Most of the last year’s business headlines have featured financial bailouts, ethical lapses, Ponzi schemes, executive bonuses and a general erosion of confidence in corporate America.

Yet at the same time, corporations have shown extraordinary innovation in how they are leveraging their unique assets to generate positive change in communities.

Increasingly, corporations are seeing not only the philanthropic value of giving back, but also the business value of integrating their community investment into their business practices.

Points of Light Institute and HandsOn Network celebrated MLK Day of Service by bringing together more than 100,000 people to serve in 1,500 HandsOn projects and engage in more than 150 community dialogues. We also held our inaugural MLK Day Virtual Town Hall, connecting the world to live video of service projects and civic dialogues happening through HandsOn Action Centers in seven cities.

Points of Light Institute CEO Michelle Nunn will be on Twitter answering questions about MLK Day Thursday, January 14 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST!

Points of Light Institute celebrated many successes in 2009, including the signing of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, our most successful National Conference on Volunteering and Service in history and a merger with Children for Children that resulted in Youth HandsOn Network, among a multitude of successful signature service days and new initiatives.

Leadership Georgia honored Points of Light Institute CEO Michelle Nunn with the E. Dale Threadgill Community Service Award on November 13, 2009. Nunn was recognized by the leadership program for her outstanding efforts in the service sector.

The award is presented annually to a Leadership Georgia member who has applied the principles from the program in his or her community. The award was first presented in 2004, and past recipients include Georgia State Representative Amy Carter and Lisa M. Borders.

When Michelle Nunn was just out of college in 1989, she became what she calls the "glorified intern-slash-executive director" of a volunteer organization in Atlanta that was created by a dozen people who chipped in $50 each.

Today, Ms. Nunn presides over a nonprofit group with a $30-million-plus budget and more than 250 affiliates across the country — and she is one of the most visible faces of the country's burgeoning movement to promote volunteerism and national service.