1) If you are looking to build a skill set that you know you will need to pursue your ideal nonprofit career ( the Career Tracks exercise is useful for figuring that out) like, say, event planning and fundraising, find an organization that resonates with you and ask them if you can help research funding opportunities for them or see if you can take a meaningful role (like coordinate the volunteers) for their annual fundraiser. Know what skill you needed to develop, what needs an organization has, and paint a clear picture for them of where your interests intersect.
2) If you are volunteering with an organization, ask the staff for recommendations on who to approach for informational interviews. This implies that you know how to articulate your personal mission statement so you can proactively communicate what you are looking for. We had an intern at Idealist last year who was interested in working for an arts organization. By the time she was done working with us, she'd talked to everyone we as a staff knew in Portland, OR connected to the arts (and that is quite a feat!).
3) Now, the no part of the answer to "should you volunteer only for professional gain" question is simply this: if there is an organization or a mission that means a lot to you, get out there and help in any way you can. I am personally passionate about fighting blood cancers so I try and do a fundraising triathlon every few years with Team in Training to honor the memory of my father, raise some money, and stay in shape. Is that professional development? Kind of...but that is not my primary goal. See, I don't want to work for Team in Training or have a career in cancer research. That's not the point. But, I always meet a lot of cool people and that always helps to build my network. Voila! Professional development.
The bottom line here is that there can be a direct correlation between volunteering and professional development. So, as the last part of that Marketplace quote says, you need to be strategic...even as a volunteer. There are a lot of people willing to "work for free," so stand out by being intentional.
Steve talked about intentional volunteering in this January "Career Corner" blog and clearly can't seem to say enough about the subject!
From Amy Potthast, who also blogs at The New Service.
Via Flickr user Refracted Moments
This July 1st, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) of 2007 will take effect. It includes provisions to make undergraduate and graduate education more affordable for aspiring social-impact professionals in the United States.
The Basics
The CCRAA is a complicated piece of legislation that, if you take advantage of it, can help you retire college and grad school debt early.
The main programs that the CCRAA has created include:
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR): Caps monthly direct and guaranteed (FFEL) student loan payments based on the borrower’s income and family size. According to IBRinfo, “For most eligible borrowers, IBR loan payments will be less than 10 percent of their income - and even smaller for borrowers with low earnings. IBR will also forgive remaining debt, if any, after 25 years of qualifying payments.” Besides taking out the right kind of loan to start with (or consolidating your loans into the Direct Loan Program), it’s important to note that if you get married, your spouse’s income counts when calculating your monthly payment.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): Retires the direct or guaranteed (FFEL) student loan debt of public service professionals who’ve been making ten years of qualified payments on their loans. Counting as “public service” includes 501(c)(3) nonprofit employment; government (federal, state, local, tribal), military, public school and college employment; and national service participation (like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps). Read the fine print of what counts as “qualified payments.”
You can put both of these new programs to work for you – so you can make income-contingent payments for ten years, and then retire your debt, if you qualify for participation. Also note that it’s really all up to you to access the programs and to keep track of your payment and employment records so that you can prove your eligibility.
Resources to Help You
Many twists and turns exist in the path to understanding the new law as you try to take full advantage of these programs for yourself, your students, or others you advise. Here are some places to learn more:
- Equal Justice Works has launched a Student Loan Debt Relief Resource Center and podcast show to break down the facts. EJW’s focus is to make the public interest law careers affordable for new lawyers, but their tools and resources are accessible to anyone who is taking on student loan debt in order to pursue a career in service to others. The resource center includes calculators, forums, and links to more information.
- EJW also has a blog with news and updates about public interest issues.
- IBRinfo is a nonprofit source of information about the new programs. IBRinfo includes overviews of the programs and information about who is eligible and how to access the benefits of the programs. IBRinfo also includes news and lets you sign up for alerts.
- The National Council of Nonprofits answers Frequently Asked Questions about how nonprofit employees can benefit from loan forgiveness.
To learn more about public service grad school options, check out the Idealist.org Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center, including the Idealist Grad School Blog Project. And coming soon to cities throughout the U.S., the Idealist.org Graduate Degree Fairs for the Public Good.
By Scott Stadum, who blogs regularly about nonprofit technology and social media.
Rob Reed of MaxGladwell.com recently tweeted this question about the Swine Flu:
 With recent criticisms from the media about how fast Twitter has disseminated misinformation, the question is pertinent. But the problem isn't the medium, it's how we filter the message.
The advantage to social media in an emergency situation is the immediate coverage with live commentary, photos, updated mapping, leveraging the ability to connect and act. The disadvantage is the firehose of content that's nearly impossible to filter.
Fortunately technologies like Ushahidi and their Swift River crowdsourcing tool make managing the firehose more realistic. But in the case of Swine Flu, it has yet to be implemented.
[ UPDATE, 11:50 a.m. EST: You can now track Swine Flu on Ushahidi. Submit an incident via SMS; view a map; read reports; and find out how you can help.]
It's important to keep in mind that until the flow of information is better managed and filtered you can go directly to reputable sources for information in these emergencies.
For more Swine Flu information:
By Put, the mastermind behind the A Little Bit More series.
Two chances to stretch a little in the department of culinary events this week.
From Flickr user burningkarma
Thursday (tomorrow) is the annual fundraiser across the United States for AIDS service organizations called "Dining Out for Life." Started in 1991, this year restaurants from Fairbanks to Tampa Bay will donate a portion of their receipts on Thursday to local organizations working with people with AIDS. If an excuse to dine out is your cup of tea, you can probably find a participating restaurant near you by checking the website at http://www.diningoutforlife.com. And, of course, if there doesn't happen to be a spot near you that's included among the 3,500 participants, you could always just find a local organization that's engaged in that work and make a donation—say equal to the amount of your tip—and give them a happy surprise as well.
On Saturday, "Dine to Make a Difference" invites you to have a dinner with friends around someone's table and put together a donation equal to what you might have spent in a restaurant. The idea is to send the money to an organization fighting hunger – a cruel condition affecting more than 900 million of our fellow residents on this globe. Dine to
Make a Difference recommends a contribution to: the Heifer Project ( http://www.heifer.org), Bead For Life ( http://www.beadforlife.org), the Hunger Project ( http://www.thp.org), Feeding America ( http://www.feedingamerica.org), Share Our Strength ( http://www.strength.org), or Freedom From Hunger ( http://www.freedomfromhunger.org). Of course, the goal of the project will be met if you and your friends make a contribution to any organization that's fighting hunger – whether it's down the block from you or halfway around the world.
There are direct service opportunities to address the pain of hunger in other ways as well. Right now on Idealist there are more than 900 volunteer opportunities related to hunger. Some would take a big chunk of time and commitment; others would ask you to do just a little bit more. And right now, of course, the challenges facing our neighbors and people in every part of the world call out for just a little bit more - more efforts, more generosity, more creativity.
A roundup of information from Amy Potthast, who also blogs at The New Service.
Via abraaten on Flickr
On April 9th, the White House held a briefing to educate nonprofit organizations how they could participate in stimulus funding distributed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Following that, the National Council of Nonprofits published a special report contextualizing and summarizing the briefing so that nonprofits who weren't present could still learn what they needed to know. (See links to other relevant special reports.)
Because small and midsize nonprofits which have never received federal government funding before "face an uphill battle trying to start now with fast-moving stimulus funds," the NCNA report encourages nonprofits that are brand new to federal funding to look to partner with state and local governments first, through grants or contracts.
Timing of funding announcements: The ARRA specifies different deadlines for the assorted federal agencies to channel stimulus funds to programs. And the NCNA warns that the turnaround time has been very short between funds-available notices and application due dates – a matter of a few weeks in some cases. So if your nonprofit wants to apply for funding, you should complete pre-application work now (for example, getting a DUNS number). Read more about the registration process (PDF); and register in advance for grants, direct contracts, or either.
More information:
- You should find much of what you need to know if you thoroughly explore the federal government's Recovery website. NCNA also emphasizes that if your nonprofit is baffled about the complexity of the ARRA and accessing funds, you are not alone. Businesses and government agencies, for example, are beginning to pay law firms, lobbying firms, and others to figure out how to benefit from stimulus funding.
- If your organization can't afford to hire a consultant to help you through the mire, you can look for help from your Member of Congress; the local and regional offices of federal agencies; your state's own recovery website; your governor's and/or your mayor's office; issue-based coalitions affecting your mission; and state legislatures' websites.
- The NCNA special report also offers notes on each of the speakers at the White House briefing. Read more (PDF).
- Earlier this week, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University published its own special report with Giving USA: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Act Appropriations Beneficial to the Nonprofit Sector and Key Resources for Organizations to Approach and Access Funding Sources (PDF).
- You are also invited to take part this week in a National Dialogue on Recovery.gov to help answer the question "What ideas, tools, and approaches can make Recovery.gov a place where all citizens can transparently monitor the expenditure and use of recovery funds?"
- Finally, if you are a nonprofit interested in hosting a stimulus-funded AmeriCorps or AmeriCorps VISTA member, learn more on the recovery website for the Corporation for National and Community Service.
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