causenation

(Bob Pearson / European Pressphoto Agency / October 17 / LA Times)

As I travel back from the Points of Light Institute’s Presidential Summit on Community Service, hosted by Former President Bush (41) and President Obama, I am inspired by the direction and fresh momentum of the national and community volunteerism movement. Discussions have moved well beyond volunteerism as a “nice to do” or “a civic responsibility,” toward a focus on using service as a tool to achieve targeted social outcomes. 

Here are some highlights from the Summit:    (more…)

The 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game launched last night with a “high-five” to community service and volunteerism.  Five living U.S. Presidents honored five specific community heroes, during over five minutes of live prime time national television.  Kudos to Major League Baseball for helping to further embed civic participation and giving into popular culture.  If you missed this part of the pre-game show check it out.

Giving and volunteerism was core to the “Going Beyond” theme heralded throughout the All-Star calendar. During the Home Run Derby MasterCard held the “Hit it Here” promotion to benefit Stand Up to Cancer.  Also did you notice the RBI tally board in the outfield – throughout the game both teams were competing to hit the most RBI’s triggering a donation to charity. One-offs to be sure, but connected to a bigger, emerging national theme.

Recognizing “All-Stars Among Us” set a positive tone for the game and purposely links directly into President Obama’s call for community service through “United We Serve,” a program which encourages all Americans to be part of building a new foundation for America by engaging in sustained and meaningful community service. President Obama is encouraging all Americans to visit serve.gov to find service opportunities in their area.  To see how some companies are responding visit the United We Serve on-line community.

Be on the lookout all Summer and Fall for more and more companies to be finding ways to engage both their employees and other Americans in service and giving. 

Now, this is a game we’d love to see people and companies compete at – Play Ball!

I recently had the privilege of volunteering along with the employees of our client, Samuel Adams, at their “Speed Coaching” event. Speed Coaching is an integral part of Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, the company’s signature philanthropy program that helps lower-income food and beverage microentrepreneurs build and strengthen their small businesses, realize their dreams, and achieve economic independence. The program offers microloans, and other hard-to-come-by resources, through the Samuel Adams Microloan Fund with nonprofit partner ACCION USA.

Speed Coaching is cool! Building off the idea of Speed Dating (which I’ve only heard about, never experienced) Boston Beer staff, and other volunteers, meet with microentrepreneurs in short, spirited sessions offering their expertise in package design, branding, PR, finance, legal, sales and distribution, and marketing to entrepreneurs who often lack access to networks and mentors who can help them with these aspects of running a small business. Entrepreneurs spend the evening rotating through the discipline specific stations for 20 minutes each – getting practical tips, directional advice and ideas. Some entrepreneurs brought their food, others brought logos and package concepts, yet others came with a specific business problem they needed help solving. (more…)

It has been a big week for national service and volunteerism!

In an important move for both the national service and the corporate social responsibility communities, yesterday President Obama nominated Nike Foundation President, Maria Eitel, to head the Corporation for National Service. When confirmed, she will bring her extensive global business, philanthropy, and CSR experience to running the nation’s domestic service programs, including AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn & Serve America.

Since she has been instrumental in crafting and managing Nike’s corporate responsibility strategies, we hope she’ll find new ways to encourage companies to partner with national service programs and engage their employees.

She’ll inherit this position just as programs like AmeriCorps are poised to grow exponentially.  Earlier this week the President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.  Although the funding still needs to be authorized by Congress, this legislation will take national service to historic levels.  Details can be found at Service Nation; select highlights include:

• Grows the number of AmeriCorps volunteers nationwide to 250,000, up from 75,000.
• Establishes 4 new service corps to address key needs in low income communities – Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps, and Veterans Service Corps.
• Establishes Youth Engagement Zones to empower low-income high school students and out-of-school youth in volunteer efforts.
• Creates 2 fellowships to support social entrepreneurs, boomers and retirees, the private sector and Americans from all generations into service.

In releated news, our recent causenation post on corporate volunteerism talks about the increasing corporate enthusiasm for service and new investments businesses are making.   

National service – just do it!

You won’t be surprised to hear that another set of indicators from the Conference Board point downward for 2009.  Corporate philanthropy will dive this year – thirty-five percent of companies surveyed by the Conference Board said they would make fewer grants this year and another twenty-two percent are considering reductions. 

However, there is also good news for causenation.  In this time of need, companies and individuals are embracing volunteerism.  Forty-five percent of companies in the Conference Board survey say that they will be increasing resources dedicated toward corporate volunteerism.  USA Today reported this week that applications are soaring at government-funded service programs like Peace Corps, Teach for America and Americorps.  Buoyed by the President’s call to action and uncertainty in job market, community service is coming of age again. (more…)