Issue #7 - September/October 2007

Mission: The Volunteer Centers of Michigan strengthens, develops and connects volunteer centers throughout the state.

Vision: Volunteer Centers of Michigan ensures all volunteer centers have the capacity to positively impact every Michigan community and their citizens through volunteerism.

What is Family Volunteer Day?
Family Volunteer Day will be celebrated on Saturday, November 17th and is a day of service designed to demonstrate the power of families who choose to volunteer together to support the communities in which they live and serve. To date more than 120,000 volunteers have participated in this important day. The foundation of the Family Volunteer Day rests on the powerful principle that a volunteering family benefits itself, the community, and the nation at large. Volunteering as a family provides quality time for busy families, strengthens communication and bonds, and positively impacts local communities across the nation. The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network in partnership with the Walt Disney Company call on your organization to participate in Family Volunteer Day by providing opportunities for America's families to help communities create supportive environments for their children and each other.

Why Should Your Volunteer Center Participate?
Family volunteering can be an integral part of helping your nonprofit organization meets its mission. Family volunteering builds capacity for effective volunteering by giving your organization the power to mobilize an army of new volunteers; ones who will be committed and stay involved. Some of the other benefits of family volunteering to your organization include:

• Increases awareness of community needs
• Provides opportunities for recruiting new populations, therefore increasing volunteer pool size.
• Creates life-long volunteers and a legacy of volunteering for the next generation.
• Positions your organization as a community advocate.
• Garners media attention.
• Provides new funding opportunities

Nonprofits that utilize family volunteering report significant results:

• 99.6% report Family Volunteering to be very effective
• 96.3% report Family Volunteering offers unique ways to offer services
• 98.3% report benefits to families over and above volunteering alone.

Gallup Survey on Family Volunteering, 1994

AVAILABLE RESOURCES

www.FamilyVolunteerDay.org
The Family Volunteer Day Guidebook
An online document featuring helpful information for agencies and businesses participation in the national day of service. Resources included fact sheets, project ideas, a sample press release, media materials, and more.

www.FamilyCares.org
Sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, this online resource is for families who want to volunteer together and organizations that are looking for resources for Family Volunteering. The website provides project ideas, educational materials, inspirational stories, and fun and games for family members of all ages looking for hands-on opportunities to help others in their local neighborhoods and beyond.

www.VOLUNTEERRESOURCE.org
VolunteerResource.org is a comprehensive virtual library for the most up-to-date information on volunteering, volunteer management, and effective engagement of people and resources to solve community problems. The website contains several resources related to family volunteering in its library, bookstore and marketplace.

As you begin to plan for your November 7th legislative meeting, consider attending one of VCM's technical assistance calls to prepare yourself for your day at the Capitol. The calls will take place on October 29, 2007 from 2:00-3:00 pm and October 30, 2007 from 10:00-11:00 am.

Call in Number: 1.800.224.9194
Passcode: 826492

Those joining one of these calls will be coached through the most effective ways to use your meetings to advance the mission of your Volunteer Center. To supplement these calls, the Public Policy division at the Michigan Nonprofit Association has provided VCM with the following strategies that will help to maximize your legislative meetings.

• Tell your legislator about the exciting things happening in their district because of your program. Share both struggles and successes. Make sure you provide both the factual data - number of people impacted through the program, economic benefit to the community, etc. - as well as a true story that illustrates how you're affecting the heart of the community.
• Invite your legislator to attend a specific event at your organization/program. Come prepared to give the date, time and location to both the policymaker and his/her scheduler. If there's not a timely event coming up, invite the legislator to visit your program/organization on a non-session day. Make sure to find out who in the office does the scheduling, and introduce yourself or follow up with that person later.
• Ask your legislator if he/she has any questions. If you don't know the answer, DON'T MAKE IT UP. Let them know you'll find the answer and get back to them; then follow through and provide the answer.
• Offer to be a resource. Legislative offices receive requests for all kinds of things. Leave your card with both the legislator and their constituent relations staff and let them know to feel free to contact you.
• Thank your legislator for taking the time to meet with you. Even if you disagree on an issue, make sure to show your appreciation for their willingness to meet and leave on a positive note.
• Remember that meeting with a staff member is just as good. Legislators often get called into meetings or committees at the last minute. Don't be offended by a last-minute change or be rude to the staffer. Legislative staff can be your greatest ally.

2008 - 100 Best Communities For Young People
America's Promise Alliance is looking for the 100 Best Communities for Young People. As an Alliance partner, Points of Light & Hands On Network is proud to announce this opportunity. The 2008 competition will recognize outstanding community-wide efforts to improve the well-being of youth, while providing a great place for young people to live. Please be sure your community applies for this distinct honor. Applications will be accepted online from Aug. 1, 2007, through Nov. 2, 2007, Click here to Read More or copy and paste the following link into your web browser http://www.americaspromise.org/APAPage.aspx?id=5922.  Winners will be selected by a panel of distinguished leaders and will be announced in late January 2008. Questions can be sent via e-mail to 100BestHelp@americaspromise.org.

Family Volunteer Day Funding
To support the efforts of Volunteer Center affiliates engaging families as volunteers on Family Volunteer Day, Volunteer Center affiliates of Points of Light are eligible to apply for one of two funding options (Volunteer Centers ARE NOT eligible to apply for BOTH):

1. Through the generous support of The Walt Disney Company, the Points of Light Foundation is pleased to offer approximately 20 grants of $500 and $1,000.  For more information on this funding opportunity, download the RFP by clicking here.

2. Through the generous support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Neighboring Initiative, the Points of Light Foundation is pleased to offer approximately 15 grants of $500 to support Family Volunteer Day activities that engage families from low-income and underserved neighborhoods as volunteers.  For more information on this funding opportunity, download the RFP by clicking here.

Portable Storage Devices for Volunteer Centers
Today's mobile storage devices are small, rugged drives that can retain, back up, or transport data while resisting elements and taking bumps. These devices are designed to carry and protect data on the road or within the office. This article by Tech Soup shows low cost options for nonprofits to implement portable storage devices in their everyday operations.

Take Advantage of the Virtual World
24 million people use Facebook and more than 100 million people use MySpace. Many of these users are your volunteers, potential funders and community members. These people use social networking sites on a daily basis to communicate with family and friends, learn about events, music and movies, and more recently to show their support to causes and politics. As a nonprofit, there are ways for your organization to utilize this resource, and bring this virtual community to your center.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently wrote an article about Facebook’s newest strategy, “Project Agape,” which will allow companies to offer services on its site and users to highlight their favorite social and political cause. “Social Networking. Changes in Facebook, Web plan hopes to boost activism.” In turn, they are hoping to raise money and awareness for each cause.

MySpace has a MySpace Impact page where users can learn about presidential candidates, news, jobs, voter registration, and other hot topics related to people making a difference. They also have the Impact Awards where users can nominate a cause on MySpace each month for the chance to be recognized by the community. Categories include Poverty Relief, International Development, Health and Safety, Environmentalism, Social Justice and Community Building. A quick look at the MySpace Impact Awards page and you’ll find accounts for Skate for Cancer, Kentucky Equality Federation, RAINN and many, many, many more. To learn more about using Facebook, and other social networking sites to advance your Volunteer Center's mission - click here.

Does your Volunteer Center have a great story or event planned for Family Volunteer Day? Submit your photos and stories to the Volunteer Centers of Michigan and you could be featured in future editions of this resource and other publications of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. Submit best practice articles and pictures for the November issue to Brandon Seng, no later than October 15, at bseng@mnaonline.org.

Tell us what you think! Send your feedback on this newsletter to Brandon at bseng@mnaonline.org.

On July 16, 2007, the Points of Light Foundation and the Hands On Network announced the merger of their organizations. The announcement as stated by their Boards of Directors transforms the landscape of the volunteer sector, creating the world’s largest volunteer organization. Working together the new organization has a combined network of 370 affiliate organizations and will create three million new volunteers over the next two years generating an additional 90 million volunteer hours.  The new organization will be led by Michelle Nunn, co-founder and CEO of Hands On Network.  Ray Chambers, a philanthropist, will serve as the new organization's chairman of the board during the integration period.  Neil Bush, CEO of Ignite! Learning in Houston and son of former President George H.W. Bush, will serve as vice chair.  The merger takes effect on July 30 and will officially launch on October 1, 2007. 

For information and discussion regarding the Points of Light/Hands on Network Merger please visit:

http://www.pointsoflight.org/about/mediacenter/releases/2007/07-16-2.cfm

http://www.handsonnetwork.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=309&Itemid=267

http://energizeinc.com/hot/2007/07aug.html