Can't Miss Podcasts

The VSD podcast has a couple new episodes that you can't miss.

Check out episode number 77 for information about VSD's social media strategy, including how VSD became a San Diego Twitter powerhouse with 3000 followers. Those of you with an interest in developing your own non-profit internet presence can also benefit from some helpful tips and resources from an interview with Corey Pudhorosky from the 501c3Cast and Chad Norman from the Baudcast.

Be sure to take a look at the newest video podcast which features footage from CareFusion's recent "Day of Caring" volunteer event. Hopefully you'll be inspired to get your company on the corporate volunteerism bandwagon when you see how much VSD and CareFusion were able to accomplish for our community. More information about corporate volunteer opportunities is available here.

New Facebook Page

We are pleased to announce the launch of the official Volunteer San Diego Facebook page. Click here to access the page and become a fan of our site. Our blogs, podcasts, and other special announcements will be automatically posted to this page.

VSD Wins National Award of Excellence

(Shhh... it's kind of a big deal, but we're tooting our own horn. Please, celebrate with us. We're extremely proud of our staff, board, and volunteers for making this one happen.)

Mind if we take you straight to the press release?

San Diego, Jun. 23—Volunteer San Diego (VSD) is the recipient of the 2009 HandsOn Network Excellence Award, one of the highest national awards for volunteer centers.

The award—officially titled the George W. Romney Excellence Award—is presented by HandsOn Network, the volunteer-engagement arm of the national Points of Light Institute, which is made up of 250 affiliate volunteer centers across the U.S.

The Points of Light Foundation established the award in 1996 to honor Michigan Governor George W. Romney, who served as founding chair of the National Volunteer Center and as a founding member of the board and executive committee of the Points of Light Foundation. It goes to the volunteer center that best delivers on the network’s core focus areas:

• Connecting volunteers with the opportunity to serve.
• Promoting volunteerism.
• Building capacity for effective local volunteering.
• Participating in strategic initiatives that mobilize volunteers to meet local needs.
  

HandsOn Network’s president, Amy Smith, wrote VSD executive director Sue Carter directly last week to inform her of the award, which she presented at the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco (www.volunteeringandservice.org) today. In her letter, Smith cited VSD’s role in coordinating volunteers during the 2007 fires, innovative use and development of volunteer engagement systems and technology, and leadership in helping corporations structure and lead employee volunteer programs.

“Volunteer centers are at the forefront of equipping people and organizations to change their communities for the better through service,” said Carter. “So many volunteer centers are doing extraordinary work throughout the country. Our volunteer and staff team is humbled and energized by this recognition.”

To satisfy the nomination criteria, VSD had to detail significant areas where board and staff innovation has grown the organization to the point that it now serves more than 800 community partners and has already filled more than 40,000 volunteer positions this year:

1. Combining online database technology, training, and tracking to improve the volunteer experience from beginning to end. This allows a relatively small staff of 15 to make available thousands of volunteer opportunities requiring varying levels of skills and experience, commitment levels, locations, and organizational contact details. A focus on continuous improvement, driven by both volunteer and organizational feedback, is a major factor.
2. Creating an organizational membership program that goes beyond simple opportunity listings to help community organizations develop comprehensive volunteer programs, improving the volunteer experience which prompts more people to volunteer more often. Members benefit from expert assistance in volunteer recruitment and recognition, training, networking, and related resources. Volunteer San Diego partners with San Diego’s Parker Foundation (www.theparkerfoundation.org) to subsidize this program so organizations can join at minimal cost.
3. Developing a corporate program that provides experts to guide companies (in particular, their human resources and public relations teams) in developing and managing employee volunteering projects. (This is a growing trend as a teambuilding and corporate retreat activity.) The fact that local nonprofits are now referring corporate groups that want to volunteer with them to VSD is testament to the value of this program.
4. A multifaceted marketing program with a heavy focus on using social media—including podcasts, Facebook, and Twitter—to reach a diverse volunteer base. VSD’s success in this area has been featured on the national 501c3cast podcast, Nonprofit Quarterly, and at the national Nonprofit Technology Network (http://nten.org) conference.
5. Establishing a permanent Volunteer Disaster Cadre—a team that provides support, training, and management to handle the influx of spontaneous volunteers during a natural or other disaster. This team works closely with San Diego’s disaster response professionals, including government, military, law, fire, and nonprofit responders (especially the local chapter of the American Red Cross) to handle this significant factor during disasters.

About Volunteer San Diego (www.volunteersandiego.org)

Volunteer San Diego is our community’s expert at connecting volunteers and the organizations who need them. Through dedicated volunteer programs—specialized to facilitate and leverage individual, group, and corporate volunteers—VSD equips, inspires, and mobilizes the manpower, talents, and skills of more than 35,000 individuals annually.

Through innovative use of online management tools, an extensive network of more than 800 community and corporate partners, and a perspective that volunteer opportunities should be as unique as each individual’s desire to volunteer, VSD seeks to maximize the volunteer experience as well as the volunteer’s economic and social impact on the community.


About HandsOn Network (www.handsonnetwork.org)

HandsOn Network, the volunteer-focused arm of Points of Light Institute, leads people from impulse to action, turning ideas for change in to real projects.

HandsOn Network provides a national platform for action. Through our 250 Action Centers (Affiliates) we reach 83% of the American population and engage more than 70,000 nonprofits, government agencies, faith based organizations and companies.

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United We Serve

Today is the kick-off for President Obama's call for summer service for Americans. He is calling this service endeavor "United We Serve" and has the support from top members of his administration. The first lady and cabinet members are working today at community service projects throughout the country. The president is putting the spotlight on four areas of need: community renewal, education, energy, and the environment. This summer service initiative is starting today and ending on September 11th, which has been named the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

For more information about United We Serve, visit serve.gov.

Have Your Say!

Do you have stories from your volunteer experience that will benefit others? Do you have a volunteer project that can use some promoting? Then the Volunteer San Diego blog needs you! Join the team of volunteers who contribute to the VSD blog and have your say. For more information, contact Jocelyn Garcia (858-636-4131 or jgarcia@volunteersandiego.org).

Organizational Opportunities from VSD

Volunteering is on the rise and so is the importance of a quality volunteer experience. The need for volunteers is growing even as agencies struggle to engage those who want to serve.

Volunteer San Diego is here to help. Please feel free to invite the organizations you support to take advantage of these important opportunities:

· Volunteer engagement training. Three nationally-known speakers visit San Diego over the next six months. The first training is June 16 and focuses on engaging boomer (and other high-impact) volunteers.
http://tinyurl.com/qxgluf

· VSD orientation and coaching sessions. Offered monthly (for free), we share how to get the most out of VSD’s volunteer database and resources, including coaching on writing effective volunteer descriptions that are more likely to be adopted. Sessions are deliberately small to provide individualized attention.
http://tinyurl.com/2wvmhw

· VSD’s membership subsidies. We have subsidies available to increase volunteer project (and organization) exposure, volunteer management support, and volunteer recognition – including priority referral for corporate projects. Only $50 in year one.
http://tinyurl.com/6qajx3

VSD also is pleased to announce a new program we’re kicking off with stimulus funding. In July, we’ll provide 18 of our pre-selected member agencies that assist economically disadvantaged youth with volunteer AmeriCorps members. These AmeriCorps members will serve for one year and focus on building volunteer infrastructure to recruit more volunteers and thereby, serve more clients in need. The program is paid for primarily with stimulus funds with a combined cash and in-kind value of $350,000. VSD will incur costs of approximately $15,000 to implement this program and is seeking funding to underwrite these costs.

With fewer funds to go around for everyone, it’s important to take advantage of the resources that still exist – like VSD. I appreciate your assistance in sharing the above opportunities with your community partners.

Sue Carter, Executive Director
Volunteer San Diego

Election Volunteers

Californians are in for another election in a couple of weeks. A special election is taking place May 19th, providing you with two ways to participate in the democratic process.

1. Vote. Duh! There are six propositions up for election on the ballot. More information about the propositions can be found here.

2. Volunteer on election night. 55 volunteers are needed to help unpack, move, and inspect the official ballots. Sign up for this project here. 

Bonus! The County of San Diego will make a donation to Volunteer San Diego if we can get all 55 of these spots filled by May 12th. Sign up today!

Anna Schulz is a member of the Flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

It's All About Change

Change is upon us. In the past year, we've seen staggering changes in the world economy. We've experience an historical change in our country's political environment with the election of President Obama. Through the Kennedy Serve America Act, we've seen an unprecedented commitment by our leaders to engage Americans into volunteer service. As a country, we are now changing our thought process to how we can make volunteering a way of life. That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

At Volunteer San Diego, we have noticed the changing environment as more volunteers are embracing the call to action. As the spirit of volunteerism grows within the country, there is an even greater need for the year-round programs and program support provided by Volunteer San Diego to the many non-profit organizations throughout San Diego County. As we wrap up our month-long celebration of volunteerism, please consider being a part of that change by contributing to Volunteer San Diego.

The team at Volunteer San Diego does so much to provide volunteers and non-profit organizations with the tools, leadership, training, and support that make the volunteer experience a great one. All it takes is your spare change to change yourself and change the world. Whether you are able to donate $5 or $500, the direct impact of your donation can be seen through the capacity of volunteer opportunities and expansion of programs that we can offer to you and your favorite organizations.

As a fellow volunteer and support of this organization, I want to thank all of you for your ongoing support of Volunteer San Diego. Let's continue to change our world!


Guest Contributor: Brent Shintani, Volunteer San Diego Board Vice Chair, Volunteer San Diego Podcast Producer and Host, and Community Volunteer.

Fancy Clothes - For a Change!

My closet contains a few different types of clothes. For example, nice trousers and blouses are for professional purposes, shorts and tshirts are for family activities, and old jeans and closed-toe shoes are for Volunteer San Diego. Not this Tuesday, however. On Tuesday, April 28th, VSD will be throwing their 4th Annual Soiree Celebration at the Hard Rock Hotel's Float pool bar. The party will take place from 6 to 9pm. It is the perfect time to ditch the usual old jeans and closed-toe shoes in favor of a flirty dress and heels for Volunteer San Diego. A ticket costs just $35 and great food, raffles, and drink specials will all be a part of this fun evening. Proceeds from the Soiree have been earmarked for Volunteer San Diego programs and services, directly addressing the needs of the San Diego’s youth, families, seniors and non‐profits, in addition to serving a variety of environmental causes. Get your fancy self over to the VSD event page for more information and to RSVP for the Soiree.

Anna Schulz is a member of the Flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

Advocating Selfishness

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hear about it in radio commercials, gallows humor in sitcoms, chatting with the person next to me in line at the post office. Unless you live in a cave, it's hard to avoid the topic of the tumultuous state of the current world economy. On his show, "Real Time", Bill Maher mentioned that somebody even recently had his cave repossessed.

When faced with such adversity, it can be easy to flip the switch on "self-preservation/survival mode." Ayn Rand books touting individualism are flying off the shelf which is incredible for two reasons: 1) Americans are showing enthusiasm for reading books 2) Americans are buying stuff. But despite the fact that most of us will be challenged or affected by the economic trends in some way, this is actually the perfect time to volunteer some of your time.

In the above quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson Recognizes a truth which I'll even take a step further. I say that volunteering in one's community is a means to self-preservation because of the tangible and emotional benefits that the volunteer receives. In short, it is selfishness but a laudable selfishness.

Humans, like all animals are shaped by natural selection and evolution. Camaraderie and cooperation is how we have survived and thrives as a species. Electricity, medicine, poetry are all the results of collective knowledge. No one person could have started from scratch in any of these fields and advance to modern levels of expertise. We each owe our survival and quality of life to our communities. In helping our communities, we help ourselves.

Helping another person also instinctively creates an innate sense of reciprocity in that person, essentially an ally. We are each others' mutual insurance policies. You may not need your ally's help today but you may need their help tomorrow. It is the same with community organizations which rely heavily on volunteers. You may not need their assistance today but you or someone you care about may need them at some point in the future. Now especially, is the time to get stuff done and make sure that organizations which benefit our communities aren't forced to shut their doors due to lack of funding or support (a very real threat given that resources are tight all around).

In addition to tangible benefits, a volunteer reaps emotional benefits as a bonus. Again, over the years of our species existence, natural selection has favored humans who fell good about being cooperative and performing "selfless" tasks in their communities. Human beings are social animals. We need positive relationships with other people in order to be happy. It's a hardwired, basic need like the need for food and water.

So what is you help others in order to make yourself feel good? Is this selfish? Yes, by definition but it is also compassionate by definition. Good feelings, happiness, optimism - these things are contagious and can pull us out of a depression (both the psychological condition and the global economic slump). When you make someone else feel good, you feel good, you make those around you feel good and they make you feel good. And you've created an echo chamber of positivity and productivity.

Now especially, is the time for us to volunteer. Watch the news for 15 minutes and you can see that there is a lot that needs to get done. The flotsam and jetsam of idle bodies and minds would sink this ship. There are so many problems and services that industry alone will not solve. The nonprofit and donation/government-funded organizations which take up the slack are likely to be particularly underfunded right now. We are all in this together and selflessness is selfishness.