volunteering

Martin Luther King Jr. said it best, “everybody can be great…because everybody can serve.” This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, a national holiday designed for individuals to be able to serve their communities.

Dr. King was a servant leader, and to this day continues to inspire countless individuals around the world to give back to their communities. He is remembered for accomplishing extraordinary things on behalf of people in need but more importantly, he leaves a legacy of encouraging others to find their greatness through service.

While January 17, 2011 is the day when thousands of people around the country will participate in service projects, we are most excited about the people that will be inspired to make service a priority year round.  And, to celebrate our friends and neighbors who have made an impact by quietly serving their communities every day, we’re excited to highlight these heroes on a series on CaseFoundation.org entitled “Why I Serve”. This post is a part of that series.

Interview with Evan Waldt of City Year, DC.

Evan Waldt grew up in rural Pennsylvania, he attended High School in Florida as well as attend classes at a Community College in Gainesville, Florida. In college Evan was a Model United Nations Outstanding Delegate, he has also worked in the restaurant business for over 10 years, and is an Eagle Scout. Currently, he is serving his second year with City Year Washington, DC. 

What made you want to become involved?

Why not serve?  I believe in national service and I come from a long line of veterans.   I knew I wanted to serve my country in some way.

Why did you decide to begin a second year of service with City Year?

I decided to do a second year of City Year because one year wasn't enough.  I made lasting friendships which drew me back to City Year. I wanted to ensure that young individuals would have a transformational year during their time with City Year, just like I did. 

Everyone’s lives are busy; what inspires you to make service a priority in your life?

I always tell myself: “If not me, then who?”  It has become a part of who I am. 

Are you participating in a service project on MLK day?  If so, what?

Yes. City Year Washington, DC will be engaging over 700 volunteers in painting and construction projects at: Anacostia High School, Kramer Middle School, Ketchum Elementary School, The House DC, and The Children’s Center. I am co-leading a team of corps members who have been planning and prepping this event for months – it’s going to be great!

Why do you think people should serve year round?

People should serve year round because hunger, illiteracy, and social injustice do not take time off, why should we?

Do you have any anecdotes that inspire you to serve that you’d like to share?

Last year, I taught the third graders I worked with something they did not know-Kickball. This is simple childhood rite of passage that I had the privileged to experience. The children learned sportsmanship, fair play, and discipline, but most importantly-humanity. The ability to let the youngest kick first, knowing that losing is ok, letting everyone get a turn and letting kids of all abilities play. For those 30 minutes twice a week, no inequality mattered; the world had purpose, the game was fair, and I had pride for each and every student.

Why do you serve?

I serve with City Year because if I wasn't serving I would not be in a such positive place. I struggled to get my bearing in the usual timeline of high school through college, and came to a crossroads at City Year. When I began my service, I didn't believe in City Year, but City Year believed in me. Not only have I developed as a person, a professional, and a friend, I have been afforded the opportunity to experience some amazing things.

Two very different sites are helping people to volunteer in ways that are convenient and rewarding to them. Catchafire and Sparked both provide ways for individual social citizens to find volunteer opportunities online and for nonprofits to find people outside their networks who might be able to help. While the two share the same end goal, they have very different approaches - Catchafire sources concrete, meaningful projects that individuals can complete using their unique skills, while Sparked helps people use their downtime to help nonprofits with microvolunteering opportunities.

The Catchafire Way

Hoping to improve New York City’s low rate of volunteerism, Catchafire is a little like an online dating site for volunteers. Volunteers share information about their experience, skills and interests, and in return, the Catchafire team sends the volunteer a matching list of project options. The volunteer then writes a note to the nonprofit organization expressing interest in the project, and the nonprofit chooses from the interested volunteers. Volunteers can also browse projects and organizations to see what types of projects are available at any given time. The projects are about three months in length, are designed for one person, and must have a concrete deliverable like a logo design, budget design and development, or a press release.

The goal is to connect volunteers with projects that can be completed on flexible schedules and that also exercise and build the volunteer’s skills, which could be attractive to grad students and job-seekers in this economy. Catchafire also helps volunteers quantify their contribution by estimating how much the project would cost the organization. Between now and January 31, Catchafire aims to matched volunteers with more than $1 million in nonprofit projects. So far, Catchafire is only available in New York City, but be sure to check out their website.

If You’re Not Ready to Catchafire, How About a Little Spark

For a volunteering platform where physical location isn't important, see Sparked, by The Extraordinaries. Sparked is built on the idea that people want to volunteer, but they might not have a four-hour block on a Saturday. What they do have is downtime – waiting for a meeting that was pushed back 15 minutes, waiting to board a flight or waiting for their frozen pizza to cook. With Sparked, "waiters" become productive do-gooders and nonprofits get some much-needed help. After signing up, volunteers have personalized home pages that suggest current challenges that might suit their interests and skills, but they can also browse by the nonprofit, the cause or the skill needed. They can see how others have responded to the challenge and add their own answer to the thread. Sparked also allows small businesses and corporations to run their employee volunteer programs through the platform, by making it easy to track volunteer hours but still allowing employees to maintain different interests, skills, schedules and geographic locations.

Sparked asks nonprofits to post challenges that can be done entirely online, can be completed quickly and have a measurable result, and they can post five challenges at once. Some examples of volunteer tasks posted include suggestions on companies a nonprofit should approach for sponsorship, tips on how to effectively use social media for 30-minutes each day, document translation, web redesign and logo design.

It seems the requests with the most responses are ones that essentially employ Sparked as a type of "Yahoo questions" for nonprofits, rather than a volunteering site. If a friend at a nonprofit asked you a question about how to use social media for their nonprofit and you spent a few minutes making suggestions or pointing them to resources, would you consider that volunteering? Probably not. But on Sparked, it is. Is this an expanded definition of volunteering, or is it not quite what the Sparked team intended?

Nonprofits asking for help with a very specific product like translation or graphic design might receive more substantial contributions, but even then, respondents seem to be tempted to tell someone how to do something rather than doing it for them, which may be the price you pay for targeting these tasks at people with only short amounts of time to spare. For example, one nonprofit posted asking someone to design a dolphin graphic. So far, three people have responded, each sharing websites where the nonprofit can find existing dolphin graphics. It's not that these responses aren't helpful, it's just slightly different – well, less, frankly – than what was asked.

Getting Warmer

Managing volunteers to produce something of value to the organization as well as a meaningful experience for the volunteer is kind of the holy grail of nonprofit engagement. Both sites aim to work with individual volunteers’ interests and time constraints, but they are aimed at different people prepared for different levels of engagement and who have different definitions of what makes a meaningful volunteer experience. And both have some of the same types of projects listed, but as nonprofits grow accustomed to using these sites, I expect that will change. They might use Sparked for information, research and brainstorming - small tasks for lots of people with a little time – and Catchafire for more thoughtful, skilled projects, like web or logo design.

As with traditional volunteer management, the key seems to be knowing what tasks make sense for this forum and audience and crafting your request in a way that will receive the most helpful result. Both sites have put thought and effort into steering nonprofits toward posting well-defined, measurable and time-appropriate projects, and that's a great start. These platforms won’t solve a nonprofit’s volunteering woes entirely, but used thoughtfully, they could certainly help nonprofits find the right people for the right tasks by opening them up to different online communities.

Try out one or both of the sites, and let us know your experience!

Recent philanthropy news seems to have revealed a trend. Musicians, and Nashville residents, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill organized a benefit concert, which has raised about $2 million for Nashville flood relief. Artist Damien Hirst rallied 98 of his colleagues to produce an art auction that raised $38 million for the (RED) campaign's efforts to fight AIDS in Africa. Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis and New York Knicks player Tracy "T-Mac" McGrady are leaning on NBA players to raise funds to build schools for Darfuri refugee camps through the Darfur Dream Team.

It seems obvious to have artists paint, to have musicians sing and to have NBA players call on their teammates in support of a cause - but what your supporters have in common with these fundraising celebrities is that they too can and should be leveraged in a way that makes the most of their skills and network. Unfortunately, more often than not nonprofits fail to ask their partners to do what makes the most sense.

Unique Skills...
Instead of looking at the skills and extended networks their existing advocates have to offer, they ask lawyers to paint murals and they ask teachers to stuff envelopes. Yes, all of these activities may move the ball forward bit by bit. The nonprofit needs the mural painted and the envelopes stuffed, and the lawyer and the teacher may even have had fun working on those projects. But they aren't the most strategic asks that could be made of these supporters - people who could probably contribute much more value and have a more fulfilling volunteer experience if they were asked to do something more in line with their skill set and interests. The Taproot Foundation is great at matching volunteers' professional skills with projects that nonprofits badly need. While not every nonprofit is ready for a large-scale project like a Taproot grant, this principle can be applied to how they engage their networks every day.

And Unique Networks...
If there's not a task or project that matches the skills of the supporters you have, you can also be strategic about leveraging their networks in appropriate ways. While you might not have the star power available that some of these multi-million dollar campaigns tapped into, your supporters can be surprisingly influential in their networks - whether that be a sorority, a rec league softball team, a book club or a network of bloggers. Everyone has a group of people they can turn to and say (as Damien Hirst said to his artist friends) "If you do this for me, some day, when you need to call on me, I will reciprocate for you."

And That Goes for Social Media Too...
Now that nonprofits are convinced of the power of social media to fundraise and friend raise, we are going overboard at times by asking even social media resistant supporters to join certain platforms SO they can support us through those platforms. You don't need to bring all your supporters to Facebook so they can "like" your organization, join your cause and start receiving your Facebook messages. That would be like asking your supporters to become pastry chefs so you can have a great bake sale. It's a good idea for nonprofits to create a presence on social media because that's where many of their supporters already spend time and have access to a network, but it's an even better idea to be strategic about how they invest their time on social media.

While it's true that social citizens might be the perfect supporters to champion your cause online, Millennials (and other generations) have other creative ideas, talents and networks that shouldn't be overlooked or undervalued. For more tips on engaging Millennial volunteers, see Kari's recent post. At the end of the day, the real goal is to empower volunteers and supporters where they already have a presence and expertise, whether that's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or (gasp) not online at all.

As the graduating Class of 2010 trade in their caps and gowns for a heaping dose of reality -- their idealism is impressive, but so are the challenges they are up against. Sure, the Millennial Generation enters the workforce as the most widely educated and technologically adept generation in history but it will take far more than good intentions to resolve the global realities of climate change, energy shortages, and extreme poverty that face us all.

Even so, there’s something about the Millennial Generation’s resiliency that is fascinating to watch. Many are looking at their next chapter as a time for self exploration. They’re trying to find meaning in their jobs and are delaying the traditional workforce and enrolling in programs like AmeriCorps in record numbers - or heading overseas to focus on Global Health equity in developing countries. They’re leveraging technology to innovate and create new solutions to complex environmental and social problems. Millennials are seen as ambitious and hopeful. But they are also debt ridden and anxious.  Whether the world will live up to their great expectations is an open and yet to be answered question.

Having already seen and experienced so much, Millennials have established themselves as a new breed of activists and doers – but for the average nonprofit, understanding how to engage them in your volunteer work can be seen as a mystery.  The following is an attempt to demystify the Millennial volunteer. I firmly believe that the problems our local and global communities are faced with call for exactly the values that Millenials believe in – collaboration, teamwork, openness and transparency.

So , what does your nonprofit need to know about engaging the next generation of volunteers?

Provide experiences based on skills: The Millennial Generation in particular recognizes that it’s not just one sector that will help solve our most challenging social problems, but rather a blending of sectors and structures that will create meaningful impact. As such,  they are looking for ways to put their professional skills to use when they volunteer.  It’s not enough to ask them to sort cans or paint murals – they have skills in technology, business development, communications and other key areas that nonprofits are in desperate need of.  So, make sure to take the time to get to know your volunteers and what skills they bring to the table.  

Show the impact of your/their work: Having grown up in a 24-7 news cycle with instant messaging, and the immediacy of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, it’s no secret that MIllennials expect to see immediate results.  The same holds true for their volunteer work as they desire to see the immediate impact of their work.  Even if the progress is only incremental, make sure that you are sharing it with your volunteers. If they can see the value they are adding, you’ll keep them coming back for more.

Always have a clear call to action: Today’s volunteers may be savvier when it comes to finding volunteer opportunities on their computer or iPhone, but they expect an experience that matches the ease to which they found it.  While today’s unprecedented technology allows organizations to reach out to new audiences, the call to action must be clear, it must be actionable, and it must show impact.

Openness and transparency are key:  Go beyond providing good volunteer opportunities to creating more of a relational experience between volunteer and organization. Solicit feedback, provide follow up, and ask what you could do better. Sites like Great Nonprofits allow folks to rate their experiences and share knowledge so that others can make more informed decisions about where to give or volunteer – so take the first step and be an active participant in those conversations.

It’s easy to make generational generalities when it comes to Millennial engagement – yet perhaps more than any other generation, Millennials emphasize doing good into everything they do.  They are comfortable with collective action and especially with activating their own social networks and they are volunteering at higher numbers than generations before them.  This presents a great opportunity for nonprofits, but only if they are willing to tweak their approach.  If your organization is engaging with Millennials we want to hear from you -  what’s the secret sauce to getting it right?

NOTE: This post was originally featured as a guest submission to VolunteerSpot’s Summer of Service blog series. VolunteerSpot’s free online coordination tool saves leaders time and makes it easy for more people to say YES to making a difference.

About a week ago, I shared some of my high level thoughts about the state of online volunteer matching platforms. I expressed that online platforms for “good” need to be great. Because if they’re not, and we don’t make the experience as easy as possible for prospective volunteers, we lose a very important slice of folks we’re trying to attract. Call them what you will -- the unaffiliated, the unconverted, the I-want-to-give-back-but-don’t–know-where-to-start-“ers” these are people who are compelled by something they hear, or read, or stumble upon, and more often than not they turn to Google to find an opportunity to take action on that very issue. From Google, they are led to a myriad of volunteer matching platforms be it VolunteerMatch, Idealist, Craigslist or others. But, how many of them are signing up to volunteer, let alone reporting for duty?

My post came just a few days before the Entertainment Industry Foundation kicked off their multi-year, iParticipate campaign. From my perspective, EIF’s goal was simple – to turn the generation of couch potatoes they’d so proudly reared, into a generation of doers and volunteers. And, they did so in an impressive and unprecedented way. More than 90 shows across all networks either wrote volunteer messages into the scripts, or incorporated a call to action at the end of their shows directing viewers to the iParticipate website.

While it’s still too early to tell whether the campaign was a success or not, we do know one thing -- the platforms weren’t quite ready, and according to some initial reports from VolunteerMatch, many of the individuals who may have been compelled to pause the Tivo and login to iParticipate, were led to outdated or incomplete posts and hard to navigate prompts. Throughout last week’s campaign, Greg Baldwin, CEO of VolunteerMatch shared a series of very transparent reflections on the campaign and the ability of VolunteerMatch to do what it was set up to do – match seekers, with opportunities. In an open letter to the nonprofits who use the VolunteerMatch platform, Baldwin revealed some of the early results indicating that, "Over the course of the week, this historic TV campaign produced an average of only 775 new visits a day or 2.6% of our weekly total of 208,400 visits. This amounts to perhaps 100 new volunteers."

But, then again, it’s not just the platforms that are at fault. The expected surge of volunteers, never appeared to come. We have to take a step back and determine if this kind of celebrity driven campaign is authentic enough to get people off of their couches. We’re all familiar with the strategically placed bag of Dorito’s or the overtly loud “ahhh” after a sip of Diet Coke, but this was a different kind of product placement. It was a way to embed the idea of “giving back” into our psyche. But as many of the comments on the VolunteerMatch post said, you shouldn’t expect immediate results. Campaigns of this nature take a while to seep in – or to go back to the Dorito’s analogy, just because you see them on the screen – doesn’t mean you run down to the 7-11 to buy a bag, but chances are the next time you’re in the store you may reach for a bag of cooler ranch. We can assume the same holds true with volunteer opportunities and will have to wait and see what translates and converts to on the ground experiences.

As Allison Fine pointed out in a post on the same subject earlier today:

"This is an opportunity for volunteer matching websites and organizations, and the nonprofit organizations that use volunteers, to engage with EIF to develop a longer-term strategy of how to continue to raise the importance and opportunities of volunteerism. Social change takes a long time and an enormous amount of diligence, patience and resilience to pursue. These are not characteristics often associated with the entertainment industry, which is why it’s incumbent on the nonprofit community to find ways for the industry to use its best strength, their ability to be a megaphone to share issues with large audiences of people at one time, and couple it with the best strengths of efforts like VolunteerMatch which is to inexpensively reach people — and stay with them over time."

I agree with Allison and believe the new EIF campaign has the potential to truly expose the “unconverted” to new opportunities to give back, but if we don’t make the experience seamless from the beginning, it could very well have the reverse effect.

We’ve watched "do-it-yourself" service grow as individuals take it upon themselves to organize community initiatives. We know there’s a "new civic generation" of Millennials that came of age during the Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina disasters and they're volunteering at higher rates than ever before. Baby boomers are using their professional skills to help build capacity at nonprofits. But all of these were trends before the celebrities made a mass appeal to “participate.” So, what’s next and how can we push people to take action – if this type of campaign doesn’t work, what will?

Through celebration and fanfare -- to the tune of a Presidential Summit on Volunteerism in Texas today, Presidents’ Obama and George H.W. Bush will come together to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Points of Light.

If you remember back to 1989 when President Bush spoke of a thousand points of light in his Inaugural Address (or even if you don’t), personal computers were becoming commonplace in the West, and mobile phones even if clunky and awkward were quickly becoming a symbol of status. Nintendo had just released its Game Boy, and Microsoft’s first version of Office was available to consumers. These devices and programs were so new and transformative – but never could we imagine their power to mobilize the “thousand points of light” the President spoke of to take action in their communities, let alone halfway around the globe.

And while today we have new devices and symbols of status that we attach to our ears, or on our belts – we have to think that we are only at the cusp of what’s possible when using technology to address some of our worlds most pressing problems. We can micro-lend or micro-volunteer but there’s so much more that could be done if we could collectively recognize the potential of these tools. Even so, we know that the tools alone can’t sit with a child who’s battling cancer or feed a single mother who just lost her home. What’s more, the tools themselves are only as effective as we enable them to be.

Sure, today’s unprecedented technology allows us to reach new audiences, or connect advocates to share their stories, but the call to action must be clear, it must be actionable, and it must show impact. Today’s volunteers may be savvier when it comes to finding volunteer opportunities on their iPhone, but they expect an experience that matches the ease to which they found it.

New platforms like All for Good, the uber-aggregator of many of the online volunteer matching sites like Idealist, VolunteerMatch and Network for Good - is a powerful tool, but then again, it’s only as powerful as the opportunities that nonprofits upload. When I enter my zipcode into a search engine and let it work its magic, I don’t want to find an opportunity that’s outdated or already over capacity. I’ve taken the first step, and I expect to be matched with an opportunity that makes sense and is available.

We certainly didn’t know the extent of what technology could provide back in 1989 – let alone the creative things people would do WITH the technology to change the world, but there are still endless opportunities to put it to better use. Perhaps it’s creating an individual profile that allows us to upload our skills, our interests and our availability and then be more appropriately matched with an opportunity to serve. This is worthy of a post itself, so I’ll save it for another day – but a best case scenario would be for people to be matched through an online platform, with something they enjoy doing repeatedly rather than a bunch of “one and done” experiences.

This may go beyond providing good volunteer opportunities, to making it more of a relational experience between volunteer and organization. So even if it’s a good opportunity, the organization should solicit feedback, provide follow up, ask what it could do better, etc. There are sites like Great Nonprofits that are allowing folks to rate their experiences and share knowledge so that others can make more informed decisions about where to give or volunteer. Or the new mobile iPhone app, Catalista, that enables you to find a volunteer opportunity in your area using your phone's GPS coordinates and then invite your friends to join you, and rate your experience.

The platforms can have all of the bells and whistles in the world, but the big question that remains is how do we get nonprofits to use these tools in a smart way that provides up to date, clear opportunities for engagement and that will make more people want to use them to volunteer? We can demonstrate their success, lift up examples, but we are already doing that, and it’s not changing the game. How do we help nonprofits get savvier about what they post? Is there a way to incentivize this behavior so that they will provide better data? Or, is this just something the market will have to decide?

I’ve heard lots of people fret over the list of issues with my generation - we're unprofessional, we're entitled, we're always online, we're slacktivists...I'm not so worried about those things. I think we'll work that out. But there is something about my generation that actually kind of gets my goat. When a bright, passionate, innovative Millennial sees a problem, I don't think starting a nonprofit should be the default solution. This might not be popular among my nonprofit-starting group of friends and peers, so I should say, not just for them, that sometimes starting your own nonprofit is the right choice...but often it's not.

I know the thought process because I've been through it too. You want to help people. You're good at your current job and sometimes feel underutilized and underappreciated at your organization. You look elsewhere, but you can't get a job doing exactly what you want to do at exactly the level you deserve because turns out lots of other young people with great experience, master's degrees, and fathers with Senate seats and Fortune 500 companies want those same things too. But you don’t need to beg to for permission to make an impact as part of some old person’s nonprofit, you can just start your own – and it will be better. It will focus on the issue you care about most, you'll be the boss, you can set your own office culture and, odds are, you'll even make a name for yourself.

Ok, it's not just that you want to skip ahead to the CEO title. You have some really innovative ideas, you’re frustrated with the way some of the old, bureaucratic nonprofits function and you want to make a difference. Today. And it’s not all our fault. We are being encouraged by Boomers who set up awards and fellowship programs to recognize young people who are starting new organizations. I googled "how to start a nonprofit" and got 44 million returns. You people have to stop.

Before you start designing your new nonprofit’s logo, ask yourself a few questions to determine if that’s the best thing:

1. Is another organization already doing something like this?
   There are roughly 1.5 million nonprofits today, with about 50,000 new ones created each year. Jack Siegel of Charity Governance Consulting estimates that creating a nonprofit costs roughly $5,000. That means that each year $250 million is spent just creating nonprofits – and that’s before they spend a dime actually helping people. Do a quick landscape assessment and really know your facts on who else is doing something similar.

   Late last year, public service expert Paul Light predicted that 100,000 nonprofits will have to close their doors before 2011. Paul Lamb's recent article suggests that with one nonprofit for every 300 people in this country, we don't need more NGOs, just more efficient ones. This is not a new problem. Nonprofits of the same type often replicate services and compete for resources when they should be cooperating, whether it’s five after-school clubs in the same small town or 500 documentaries and studies about how Millennial civic engagement during the Obama campaign was something special. But with an oversaturated market and an economic crisis, your nonprofit will be competing with lots of existing organizations for scarce funds. And without an established track record it's going to be tough to convince new donors you're worth the risk.

   What about competition? Shouldn’t the market decide? Sure, and it will. But not before time and money is wasted where it could have been better spent working together.

2. If there are others doing something similar, and there almost always are, how would you do it differently?
   Take some time examining what they’ve done, and do a quick SWOT analysis of your idea. Start a conversation with them. Learn from their barriers, successes and challenges. Whether you would do it differently or not, this leads me to question #3.
    
3. What can you do to support existing organizations?
   If there's not actually much you would do differently, you can get deeply involved by volunteering with them or fundraising for them. You can raise thousands of dollars for a cause you care about through Causes on Facebook by designating a beneficiary you trust.

   I went to a small fundraiser this year where a group of Millennials was raising money for a new nonprofit they were starting to help former child soldiers. They were in the early stages of making a documentary about child soldiers, intended to raise awareness and funds to help the children with education and rehabilitation. The thing is, I've already seen this documentary. It's called Invisible Children. I left the fundraiser without giving any money because even though it felt awkward and I am touched by the issue, I could not justify funding a movie just so they could say they've made a documentary. I’m not trying to be Ebenezer Scrooge here, and I love seeing my peers passionate about a cause, but it seems their time and energy could be better spent if they held a fundraiser for Invisible Children or tried to work with UNICEF or another existing organization that addresses the reintroduction of child soldiers and refugees. Reinventing the wheel in this case doesn’t seem to be the best or quickest way to get support for those that really need it.

   If a similar organization exists and fits your mission but you have innovative strategies that would benefit them, try talking to them about how you can help. I know this isn't easy, and I would like to take this opportunity to plead with existing organizations to be open to our generation, our ideas and innovations. Kiva didn’t invent microfinance, but they are largely responsible creating a new buzz around it and introducing a lot of average people to the practice. I’m sure there are microfinance organizations who wish the Kiva people had come to them to collaborate. Bringing your project under an existing organization will give you an instant audience and allow you to skip over a lot of hurdles to the core of what you want to do. 

   If you still insist that your project is too different to fit within an existing organization, try to find an incubator or fiscal sponsor like the Tides Center or the Echoing Green Fellowship, which can provide guidance and backoffice support.
    

4. Do you have a real sense of how hard this is going to be?
   Starting a nonprofit is not like starting a band in high school. You're going to need a board, bylaws, a budget, articles of incorporation, all kinds of tax exemptions, and major fundraising. Not everyone has the appetite and skill set required to get a nonprofit up, running and sustainable. If you think filing your taxes every April is confusing, navigating the paperwork for getting a 501(c)3 is going to be a nightmare. Even after you jump through the hoops of setting it up, you’ll have to comply with strict reporting and management procedures to keep it.

   Since I’ve only had limited experience with this grueling process, I asked my friend David Smith, who founded Mobilize.org in 2002, for his take. He said, “The entrepreneurial spirit of the Millennial Generation is strong, and this often leads to us starting nonprofit organizations rather than working through existing ones. Although this may be helpful at times and yield greater social innovation for the sector, the sheer paperwork and reporting requirements necessary to start new legal entities often turn social entrepreneurs into desk jockeys. It is important for young, passionate leaders to focus on what excites and fuels them. Spend your time building houses, solving climate change, and making our generation fiscally literate, and leave the IRS Form 1023s and 990s to established organizations with the capacity to manage the legal and financial headaches.” Consider the fact that the actual process of starting a nonprofit could hinder your ability to do the work you're really excited to do.
    

5. Why do you want to do this?
   This one is touchy. I understand not wanting to put your blood, sweat and tears into a mission you don't believe in. And I understand wanting to get credit for hard work and innovative ideas you've put in, but the reality is that it doesn't have to be yours to be good. If you're tempted to start a nonprofit, I'm guessing that you see a need in your community or in the world, and you want to use your unique ideas, talents and perspective to do your part and meet the need. I love that about our generation, but starting a nonprofit should not be the default solution. Push your creativity and your humility, and you may just find an even better way to change the world.

As the National Conference on Volunteering and Service gets underway in San Francisco next week, 4,500 leaders from across the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors will pack the Moscone Center for workshops and plenary sessions aimed at strengthening the culture of service in our country. And, in a year when so many conferences have been forced to scale back, or have seen significant declines in attendance -- the energy (and turnout) surrounding this year’s service conference is a testament to what a hot issue service seems to be at this moment in time.

This past weekend, I sat down with Ben Rigby and Jacob Colker in between sessions at the Net Impact Conference in Philly. Ben and Jacob are co-founders of the Extraordinaries, and they want to turn your spare time into social good by delivering on-demand opportunities to volunteer. Sounds simple enough, but the real kicker, is that they are building a platform to enable all of this volunteer activity to take place on your mobile phone.

I know what you're thinking - how could anyone have a meaningful volunteer experience from the comfort of their mobile phone, let alone in 20 minutes? But, as issues of work life balance mount, and the constraints on our precious little free time become even greater, it's efforts like the Extraordinaries that may just transform the way we find time to give back and volunteer. To learn more about how it works check out the great video they’ve put together.

And, if you have ideas on the kinds of high quality volunteer experiences that could be supported by this kind of mobile platform, we want to hear from you. Would you use this? What are the types of things you'd be most interested in doing? Do you think short term engagement like this could ever bring the same kind of satisfaction as hands-on volunteering?

The beauty of being with other press is that we all like to talk. And the more we talk (or Twitter), the more questions come up about the nature of service.

The program's about to start, so I can't dive in now, but here's some food for thought we'll flesh out in the future:

* If you offer financial incentives for volunteering, are you somehow diminishing the volunteerism?

* How much should government get involved in service? Specifically, how much should they put taxpayer funds toward it?

* Are the terms service and volunteerism really interchangeable? Is one the umbrella for the other?

* What's the role of altruism in serving? Do incentives change people's motives?

Ok, we're starting --- tune in to Twitter to follow the action! (hash tag #sn08)