#create oncampus

CreateAthon Cribs

CreateAthon onCampus at VCU alone dedicates $20,000 worth of work to nonprofits every year. And every year, it’s totally worth it. We obviously think nonprofits are an extremely worthy cause. But what are nonprofits, exactly, and why are they so important?

Though charitable organizations have been around for thousands of years, according to The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, they’ve only existed as a unified and coherent “sector” since the 1970’s.

Nonprofit means that the organization exists for educational or charitable reasons, and from which its shareholders or trustees do not benefit financially.

Nonprofits exist to provide the much needed services the government cannot. It’s hard to imagine America without organizations such as The Red Cross, YWCA, The Humane Society and Goodwill. They provide as they better humanity and the quality of life for many in our society and in our world.

These established and successful organizations are all too easy to take for granted.

It often takes complete dedication to have a career in nonprofits. It takes talent, guts and hard work to make it in the nonprofit world. For profit organizations often offer better job security and income. Many nonprofits have limited funding for staff incomes, oftentimes people who work at a nonprofit play roles in the company outside of their official titles and job requirements. Often understaffed, everyone pitches in at a nonprofit to keep it going. This takes people with multiple talents, and a true passion for what they are doing.

Big names nonprofits all had to start somewhere, and there are many needs in communities, local and around the world, that need to be met. This is what our local nonprofits are fighting for. Armed with dedication and an earnest desire to do good, they push through the obstacles to make an impact, sometimes against all odds.

They’re a force to be reckoned with. According to an article from May 2012 on timesrecordnews.com, there are nearly 15 million nonprofit companies in the United States today. It is the third-largest U.S. workforce after retail trade and manufacturing with 10.7 million workers in 2010, and the IRS reported that the number of tax-exempt organizations increased by almost 42 percent from 1991 to 2011, in part due to the relative ease in which nonprofits can be created. However, this ease is by no means “easy”.

CreateAthon exists to support and cheer on those who are doing so much good, and to do our part in serving our community’s needs. With all of this in mind, it’s easy to see that 24 hours is the least we can give the community each year.

Thankfully, there are volunteer opportunities at local nonprofits all year long. You can always contact us to find out more about these opportunities, contact the organizations we’ve worked with with listed on our website, or go tohandsonrva.org to find even more opportunities.