EduCan

With schools going through budget cuts many art programs have been lost. That has lead to many young children missing out on that piece of their early education. The volunteers mentioned in this article have decided to step up and help provide art programs to those children. This in turn has helped advocate for the reintroduction of art programs in the schools.

I can honestly say I hadn’t given much thought to virtual volunteering prior to the past weeks readings. I was curious to know, who that actually wants to make a difference seeks this out. After reading the Huffington Post article, I can see trying this out for myself. The reason being is certainly not too altruistic but the idea of using skills that I might not be using in a current functional area or under a specific job role, it’s intriguing. The ability to help grade papers for a teacher in Maine is not only kinda cool but not anything I would actually look for locally. My mindset personally wants to do active volunteering locally but would be accepting of less engaging group work if it were across state lines. I also like the concept of online or home school high school students meeting their required volunteer service hours online.

I also have never tried virtual volunteering, but I do agree that after reading this article I would be willing to also do some research and find a way I could potentially help. I think the concept of virtual volunteering is a very interesting one. It seems as though new ideas involving different aspects of nonprofit sector are always emerging with the help of the internet. Just a few days ago, I decided to donate to a few animal shelters here in Indianapolis because they have posted on social media that they were needing some assistance with some of their shelter needs. I think it would be really interesting to research virtual volunteering and also find out the different ways that nonprofit organizations are utilizing that type of volunteering since it is most likely very skills-based like the article mentions. This type of volunteering could be used to assist nonprofit organizations with so many different ways; from their daily operations or to further their online presence.

I would love to see and hear more about local stories like this. To hear about the places around our city and state that are doing this, especially in organizations that are serving the disadvantaged. Unfortunately, these boards, as we mentioned are usually comprised of the high class, wealthy, educated who are trying to implement change the best way they see fit, which may not be having representation.

The article also mentions at its end the idea that local journalism can help to raise back up the quality of democratic practice. I’m reminded of our reading from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: Thinking About Social Change in America as well as the TED talk from class and how the power of more well-connected local communities has the power to reconnect us and in the argument of this article, to revive the vitality of our democracy. Increasing our social capital not only has benefits for our organizations but by becoming more connected we are able to understand, listen, and learn from one other and become better citizens.

However, even if this is the case for most of our representatives in government at the moment, I do also agree with you and the article that communities can rise up and do have the strength to improve our democratic processes. There are so many examples of current communities or movements, as well as nonprofit organizations that are growing their communities to influence the change they want to see. Planned Parenthood in recent years is an example of a nonprofit organization that has gained somewhat of a movement or a community behind it in order to influence policy both nationally and locally in different regions of the country.

Now is cross-sector collaboration the answer to market failure? When I usually think of collaboration in the nonprofit sector, I always think of nonprofit organization collaborating with another nonprofit organization who may have a similar vision but they have different resources or services. To an extent, cross-sector collaboration makes sense to me because of the services and sources that both sectors can provide. However, how would the public feel about the cross-sector collaboration? Would people give less or lose its trust because the nonprofit has collaborated with a government or a business?

I think that cross-sector collaboration can work for all those involved; For example, one industry that ties itself to social causes and uses cross-sector collaboration frequently is the beauty industry; I only purchase makeup or beauty products that are cruelty-free and do not use animal testing on their products. Now that companies know this is a reason why people support some makeup products/brands over others, a lot of companies have made the change to be cruelty-free. Companies at times partner with nonprofit organizations focused on animal welfare, animal sanctuaries or rescues to promote products and then donate a percentage of their proceeds. For example, Kat Von D’s makeup brand last year created a special lipstick color that donated a percentage of each lipstick purchased to Project Chimps, which is a nonprofit animal sanctuary in Georgia.

For-profits are getting the point, finally. That the bottom-line isn’t always the bottom line. “ Many organizations will charge ahead for years with relative success while not having ever truly defined - and written down - their mission, vision, values and purpose for existence. “ Woah.

I also agree with Gleeson on how so many things within your organization/business can be affected by your values; the people you hire and/or the people you potentially attract as employees, how your employees feel about your company, how they feel about achieving their personal or departmental goals, and also how your company evolves can be affected by what your organization believes and values.