WE NEED INTERNS.

WANTED: 

You’re a hustler. A rockstar. A lifelong learner. You’re always bettering yourself and you work to create a better world.

You’re Internet savvy, but also know your way around a stimulating conversation. Skills: you’ve got ‘em. Sales, marketing, customer service, writing, facebooking, twittering, planning, and organizing. You’re also open-minded and desirous to improve the skills that you may not have.

 
THIS SUMMER: 

Your key role will be to assist us as we expand our reach nationally by developing relationships with big-name brands and non-profits, scaling a process that we’ve established and are honing in Philadelphia. You’ll learn from our team as we execute to go BIG—creating massive and measurable social benefit while making substantial profit.  See more about VolunteerBIG's programs here.

This will be the summer that you never forget.

“HOW DO I GET IN ON THIS?”

 Email your resume to: summer11@volunteerbig.com 

Include a cover letter that answers these questions:
-- Why do you want to work with a company like VolunteerBIG?
-- Why should we hire you?
-- What's the last thing you bought that you are proud of and why?

Please be yourself and make your strongest case. Include a photo and links to your website, blog, Twitter, and/or Facebook.
 

“HOW MUCH?” 

$3,500 and the summer of your life. 

We can’t wait to hear from you. 

-Jordan, Obi and the rest of the VolunteerBIG Team

So, we've been quiet for a while. 

You could say the seeds we planted together last summer have germinated and they're starting to poke their little heads out of the soil. Or, well, what would be your favorite metaphor?  In any event, we're finally ready to let you in on some secrets here.  I will write a follow-up post that describes how we ended up here, but for now, for the curious:

1.  What is VolunteerBIG?

It's a contest platform that drives volunteerism by giving you rewards for giving back while also supporting nonprofits with grants and volunteers.  How do we do that?  When you volunteer, anywhere, you can enter yourself into our contest and be entered into a raffle to win prizes like ipads and bikes. It's that simple. Non-profits are also competing to win big cash grants while at the same time growing their outreach lists by turning out their supporters to vote for them and recruit their friends to do so too.   And, well, everyone wins. 

2. Why is VolunteerBIG?

We know people are busy, and we know that there are a lot of options out there for your time. So, we wanted to lower the barrier to entry into volunteerism as much as possible.  We also wanted to add buzz and excitement around community participation, making it a thing to talk about at work, on facebook, or with your friends at the gym.  Can you envision more people supporting our community and talking about helping out?  Surely that would only create stronger communities. The more that's happening, the more we can look at one another and be personally satisfied with the way things are going.

The more people who are supporting our community and talking about helping out, the stronger our community is, and the more satisfied we are.

3. When is VolunteerBIG?

We are in talks with a whole bunch of very major, exciting and in their own right amazing companies, and as soon as we have a deal worked out to sponsor a contest, we're ready to go.  So, the answer is soon, and as soon as possible. We're working hard, but that doesn't mean you can't help! - if you know someone at a major corporation that may be interested, please email us at info@volunteerbig.com.

4. Why not now?

Without having a sponsor, we can only use some of our tools now- like the ability to challenge a friend to volunteer through their facebook page.  We realized from our work this past summer that we need to make sure what we release is supported and gets real traction.  If we get enough of a push from you, our lovely supporters, we can release this feature now.  

5.  How can you help us or your community now?

If you want to volunteer now, all you have to do is reach out to us and we'll help you find a place to volunteer.  If you want to help us, we'd love your support!  That may mean working with us to make a video or helping build relationships in cities where we don't have contacts.  Also, if you have contacts within fortune 500 corporations that you think would love to benefit from the groundswell of attention that sponsoring such a contest in Philly, New York, Detroit or any other major metropolitan area would create for them, please reach out to us - that very simple act may end up creating a huge tidal wave of community participation and make your street a better one to live on.

If you want to be a part of getting us to where we're going:

• Let us know if you would "challenge your friends" to volunteer through facebook, even without any prizes or incentives.
• Introduce us to your friends who work at our large brands with an eye towards corporate responsibility: contact us at info@volunteerbig.com.
• Let some friends know about us. Post this blog to your facebook wall.
• Lend a hand in any other creative way, we can use your help! Just leave a comment and we'll get in touch with you.
• Let us know what you think about what we're up to - your feedback helps make what we do better. We're also happy to answer any question you may have.

For everyone else, just keep on rockin' and be sure to share with us and with all your friends the good stuff you're doing. Whether you're aware of it or not, you're an inspiration to the people around you.

It's often said that what makes us a great people is our ability to join together in the aftermath of tragedy and rebuild, honor and move forward together.  

This Saturday, with United Project Way Next, we're doing just that, but we're also going to be having a good ol' time gardening, painting, building, weeding and planting flowers in Philadelphia's Hunting Park.  It is not until we can laugh again that we are truly healed, so let's do this.

Ryan Howard's foundation has donated $100,000 as part of a $2M plan to revitalize the park and neighborhood in Philadelphia.  This is a great opportunity to break a sweat while meeting people like you that care about the community.

To RSVP, email info@volunteerbig.com with your t-shirt size.  We'll send you information on where to meet upon confirmation.

details:
what:  Hunting Park Revitalization
when: Saturday, September 11th, 9:00 AM - 2 PM
where: Hunting Park, Philadelphia

Opportunity Update

The harvest season approaches, and while we work to complete the Nationwide VolunteerBIG network, we are excited to be making a difference together now, engaging in service and getting our friends involved.  As to follow the well known credo, we're thinking globally and acting locally in several service projects near our home office this month.  For our friends in other areas, please reach out to us, we'd be happy to help you get things rolling in your home town.

Civic Engagement Expo, September 8, 10:30am - 2pm at City Hall

Join Philadelphia's Mayor Nutter, the VolunteerBIG team and the local Nonprofit Community at the Civic Engagement Expo.  Get to know more about the city's plans and interact with dozens of nonprofit agencies to find your perfect opportunity to get involved.   Email us with subject line "expo" for more information.

Dance in our Yards, September 10th, 7-11 pm at Yards Brewing Company, 901 N. Delaware Avenue

If you're excited to meet people like you that care about our communities, join us out dancing with United Way Project Next!  This great group of young professionals supports the mission of United Way by engaging in service and raising money for local causes. $5 cover supports United Way while can you enjoy $3 Yards drafts, food and great music.

9-11 Service and Rememberance, September 11, 8:30am - 2pm (times subject to change) at Hunting Park, Philadelphia

We're at it again:

Maryland Public Television has reached out to ask us if we'd like to join them, on air, for a telethon to raise money for public programming.  If you're a big fan of public TV and know anyone in the DC, MD or VA area that would like to see you on TV - this is a great chance to meet our core crew and get out to make a difference for an important cause.

We have already reached our minimum number, and can possibly bring 12 more people, so if you or anyone you know is interested - email info@volunteerbig.com and we can get you all the necessary details.  Everyone attending gets their very own organic cotton VolunteerBIG shirt.

Date: Saturday, July 31
Time: 7pm - 11:30 pm 

(email for more details).

(download)

Click here to download:

IMG_1097.MOV (4.03 MB)

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To honor all of the heroes who have served our country and countries around the world, we wanted to share our perspective on service, and more particularly – Skillful Service.  This is the first post in a series that outlines our founding principles and shows how they apply to the features of the site we're building.

To us, Skillful Service is defined as utilizing our talents, as guide by life's principles, to make the greatest difference possible in our community and get the greatest value back with our available time. In order to make skillful decisions, we feel one must make reasonable efforts to gather all pertinent information, and weigh perceived outcomes and probabilities.

How We Apply Skillful Service To VolunteerBIG

We want to make it simple for us all to make informed decisions on where to give our time.  To achieve this goal, we will introduce opportunity ratings along with a skill and cause matching system.  We will all have the ability to rate past volunteer experiences, and when recruiting, if high numbers of people are being peer-recruited for opportunities and a high percentage of those invited actually do volunteer, a nonprofit will receive an enhanced rating.  VolunteerBIG profiles, based on skills and causes of import, will help members find opportunities that align best with the sweet spot of interest and ability.  

We expect this will create three main reactions, and most likely more that we can’t predict. One, we’re making it as easy as possible for us all to find the right opportunity to have a strong and lasting impact - improving our communities.  Two we’re making it simple for us to move towards a deeper level of personal satisfaction by aligning values, actions and outcomes.  Three, we’re raising the bar for nonprofits by creating a forum where, through ratings and other data collection, best practices are exposed and new skills learned.  This we hope will improve the efficacy of nonprofits everywhere.  

Our goal is to ensure that our platform will make it simple for you and for nonprofits to make as great of a difference as possible.  In doing so, we want to align strengths with needs and make it easy to dig in and work in ways in which you and your community receives the most possible value back.  

Have you personally found there to be increased satisfaction when you know that your skills are being utilized?  Do you find volunteering to be more personally fulfilling when you get to choose the types of activities you do?  Ever have to say no to helping someone because you were helping somewhere else that you thought to be more valuable?  We are curious about how Skillful Service has had an impact on you. 

Our thanks go out to you and to all of the men and women who have served and continue to serve one another.

 

We live in a time of great paradox and near infinite choice.  Never in our history has there been such variety and widespread connectivity, yet never before have we had so many places to hide or opportunities to fall behind. 

We live in a world with impressive universities, unbelievable sports heroics and life-giving hospitals.  There is so much to be proud of, so many bonds that give us that sense that “we did this together”.  Yet, in the towns and cities where we live and in places far away – a special kind of poverty exists.

In this world of choices, the overwhelming spectrum of who we can become forces us to take an identity, to choose a role and group and to make our name in reference to those within that group.  We work to protect our group and we find our salvation in the dissolution of our personal identity by joining others and working for a collective greater good. This is natural. This is what makes society and family possible and what brings us deep satisfaction.

Yet, within that salvation a personal poverty exists.  Something still feels wrong.   Our peace is threatened when we come together with outside groups in this diverse world.  An in-group out-group mentality leaves us fighting one another in order that we maintain our identity and maintain our salvation. The feeling of self-preservation and “us and them” is so strong that decision makers at corporations are able to pollute thinking only of disposal costs and bottom lines and warlords are able to shoot rockets thinking only of their own people.

Yet, every one of us has the ability to supersede our definitions and to find connection by working together on common goals.  What men, women, Muslims, Christians, Democrats and Republicans all have in common is a shared desire to live in a world where peace and prosperity reign supreme and what we all have at our disposal is our human faculty, our time and our ability to give and to grow.  What separates us is our personal definitions and the groups in which we choose to find our identity, whether they be the teams we follow, the God that we pray to or the neighborhood in which we live.  What brings us together is our desire to improve. What makes us one humanity is our ability to give to the least of us. What breaks down the barriers of fear and helps us keep our own faith while understanding and respecting another’s is an expansion of our personal definitions to include that of the other, and a caring for another just as we care for our own.  To care when we expect nothing in return from the person that we help.  What brings us together is working side by side on projects that benefit all of our communities.

Why do we VolunteerBIG?  We join together in a movement of volunteerism to address the needs of our society.  We VolunteerBIG so that we can live in a time of interdependence, respect and dignitity.   We VolunteerBIG to find our own personal satisfaction, to find a true identity that does not rub rough against another.  We VolunteerBIG to join together and put our mark on history – so that our children look back and say that their parents helped create the world of peace and prosperity.  But the most central and pervasive reason that we VolunteerBIG is because, to us, the alternative is unacceptable.