Turning a “No” into No Problem

Today’s Turning Point comes from guest writer, Mary-Grace Reeves, a senior in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at Pensacola High School in Pensacola, Fla.

The head librarian’s words echoed in my mind. “We don’t have the money, and we don’t have the manpower to start a new program.” In the weeks preceding this moment, as a library volunteer in the children’s department, I recognized a void in community reading programs specifically designed for young girls. I wanted girls to have the opportunity to improve their reading abilities, while learning about our nation’s past and contributing to our future through community service. However, as I faced the librarian, in a library across the street from where homes had been destroyed just years earlier by Hurricane Ivan, I realized that the library’s inability to bring my idea to life did not prevent me from taking action. The summer of 2008 marked my turning point: I jumped up, saying “I will do it!” Rather than waiting until someone else took action, I realized I could make a difference.

Since August 2008, I have led 46, unique monthly programs of the American Girl Book Club. However, I am not the only one who has a memorable “turning point.” I have found that the 7 to 12-year-old girls I work with also encounter “turning points” each month at our meetings. This “turning point” could result from gaining new knowledge. For example, in our detailed discussions of girls’ lives in past historical eras, brought to life by the Perdido Bay Indians and their Mobile Museum, guest speakers from the National Museum of Naval Aviation, fashion displays from the Daughters of the American Revolution, annual participation in the African American Read-In, Russian culture presentations from the Global Corner International Learning Center and even Asian-American language studies, to name a few, I have introduced the American Girl Book Club members to not only historical, but cultural traditions. This heightened appreciation of diversity shapes the girls’ approach to life.

I have also witnessed American Girl Book Club members encounter a “turning point,” with volunteerism as a means of empowerment. The girls realize that they can truly make a difference, whether through donating food to our annual American Girl Book Club Manna Food Drives (in the spirit of Great Depression American Girl character Kit), protecting our Gulf Coast beaches through a sea life conservation program I developed with the University of Florida (like American Girl Kanani’s experiences in her book series), involvement in our Global Youth Service Day initiatives to raise environmental awareness, honoring our servicemen and women on the anniversaries of 9/11 through construction of patriotic memorials displayed in New York City and Washington, D.C., creating Valentines for Naval Hospital Pensacola staff and veterans as part of the National Valentine’s for Veterans Project, and more.

You see, each month is a small “turning point,” but these small events collectively make a large impact in the girls’ lives, contributing to who they are today and how they will continue to view volunteerism as an integral part of daily life.

Mary-Grace is a member of the 2011 PARADE All-America High School Service Team, an award recognizing outstanding young service leaders presented by PARADE Magazine in partnership with generationOn, the global youth enterprise of Points of Light.

A Billion + Change: Envisioning the Future of Corporate Service

Can you imagine a future where 500 companies decide to collectively lead social change and tackle the most pressing challenges of the 21st century through skills-based volunteer service (SBV)? This is the future that A Billion + Change discussed today at a Forum in Washington, D.C., “A Billion + Change in Action: Connecting to the Future of Corporate Service.” At this Forum, A Billion + Change announced that 200 companies have pledged an estimated $1.8 billion worth of skills-based services to help build nonprofit capacity.

This keeps A Billion + Change, a rapidly growing national campaign to mobilize billions from corporate America in skills-based and pro bono volunteer services, on track to inspire 500 companies to create or expand an SBV program in their workplace by 2013.

At the Forum, leaders in industry, policy and civic engagement discussed opportunities for businesses to scale efforts to meet the social, economic and environmental challenges of the 21^st century through skills-based service. They also explored ways to align employee volunteer programs with national initiatives to boost innovation, competitiveness and models of effective collaboration.

What leaders at this Forum really did, however, was encourage each pledge company to look ahead at what they are poised to contribute through skills-based service.

“Our challenge now is to expand A Billion + Change while partnering effectively with nonprofit professionals so we can change communities for the better,” said Senator Mark Warner, honorary chairman of A Billion + Change. “It’s through collaboration and collective impact that A Billion Plus really does add up to meaningful change.”

Every day, A Billion + Change pledge companies harness the skills and talents of their people to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations that create empowering opportunities for women and veterans, strengthen our schools and workforce, improve STEM education and tackle global development challenges.

“At IBM, we believe the best way to invest in the communities in which our employees work and live is to apply our best skills toward addressing specific societal challenges. We believe this concept of skills-based service can expand and be brought to scale, and we hope that the leadership IBM has provided to communities – which was more than 3.2 million hours in 2011 alone – will inspire other companies around the world to mobilize their volunteers,” said Stanley Litow, vice president of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs at IBM, which serves on the Leadership Committee of A Billion + Change.

Many pledges – across a variety of industries and company size – have found innovative ways to utilize their employees’ professional skills and talents to give back to their communities. A pro bono team from Capital One, for example, joined with the Virginia legal community to create a new technology solution, called Justice Server, which matches low-income clients with volunteer attorneys offering pro bono legal services.

Through “Succeed Through Service,” The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is helping address the school drop-out crisis by engaging at-risk middle school students. The company’s chefs, concierges, restaurant employees and trainers all lend their skills in teaching students about healthy eating habits, social skills and group presentation skills. And in Dallas and New York City, MEplusYOU, a strategic and creative agency, dedicates one weekend every six months to work with nonprofits in its “Weekend of Love” program. In just two years, these Weekends of Love have delivered $2 million in creative services to communities, while serving as important learning and development opportunities for its staff.

In the months ahead, A Billion + Change will focus on its goal of inspiring 500 companies to join A Billion + Change to create a marketplace for skills-based volunteering, and to make SBV the new normal in every workplace. Will you join us? Follow our progress and take the pledge online at: http://www.abillionpluschange.org.

My Turning Point Was Hockey

Brian Leftwich is the Senior Manager of NICE for HandsOn Network. He is also a CrossFit coach, heirloom gardener, Colorado State Muay Thai champion and he loves the smell of sawdust in the morning.

I grew up in a small Canadian suburb called North Dakota. Like most kids my age I fell in love with the game of hockey. Every year, for the first six years of my budding sports career, I looked not to the stands to find my father, but to the bench, where he stood as coach. You may be thinking, “Big deal Brian, lots of dads volunteer to coach their sons.” True, but the odd thing about my dad is he never played a second of hockey in his life. My dad never learned how to skate, tape a stick or shoot a puck. He grew up on a farm literally just outside of Canada, and was one of four students in his senior class. Everything he knew about hockey was what he read in books and learned from watching the game. Still he was there for me every season, coaching, teaching and inspiring kids. His motto: “Every kid deserves a chance to play because win or lose, I am proud of you for playing.” My dad did not coach to create successful athletes; he wanted to create successful young men.

My dad’s passion for volunteering did not stop at hockey and he would often bring the whole family with him to service projects. Whether it was manning a booth at a free carnival, building a playground with the Optimist Club, delivering Thanksgiving meals, coaching Special Olympics or wrapping presents at the mall, service was woven into the fabric of my family. It mattered very little what the project was, if we had the right skills, or the necessary experience. We showed up, smiled and got to work.

When I left home to attend college, I realized what a profound lesson my father had taught me about service as I began my own personal journey of volunteering.

I realized that:

I will never know what it is like to grow up without a father, but I can be your friend when high school becomes overwhelming.

I will never know what it is like to be 67 and lose everything to Hurricane Katrina, but I can show up afterwards and help you build your first home.

I will never know what it is like to spend your entire childhood in a garbage dump outside of Juarez Mexico, but I can be your Caballito for an impromptu game of fútbol.

I will never know what it is like to walk six miles to school over a mountain pass in Nepal, but I can make you smile by pantomiming animals and being your jungle gym.

I will never know what it is like to grow up in Haiti, lose your entire family and use of your leg to a devastating earthquake, but I can wipe the tears from you eyes when physical therapy hurts too much.

My turning point was when I discovered that I will never have all the answers, skills and experience to be a perfect volunteer, but I can have the heart to show up and do what I can, with what I have, to be a turning point for someone else.

A Twitter Recap on the National Conference on Volunteering and Service

[View the story “National Conference on Volunteering and Service Highlights” on Storify]

Inspiration I Took Away From the National Conference on Volunteering and Service

Today’s post is written by Chelsea Murphy, Communications Coordinator at Points of Light.

We are back from Chicago with a renewed and revitalized outlook on volunteering. This year’s conference was inspiring and thought-provoking and has left me with new ideas for making lasting change and positive measurable impact in our communities.

Eric Liu I continue to relive all the amazing information I’ve heard these past couple of days over and over again in my mind. I can’t wait to do it again in a year in D.C.

Below I’ve compiled some uplifting and inspirational quotes from our speakers over the past 3 days – Please share your favorite quote or “AHA” moment you walked away with from this year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service in our comments.

“No matter your background, your platform, your economic status, everyone can pitch in to make our world better.” –Israel Donijie “When we volunteer & serve, we become healthier, happier, & more purposeful.” –Eric Liu “You must be able to see worlds that have not yet been created as if they have already been created.” –Rev. Otis Moss, III “All people want is an opportunity” – J.R. Martinez “Service is center and indispensable to tackle the challenges that we face.” –Wendy Spencer

“Programs where neighbors are helping neighbors are the essence of the American spirit” –Barbara Bush “One of the key successes to finding fulfillment in life is giving to others without expecting anything in return” –Pierce Bush “We’re all better off when we’re all better off” –Eric Liu “People of common ground can make huge change if we put the dignity of our youth above all else” –Alberto Carvalho
“The actions we take affect our neighbors down the block and on the other side of the world. We are all connected.” –Kevin Bacon

“Serve. Serve. Serve. For in the end it will be the Servants who save us all.” –Mark Shriver

Watch video from the event on our Points of Light Livestream channel.

Reimagining Service: Taking the Next Step

As a national multi-sector coalition dedicated to increasing social impact through effective volunteer engagement, Reimagining Service continues to focus its efforts on increasing the adoption of effective practices, gathering new insights via research and encouraging funding investment to effectively leverage volunteer talent to address true community needs.

We continue to develop our nonprofit service enterprise model. Research conducted by the TCC Group demonstrates that organizations that strategically leverage volunteers outperform peer organizations on all measures of organizational capacity and have greater impact.

These organizations, known as service enterprises, often deliver these results with fewer financial resources than peer organizations. In fact, a $1 investment in volunteer capacity can deliver up to $6 in return.

Service enterprises fundamentally leverage volunteers and their skills to successfully deliver on the social mission of the organization. Such organizations employ strong volunteer management practices that enable them to provide significantly more services with fewer monetary resources, thereby enabling them to accomplish their mission and strategic objectives and have greater impact in their community.

And yet, despite this compelling data, less than 15 percent of nonprofits nationwide demonstrate the characteristics of a nonprofit service enterprise.

As a result, we continue to build resources to help nonprofit organizations who are interested in becoming a service enterprise think about this work. Our nonprofit service enterprise quiz provides a simple set of questions that helps organizations think about their existing volunteer engagement practices and directs them to research and other tools and resources to begin the journey of becoming a service enterprise.

Further, we are excited to be partnering with CaliforniaVolunteers and Points of Light to develop and deliver nonprofit service enterprise training. Leadership and funding for this initiative is provided by CaliforniaVolunteers, via a Volunteer Generation Fund grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. We believe this initiative will be groundbreaking – a pilot group of HandsOn Network affiliates in California will provide assessment, training and additional supportive services to assist nonprofit organizations in their regions become service enterprises. Learnings from the roll out of this initiative this fall will be leveraged for a national roll out in 2013.

Our nonprofit research efforts will continue to document the value that effectively engaged volunteers provide to a nonprofit organization. As we move forward, we’ll be able to identify pathways that organizations can take to maximize the value of volunteers serving with their organizations.

As a multi-sector coalition, we recognize the importance of cross-sector collaboration. We continue to encourage businesses to consider how the alignment of their employee engagement and giving practices can multiply impact in the community. Examples of this work continue to increase and we have recently launched our Reimagining Service Endorsement Process as a way to highlight initiatives that focus on effective corporate practices. Our first set of endorsements include: A Billion + Change, Civic 100, True Impact’s Volunteer ROI Tracker and the Taproot Foundation’s Powered by Pro Bono initiative.

And finally, we continue to believe that increased investment in this work is critical to ensure its success. As a result, we are encouraging the funding community to view investment in volunteer infrastructure (a key to effective volunteer engagement) not as a program investment, but as a cost-effective strategy to increase the impact of initiatives they already invest in.

We are excited about the progress that we are making, and invite you to join us in our work by signing on in support of the Reimagining Service principles and sharing our work with those you partner with.

Action Heroes Needed

Photo from the 2012 National Conference on Volunteering and Service Youth Summit

Join forces to do good this summer. Your community needs you.

This summer, generationOn is mobilizing kids, teens and parents to pledge to make service a priority in one of the following areas: animals, environment, homelessness, hunger, literacy, health, military and disaster preparation. Participants will be provided with project ideas and instructions, but will also be encouraged to use their imaginations and creativity to come up with a project entirely their own.

We look forward to stories, photos and videos of the positive change being created across the country from our nation’s youth. Register with generationOn for updates on this exciting campaign launching June 25.

Civic Accelerator Celebrates Partnership

More than 150 social entrepreneurs, impact investors and community partners came together as part of a Community Innovation Breakfast on June 19, hosted by Starbucks, to celebrate a new strategic partnership and the call to action for supporters of the Civic Accelerator, a new Points of Light and Village Capital venture.

Leadership from partner and investor Starbucks was on hand to share the news and provided a challenge for other funders to step up to match their extraordinary gift.

The Civic Accelerator is the first national startup accelerator focused on civic ventures – for-profit and nonprofit ventures that create social good and inspire, equip and mobilize individuals as part of the solution. The 12-week program will apply tools from for-profit accelerators to build an ecosystem of social entrepreneurs, impact investors and stakeholders to increase the likelihood of success for civic ventures and create real change in our communities. Social entrepreneurs accepted into this competitive program will benefit from mentoring, entrepreneur education, peer support and networking in addition to investments made across the cohort and larger seed investments for two of the most promising solutions selected by the entrepreneurs themselves.

The team shared plans to identify other partners and funders over the summer months to prepare to launch an initial cohort of 10 teams from around the country by the end of the year.

Inspiring Change Through Skills-Based Service

A Billion + Change, a growing national campaign to mobilize billions of dollars of pro bono and skills-based volunteer (SBV) services from corporate America, is bringing into sharp relief the valuable role SBV programs play in building the capacity of nonprofit organizations to meet community needs at home and around the world. In less than a year, nearly 200 companies have pledged an estimated $1.8 billion worth of time and talent to nonprofits, keeping the campaign on track to inspire 500 companies to create or expand a SBV program in their workplace by 2013. Campaign pledge companies like Capital One, HP, Deloitte and IBM shared the inspiration driving their SBV programs, and how they are achieving high-impact, transformative change through service at a special Pre-conference session, “Leading Service and Inspiring Change.” “At HP, we ask ourselves how we can harness all the skills of our company to give back to our communities. For example, HP worked with nonprofits and ministries of health on a pro bono basis to develop a system to verify counterfeit drugs abroad and help save 700,000 lives lost every year due to counterfeit drugs. The concept of shared value to give back to both your company and your communities is very important,” said Caroline Barlerin, director, Communications and Global Community Involvement for HP. PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, GlaxoSmithKline and the Advisory Board Company also discussed how their programs are addressing critical issues such as global health and education, water resource management and improving STEM education through skills-based service. Today, Pranav Kothari, managing director of Mission Measurement, will lead a dynamic conversation about innovations in business and philanthropy and how corporate innovation can spark broader social change in “Beyond Business as Usual: Leading Innovation and Driving Social Change.” These sessions are the latest in a national tour of A Billion + Change events that will culminate in a White House Forum on June 27, at which the campaign will start to imagine the phenomenal possibilities of collective action, with 500 companies working in partnership with nonprofit professionals to change communities for the better. To learn more about A Billion + Change and to take the pledge for free, visit: www.abillionpluschange.org.