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There is a sad, unfortunate, and all-too-common scenario that happens on the street corners of the majority of large cities across the world. The situation is familiar to us all because we each have faced it several times. And while the locations and people may be different, the circumstances ... Views: 2693
Engaging followers who will become volunteers and donors is hard enough in the good times; now, your nonprofit is competing with disasters near and far that drown out your message. After all, even with Twitter, YouTube and all manner of media operating 24/7, there is still only so much personal ... Views: 2321
I heard a wise phrase the other day: "in every moment, you are either serving or being served." The give and take, or giving and receiving, is a constant balance of life. How often to you serve others, and how often do you allow others to serve you? Is it easier for you to give than to ... Views: 1207
This week's best of the INTENTernet links are all about giving, serving and volunteering--sometimes in unexpected ways. All come from a heart of gold.
Island DIY: Kauai Residents Don't Wait for State to Repair Road from CNN.com. The local residents whose business livelihood depended on a ... Views: 1269
1. "I don't have the time." Michelle Obama has the time to be a mother, a First Lady, the nation's advocate of service, and have fabulous arms. What's your excuse?
2. "Why do I have to volunteer? I want to watch Lost." Because if you spend your entire life not giving your time to causes ... Views: 6311
I have been in service to others since I was 16 years old when I did my first walk for hunger. I still have the card we used to get each mile marked with a stamp in the shape of a foot. That was 37 years ago and I do not think I have had a time in my life when I wasn't giving back or ... Views: 1389
There's something about the idea off covering great distances that brings out the fundraiser in people. If it's not a breast cancer walk, it's an AIDS ride. If not an AIDS ride, a marathon team running for leukemia. The list goes on. I myself did an MS ride, and I have recently written about an ... Views: 1305
I am reading a fascinating book called Management Rewired (http://www.amazon.com/Management-Rewired-Feedback-Surprising-Lessons/dp/159184262X) which applies new findings in cognitive science to management. Yesterday on the train home from New York I read a chapter that blew me away. Studies show ... Views: 1087
Volunteers make many organizations possible. Volunteers donate their time, effort and often professional expertise in order to help organizations they care about. Yet many organizations don't have a clue how to treat volunteers. In my many years of volunteering at various organizations, I have ... Views: 1931
Walking through the green hills of Tennessee Valley bordered by the brash jubilant display of purple lupines and sweet shy hellos of delicate yellow wildflowers while connecting with Melinda, the founder of Women’s Earth Alliance and Amira her right hand assistant I circled back to that place of ... Views: 929
I grew up in the South. As a result of that I helped my mom make a lot of casseroles and salads for those who were sick and in need. It was just what you did. We belonged to a Presbyterian church and every Sunday we picked up Mrs. Browman, a woman who lived to be 100, every week so she could ... Views: 1367
1. Make an effort to look good. Because when people look good and know it, they tend to feel good. When you are feeling too self-conscious about your baggy jeans or the stain on your shirt, you have less mental energy to focus on other people's needs and concerns. On the other hand, if you ... Views: 1176
I don't know the exact moment when I let some of my reservations go but I think it happened when I was on the back of a motoconcho (motorcycle) without a helmut zipping up a mountain in the Dominican Republic.
My longer than normal hair whipped around me; with my sunglasses on, I would tilt ... Views: 927
The summer is the perfect time to start volunteering for worthy causes. The weather is nice, there is generally a more uplifting aura that pervades in the air, and there are many events and causes around the nation that are looking for volunteers that care for their cause (not to say that any ... Views: 1199
This week on Intent, we want to hear your tips, tricks and advice on volunteering. Yes, we know that much have been said about volunteering and giving back in light of President Obama's push for more Americans to serve. We also know that many volunteering resources already exist out there on the ... Views: 958
Get Involved! Volunteer! This administration's determination to address recession fallout spans beyond the reach of bail out dollars, and into old fashioned barn-raising, with a passionate call to service. The United We Serve campaign challenges all Americans to make a difference by doing "good" ... Views: 1864
Time is a commodity. It’s been compared with money. We only have so much of it in this lifetime, so time is precious. And how we spend our time says a lot about what is important to us. Recently I’ve had a big change in where I’ve been finding my time spent – and it has surprised me, in many ... Views: 1360
Volunteerism isn’t just a noble act, it’s imperative to our national priorities -- or so says First Lady Michelle Obama. She rolled up her sleeves Monday and helped put the finishing touches on a play structure in the Bret Harte Elementary School playground in San Francisco, which has been ... Views: 967
Hi there everyone!!
Personal growth doesn’t just happen when we’re being trained, learning something new, or having a new type of experience. In situations where we give of ourselves unconditionally with love, with no expectations, we strengthen our character, raise our self-image, and ... Views: 3469
Hey All You Big Givers!!
The first thing we may think of when we think of giving, is money (or gifts and presents which cost money). However, some of us may feel financially constrained . . . The second thing we may think of when we think of giving, is our time. With fast-paced lifestyles and ... Views: 2101
Perhaps you imagined that the people on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder would be pinching every last penny to make ends meet.
If so, you’re surprisingly wrong. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, the poorer you are in the United States, the larger ... Views: 1192
If you would like to find an enjoyable and fulfilling way to spend time with your family, consider family volunteering. Imagine you and your family planting trees at the local Arbor Day event. Or maybe you’d enjoy helping out at the local furniture or food bank to help other families regain ... Views: 2388
Volunteering has been a part of America’s civic culture since the early days of barn raisings and quilting bees. Neighbors have nearly always been willing to pitch in and help others in times of need. Helping others is not out of fashion. In fact, a new trend in volunteerism is sweeping America ... Views: 1971
Yesterday, you could donate and save one life. Today, you don’t even have to donate to save hundreds of lives and positively impact thousands of people online. We’ve put the power of peacemaking in your hands. For the first time in history you can directly help fix global problems! You won't ... Views: 3534
Although many people are involved in projects that help others, there are also many of us who are searching for ways to help those who are in dire poverty: those without safe places to live, food to eat and medical attention available.
As we begin our search for the best ways to help others, ... Views: 2086
As Carolyn Maskens explains, when she set out to raise a bit of money to help improve the lives of the children at an orphanage in the East African nation of Kenya, she and her Kenyan friends were amazed by the response.
I graduated from Queen’s this spring with an honours degree in Life ... Views: 1226
Ethiopia, a landlocked country in Eastern Africa which is slightly less than twice the size of Texas, has a poverty stricken economy with over 80 million people striving to survive. It is a nation that is well known for its droughts and famines and its long civil conflict and a border war with ... Views: 1240
Volunteering requires a great deal of commitment and determination. It is filled with personal challenges and enormous rewards which are often life changing for the volunteer. Some volunteers feel compelled to go the extra mile and make sacrifices in order to better the lives of the community ... Views: 1138
Hi there everyone!!
I love Obama and he is very much needed to give people of the world hope. Hope is the first, crucial step this world needs before it can embrace change.
The reason most people in the world can't cause change is because they do not acknowledge that hope is required ... Views: 2682
I should be jumping with joy. All our class XII students have passed their examinations and this for the 8th year running. But before I could get down and savour the good news a mail dropped in my inbox informing me that one of our main donors would not be able to meet their monthly commitment ... Views: 1017
I remember something from my community college economics class that economy had something to do with scarcity.
All along I've been reading post after post about how to get what we want because all we need is available in abundance.
Seems to me we need to abolish the monetary system. What ... Views: 3274
Across the spectrum of nonprofit organizations, a broad brush of advocacy concerns and efforts are underway - each as varied as the organization they represent.
Women’s Way is one of the youngest groups supporting legislative efforts that will positively impact the respect of, for and by ... Views: 1364
Recently, in a conversation with a community banking representative about the business of nonprofit agencies and civic engagement, she became quickly confused by my use of two terms.
Advocacy was one of them. Governance the other. But she was a banker and couldn’t be expected to know what ... Views: 1279
One of the many reasons for the growing popularity of the modern marathon is that they are more commonly being used as a means of raising money for charities and worthy causes. Whichever marathon charity you choose, it will have more meaning to you if you select one that is related to someone ... Views: 1761
Managing a nonprofit organization is one of the toughest jobs around. You have a worthy cause, wonderful staff and volunteers, but the funds for promoting your organization are very limited or not there at all. How would you like to have an unlimited source of potential donors that you can ... Views: 1459
Do you ever wonder who could possibly help a homeless person? The answer is each of us can help. It's called direct service - helping someone in need ourselves.
But how? There are many ways to help a person in need, including giving a homeless person a blanket. That's how we started Children ... Views: 1160
This is Anifatou Gado. She was born on March 6, 2005 into a small, respectable family. Her lovely mother cared for her and her three other siblings. Her hard working father made a living to support his wife and children by selling gasoline out of their home.
By the age of three, Anifatou ... Views: 1080
Financial or business planning is at its most powerful when it is well integrated with one's personal goals. And the ideal way to accomplish such an integration, at least for people with some degree of wealth, is starting a private foundation. Read on about why that is so, and how to go about it ... Views: 1083
Since January 20, the American people have been drinking from a fire hose. We are deluged with progress on issues that once seemed intractable - restarting the economy, safeguarding the environment, universalizing access to health care, and reasserting our good name abroad. As President Obama ... Views: 1005
"Poverty won’t allow him to lift up his head; dignity won’t allow him to bow it down."
--Madagasy Proverb
In meeting women in and around the markets of Kigali, we rarely found a business that employed more than one woman and maybe one or two of her youngsters. I wanted to know what it would ... Views: 2345
Imagine actually looking forward to doing your laundry. We might take for granted how quickly and easily we're able to wash our clothing... but what happens when disaster strikes and you're left without water, power, or any clean clothes?
Last week, all of Twitter was aflutter with the ... Views: 1509
We can help a homeless person by serving him/her food, a blanket and/or necessary items. It's a pretty simple and wonderful thing to do.
In this article, I would like to propose a way to share items with homeless people. This distribution method of serving an unhoused person has worked for ... Views: 2996
The charitable giving of food is giving food to a person without charging that person any money for the food. It is true compassion and can be life saving.
When we want to serve food to someone living outside, we consider a few things.
1. We “serve” food to homeless people, we “feed” ... Views: 1053
To live harmoniously, we need to be supportive and helpful to all people, creatures, and plant life that share this earth with us. While “being of service” is part of being a good citizen of the world, it also feels good to help others. When we do something for others in service, without the ... Views: 1359
More and more we are learning that we live in a global community. We see how much what happens in other communities, and other countries, has an effect on our own lives. And because of the internet and ease of travel, it's easier for us to reach out and help people around the world. I ... Views: 1012
Raise your hand if you've ever seen a person who you thought was homeless. I can see that all hands are up!
I'll be 61 years old this week and when I was young, the situation was not as it is now. In my youth, the vast majority of people who were homeless were men. There were very few women ... Views: 855
It is possible to end homelessness. How? There are three steps to ending homelessness. These steps can be approached individually or at the same time.
Step One: Open public toilets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with showers and laundry facilities.
Having worked with people in the streets ... Views: 1549
For a country we call the land of prosperity, the United States has staggering numbers of homeless people. So why do we still have a growing number of people living under bridges, cars, shelters and on the streets? Homelessness has as many different causes as it has victims. Every person's ... Views: 979
As a mother, I read with horror a news article from CNN.com last week about Masika Bermudez, a mother who found her dead eleven-year-old son Jaheem Herrera hanging from a belt in a closet. In the article, Masika said she believes that Jaheem could no longer cope with the bullying that was ... Views: 1110
It is very important and yet difficult to help those who are not able to help themselves. First of all, we need to understand in the specific case of a helpless person, what is the best kind of help to be given.
If there are a group of people who are starving, then the answer may be to give ... Views: 6867