Volunteer for Earth Day

Earth Day is a world wide celebration where volunteers gather together to promote a healthy, sustainable environment. This year we have added excitement as President Obama’s call to service encourages additional volunteers.

Earth Day organizers are hoping an army of volunteers will heed President Barack Obama’s call to service and turn out for the annual celebration next month to make lasting improvements to the nation’s parks, schools and beaches.

Earth Day was first founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson and continues to be celebrated worldwide on April 22.

Volunteers are needed and there are many ways in which you can do your part and get involved.  We found lots of helpful information at earthdaynetwork:

• Join the Earth Day Network
• Donate by making a financial contribution
• Register events, find events or participate in the forum
• Shop at the EDN e-Store
• Volunteer your time

Skilled Professionals doing Pro Bono Work for Nonprofits

We have talked about volunteering and the benefits in how it can help your career such as learning new skills, making new contacts, keeping your mind sharp and keeping your spirits up.  Once you have made the decision to volunteer, how should you go about making your first move in the volunteer direction?  First you should decide what skills you have and apply those skills to a cause.  If you are in sales you can work on fundraising.  If you are a web developer you can volunteer your time to build websites.

One foundation that we discovered where you can volunteer your skills is Taproot.  You can use your professional expertise to help a local nonprofit organization. Taproot’s overview:

Nonprofits have the greatest potential for addressing our society’s most challenging social and environmental problems, but often lack the operational resources to be effective. The Taproot Foundation exists to close this gap and ensure all nonprofits have the infrastructure they need to thrive.

You can get a monthly update for new opportunities to the following metropolitan areas such as San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.  Taproot works with professionals in the following fields: Creative Services, Marketing, Human Resources & Management, Information Technology, and Strategy Management.  The process for signing up is very simple and only takes a matter of minutes.  You create a volunteer profile and tell them a little about yourself.  Volunteer Recruitment Coordinators will then match you to the right types of pro bono service for your skills and interests.

To understand how a project works starting from service grants for nonprofits to volunteering, you can view the details on their site.  They also list the case studios for their pro bono featured projects.

Interesting tidbit from Taproot…

A “taproot” is the core root of a plant (picture a turnip). It gathers nutrients from lateral roots and delivers them to a plant to enable it to flourish.

We see ourselves as a taproot for the nonprofit sector, drawing nutrients from the community and delivering them to nonprofits to enable them to thrive.

JobAngels Raise a Wing for Job Seekers through Twitter

Minds are racing each day as we hear statistics about continuous layoffs as unemployment rates increase.  There is a lot of worry circling in our homes or on the internet but there are people who are looking to build a brighter side by helping others who are in need of a job.  We found an article from the Los Angeles Times by David Sarno regarding human resource consultant Mark Steizner and his associate who had an idea to create JobAngels on Twitter.  JobAngels is a Twitter account where users can follow and help others find jobs or volunteer their resume proofing skills.

….the nascent enterprise has attracted more than 2,000 followers. Stelzner has shot out hundreds of tweets from people volunteering their résumé-proofing skills, passing along job notices or looking to become full-blown job angels — raising a wing for gig-seekers in need..

Flush with the glow of very early success, Stelzner…

…and a few volunteer developers are building a networking site that takes the concept a step further, aiming to help seekers find the perfect angel. “If Match.com and LinkedIn had a child, this is what it would look like,” he said, referring to the popular dating and professional networking sites. The site hasn’t launched, and Stelzner is deciding if it’ll be a money-making venture or just a labor of love

As Stelzner and his followers help connect people in finding jobs, we look forward to seeing the new networking site that matches seekers to job angels.  Until then, JobAngels on Twitter is another tool that can be used in finding a job or helping others find jobs.

Volunteer While Receiving Unemployment Benefits

Dan Shapley the news editor from the The Daily Green.com, brings up a very interesting idea of making volunteerism synonymous with unemployment.

A volunteer-for-benefits program for unemployed workers would:
1. inject money into the economy;
2. invest directly in local communities;
3. support nonprofit organizations;
4. increase community service; and,
5. cost taxpayers little beyond what Congress has already committed to spend.

I think there is a sixth point that should be added.  Volunteering opens up a potential vast network of leads.  Volunteering is a great way to meet people and make connections in an industry or company where you want to work.  You can also get an idea if that industry is right for you.  In addition, there are skills you can learn that can help make you more valuable for that job opportunity that becomes available.  Don’t underestimate the power of networking through volunteerism.

See also: Volunteer, and help your career.