WE previously highlighted the importance of volunteerism in America, along with how “people helping people” is embedded into the very fabric of our society. There is probably no greater sense of idealism and optimism then in our nation’s youth – especially on college campus across the entire United States. Enter “All for Good,” which encourages Americans to share ways to do good…but their message has a strong appeal to younger generations.
In 2009, there were 63.4 million Americans who volunteered in their community, working an estimated 8.1 billion hours of service valued at nearly $169 billion, that according to the Corporation for National & Community Service. “All for Good” was inspired by President Obama’s call to engage more Americans in community service. As part of his “Renew America Together” initiative, the President called for Americans to ignite the spirit of service in our nation by asking them to make a lasting pledge to serve their communities. In June 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of United We Serve, a sustained effort to expand the size and impact of volunteer efforts in America. The initial phase of United We Serve runs for 81 days through a new National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11.
“This, more than anything, is the key point I want to make today – that this new Administration doesn't view service as separate from our national priorities, or in addition to our national priorities – we see it as the key to achieving our national priorities.We believe that the only way to build that new foundation for our economy is to establish a new role for service in this country,” said the First Lady when the “Call to Service” was launched.
Their motto is pretty simple: “Each of us has a role to play in improving our communities and our country. Small actions add up to a big difference.”
Allforgood.org broadcasts in one place the volunteer opportunities listed by 5 major competing/partnering orgs: volunteer match, service nation, meet-up, craigslist and idealist. The technological platform is enhanced by applications linking it to other platforms, such as iGoogle, Facebook, Blogger, Typepad, just to name a few.
According to their website, their core team is made up of volunteering enthusiasts from places like Google, Craigslist Foundation, UCLA, YouTube, FanFeedr and Aha! Ink. As a contributor to the All for Good project, Google is hosting the All for Good website and products. Several Google engineers worked on All for Good as a 20-percent project (Google lets engineers spend a day a week on projects that interest them), collaborating with a broader team to build the product. So whether it is volunteering your time at a food pantry, or donating your time answering phone calls at a local community center, or reading to under-privileged school children, every little bit helps! Especially during tough economic times, volunteers often bridge the gap in linking supports and services to people who need them.
No job to too big, no task too small. There are over 100,000 volunteer opportunities currently posted on the website.
By using an online portal, “All for Good” helps improves communities by offering important resources and tools, including:
- Find volunteer activities near you.
- Share volunteer activities with your friends.
- See what your friends are interested in.
- Track volunteer activities you care about.
To date, volunteer activities have been offered by numerous nonprofits, including 1-800-volunteer.org, 1 Sky, AARP, American Solutions for Winning the Future, American Red Cross, City of New York, The Corporation for National and Community Service, craigslist, Girl Scouts of the USA, Habitat for Humanity, HandsOn Network and Points of Light Institute, Idealist, MeetUp, Mentor, Network for Good, Organizing for America, ServeNet.org, Sierra Club, TechMission, The Extraordinaries, Truist, United Jewish Communities, United Way, Volunteer2, VolunteerMatch and Youth Service America.
“All for Good” is designed to help small, as well as large organizations with their activities. Organizations with fewer than 10 volunteer activities are directed to several partner website – such as servicenation.org, volunteermatch.org, idealist.org, craigslist.org, meetup.com – while organizations with 11-500 volunteer activities are encourage to complete an online spreadsheet template and utilize other online tips.
