The Why of Work: Enrich the world

As my post at the end of September alluded I have been on a journey reading and processing the book "The Why of Work" By Dave and Wendy Ulrich. The Ulriches and the book even have a web site: http://thewhyofwork.com/ . After quickly being captured by some startling research I find myself contemplating the section titled 'Leaders who focus on Meaning create an abundant response'.

President Woodrow Wilson said "You are not here merely to make a living. you are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand"

The Wlriches write that... As humans and employees we engage in a search for meaning. As a leader many see this as a personal affair and that is a loss to not only the company but world.


 ...but perhaps we are too narrowly defining leaders. Leadership need not be confined to an executive suite. Every person in your company, management chain or organization has the capacity to enrich the world, its your role to create that opportunity regardless of where on the management chain you sit. Perhaps if we start to think of ourselves and those we work alongside and those we manage as leaders the above statement that leaders see the search for meaning as a personal affair can be altered where those who are not in the executive suite see their potential for leadership and the benefit to society if we work to create opportunities for those around us to enrich the world.


I am fortunate working in a social service organization that hope and vision not the paycheck is what drives those around me. My volunteers are the fulfillment of this concept and I merely need to ensure that they have the ongoing opportunity to lead projects, programs and each other to fulfill our service mission in the community.

The question I find myself pondering is how do I guide those around me to see their capacity and success in enriching the world. What process or activity do I need to persue to guide them to this realization? Is my guidance really needed? Would someone else be better suited for the role? Is everyone around me aware of their success in enriching the world and I am just looking for a new way to state the obvious?

The Why of Work

The Why of Work by David and Wendy Ulrich.

That question - the Why of Work, is one often easily answered in the non profit sector. Its a calling, a mission, a passion, a heart factor.

As I reflect on the sector and my experience in it all of these hold some truths, but when daily operations, and apathetic employees create poor performance across large portions of the non profit sector the why of work is the ideal question to be exploring.

The Ulrich's did not write the book for the non profit professional, it is aimed at those in upper mid management in a for profit environment, reading and reflecting on it has caused me great insight into ways that the sector struggles and ways that I can move my sphere of influence forward.

The first point that really captured me into the research of this book:
A Saratoga institute study found that 72 percent of employees who quit, leave because they feel they are not being recognized for their contributions or sufficiently respected and coached by their leaders.

- Wow, that is something that is very much in a leaders control. This has direct application to volunteer management and fostering and retaining great non profit employees.

In several of the organizations I have worked in those who had been in functionally the same role within the organization 5 or more years were often apathetic and complacent. In four different organizations I watch, highly talented, mission driven employees leave well before the 5 year mark. These individuals during personal conversations expressed feelings of overworked, taken advantage of, frustration at the lack of recognition and respect they deserved.

My take away from this is that I as a manager need to step up my recognition and coaching. Last year I hand wrote a card to each member of my team and distributed them at the holiday party, thanking them for their service. This year I have already set aside 1.5 hours each week to bring that recognition to the next level, I have set aside a portion of my budget to purchase small appreciation gifts to give with these notes and I plan to include an idea for a new years resolution focused on their development within our organization.

Combine calling with coaching and the potential to retain great members of your non profit workforce will improve.

Volunteer Burn Out

If a fire is left alone and not fed with any new fuel, it will eventually burn itself out. If the fire of your enthusiasm is not being refueled by the satisfaction of your volunteer work, your enthusiasm - just like a fire - will die

The signs we hate to see and the words we hope to never hear are those typed as volunteer burn out.
The best volunteers are usually the ones most prone to burnout. That's because they're so dedicated, they often fail to take mental health breaks or ask for help. And because they're so dedicated, organizations often pile more and more responsibility on them. This is not activity specific, I have seen it happen across every sector I have worked with. I read an interesting study done by an organization that had a suicide help line. While I think most people can easily identify why volunteers on this help line would be prone to burn out, if found that their top 3 reasons for leaving were strikingly similar to those that I see across the volunteer sector.

1. Other demands in the volunteers life took on greater importance.
2. The volunteer did not feel part of a team.
3. Responsibilities and expectations were not clear.

We as volunteer organizations have little control over the number 1 reason, however both 2 and 3 are within our realm of impact.

If you sense a high rate of burn out in your organization start with building a team. Forbes outlines 6 team-building success strategies that not coincidentally address point 3: 

1.       Be Aware of How You Work

As the leader of the team, you must be extremely aware of your leadership style and techniques.   

2.       Get to Know the Rest of the Team

You must make the time to get to know your team and encourage camaraderie.   

3.       Clearly Define Roles & Responsibilities

When you successfully complete step 2, you can then more effectively and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of those on your team.  

4.       Be Proactive with Feedback

 Feedback should be proactive and constant.   Many leaders are prone to wait until a problem occurs before they give feedback.

5.       Acknowledge and Reward

  Take the time to give your teammates the proper accolades they have earned and deserve.   

6.       Always Celebrate Success

 This goes beyond acknowledgment – this is about taking a step-back and reflecting on what you have accomplished and what you have learned throughout the journey.

Volunteering as a Career Builder Toolkit

An amazing resource that I need to keep for latter use!

Volunteering as a Career Builder
Volunteer Center United Way of Central Indiana
3901 N. Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
volunteer@uwci.org
317.921.1271

The Volunteering as a Career Builder Toolkit is designed to help those who seek to engage in
volunteering as a means to strategically advance their careers, build skills, and create more
meaningful experiences. This guide is a series of practical tools, exercises and examples that
will help you evaluate, communicate, and seek volunteer opportunities that will help advance
your professional goals. The activities in the toolkit build on each other but may be used
independently as desired. This toolkit has been designed for:

 Career starters – individuals who have recently graduated high school or college,
individuals starting a career for the first time or those who are returning to a career after
a long break
 Career changers – individuals who are seeking to shift or change their careers and need
to develop new skills or competencies to make themselves more marketable
 Recently unemployed – individuals who have lost their jobs and are seeking ways to
stand out from other candidates, maintain existing skills or make connections to new
careers
 Skill builders – individuals who wish to build or enhance professional skills and
competencies through volunteer service for personal or professional benefit
 Volunteer managers – nonprofit staff who manage volunteers and are interested in
assisting them build career skills through volunteering


Find it at: http://www.uwci.org/files/file/volunteerism-as-career-builder-toolkit-for-volunteers.pdf

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

While exploring Glenwood Springs CO over the summer I picked up Paul Throux's Ghost Train To The Eastern Star. While not the fastest read I have passed close to a month of quiet evenings slowly meandering my way through his adventure. Two definitive things came out of this, 1 - I really want to start to travel again, and this time I want to read prolific writing about each place we stay. 2- I would love the life of a writer, I don't think I have the aptitude to do so successfully but its a romantic notion that I love.

Paul writes many memorable passages that I have captured below more for myself than anyone but I hope they speak to you my random reader and bring you to join Paul on the tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar:

You think of travelers as bold, but our guilty secret is that travel is one of the laziest ways on earth of passing the time.

The festival of Novruz Bayram.

With poverty so obvious and unmissable, the foreigner sometimes bursts into tears, until he or she learns the Indian trick of looking only at the background, where all those new buildings are rising.

As an Indian woman said to me, "what about the poor people in your county?" Well, yes. New Orleans is a vivid example of a place where the poor were hidden or unapproachable. it seemed that until the were flushed out by the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina no one knew the existed, nor knew what do with them.

I have never seen any community in India so hopeless or, in its way, so hermetic in its poverty, so blatant in its look of menace, so sad and unwelcoming, as East St Louis Illinois , the decaying town that lies across the Mississippi from flourishing St. Louis Missouri. Yet I can imagine that many people from St.Louis proper would weep at the sight of Indian poverty. They dare not cross their own river to see the complacent decrepitude and misery on the other bank.

On my trip of twenty-eight thousand miles and hundreds of encounters, I met two people who supported the American President (GWBush): the man in Baku who wanted the United States to invade Iran and Rajendra. No one else.

He never grew up and never stop growing

Solving problems, finding meals, buying new clothes and giver away old ones, getting laundry done, buying tickets, scavenging for cheap hotels, studying maps, being alone but not lonely. Its not about happiness but safety, finding serenity, making discoveries in all this locomotion and an equal serenity when she had a place to roost, like a bird of passage migrating slowly in a sequence of flights.

One of the blessings of such poverty was the absence of traffic. Just a few cars, many motorbikes and scooters, lots of bicycles and that relic of the old Burma, the bicycle rickshaw or pedi cab.

The former Ponhea Yat High School, in a respectable residential area of Phnom Penh, had been converted to a prison - a natural conversion, since large schools of classrooms are designed for confinement.

The traveler's conceit is that barbarism is something singular and foreign, to be encountered halfway around the world in some pinched and parochial backwater. the traveler journeys to this remote place and it seems to be so: he is offered a glimpse of the worst atrocities that can be served up by a sadistic government. And than, to his shame, he realizes that there identical to ones advocated and diligently applied by this own government. As for the sanctimony of people who seem blind to the face that mass murder is still and annual event, look at Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur, Tibet, Burma, and elsewhere - the truer shout is not "Never again" but "Again and again"

You know what Churchill said: Stalin found Russia working with wooden plows and left it equipped with nuclear bombs.

Only the old can really see how gracelessly the world is aging and all that we have lost. Politicians are always inferior to there citizens. No one on earth is well governed. Is there hope? Yes. Mos t people I'd met, in chance encounters, were strangers who helped me on my way. And we lucky ghosts can travel wherever we want. The going is still good, because arrivals are departures. 

Urban Foodscaping Non Profits

In the past three days I have had my free thoughts consumed by the potential of urban landscaping as a solution to many challenges being faced in economically restricted communities in America.

I have looked at these 5 organizations briefly and see great potential in my community to create meaningful change.

http://foodisfreeproject.org/

http://www.ediblelawns.net/

http://www.foodscapelb.blogspot.com/

http://www.nycfoodscape.com/

http://farmmyyard.org/

One thing that I really like about this idea is the possibility to put these in individuals yards, creating a multi fold benefit. of improving the visual appearance of a property, proving a food source, teaching valuable skills, improving air and soil quality and increasing community between the organization facilitating the process and the homes in the area where the lawn is turned garden.

Where this enthusiasm takes me will wait to be seen, part of me wants to write "the grant", leave my job (that I love), and dedicate the next several years to starting a local lawn foodscape organization. As I dream about this I quickly come into the long list of considerations that any non profit founder thinks about and my enthusiasm remains. Great work is being done all over America in foodscaping, and I am excited to see the movement grow!

Non Profit Best Practice: Develop ways to actively engage government and corporate entities

Non Profit Best Practice: Develop ways to actively engage government and corporate entities.

Who to engage
If this a new concept for your organization so many possibilities exist, if this is something your organization is already doing and looking to expand a more serious examination might be needed to identify who these entities are.

For those who are just starting this process: Ask yourself , your board and your leadership the following series of questions. *Please note I use the word clients as much of my experience has been organizations service people. If your serving another mission say an environmental cause replace clients with impact area.

• What entities do we impact? (Example: Schools, or after-school programs)
• What entities impact our services? (Example: City Council)
• What entities impact our clients? (Example: Schools, or after-school programs)
• What entities do our clients impact? (Example: Schools, or after-school programs)
• What entities directly affect or staff and supporters? (Example: City Council)

The list you come up with is where you should start to make efforts to engage.

For those of you who are looking to expand: Now is a good time to reach out to your staff and clients to solicit ideas.

• What companies or agencies do they engage with other than yours? (Example: Faith based groups)
• What in your community do they see opportunities for engagement? (Example: Garden Club)
• What opportunities exist for your organization to be seen as a leader in your field? (Example: Present at a conference)

How to do this

Now you have made a list of corporate and government entities, what next?

1. Research - Spend time to learn about those on your list, who are the key contact people, how they work and if they have any past experience working with non profits.
2. Reach out indirectly - Invite the entity to one of your events. Most likely they wont come but it will start the process of them knowing your organization exist and gives them an insight into some the work you do.
3. Reach out directly - Call or stop in, whatever is appropriate in the community you work in. See if you can introduce yourself to a decision maker and at the very least have an opportunity to pick the receptionist brain about the way they work. - Your goal at this phase is just to become familiar, learn more about them as individuals and the work they do.
4. Continue contact - in the following 3 months keep communicating, follow up with card after the initial meeting thanking them for taking the time to meet with you, invite them to another event, share something that you think they would be interested in knowing (local news or subject related article), connect via linked in or other social network.
5. Evaluate - At this point make the decision is this a company or agency that we would benefit from a more formal working relationship.

1. Yes - Set a time to make the request
2. No - Keep inviting them to events but move your energy onto the next potential, you have gained a connection that is worth keeping.

Why it matters

Non profits cant operate in isolation. Active engagement of government and corporate entities can open up a variety of benefits to your organization. The most obvious opportunities are for potential donations or volunteers. Many other opportunities exist that these relationships could provide your no profit with including: insight, local/ relevant news, referrals and advocacy.

Practitioner examples.

In one agency I worked for I made contact with a local pastoral association. It turned out that one of the pastors was childhood friends with the city manager. Due to this connection when our agency needed support from the city manager I was able to reach out to this pastor and use him to open the relationship for my organization to be supported by the city manager.

In a different agency I work for we begun developing a relationship with a large company who was expanding and moving employees and their families into the area. As this relationship was developing we noticed that several of their employees were using our services, we were able to share this information with the company allowing them to refine their relocation process to better support their employees families.

In both of the above examples the relationships continued to grow and the agencies I worked for saw expanded benefits of donations, volunteers and community advocates.

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@lshhann

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Trying to be ONE - The Republic of the Philippines and the American Red Cross

When attending graduate school in the Philippines I had the opportunity to take several course on Philippines government and administration. One of the fundamental learning that I took ways from these course is that the Philippines as a government is trying to create the concept of unity, cohesion and oneness thought the nation. They are working towards this by moving functions and administrations to be the same in every district so that you can be anywhere and it will be operating under the same system as anywhere else with only minor local differences(such as the office location, key community members ect).

In concept is sounds like a great way to move the nation forward. In reality it is encountering many difficulties. Devising and implementing systems and procedures that are identical in the mega city of Manila and in the remote islands of Hundred Islands. Manila is a fast paced technologically advanced multi-media political, cultural and population center of the Philippines. Hundred Islands on the other hand is is a grouping of 100 plus islands that used to be a coral bed of which only 3 have been developed for visitors. On every level the Philippines is facing challenges. Should the Philippine government have computer systems to track tax collection, city plans, HR and so forth? Global best practices say YES. So the Philippines did just that, the created a comprehensive system with forms, procedures and software to put the ONE nation of the Philippines onto one system and dispersed these requirements and tools to local government offices and officials. This was a fantastic, a solid step to take a developing nation towards a new chapter in their history. Unfortunately some jurisdictions do not have reliable power supplies, let along functional computer and internet systems. This micro example to highlight the magnificent challenge faced by nations who were not historically one group but several moving into the 21st century united and working to become ONE.

On a national level I have seen the identical struggle in India, but the idea of being ONE is not exclusive to nations it is being experience and explored in other sectors. Working for the American Red Cross I am a participant in their move towards ONE. To the average person the American Red Cross has always been one organization  but to those more intimately involved they will tell you how each chapter was one in itself, they set their priorities, standards and service areas. In order to deliver consistent quality service in a financially sound way the Red Cross has been undergoing some very challenging organizational shifts,  creating a consistency across the entire United States. Of course minor local differences will remain (facility, staff, volunteers). Not surprisingly they are encountering some of the same challenges faced by diverse nation states undergoing this approach. The operation capacity in urban America (NYC, LA, Dallas) is vastly different from rural America (think McCook Nebraska). The core principles driving both nation states and large national organizations is to enhance capacity and performance. The challenges faced are reflective of the extreme diversity in the areas they cover. The opportunity for lessons learned is huge, the success and challenges faced by those in the process of unifying and standardizing can be shared across sectors. I hope following this unification best practices will be developed and shared to enhance the process and experience as other nations and organizations endeavor towards greater unification and standardization
.

What if Kmart became social trailblazers?

What would happen if this 

Begun to look more like this

K Mart has been in decline since the 1990's when they made some calculated missteps regarding technological integration. They however remain in many communities and hold a sizable percentage of big box retail. While the corporation struggles to find a way to hold on one commentator said K Mart lacks anything unique that would bring costumers there if given Wal- mart or Target as an option. An outside observer can see that Target offers a refined middle income one stop shop and Wal-mart offers a bargain basement one stop shop. K Mart cant compete in either of these area posing the question if K Mart wants to survive what area could they become leaders in?

Whole Foods has proven that consumers are interested in product origin and the growing discourse on corporate social responsibility shows that socially we are expecting businesses to be good corporate citizens. Might there be room for K Mart to pioneer big box retail in a socially responsible way? 

I would be interested in such a development and would take my business to K mart over the competitors of Target and Wal-Mart

10 years and counting in the non profit sector

This is what I hope to be the start of a series of posts reflective of the time as a practitioner on the ground level with non profit organizations.

Team Building Day

To give myself come credentials I begun working with faith based communities in 1994 and have since been involved in a meaningful way with over 20 community/ civic minded agencies and have had tangible impacted over 20,000 peoples lives. How do I define meaningful? I am looking for those experiences I have had where I have been involved either in a substantive (40+/hr/week) for at least 2 months or have had consistent(2+/hr/ week) involvement spread over one or more years.

My first paid position was with a community theater in 2002 and the need to generate community change has not gone away.  In this post as I work to credential myself and begin to think of how to arrange my thoughts I have generated the following list of my organizational involvement, the approximate time and my general thoughts on how many lives I have impacted (really much like my resume without bullet points of accomplishments).

1994 - 2001 St Augustine Catholic Church, 300 people impacted - Sunday School and Vacation Bible School instructions

1997 - 2002 Kids Can Free The Children, 2000 people impacted - Local chapter founder

2002 - YMCA Camp St.Croix, 1000 people impacted - Summer program staff

2002- 2003 - AmeriCorps State, 300 people impacted - Education and community programming

• Pillsbury Community Center
• El Colegio Charter School 
• Heart of the Beast Theater

2003-2006 - Seton Hall University, 35 people impacted - English as a Second Language Instruction

2005 - YMCA Camp Du.Nord, 1,000 people impacted - Summer program staff

2005-2006 - Peace Games NYC, 1,000 people impacted - Internship Program Development

2007 - AmeriCorps NCCC , 3,550 people impacted

• St. Barnard's Project
• Habitat for Humanity
• Presbyterian Disaster Relief
• NY Cares
• US Fire Service

2008-2009 - Eckerd Youth Alternatives, 35 people impacted - Senior Councilor

2010 - Learning Ideas for Tibet, 150 people impacted - Educator, Newsletter Liaison, Program Development.

2011 - Atma, 5,000 people impacted - International Volunteer Lead

2011 - YMCA Camp Menogyn, 200 people impacted - Summer program staff

2011-2013 - Best Friends Mentoring Program (NDSU), 300 people impacted - Program Manager

2013- Current - American Red Cross, 1,000 people impacted - Disaster Program Manager

Service Unites: Conference on Volunteering and Service

Atlanta Georgia. June 16-18 2014

Convened by: Points of Light

Title Sponsor: UPS

4560 – Faith-Based and Diverse Community Disaster Preparedness Summit Planning

The first 72 Hours – this is the title for a shelter in place disaster kit initiative

http://www.first72hours.org/resources/?tag=red-cross

In post disaster we work with our communities to return to the new normal

Praise and Preparedness– praise.ga.gov

-          Facility safety checklist for our faith based partners. If something happened when people are in the building do they know what to do and dose the facility have 72hours supplies?

-          Jancay.stragell@gema.ga.gov

-          Be very specific in what you want from your faith based community

-          7^th day latter day saints missionaries to spread preparedness messages

-          Disasters do not discriminate and neither do we

Faith preparedness summits county by county

-          Meeting planning at various locations and send out etiquette messages pre meting

Atlanta chapter has fake disaster scripts that they use during building tours— Carisa.hettich@redcross.org

                                     

4946 – Thought Leadership: How Do You Embed Civic and Community Values in a Company?

Mass Mutual is building up a volunteer program

Morgan Stanley Foundation – Suzanne Brown

The Civic 50 as a conversation as partnering with businesses

Global Citizenship – Fed Ex Julia Chioskie Community Affairs

Think of CSR as a portfolio and have it filled with diverse investments

State Street Corporation Boston – Regina McNalley: Requires non profit board service to be promoted to executive level.

Opening Session

Lessons from history makers to change makers – Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, Dr Bernice King and Reverend CT. Vivian discussed their experiences as frontrunners to change and how that change is one they have continued to work towards their entire life.

David Abney CEO Elect from UPS announced the pledge of 20million service hours by 2020 - http://www.ups.com/pressroom/us/press_releases/press_release/Press+Releases/Homepage+Press+Releases/ci.UPS+Pledges+20+Million+Hours+of+Volunteer+Service+by+End+of+2020.syndication

Social Change 2.0 – Chelsea Clinton, Mayor Dayne Walling, Kweku Mandela and Bethaney Wright discussed how to engage the upcoming generation to be the leaders of social change.

4875 – Pathway to Excellence: Proving Your Professional Competence Breakfast

5 competencies for volunteer administrators

-          Ethics

-          Organizational Management

-          Human Resource Management

-          Accountability

-          Leadership and Advocacy.

CVACERT.ORG

“from the top down”

Write about volunteer management

Performance reviews based on the competencies

Professional certification

Direction power – know where you want to go

Write about practical experience as a way to become a leader in the field, also a door to working in higher education

4623 – Mobilizing Low – Income Volunteers through Economic Opportunity

United Way as host agency for AmeriCorps Programs

Volunteerism embedded into the community

CNCS volunteering is connected to Employment

Incentives motivate 18% of volunteers

Volunteer opportunities based within low income housing

·         $25 rent credit with a minimum of 4 hours of volunteering per month

·         Set expectations of professional conduct as a volunteer

Move from begging to choosing

The movement from all hands to skilled hands

5031 – Mini Session: Volunteer Engagement Practices

Speakers: Karen Bantuverus, Katelin Kennedy, Art Ordoqui, Kendall Stiles

Hands on activity idea: Building neighborhood preparedness and social packets to give out in their neighborhoods.

Hospitality + service by Hilton http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/misc/hospitality

-          Great for shelter workers

-          Front desk volunteers

-          Leadership level volunteers

-          Hilton employees will be trained to present this by next year

Volunteer Spot – http:vols.pt/ncvs

UPS 20million volunteer hours by 2020 – can we make this a local connection?

Kendall Stiles – Sharing moments of recognition everyday (requested slides)

@realizedworth

Recognition on social network for volunteers

Twibbon – with social volunteers

Live stream presentations its free for non-profits

Wufoo – form builder

Nominate daily points of light winners

Thanks a latte – 5 service project and a local vendor donates a free latte

4821 – Professional Development: Women in Leadership Fireside Chat

If you don’t get lost every once in a while you must be on someone else’s path

Richard Branson – risk taker

Virgin Unite – let people be their whole self at work

Jane Tuwson – Comic Relief

Kathy Calvin – UN Foundation

Mary Robinson – Ireland

Incorporate language of those your speaking with be it business or government

Follow your purpose and stay consistent to it

Reba Dominski – Target

Anne Cunningham – Starbucks

Lori Billingsley – Coke

15 year vision

Get a mentor

-          Tell your story

-          Know what you offer

-          Know what you need

-          When asking have the plan and the time frame

Identify you gaps and look for options to build your skill set

Confidence is more important than competence

Look @ your track record

@askcunningham

Work someplace where your treasured

Save your treasure so when you want to retire you can

Be you – that’s where doors open and you are fulfilled

Assume positive intent

Seek to understand and educate

Daily affirmations

4970 – Captain Planet – An Environment for Effective Partnerships: Tales of Collaboration Told through Atlanta’s River and Green spaces (#NCVS4970)

Three different environmental groups presented with a representative from one of their primary corporate partners

Coke cola and Chattahoochee River keeper  - www.chattahoochee.org  

Earth share Georgia - http://earthsharega.org/

Kaiser Permanente and Captain Planet Foundation www.captainplanetfoundation.org

Corporate Volunteer Council of the year awards http://cvcofatlanta.org/

Captain planet – school environmental curriculum

Partnerships as an opportunity to network and learn

Communicate back with partners about how the work they are doing supports us

Partner volunteer leads to employee fulfillment

Dow jones sustainability index

5032 – Mini Session: Ways to engage targeted populations

Speakers: Kimberly Gube and Zeeda Magnuson

Summit – bring corporate partners & NGO’s leaders to explore tools that can enhance the work of the NGO – 6 hours, 6 sessions

Survey NGO’s for topics

Corporate partners offered consultation services

Get sponsorships for those presenting

$25 fee for non-profit to get list and prevent no shows

Zeeda Magnuson @ handson Twin Cities

Tables for org’s out front and to ask their contacts as attendees

Millennials are on track to be the most educated generation in history

Talk to your friends about us is a great way to mobilize millennials

One day events engage millennials – canvassing

4708 – Fostering a culture of service: strategies of U.S. and International Leaders (#NCVS4708)

Atlas Corps – Fellows http://www.atlascorps.org/

Meridian – Global service leaders http://www.meridian.org/gsl

Mexico volunteer culture is less defined; they have a very large informal sector. Needs greater policy support. Bachelor’s degrees require 120hrs of service

Nigeria has groups in each community called aid groups who have to pay to be in it and they care for the community. If you don’t belong to one of these groups you don’t get funereal rights when you die. Nationwide service is mandatory post university where you are placed in a different place in the country

Columbia is in the perfect position for service to develop. Service has traditional been seen as related to the catholic church but this is changing. Government is starting to adopt youth volunteering model

Pakistan has no general volunteer culture but lots of opportunities for those who want to do it. Only nation in the world with a chain of hospitals that treat cancer for free. http://www.indushospital.org.pk/

India has a culture of volunteering around religion. Service has become a major political capitol and has engaged youth. Volunteering has moved towards building capacity in the community. Recent legislation now requires all businesses to make a social responsibility contribution of 2% annually.

Spain – informal volunteering is common. NGO’s are seen as part of the system. Technology is key to service engagement.

Service as part of culture/ mandatory VS volunteering

Training programs needed as service culture develops.

Connecting potential with opportunities

Mobil footprint to generate change

Open streets map

Teach for Pakistan

Nigeria has para military who are paid pseudo volunteers to provide opportunities for you who in the past were causing issues.

Intuit is a big preparedness focused agency and are growing globally

CSR is a growing trend

Engage in smaller groups

Carl Trilphorn – peace corps

Ugly Indian – crowd sourced cleanup crews

Closing Plenary: Redefining our story

Beyond right and wrong a guide to changing the world around you

Skittles as the magic and power of diversity and us all in the package together

Income dose not determine outcome

National human tariffing hotline

Everyday Cambodia

State ratings on trafficking

Know the change.org

Reagan deep and mighty river that flows through our nation

When did you do your service?

2015 you serve fundraiser

Citibank 1million American corps commitment = service works

Disrupters.

General Resources Shared:

AllForGood.com

http://www.learnitlive.com/index.php

toolbank.org

Jane Tewson - Non Profit person of today

Discovering Jane Tewson Today and wanted to name her my non profit person of today!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Tewson

Jane did some amazing work with the UK charity Comic Relief. Comic Relief is a major charity based in the UK, with a vision of a just world, free from poverty.

http://www.comicrelief.com/about-us

A Minneapolis area 4th of July Trip

If you happen upon this blog because your trying to plan a fantastic Minneapolis area 4th of July trip, I have a fantastic one for you. If you are reading this because your a friend/ family member here was my 2014 trip.

Stop #1. The twin cities Jazz fest. Held primary in St.Paul, we made it a cousin gathering and started at the outdoor stages, rain brought us indoors and the music continued!

http://www.hotsummerjazz.com/ 

Stop #2 was dinner at Buca. While its a chain the decor is always a good time, the food fabulous and if you have a group or family who you go with the mix is perfect.  http://www.bucadibeppo.com/ 

 Stop #3. Coffee, Minneapolis has some great coffee house sections. NE Minneapolis has the Spyhouse that makes a good latte and has the perfect coffee shop atmosphere to relax, visit or get some work done.

 http://spyhousecoffee.com/

Stop #4. No summer in Minnesota should pass without some time on water in a boat. My trip we drove about 75 minuets  over to Taylor's Falls and spent a very enjoyable two days traveling down to Stillwater. This takes two vehicles or hitchhiking to accomplish. Free campsites are on the river but due to flooding we stayed at William O Brian State Park.
http://www.nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/maps.htm

Stop #5 Bike paths in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is one of the best bike cities in America. The midtown greenway is very enjoyable with safe, well used and maintained paths sprinkled with murals and sculptures.                     http://midtowngreenway.org/                            You can stop at the global market for lunch or coffee if you so desire as its right off the trail and has bike parking. http://www.midtownglobalmarket.org/ 

Stop #6. Continuing with the time along the Croix went about 90 minutes down to Frontenac State Park and hiked along the river banks. A 4 mile hike that takes some time and effort because as our park ranger told us what you go down you must come back up. The "lake" where the Croix and the Mississippi merge had sailboats sprinkling it, if I had more time I would love to see if you can do a day rental in that area.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/frontenac/index.html

And end it with some fireworks by Lake Minnetonka 

http://www.excelsior-lakeminnetonkachamber.com/lake-minnetonka-4th-of-july.html 

Mr. Chow chinese restaurant

3012 W Marshall Ave, Longview, TX 75604

Best I have found in Longview

Ethiopian dallas

Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant

http://lalibeladallas.net/ 

9191 Forest Ln

Ste 2

Dallas, TX 75243

This place is amazing! The vegetarian variety dish is pronominal. Located in a somewhat sketchy strip mall next door to a strip club they are open late, encourage eating with  your hands and have an atmosphere that is reminiscent of  those wonderful moment of reprieve when backpacking the southern hemisphere. A great choice if you are spending a day in Dallas.

Walter Jacobs Park Mooringsport, LA 71060

A gem of a discovery. The Walter Jacobs Park in Morrningsport Louisiana is a short 1 hour drive from Longview Tx. It has about 5 miles of true nature trails that loop and wind to allow for all levels of dedication. Its free to visit but has limited hours so check before you go. At the parking area you find a nature center with all sorts of interesting local things to see, touch and learn about. The lady working the Sunday we visited was very friendly and had lots of interesting information on the local environment, including the existence of a Bear population that moves between the south eastern Louisianan area and the east Texas area around Pittsburgh and Jefferson.

The trails are varied with handicap accessible paved trails, sandy paths, bridges over slow low creeks and trails through the fields under the power cuts. Due the the looping system the park has LOTS of trail signs and great maps but you will most likely question if you are really where you think you are, luckily they all loop back to the nature center.

Surrounding the nature center visitors have the opportunity to see rescued birds and a rescued deer. Out of sight are kept the birds that are being rehabilitated to release to the wild.

We easily spent 2 hours walking the trails and exploring the park. After it was a quick drive into Shreveport for dinner and ices. This is on my must visit list for those who are spending some time in this part of the county. 

Planning

5 Comptencies for a Volunteer Administrator

-          Ethics
-          Organizational Management
-          Human Resource Management
-          Accountability
-          Leadership and Advocacy

My AmeriCorps Lifelong Service Story (abbreviated)

What started off as a cool part time job my senior year of high school changed my priorities to move beyond my own self-interest and give back during and after college. Upon graduation I joined NCCC and what was initially a one year of service became 7 years and counting.

Since my first year of service I have engaged in a long term meaningful way with 14 different service organizations and participated in dozens of one day service projects (including one with my wedding guests following the wedding ceremony in 2012). My life is focused on community service professionally and personally. I cannot envision a future that I am not serving.

 http://twenty.americorpsalums.org/#share

Charity salaries

Is one charity automatically more respectable than another just because its leader is paid a lower salary? Not necessarily, says Charity Navigator, a website that evaluates and compares the financial health of charitable organizations.

"While there are certainly some charities that overpay their leaders," the site's FAQ page explains, "Charity Navigator's data shows that those organizations are the minority. Among the charities we've evaluated, the average CEO salary is $150,000. ... These leaders could inevitably make much more running similarly sized for-profit firms. Furthermore, when making your decision [about where to donate] it is important to consider that it takes a certain level of professionalism to effectively run a charity and charities must offer a competitive salary if they want to attract and retain that level of leadership."

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_charities_salaries.htm

Breakfast at the Big Texan

 Work brought me to Amarillo (see post on Cadillac Ranch). On my way into town I instantly took note that I was in the home of the Big Texan. Being a vegetarian I was excited to see they are now open for breakfast and saw my opportunity to experience this legendary eatery.

On my day off I went and gave it a try. My feelings are that visually its everything you want, big, gaudy, and stereotypically Texan county.

My host had the rotting/ missing  teeth you see in the old county westerns.

My waitress had the floor length skirt and a true Texan drawl , my table cloth was made to look like a cow and large dead animals and animal parts were proudly displayed on the wall.



Keeping with the visual appeal my breakfast looked perfect but in no way tasted worthy of the $10 it ended up costing me. If you are in Amarillo this is one of those must do stops but perhaps you can go in and have a sweet tea and continue on, Amarillo has much better restaurants for actual eating.