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Because of a Volunteer

OneStar Foundation — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:57:40 +0000

Imagine a world without volunteers.

So much depends upon volunteers—each of them. Every day, volunteers help to provide social services to Texans. They are a crucial part of nonprofits’ efforts to solve community challenges. If there were no volunteers, the world—our world, yours and mine—would be a very different place.

Because of volunteers, many crucial social services are provided, including food delivery, student tutoring, self-sufficiency programs for the homeless, college application assistance, health and wellness information and so much more. Because of volunteers, people receive assistance in rebuilding their lives. Volunteers engage in many different activities, depending on the organization they work with; but they all have that in common—they help to rebuild lives.

Because of volunteers, 556.6 million hours of service were given by 4.1 million Texans from September 2007 to September 2008. Roughly 23% of Texans—nearly one in four people—chose to help fellow Texans by volunteering¹.

Here is our challenge to you: Imagine a world in which you are volunteering. What will you do? Who do you want to help? Which lives will you help rebuild?

National Volunteer Week is April 18-24, 2010. Will you join your fellow 4.1 million Texans and be a part of changing your community for the better? Your local volunteer center can help you find the right opportunity, as can the following online volunteering resources:

Imagine what can be done because you are a volunteer. Then, make it happen.

¹These statistics can be found in the Corporation for National and Community Service’s “Volunteering in America” report.

Staff Stories: “I Volunteered On MLK Day”

OneStar Foundation — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:43:08 +0000

AmeriCorps members and College Forward participants volunteered together this MLK Day. (Courtesy of College Forward.)

Nicole Watson, Strategic Communications Specialist at OneStar Foundation, is one of millions of people volunteered on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year. She talked with the OneStar Blog about her experience, and about the importance of volunteering as a youth.

Why did you choose to volunteer on Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

The main reason I decided to volunteer was to give back to my community on a day that commemorated a leader who passionately believed in making our nation a better place.

How did the service project you participated in impact your community?

I participated in United Way Capital Area’s 2010 Martin Luther King Day of Service on Saturday, January 16, 2010. United Way convened about 700 volunteers to work with local organizations that hosted MLK Day service projects throughout the Austin community. The day started with a kick-off ceremony at Huston-Tillotson University, featuring a keynote speech from Dr. Richard Reddick, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin, and a moving performance from The Cipher – Austin’s Hip-Hop Project. After the kick-off ceremony, people went to the location of their projects.

The project I worked on was with College Forward, a program that works with economically disadvantaged high school students who are transitioning to college. We joined the Copperfield Neighborhood Association to clean up the Copperfield Nature Trail in north Austin. Along with the neighborhood’s residents, staff members, volunteers and College Forward students removed two truckloads of litter and three flatbed trailer loads of underbrush.

How did your service project celebrate Dr. King’s legacy?

I think that the project I served in celebrated Dr. King’s legacy by reminding me how important it is to participate in making my community a better place. The project helped ensure that the trail was accessible for residents and visitors to enjoy the trails, ponds and greenbelt with friends and family.

College Forward participants cleaned up the Copperfield Nature Trail on MLK Day. (Courtesy of College Forward.)

What did you learn from participating in your service project? How has it influenced you?

I learned two things during my MLK Day service project:

1) Our group effort had impact. Due to the size of our group, we were able to accomplish more tasks involved with maintaining the trails than the residents could have done alone. This demonstrated the amount of impact a dedicated group can have.

2) The importance of instilling an ethic of community service at a young age. I was already familiar with College Forward through their involvement with AmeriCorps*Texas, but after getting involved on a personal level, I was inspired when I saw how involved the students were. I was unaware that, as part of their high school programs, students are required to complete community service hours. I think this is very important because for me, my community service involvement started at a young age and I have held on to it as an adult. I still remember volunteering with my mother when I was a child; those experiences have positively affected my life and my choices.

Watch the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Webcast on Service

OneStar Foundation — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:38:07 +0000

JustGood.tv, which broadcasted our Texas Social Innovation Initiative video conference, recently held another great online event. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, JustGood.tv broadcasted the MLK Day Virtual Town Hall, a conversation that spanned several cities across the country. Various speakers in Atlanta, Washington D.C., New York City, Sacramento, Phoenix and St. Louis discussed the work of over 70,000 nonprofit organizations, and how that work is capturing the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.

For more information on the MLK Day Virtual Town Hall and to view the event’s schedule, visit HandsOn Network’s MLK Day 2010 Web page. This online event was sponsored by Points of Light and HandsOn Network.

Tweeting for Impact

OneStar Foundation — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:26:39 +0000

We’ve found Twitter to be a great way to stay informed about what’s going on in the nonprofit sector. We use it to chat with our colleagues, learn about new programs and meet new contacts doing great things for the people of Texas.

Because Twitter has been such a valuable resource for us in 2009, we wanted to start 2010 off right and share with our colleagues a few lists of Twitter feeds that we find especially informative and interesting.

This list was compiled using the Texas nonprofit organizations, Texas nonprofit employees and Texas/national nonprofit stakeholders we are following on Twitter. However, it is not a complete list of all nonprofit organizations, employees and stakeholders who tweet.

Do you follow a Texas nonprofit organization, Texas nonprofit employee or Texas/national nonprofit stakeholder on Twitter who is not on any of these lists? If so, feel free to add them in the Comments section!

Texas Nonprofit Employees who Tweet

@pastelmagick –Emily Babb, Database Manager, Capital Area Food Bank
@jberetta – Jacqueline Beretta, CEO, TexasNonprofits (San Antonio)
@SCaldwell – Stacy Caldwell, Executive Director, Dallas Social Venture Partners
@Karlacantu – Karla Cantu, Agency Relations Director, Capital Area Food Bank
@rjcarreon – RJ Carreon, Executive Director of Teach For America (Rio Grande Valley)
@acolehour – Alese Colehour, Story Bank VISTA, Capital Area Food Bank
@juliacuba – Julia Cuba, Executive Director, GENaustin
@Ddavenport – David Davenport, President and CEO, Capital Area Food Bank
@LaylaFry – Layla Fry, Communications Director, Southwest Key Programs (Austin)
@lisa_goddard – Lisa Goddard, Advocacy and Online Media Director, Capital Area Food Bank
@jeremygregg – Jeremy Gregg, Executive Director, Executives in Action (Dallas)
@HeatherMcK – Heather McKissick, President and CEO, Leadership Austin
@kerri_qunell – Kerri Qunell, Vice-President, Communications, Capital Area Food Bank
@aimyclair – Aimy Steadman, Online Development Coordinator, Capital Area Food Bank
@elmundodemando – Armando Rayo, Director, Hands On Central Texas (Austin)
@GTF_Wynn – Wynn Rosser, Executive Director, Greater Texas Foundation (Bryan)
@LIVESTRONGCEO – Doug Ulman, President and CEO, Lance Armstrong Foundation (Austin)
@cmvara – Christina Vara, Community Relations Assistant, Capital Area Food Bank
@kimberwillis – Kim Willis, Communications Coordinator, Capital Area Food Bank
@hailayates – Haila Yates, Marketing and Outreach Manager, Greenlights for Nonprofit Success (Austin)

Texas Nonprofit Organizations, Including Faith-Based and Community Organizations, That Tweet

@AARPTX – AARP Texas
@Asaustin – AIDS Services of Austin
@acatexoma – American Camp Association (Texas/Oklahoma)
@CenTexRedCross – American Red Cross of Central Texas (Austin)
@AmerYouthWorks – American Youthworks (Austin)
@theArcofSA – The Arc of San Antonio
@AFTS – Art From the Streets (Austin)
@Austinelderly – Austin Groups for the Elderly
@austinhumane – Austin Humane Society
@AustinPartners – Austin Partners in Education
@BookSpring_TX – BookSpring (Austin)
@BrazosEducation – Brazos Education Foundation (Waco)
@bcloftexas – Business & Community Lenders of Texas
@Capital_IDEA – Capital IDEA (Austin)
@CFNTEXAS – Caring Family Network (Austin)
@CASATravis – CASA of Travis County
@caseamericorps – CASEAmeriCorps (Houston)
@CCDOFW – Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth
@CCcentraltexas – Catholic Charities of Central Texas (Austin)
@thecipheratx – The Cipher (Austin)
@CSchoolsTX – Citizen Schools in Texas
@CityYearSA – City Year San Antonio
@CollegeForward – College Forward (Austin)
@ciscentraltx – Communities in Schools Central Texas (Austin)
@cishouston – Communities in Schools Houston
@DallasSVP – Dallas Social Venture Partners
@Dallaswomensfdn – Dallas Women’s Foundation
@EIFdotorg – Education is Freedom
@Emancipet – Emancipet (Austin)
@ GIVEtoAUSTIN – Entrepreneurs Foundation (Austin)
@eschouston – Executive Service Corps of Houston
@Frontsteps – Front Steps (Austin)
@GENaustin – GENaustin
@GSCTXcouncil – Girl Scouts of Central Texas (Austin)
@Girlstart – Girlstart (Austin)
@GoodwillDallas – Goodwill Industries of Dallas
@houstongoodwill – Goodwill Industries of Houston
@LubbockGoodwill – Goodwill Industries of Lubbock
@grannysplace – Granny’s Place, Inc. (Dallas)
@Gr8rTXFdtn – Greater Texas Foundation (Bryan)
@Houstonaplus – Houston A+ Challenge
@HoustonFoodBank – Houston Food Bank
@AustinJCRC – The Jewish Community Association of Austin
@LIVESTRONG – Lance Armstrong Foundation (Austin)
@Lead_Austin – Leadership Austin
@LifeWorksAustin – LifeWorks (Austin)
@Mealsonwheels – Meals on Wheels and More (Austin)
@restore_austin – Restore Austin
@RiverCityYouth– River City Youth Foundation (Austin)
@RMHDallas – The Ronald McDonald House of Dallas
@FTWORTHRMH – The Ronald McDonald House of Ft. Worth
@RMHCNorthTexas – The Ronald McDonald House of Greater North Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth)
@TxSacredPlaces – Sacred Places (Fort Worth)
@SAAFdn – San Antonio Area Foundation
@TX4K – Sense Corp Texas 4000 for Cancer
@komenforthecure – Susan G. Komen for the Cure (Dallas)
@southwestkey – Southwest Key Programs (Austin)
@TarrantLit –Tarrant Literacy Coalition
@txedpartners – Texas Association of Partners in Education (Austin)
@TNOYS – Texas Network of Youth Services (Austin)
@TexasTribune – Texas Tribune (Austin)
@TravisAudubon – Travis Audubon Society
@unitedway_abtx – United Way of Abilene
@Unitedwayca – United Way Capital Area
@LiveUnitedLbb – United Way of Lubbock
@LiveUnitedNTX – United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
@UWTarrant – United Way of Tarrant County
@UnitedWayWilco – United Way of Williamson County
@TheWomensMuseum – The Women’s Museum (Dallas)
@youthconflict – Youth Conflict Resolution Center

Other Sector Stakeholders That Tweet

@americorps – AmeriCorps
@americorpsalums – AmeriCorps Alums
@AmeriCorpsNCCC – AmeriCorps*NCCC
@VISTAbuzz – AmeriCorps*VISTA
@AmeriCorpsWeek – AmeriCorps Week
@ISReligion – Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion
@BushSchool – The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University
@CNMDallas – Center for Nonprofit Management (Dallas)
@VIPHouston – City of Houston Volunteer Initiatives Program
@nationalservice – Corporation for National and Community Service
@DellSocialInnov – Dell Social Innovation Competition
@ILH_IGH – I Live Here, Give Here: Austin’s Campaign for Philanthropy
@learnandserve – Learn and Serve
@NSLC – Learn and Serve Resources
@TheLBJSchool – Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
@MLKDay – MLK Jr. Day
@NCVS – The National Conference on Volunteering and Service
@serviceresource – National Service Resources
@RGK_Center – RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, The University of Texas at Austin
@seniorcorps – Senior Corps
@ServeDotGov – Serve.gov
@TANOorg – Texas Association of Nonprofits
@Teainfo – Texas Education Agency
@College4AllTX – Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
@VMconnect – Volunteer Match

Social Investment Programs Offer Internships and Leadership Opportunities

OneStar Foundation — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:54:08 +0000

: Click on image to download

Did you know that Shell Oil Company has social investment programs that connect interns and trainings with Houston-area nonprofits? Shell’s Nonprofit Internship Program provides grants to qualified nonprofits, allowing them to hire college students as interns during the summertime. In addition, the Shell – United Way Leadership and Capacity Development program serves as a structured training and mentoring opportunity for new and emerging nonprofit leaders. You can read more about these innovative programs here.

For more information about Shell’s Nonprofit Internship Program, visit Volunteer Houston’s Web site.

For more information on the Shell – United Way Leadership and Capacity Development program, see the United Way of Houston’s “Leadership Development” Web page.

Guest Video Blogger: Robert Egger

OneStar Foundation — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:58:31 +0000

Today, we are excited to present a video blog post from Robert Egger, President of DC Central Kitchen and one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming 2009 Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference. Thanks to Robert for putting together such an inspiring video!

For more information about the Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference, go to our GNLC Web page. To register, go to RegOnline.

Guest Blogger: June Bradham, Corporate DevelopMint

June Bradham — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:43:07 +0000

Setting Your Board up for Success

As fundraisers, our day-to-day objective is pretty obvious: to raise funds. But our long-term mission is always something loftier: to have a social impact. We aren’t simply squirreling away coins to fill our coffers. We are securing the means to effect change, to build great institutions of learning, to find cures, to purify water in distant villages, to save lives.

And we all know that, for our communities to believe in our cause the way we do, we need champions. We need impassioned, skillful partners who are willing and able to support our mission financially. Who are these caped men and women? They are actually closer than you think.

Over the years, Corporate DevelopMint’s research and experience have taught us that board giving is one of the primary drivers of fundraising success. We’ve also come to understand that how much board members give corresponds directly to how satisfied they are with their overall experience. Combined, those two findings mean that creating a stellar board experience will lead to stronger giving. A board that is engaged by meaningful work and passionate about a worthwhile cause is a formidable fundraising force indeed. There is, however, an additional and very important underlying factor at work here: telling the story among our social networks.

Let’s think about how our “community” is getting bigger and our social networks are expanding as a result. These expansions give us the opportunity to increase our social impact. Our reach was once limited to our homes, our workplaces and maybe the few nonprofits at which we volunteered. Now, those networks can stretch across the country and reach other continents. Today, with a few clicks of my mouse, I can offer my expertise to a nonprofit in California seeking advice. A few clicks more and I can help a 20-year-old woman in Africa get her business off the ground. Even my presentations are no longer just for the 40 people in my audience. The audience members tweet their experience to their friends, who download my presentation online and share it with their social networks. Suddenly, my words, my thoughts and my guidance can have a national—or even international—social impact.

These connections and moments of impact are directly influenced by how satisfying individual board members find their board service. In fact, when we get together at the 2009 Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference in Dallas, I’m going to be talking about one unique way your nonprofit organization can increase its social impact—through improving board dynamics. Specifically, we’ll discuss what organizations can do to increase the effect their boards have on fundraising, and the social impact the organization can have in turn on the issues and needs that drive their mission. In short: the more engaged the board, the greater the impact the nonprofit will ultimately have.

Here are just a few of the strategies we’ll discuss that can set up your board for success:

Create a compelling, exciting message to engage your social networks in your cause.
Enlist the right people to join your board and help you articulate your message to tens of thousands of potential donors, all of whom are within your far-reaching social networks.
Ensure that those people never lose the fire for your organization that brought them to you in the first place.

I look forward to meeting with you in Texas, and to talking with you more about lighting the fire within your board members and using the power of a happy, passionate board to spur fundraising and deepen social impact!

Guest Blogger: Nell Edgington, Social Velocity

Nell Edgington — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:12:20 +0000

Growing Sustainable Social Impact

America is facing unprecedented social, economic, environmental and cultural challenges. As our population continues to grow, our need for new ideas to solve these challenges increases. Social innovation consists of new ideas that solve social problems, like social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, venture philanthropy, strategic fundraising, growth and capacity capital, and social investing. Social innovation is happening along the American coasts, but less so in the middle of the country.

At its essence, social innovation is about a growing convergence of the three sectors (private, government and nonprofit) that have previously remained largely separate. We must reconfigure the assets of all three sectors and turn them into more effective, more productive, higher functioning sectors that can work with, not separate from, each other to create solutions.

What does this mean for nonprofit organizations that have been working to create social impact for a long time? It means we need to increase the amount of money available to the nonprofit sector. It means we need to help nonprofits become more effective at solving the root causes of social problems. It means we need to create sustainable revenue engines for social impact organizations. It means we need to ensure that the majority of nonprofit organizations that have an interest in and capacity for growth have access to growth capital and management expertise to scale. It means that policy makers need to remove some of the many hurdles in the way of nonprofits. It means we need to overcome the bias against building the capacity of nonprofit organizations. It means nonprofit boards of directors must step up and invest in organization building. And much more.

If you are interested in learning more about social innovation and what it means for nonprofit organizations, join me at the 2009 Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference from December 9 – 10, 2009, in Dallas. I will be leading two sessions on social innovation. The session description is below. I hope to see you there!

Thinking Outside the Box: Social Innovation for Nonprofits

In this seminar, attendees will learn how to employ new models in the social and philanthropic sectors (including social entrepreneurship, venture philanthropy, growth capital, strategic fundraising and social enterprise) so they can more effectively address the social issues in their communities. If nonprofit organizations are strategic with the resources at their disposal, they will be better able to confront social challenges. Particularly in the midst of the economic downturn, nonprofits need new ideas and models for doing what they do more effectively and strategically.

About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity, a social innovation company that helps nonprofits and social businesses grow and generate new revenue.

Nonprofit Employees and Student Loans: All May Be Forgiven

OneStar Foundation — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:40:12 +0000

Did you know that nonprofit employees might be eligible to have qualifying student loans forgiven after 10 years of public service employment?

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 gives full-time employees of 501(c)3 organizations (including AmeriCorps members) the opportunity to have loans from the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program or Federal Direct Loan Consolidation Program forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF) after working in public service for 10 years. There are a few catches, though:

Your loan payments must be made under one or more of the following:
- The Income-Based Repayment plan (IBR).
- The Income Contingent Repayment plan (ICR).
- The Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan for student loans.
You must make 120 monthly loan payments, starting on October 2007. That means that the earliest qualification date for loan forgiveness is October 2017. Loan payments made before October 2007 do not count toward PSLF.
Only loans from the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program or Federal Direct Loan Consolidation Program can be forgiven. (You might be able to consolidate your non-Direct Loan program loans into a qualifying Federal Direct Loan Consolidation Program loan.)

The Web site IBRInfo.org contains a calculator that can help you determine whether or not you may qualify for PSLF.

For more information about PSLF, check out IBRInfo.org’s page of Frequently Asked Questions or “What are these new programs?” page.

Announcing the Community Solutions Agenda

OneStar Foundation — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:33:58 +0000

As we mentioned on our Web site today, President Barack Obama recently announced the Community Solutions Agenda, which includes focusing $650 million of the Recovery Act toward the What Works Fund at the Department of Education. This fund will, in the president’s words, “be investing in the most successful, highest-impact initiatives in our school districts and communities.” At the announcement, the president highlighted several nonprofit organizations that have been achieving quantifiable levels of social impact.

Our colleague Andrew Wolk of Root Cause has a great blog post up here where he describes his experience being present for the Community Solutions Agenda announcement. Wrote Wolk about the program name, “I like the way that sounds. It focuses the conversation on two core elements of this work: ‘community’ and ‘solutions.’”

What did you think of the president’s announcement? What programs do you feel are exceptional examples of social innovation and impact? Be a part of the conversation at Wolk’s blog or in our comments section below.