“Today was a transformational day for the social innovation community, and a huge milestone for the America Forward coalition.  At a White House event earlier today, President Obama introduced his Community Solutions Agenda—highlighting promising innovations of social entrepreneurs around the country, and providing a vision for how government can come together with nonprofits, philanthropy, the private sector, and citizens to find innovative ideas, invest in what works, and scale proven solutions to our most urgent social challenges.  President Obama brought together leaders from all sectors and announced several initiatives to execute this agenda, including a nationwide tour by Melody Barnes, the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and an Innovation Fund to invest in and scale proven solutions. 

This community, and many others, have been working with policymakers at the federal level to make a federal investment in social innovation.  The president’s speech is a critical milestone in our effort to change the way social problems are solved and truly move the needle on the issues facing our communities.  As the President said today, ‘If we work together—if we all go all-in here—think about the difference we can make.’ We couldn’t agree more.”

Engaging with innovative nonprofits like Year Up is central to the Obama administration’s efforts to tackle persistent social problems and highlight what works in our communities. 

Read more about Obama’s visit to Year Up in The New York Times.

The list does not include the Commongood Careers account @cgcareers, but we’ll overlook that for now. : )

Check out the list below and then start following any of these peeps at Twitter. Or if you want to follow the entire list, you can add members in bulk at ninjafollow.com.

1. Adrienne Waldo - @adriennewaldo - Marketing Expert
2. Alexandra Levit - @alevit - Author & Career Expert
3. Alison Doyle - @alisondoyle - Author, Consultant & Job Search Expert at About.com
4. Alison Green - @askamanager - Career Expert & Blogger
5. Andrea Santiago - @AndreaSantiago - Recruiter & Healthcare Career Expert at About.com
6. Anita Bruzzese - @AnitaBruzzese - Career Columnist & Author
7. Anna Farmery - @engagingbrand - Social Media Coach
8. Anne Brown - @GradtoGreat - Author & Career Expert
9. Andy Beal - @andybeal - Personal Branding Expert
10. Andy Headworth - @andyheadworth - Social Media Expert
11. Andy Robinson - @andyinnaples - Executive Career Coach & Author
12. Anthony Fisher - @anthonyfisherpb - Personal Branding Expert
13. Barbara Safani - @barbarasafani - Career Expert & Resume Expert
14. Barbara Sher - @BarbaraSher - Author
15. Barry Deutsch - @Barry_at_IMPACT - Career Coach & Recruiter
16. Barry Moltz - @BarryMoltz - Author
17. Ben Casnocha - @bencasnocha - Start-Up Expert & Author
18. Ben Yoskovitz - @byosko - The CEO of Standout Jobs
19. Ben Eubanks - @beneubanks - Career Journalist & HR Professional
20. Beverly Harvey - @BeverlyHarvey - Career Coach & Personal Branding Expert
21. Beverly Macy - @BeverlyMacy - Career Expert
22. Billie Sucher - @billiesucher - Career Transition Consultant & Resume Writer
23. Blake Sunshine - @blakesunshine - Marketing Expert
24. Brad Federman - @bfederman - Personal Branding Expert & Entrepreneur
25. Bradley Will - @bradleywill - Personal Branding Expert & Entrepreneur
26. Brent Peterson - @InterviewAngel - CEO of Interview Angel & Career Expert
27. Carlos Hernandez - @CarlosHernandez - Social Media & Career Expert
28. Carol Fishman Cohen - @iRelaunch - Career Reentry Expert
29. Casey Quinlan - @mightycasey - Marketing Expert
30. Catherine Cliffard - @YourOnRamp - Founder of YourOnRamp & Career Expert
31. Chad A. Levitt - @ChadALevitt - Social Media Expert & Author
32. Chandlee Bryan - @chandlee - Career Coach & Resume Writer
33. Char Brown - @charbrown - Web Marketing Coach
34. Charlie O’Donnell - @ceonyc - CEO of Path101
35. Cheryl Palmer - @CherylPalmer - Executive Career Coach & Resume Writer
36. Chris Brogan - @ChrisBrogan - Social Media Expert & Blogger
37. Chris Perry - @CareerRocketeer - Career Rocketeer & Personal Branding Expert
38. Chris Russell - @chrisrussell - Job Search Expert & Entrepreneur
39. Cindy Kraft - @cfocoach - Personal Branding Expert & CFO Coach
40. Dan Janal - @prleads - Publicity & Internet Marketing Expert
41. Dan Nelson - @careercampaigns - Consultant & Recruiter
42. Dan Schawbel - @danschawbel - Author, Blogger & Personal Branding Expert
43. Dan Thomas - @DanThomas - Marketing Expert
44. Daniel Pink - @danielpink - Author & Career Expert
45. Daulton West - @dwestjr - Web Marketing Coach & Social Media Expert
46. Dave Saunders - @madmain - Marketing & Social Media Expert
47. David Sandusky - @DavidSandusky - Entrepreneur & Personal Branding Expert
48. David Wright - @getajob - Author & Career Expert
49. Dawn Bugni - @dawnbugni - Resume Expert & Blogger
50. Deb Dib - @CEOCoach - Executive Coach
51. Debbie Weil - @debbieweil - Social Media Expert
52. Debra Wheatman - @debrawheatman - Writer & Career Expert
53. Diana Jennings - @DianaJennings - Personal Branding Expert
54. Elaine Basham - @resumesrevealed - Job Search Strategist & Resume Consultant
55. Emilie Ogez - @eogez - Social Media Expert
56. Eve Tahmincioglu - @CareerDiva - Career Columnist & Blogger
57. Fadhila Brahimi - @fbrahimi - Career Coach & Personal Branding Expert
58. Gayle Howard - @GayleHoward - Resume & Career Expert
59. Gene Burnard - @WorkforceFifty - Career Expert
60. Gillian Kelly - @Gillian_Kelly - Personal Branding Expert & Resume Writer
61. GL Hoffman - @GLHoffman - Career Expert & Entrepreneur
62. Hajj Flemings - @HajjFlemings - Personal Branding Expert
63. Harold Mellor - @haroldmellor - Recruiter
64. Harp Arora - @harparora - Personal Branding Expert
65. Harry Urshel - @eExecutives - Job Search Coach & Recruiter
66. Heather Huhman - @heatherhuhman - Columnist & Career Expert
67. Heather McDonald - @mountflorida - Writer & Music Career Expert at About.com
68. Ilissa Suss Manes - @IlissaSmanes - Career Expert
69. Jacob Share - @jacobshare - Job Search Expert & Blogger
70. Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter - @valueintowords - Executive Resume Writer & Career Strategist
71. Jan Melnik - @janmelnik - Job Search Expert & Resume Writer
72. Jann Watt - @jannwatt - Personal Branding Expert
73. Jason Alba - @jasonalba - Author, Founder of JibberJobber.com, Career & Social Media Expert
74. Jason Buss - @jjbuss - Talent Acquisition & Diversity Professional
75. Jason Lesher - @career_advisor - Career Advisor & Recruiter
76. Jason Seiden - @Seiden - Career Expert
77. Jeff Jarvis - @jeffjarvis - Author, Writer & Blogger
78. Jeffrey Blake - @jeffrey_blake - Social Media Evangelist & Personal Branding Expert
79. Jennifer Kushell - @ysnjen - Networking Expert & Author
80. Joan Schramm - @joanschramm - Social Media Expert & Career Coach
81. Joel Cheesman - @cheezhead - Online Recruiting Expert
82. John Jantsh - @ducttape - Author & Internet Marketing Expert
83. Jon Davidson - @theresumebay - Career Expert & Resume Writer
84. Jonathan Fields - @jonathanfields - Author & Career Expert
85. JT O’Donnell - @jtodonnell - Founder of Careerealism & Career Expert
86. Julia Erickson - @juliaerickson - Career Coach
87. Jun Loayza - @junloayza - Social Media Expert
88. Karen Batchelor - @midlifetrip - Career Transition Expert
89. Karen Burns - @workinggirl - Career Expert
90. Katie Konrath - @katiekonrath - Blogger & Creative
91. Kirsten Dixson - @kirstendixson - Author & Personal Branding Expert
92. Kirsten Grant - @kgrantcareers - Career Expert
93. Krishna De - @kirshnade - Personal Branding & Social Media Expert
94. Kristen Fischer - @KristenFischer - Author & Career Expert
95. Kristen Jacoway - @KristenJacoway - Career Coach & Personal Branding Expert
96. Kristen Kaleal - @kkaleal - Image Consultant & Personal Stylist
97. Laura Smith-Proulx - @resumeexpert - Personal Branding Expert & Resume Writer
98. Lauren Still - @laurenstill - Career & Life Coach
99. Laurie Ruettimann - @lruettimann - HR Professional & Career Expert
100. Leonard Lang - @Leonard_Lang - Executive Career Coach & Creativity Consultant
101. Lesley Everett - @LesleyEverett - Personal Branding Expert
102. Lethia Owens - @LiveYourBrand - Personal Branding Expert
103. Lewis Lin - @InteviewCoach - Interview Coach
104. Lindsey Pollak - @lindseypollak - Author & Career Expert
105. Liz Lynch - @liz_lynch - Author & Networking Expert
106. Louise Fletcher - @louise_fletcher - Resume Writer, Author & Co-Founder of Career Hub
107. Louise Mowbray - @louisemowbray - Personal Branding Expert
108. Maria Elena Duron - @mariaduron - Chief Buzz Officer & Personal Expert
109. Mark Richards - @CandidatesChair - Career & Networking Expert
110. Mark Stelzner - @stelzner - Founder of JobAngels & HR Professional
111. Martha Finney - @MarthaFinney - Author
112. Martin Buckland - @MartinBuckland - Executive Career Coach
113. Marty Weitzman - @resumepro - Personal Branding Expert & Resume Writer
114. Megan Fitzgerald - @ExpatCoachMegan - Career Coach
115. Meg Guiseppi - @megguiseppi - Executive Personal Branding Expert
116. Meghan M. Biro - @meghanmbiro - Executive Recruiter & Career Coach
117. Meg Montford - @KCCareerCoach - Career & Marketing Expert
118. Melissa Cassera - @casseracomm - Publicity Expert & Blogger
119. Mike Myatt - @MikeMyatt - Personal Branding Expert
120. Miriam Salpeter - @KeppieCareers - Career Coach & Resume Writer
121. Monica O’Brien - @monicaobrien - Marketing Expert
122. Nancy Branton - @LeadersCoach - Executive & Career Coach
123. Nancy Longo - @TheLongoReport - Job Search Advisor
124. Nick Armstrong - @imnickarmstrong - Marketing Expert
125. Ola Rynge - @Rynge - Personal Branding Expert
126. Pam Slim - @pamslim - Author & Career Coach
127. Paul Copcutt - @paulcopcutt - Personal Branding Expert
128. Peggy McKee - @Salesrecruiter - Sales & Marketing Recruiter
129. Pete Kistler - @Brandyourself - Personal Branding Expert
130. Phil Gerbyshak - @philgerb - Social Media Expert
131. Phil Rosenberg - @philrecareered - Career Expert & Blogger
132. Phyllis Shabad - @phyllisshabad - Personal Branding Expert
133. Rachel Gogos - @RachelGogos - Marketing & Personal Branding Expert
134. Rachel Gordon - @10GMRachel - Career Expert
135. Randi Bussin - @myreinventure - Personal Branding Expert
136. Rob Cuesta - @RobCuesta - Marketing & Personal Branding Expert
137. Roxanne Ravenel - @RoxanneRavenel - Job Search Coach & Career Expert
138. Sally Witzky - @sallywitzky - Personal Branding Expert
139. Sarah Evans - @PRsarahevans - Social Media Expert & Blogger
140. Scheherazade Mason - @sherryfm - Career Expert
141. Scott Allen - @scottallen - Author & Social Media Expert
142. Scot Herrick - @scotherrick - Owner of Cube Rules & Career Consultant
143. Scott Ginsberg - @nametagscott - Networking Expert
144. Sean Harry - @career20 - Career Expert
145. Selena Dehne - @SelenaDehne - Publicist
146. Susan Heathfield - @SusanHeathfield - HR Expert
147. Susan Ireland - @SusanIreland - Author & Resume Expert
148. Susan Strayer - @DailyCareerTips - Career Coach & Recruiter
149. Teena Rose - @teenarose - Career Expert
150. Tessa Faber - @MakingSense - Personal Branding Expert
151. Tiffany Monhollon - @tmonhollon - PR Specialist
152. Tim Ferriss - @tferriss - Author & Blogger
153. Tim Tyrell-Smith - @SpinStrategy - Marketing Professional & Career Expert
154. Tom Scholte - @TomScholte - Personal Branding Expert
155. Trace Cohen - @Brandyourself - Personal Branding Expert
156. Traci Thompson - @AResumes - Resume & Cover Letter Expert
157. Trevor Wilson - @gradversity - Job Search Strategist
158. Trina Spruance - @GetHiredGuru - Staffing Expert
159. Walter Akana - @WalterAkana - Life Strategist
160. Wendy Gelberg - @wendygelberg - Career Expert & Resume Writer
161. Wendy Marx - @wendymarx - Personal Branding Expert
162. Wendy Terwelp - @WendyTerwelp - Personal Branding Expert
163. William Arruda - @williamarruda - Career Coach, Author & Personal Branding Expert
164. Willy Franzen - @willyf - Career Expert & Entrepreneur
165. Yinka Olaito - @pathfindernig - Personal Branding Expert

Anyone missing from this list? Leave a comment and let us know!

Today more than ever, the nonprofit sector may be missing a major opportunity to figure out pipeline development once and for all. We’re witnessing an unprecedented influx of talent to the nonprofit sector, including a surge of recent graduates, career changers, and older employees. At Commongood Careers, we’ve seen the volume of resumes for our clients’ searches triple or quadruple in many cases. Even organizations that are not advertising any positions are receiving unsolicited resumes and requests for informational interviews.

So how can we take advantage of building relationships with these talented people, and ultimately create pipelines we can tap down the road?

One example comes from Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that addresses global poverty. For the upcoming summer, Acumen Fund had 10 intern spots open and received applications from over 700 candidates. They asked themselves, “What can we do to engage the other 690 candidates?” After a couple of emails and meetings, they decided to run an experiment: invite the non-accepted candidates to a private conference call briefing from senior Acumen staff. Not only was this a way to Acumen leaders to thank these candidates, but also offer ways to stay engaged with both the organizations and the social innovation space as a whole.

Sounds easy, right? Creative ways to engage talent like the approach taken by Acumen do not require tons of staff bandwidth, and result in laying the foundation for future touchpoints with talent that has expressed interest in your organization. Use these opportunities to invite these talented individuals to volunteer, donate, blog, or participate in your organization in other ways. Track these candidates over time, even if it’s as simple as adding them to an email list and sending them a quarterly note. Engaging talent early and often is bound to contribute to the success of your organization’s future recruitment efforts.

If your organization is interested in getting involved with the Summer of Service initiative, please email ServiceInitiative@cns.gov for more information.

Much like Service Nation, the V3 Campaign is citizen driven. The campaign’s web site lists a number of ways that nonprofits and individuals can participate in movement, including emailing the following questionnaire to district congressional candidates:

Nonprofit businesses generate 10% of our economy, pay 10% of American wages, represent a workforce of over 14 million, and channel the energy of millions of volunteers annually.

As a supporter of the V3 Campaign, I also ask that you submit a copy of your response to answers@v3campaign.org where it will be shared with other supporters of the nonprofit sector in America.

Another cool way to participate in this movement is the V3 photo-petition, a collection of photos submitted by nonprofit staff, volunteers, and other supporters that creatively illustrate ways nonprofits generate value for our economy. 

Looking for other ways to advance the nonprofit sector and participate in this game-changing movement? Visit the V3 web site.

There has never been a more energized call to volunteer service than what we are experiencing today. Fueled by The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, as well as the work of phenomenal groups like America First, Be The Change, Civic Ventures, and others, the profile of volunteerism has been raised.

A few of the factors impacting the professionalism of volunteering include:

• A dramatic increase of opportunities, including a tripling of Americorps opportunities beginning in 2010 and the creation of a $10 million Volunteer Generation Fund, as part of the Serve America Act.
• The trend of Baby Boomer aged adults looking to lend their professional skills on a volunteer basis to nonprofits, as well as the formation of Senior Corps, a $220.9 million project to support nearly 500,000 Senior Corps volunteers.
• The existence of volunteer programs, such as the Taproot Foundation, connecting nonprofit with in-demand professionals with backgrounds in corporate marketing, communications, and strategic management.

What does this mean for jobseekers? There are now tens of thousands of opportunities for those with professional and in-demand skills available in the nonprofit sector, with even more to become available in the near future. For many, these opportunities not only allow you to gain more experience in the nonprofit sector, but also lay the groundwork for employment opportunities.

Professional volunteering is an especially compelling option for sector switchers, or those new to the nonprofit sector. According to Robert Rosenthal of VolunteerMatch, “A challenging volunteer gig can be an important career move. Workers from a broad array of industries are being challenged to rethink how they contribute to society, and more and more of these folks are finding that volunteering is a great way to stay sharp, develop new expertise, and demonstrate the leadership that will carry them to their next professional challenge.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Published in April 2009, the report “Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits” suggests that the leadership deficit previously forecasted by Bridgespan in 2006 has widened. According to the report, senior job openings grew to 77,000 in 2008, a figure that is 43% greater than what had been predicted in Bridgespan’s 2006 survey report, “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit.”

Additionally, and despite the current economic conditions, 28% of organizations surveyed plan to fill over 24,000 senior management roles in 2009.

Where will these leaders come from? While Bridgespan suggests that talent recruited from the corporate and government sectors can step in to fill these roles, that is just one piece of the puzzle. The need for organizations to develop leaders from within has never been greater. The ability to identify “next generation” leaders within your own organization, and then provide career ladders, mentoring and other professional development opportunities will also help to address the leadership challenge. By thinking creatively and broadly – both within and outside of our organizations—there are solutions to the leadership gap.

As could be expected, much of the conversation at the conference centered around the economy’s impact on career paths and longevity. According to Allyson, the overall vibe about long-term career opportunities in the sector hovered around cautious optimism. While there was concern about the ability to retain one’s job (about 5% of conference attendees had been laid off this year) or build a long-term career (many attendees planned to work in the government or private sector at some point), there was an overall belief that the sector will continue to grow and create opportunities for young professionals. This sentiment was especially true for people who worked in the education field or other sub-sectors that may benefit from initiatives such as the Serve America Act and Obama’s economic stimulus packages to nonprofits.

When the topic of the “leadership gap” arose, practically all YNPNers in attendance saw the glass as half-full. The feeling of “we’re here and ready to lead” overwhelmed any perception that the nonprofit sector is either currently experiencing or heading for a leadership crisis. As Allyson summarized, “This generation is the solution. We’re doing everything we can to prepare for leadership roles.”

There have been many studies, reports, and coalitions devoted to identifying the reasons behind the sector’s lack of diversity. The most widely reported roadblocks include pipeline challenges (such as a lack of recruitment channels or networking opportunities), as well as competition for top talent from corporate employers who generally offer higher compensation.

The current economic downtown and increased supply of career changers as a result of corporate layoffs highlights this issue even more. If nonprofits aren’t prepared to capitalize on the influx of talent to the job market, it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. And if there are still no inroads for people of color to nonprofit opportunities, much of the amazing talent that is now available will not find their way into the sector.

The time to act is now. A number of strategies to address racial disparity in nonprofit roles have been identified, such as getting senior staff to embrace this issue, shifting recruitment tactics away from just job postings, and creating career paths and growth opportunities that can compete with typically more higher-paid positions in the corporate sector.

On the surface, implementing these strategies does not seem impossible, especially during a time when there are overall fewer jobs and a greater supply of talent. But the reality is few nonprofits are able to invest the necessary dollars, time, and people to meaningfully address the task at hand. This is not to say that diversity isn’t a top concern. Rather, most nonprofits are unable to prioritize diversity recruitment, at least not to the degree in which they tend to prioritize other mission-critical initiatives.

(Note: at this point, we should state that we do not intend to discount the great strides a number of organizations are making to address diversity in the sector.)

To gain greater insight into this complex issue, we spoke with Rosetta Thurman, an emerging nonprofit leader of color and the principal of Thurman Consulting, an organization that works with nonprofits to increase their leadership and management capacity.

“There’s no silver bullet to solving the problem of racial disparity in nonprofit roles,” Rosetta said, “However, simply posting jobs on Craigslist and Idealist isn’t going to do it. We need to take some risks.”

Some tactics that Rosetta suggested include: going to meetings of professional organizations such as Hispanics in Philanthropy, investing dollars and staff time in a booth at the National Association of Black MBAs national conference.

She added, “It’s ok to be the only white person in the room.”

Our conversation came back to dollars and time. How can a nonprofit trying to spend as much on program costs as possible justify the expense of most recruiting activities?

“We pay for what we prioritize,” said Rosetta,”If we prioritize addressing racial diversity now, we won’t have to pay forever. We may only need to make that connection one time to start to build a network and create a pipeline of candidates.”

Rosetta then shared a story with me about her own experience coming to a nonprofit employer. When she interviewed for her first job in D.C., everyone she met with was white. In her second interview, she met with an African-American employee who discussed how the organization genuinely offered a diverse and inclusive workplace. It was that experience that cinched it for her. “It’s important to understand why the people of color choose to work at an organization. This cultural competency is a piece that the sector hasn’t mastered. Most people of color do come from a mindset of service, but it often looks different from other routes to the same careers. Organizations need to take the time to understand this, and then create a workplace that is inclusive of culturally-informed points of view about public service”

Bottom line: until nonprofits really focus on taking strategic action to improve diversity, there are a lot of good intentions, but not a lot of systemic change. Let’s be the generation of nonprofit leaders that commits to genuinely building diversity. It is only after making a serious investment in creating recruitment pipelines, deep networks, and viable career paths that we will begin to realize a more inclusive, representative, and diverse nonprofit sector.

This got me thinking about what it takes to really love a job, especially one less glamorous than Chief of State or celebrity socialite. Particularly when it comes to nonprofit jobs, is the satisfaction we get from contributing to positive change in the world enough to make us fall in love with work?

To get to the bottom of this, I talked to the happiest guy I know: Kevin Flynn, Director of Client Services at Commongood Careers. (This is not to say that the rest of our staff is not exceedingly satisfied. Kevin just turns his love to eleven.)

According to Kevin, job-love is all about the “who.” As in the people he gets to work with and for. He said that it’s the ability to interact with some of the most fascinating and inspiring people and organizations in the country, on a daily basis, that lets him love what he does.

So there you have it. It’s not always what we do, but who we do it with and for. Let that be a lesson to anyone who works alone in a cave.

Earlier today, Obama made the following statement on the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act:

“I congratulate the House on passing the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.  This is legislation that will usher in a new era of service in America, and I look forward to signing it into law when I return to Washington.”

“Because of this legislation, millions of Americans at all stages of their lives will have new opportunities to serve their country.  From improving service learning in schools to creating an army of 250,000 Corps members a year dedicated to addressing our nation’s toughest problems. From connecting working Americans to a variety of part-time service opportunities to better utilizing the skills and experience of our retirees and baby boomers. This legislation will help tap the genius of our faith based and community organizations, and it will find the most innovative ideas for addressing our common challenges and helping those ideas grow.  But while our government can provide every opportunity imaginable for us to serve our communities, now it is up to each of us to seize those opportunities.  I call on all Americans to stand up and do what they can to serve their communities, shape our history and enrich both their own lives and the lives of others across this country.”

The passing of this legislation is largely due to the mobilization of a huge citizen movement, organized largely by the leaders and members America Forward and Service Nation. We are proud to be a part of both of these coalitions.

It truly is an historic time for social innovation and service in this country!

Here a few amazing highlights resulting from the national mobilization around this legislation:

• The New York Times published an editorial in favor of the Serve America Act, as did the Appleton Post-Crescent in Wisconsin.
• Shirley Sagawa published a great piece on the Center for American Progress Blog called ”A Chance to Make America Better”
• ServiceNation funder Laurie M. Tisch wrote an op-ed for the Philanthropy News Digest
• ServiceNation Youth Chair, Usher, sent out a text message to all of his followers asking them to call their Senators in support of Serve America.
• A number of organizations today sent out email updates and/or calls to action to their entire email list including Youth Service America, Rock the Vote, I have a Dream Foundation, YouthBuild and Democrats Work. Do Something highlighted the call to action on their homepage.
• Habitat for Humanity made phone calls in 7 states; David Battey of YVCA rallied his network in Kansas to make phone calls; and AmeriCorps Alums mobilized in Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee.
• The National Council on Aging released a statement of support of the Serve America Act.
• The AARP has decided to make the Serve America Act an accountability vote this means they will publicly post how each member votes on their government watch site and let their members know where their Senator sided. They will be faxing every Senate office letting them know that they will be publishing the results on their website. Senator Mikulski has also agreed to guest-blog about the Serve America Act on the AARP blog

Last Friday, members of Service Nation were asked to mobilize our networks in preparation for this week’s Senate vote on the Serve America Act. In just a few days, our coalition, working with Voices for National Service and America Forward, rallied and we are off to an extremely positive start.

Floor debate in the Senate began today at around 4:00PM with excellent speeches by Senators Mikulski, Hatch, McCain, Kerry and others. Senator Kennedy was also present on the Senate floor. It was followed by a cloture vote to allow the bill to proceed. The final vote on the cloture was 74-14 in favor of proceeding. This was an extremely strong bi-partisan vote, with 22 Republicans joining 50 Democrats and 2 Independents voting in favor.  The full vote tally is pasted below.

As we move forward throughout the week, it must be our goal to first thank all of the Senators who voted in favor of cloture and continue to flood their offices with phone calls in support of Serve America so that we hold onto their vote throughout the week. This will be critical.

Debate continues on the Senate floor tomorrow.

In the meantime, thank you to all of you who have mobilized your networks and stepped up your efforts in support of the bill. Some achievements of the day include: Over 110 people have stepped forward to serve on the various committees.  ThinkMTV has featured our call to action on their homepage; Mark Lazarra and Josh Randle helped secure an editorial in the Buffalo News and the Boston Globe published one as well (read them at http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/media/latest_news); Teach for America and City Year sent out an email to their entire alumni list; members of our coalition stepped up to be point people for 25 out of the 28 states we are focusing on (we are still looking for point people in Indiana, Wyoming and South Dakota); the National Council on Aging sent out a call to action to their listserve; Ashton Kutsher sent out a twitter message asking his thousands of followers to call their Senators; AARP has begun circulating editorials in their key states and is preparing an ad to run in the Roll Call and Hill Newspapers and Craig Newmark of Craigslist has been blogging about Serve America throughout the day. We have had reports of hundreds of phone calls being made.  This is only a sampling of what we accomplished through our collective networks and what we must continue to do.

Over the next day, we must continue to focus on 1) Calling Senators and asking them to support Serve America, focusing especially on those Senators who voted in favor cloture and 2) securing favorable editorials in newspapers around the country and reaching out to other media sources.

This can be a historic week- but we have a few more days of extremely hard work ahead of us.

All Best,

Alan, Bridge, AnnMaura, Michael and Michelle

Historically, the coalition has focused on three key issues related to the nonprofit workforce, namely diversity, student debt, and talent recruitment. Last week’s retreat marked a shift to a set of new issues, specifically how the economic crisis and the role of the current administration will impact nonprofit employment and social sector workforce. The group spent a good deal of time considering the relationship and feedback loops that exist between government and the nonprofit sector, and ways that the coalition could better educate elected officials about nonprofit workforce issues.

To get legislators more involved in the conversation about nonprofit employment, the group proposed a number of ideas, including:

• Creating a mechanism through which local nonprofits could communicate with local elected officials to bring them into the loop about economic distress, layoffs, etc.

• Collecting data around how the current economic crisis is impacting nonprofit employment and benchmarking findings for legislators and the public

In the coming weeks and months, the coalition will continue to consider rapidly evolving realities for nonprofit sector. We hope to be able to share more about these exciting efforts soon.

The benefits to the social sector are outstanding. Not only will this legislation result in the creation of new programs and organizations, but it also puts dollars in the pockets of service-oriented nonprofits and private groups. What’s more? New jobs and opportunities at a wide range of nonprofits will result from these initiatives.

Specific initiatives of the act will include addressing the dropout crises and strengthening our schools, improvising energy efficiency, safeguarding the environment, improving health care and expanding economic opportunity in low-income communicates, and preparing for and responding to disasters and emergencies.

Talented and committed individuals will be needed to make these programs a reality. While some of this demand will be met by AmeriCorps participants (the act will increase AmeriCorps members from 75K to 250K), we expect that many more will be needed to develop, manage, and staff new programs.

Where does your talent fit into this new service nation? Let us know!

The reality is this: the demand for nonprofit services during a recession is great. The communities served by nonprofits are facing unprecedented waves of complex economic pressures and increasingly large numbers of people are in need of solutions that nonprofits provide. Now more than ever, nonprofits feel the need to maximize the one resource that makes service possible: their human capital.

The key to being able to provide services, and ultimately weather the recession, is, as Jim Collins would say, having “the right people on the bus.” With layoffs, many nonprofits now find themselves in the position to have to re-build with leaner, meaner, and more effective teams. And even organizations that did not have layoffs are looking to take advantage of the influx of amazing candidates who are now on the market, and, in many cases, are creating positions for the “right” talent.

These opportunities are not always obvious, however. Nearly 60% of nonprofit job openings are never posted, and are filled by members of an organization’s network. This is why it’s more important than ever to dust off your rolodex (or LinkedIn, iPhone, or however you manage your contacts) and get yourself on the radar of organizations that interest you, and ones where you could make a meaningful contribution in this economy and beyond.

Here is some recent press that supports these ideas:

Hub human services nonprofits hiring
This Boston Herald article finds that area nonprofits are seeking talent, especially in front-line positions such as case workers and direct service providers.

Recruiter sees hope for finance professionals
Robert Half International, one of the world’s largest staffing firms, cites nonprofits as one of the booming markets hiring finance professionals

BUILD is changing the face of higher education by empowering and supporting high school students from underserved communities.  The four-year BUILD curriculum uses entrepreneurship education as the motivator to get students interested in applying to and attending four-year colleges and universities. Their unique four-year entrepreneurship-focused college preparation program provides real-world experience that empowers youth from under-resourced communities to excel in education, lead in their communities, and succeed professionally. 

Founded in 2000, the KIPP Foundation supports the growth and success of a national network of charter schools that develop the knowledge, skills, character, and habits of youth in educationally underserved communities so that they will be successful in college and beyond.  Specific program areas include: network growth planning and new site selection, recruitment and selection of new school leaders, leadership training and professional development, research and evaluation of school performance, technology, legal, and real estate services, financial and operational support, communications and marketing support, development and fundraising, and local board development. 

Part of the KIPP Foundation network of schools, KIPP Delta is a nonprofit charter school support organization that oversees the growth, quality, and sustainability of KIPP schools in the Arkansas Delta.  Through high expectations for students and staff, world-class teachers and school leaders, more time in school, autonomy over budget and curriculum, and a focus on results, KIPP schools prepare underserved students for success in college and in life.  There are currently two outstanding public schools in the KIPP Delta network and an aggressive strategic plan will support growth to a network of 12 schools serving over 3,500 students by 2019.

Youth Villages is one of the nation’s leading providers of mental and behavioral health services for children and their families, serving over 12,000 young people each year.  With locations across 10 different states, this entrepreneurial and rapidly growing nonprofit organization provides an array of services that include home-based intensive family therapy, transitional living, residential treatment, foster care, adoption, and crisis services.

Visit our Job Listings page to browse the opportunities available at these organizations.

Also recently, DonorsChoose.org announced that Stephen Colbert, comedian, actor, and host of The Colbert Report, has joined their national board: http://blog.donorschoose.org/blog/2009/01/12/stephen-colbert-the-colbert-report-joins-donorschooseorg-board-of-directors/.

Citizen Schools (www.citizenschools.org), a partner of Commongood Careers, operates a national network of afterschool programs for middle school students in low-income communities.  Citizen Schools recently made it to the final round of the “Ideas for Change in America” contest on Change.org, running at the top of the Education category. 

Started in response to President-elect Obama’s call for greater citizen involvement in government, the Change.org contest asks citizens to vote online for powerful ideas.  The top 10 ideas across all categories will be presented to the Obama administration as part of an event at the National Press Club in DC on January 16th, and then supported by a national advocacy campaign run by Change.org, MySpace, and more than a dozen leading nonprofits.

Please check out their idea to “Mobilize mentors, tutors, and Citizen Teachers to help kids succeed” and cast your vote today (voting ends at on January 15).  Learn more at
http://citizenschools.org/change/

Help Commongood Careers and Citizen Schools seize this opportunity to change the debate about education, and mobilize millions of mentors, tutors and Citizen Teachers to help kids succeed.  Together, we can make our voices heard in Washington, D.C. and make a difference for children throughout the nation.

Here’s how to vote (it takes 60 seconds and is EASY!):

If you’re a first-time Change.org voter, follow the 6 easy steps below. If you’ve already registered on the Change.org site, you can go to http://change.org and jump right to STEP 4.

STEP 1: Click here: http://www.change.org

STEP 2: On the home page, click on the ‘Join Today’ button to register an account.

STEP 3: Check your inbox and click on the confirmation link from Change.org.

STEP 4: On the Change.org home page, click on the ‘Ideas’ link at the top right.

STEP 5: In the ‘Search Ideas:’ box on the right side of the page, type in: “mobilize mentors”.

STEP 6: Click on the “Vote Now” button. (Note: If the Votes icon turns red, your vote has been counted.)

That’s it!  Thank you!
http://citizenschools.org/change/

Eric Dawson, President and Co-Founder of Peace Games followed with an inspiring story about what led to the creation of Peace games, his challenges and achievements. One interesting concept that often social entrepreneurs struggle with is measurement and how you know whether or not your program is effective. Brilliantly, Dawson raised the point that impact is more than about traditional forms of evaluation and measurement, distinguishing W and w - BIG work and LITTLE work. BIG work is about never losing sight of the overall mission, the bigger picture and not getting discouraged when trying to see impact because social change is hard to measure and often isn’t apparent right away. LITTLE work is the quantitative measurement, which most organizations need for funding. He also said that social entrepreneurship is more than just building programs – building programs isn’t enough; it’s about building movements, cultivating relationships and connecting people. Dawson was very thoughtful and sincere in his reflections about Peace Games and Social Entrepreneurship – we were all very grateful for his openness.

It was an inspiring day to say the least, and it was great to be surrounded by such progressive individuals looking to take what they learned back to their communities. Thank you BCCJ, ASHOKA and Brandeis Heller School of Social Policy and Management for a powerful event.

The discussion explored if the financial crisis is causing shifts in the nonprofit job market, and how particular people are being affected. On one end of the spectrum, people seem to be postponing retirement and staying at their jobs longer. Younger employees are concerned about their long-term prospects in the social sector.

The overall financial situation may also result in sector-switchers from the corporate world wanting to enter the nonprofit sector, which creates more competition for fewer jobs overall.

How is the economy affecting you in your job search and/or current position?

Open to the public, the session was hosted at Northeastern University,
drew an audience of over 60 people, and was moderated by the Founder and
CEO of Commongood Careers, James Weinberg.  Other panelists included:
James Cleveland, President of Jumpstart for Young Children; Priscilla
Cohen, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Citizen Schools; Jennifer
Macauley, Director of Communications at New Profit Inc.; and Christine
Morin, Director of New Site Development at City Year Inc.

The panel opened with James Weinberg providing framing remarks about the
powerful nature of social entrepreneurship as a force for innovative
change throughout the world.  Each panelist then took several minutes to
introduce themselves and answer the question: “Who is the most
inspirational social entrepreneur that you have ever known, and what do
you think made them a ‘social entrepreneur’ as you think about and
define the term.” The audience then engaged in an hour of lively
interactive discussion with the panel, followed by time for individual
discussions and networking.

It was a powerful event and we would like to thank each of our
panelists, Northeastern University for so generously hosting us, and the
Coro National Alumni Association for sponsoring the event and making
this important discussion open to the public.

Obama has pledged to create a Social Entrepreneurship Agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service, to generate more venture capital for socially conscious startups. The new agency would make it easier for small nonprofits to get federal grants, plus come up with a results-driven accountability system so government officials could make better decisions about which charities to fund.

Obama also wants to create a Social Investment Fund Network, which would steer private and government money to cities that identify innovative solutions to their most pressing social issues.

He estimates his ideas will cost $3.5 billion a year. He plans to pay for them through savings found by ending the war in Iraq and eliminating some corporate tax deductions.

Friday, November 7, 2008
1:00 - 3:00pm

Northeastern University
Egan Research Center, Raytheon Amphitheatre
120 Forsyth Street, Boston, MA 02115

Moderator:
James Weinberg, Founder & CEO, Commongood Careers

Panelists:
Priscilla Cohen, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Citizen Schools
James Cleveland, President, Jumpstart for Young Children
Jennifer Macauley, Director of Communications, New Profit Inc.
Christine Morin, Director of New Site Development, City Year

This panel is open to the public with an RSVP and is being organized as part of the 2008 Coro National Alumni Gathering.

Session Overview: Social entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as one of the world’s most powerful forces for bringing about positive social change.  Leaders in this hybrid field, which exists somewhere in-between the private, public and nonprofit sectors, are often at the helm of rapidly scaling ventures that offer “game-changing” solutions.  But from where does all this power originate and where is it all headed?  This panel will discuss the essential nature of social entrepreneurs and the factors that make them such a unique lever within our society.  We will also explore what the future of the movement might be, especially in these uncertain economic times.

RSVP ASAP to Maureen Sarna, , 617-542-1404 x 29

Event Sponsors:

Coro trains ethical, diverse civic leaders nationwide.  Coro leaders develop skills and master tools needed to engage and empower communities. The Coro National Alumni Association (CNAA) is the official alumni association of the Coro Foundation and its regional centers and programs.  CNAA strives to foster communication and a spirit of friendship, assistance, and cooperation within the Coro community.  To learn more about Coro and apply for its leadership programs, please visit http://www.coro.org or email recruitny@coro.org.

Commongood Careers is an innovative not-for-profit search firm that supports social entrepreneurs with their recruitment and hiring needs at every organizational level.  Commongood Careers offers personalized, engaged services to jobseekers and nonprofits throughout the hiring process, as well as access to a wealth of knowledge about nonprofit careers. Ultimately, Commongood accelerates social change by placing the best talent in the right roles at the nation’s most effective mission-driven organizations.
To learn more, please visit: http://www.cgcareers.org.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PANEL DIRECTIONS

Northeastern University
Egan Research Center, Raytheon Amphitheatre
120 Forsyth Street, Boston, MA 02115

Parking is available at the Renaissance Parking Garage, 835 Columbus Avenue, Boston.  The Egan Research Center is located behind the parking garage, on the other side of the Ruggles T Station.

Traveling by Public Transportation:

GREEN LINE: From downtown Boston, take an “E” train outbound to the Northeastern stop, the first stop above ground.  From the Northeastern stop, walk down Huntington and turn into the campus by walking down Forsyth Street.  The Egan Research Center is toward the end of the street.

ORANGE LINE: Take the Orange Line going outbound to Forest Hills and get off at Ruggles Station. The Egan Research Center is toward the end of the street.

As an NGen sponsor, we at Commongood Careers are excited to see these issues being addressed at one of the most well-attended and influential nonprofit conferences.

Learn more about NGen.

Positioning social enterprise as a business that creates social value, the article discusses the need for venture philanthropists to better define measures of social return, as well as offers a warning to nonprofits to avoid launching ventures that could potentially distract an organization from its mission-critical work.

In the news story, Investors Focusing on Social Enterprises, San Francisco Bay Area television station KGO reports that venture capitalists are investing their dollars in socially responsible businesses. “Social capital markets” are gaining more attention in investment communities, and both new and existing organizations are reaping the benefits.

Similarly, Venture Beat speculates if “social capital” is the next big market to emerge. With a lens on microfinance, fair trade, environmental, and social change organizations, this article looks at how investors are putting their faith—and dollars—into triple-bottom line ventures.

So what made September so special? In truly historic terms, ServiceNation launched a national and groundbreaking campaign, elevating the conversation about citizen service to a new level. For those who are unfamiliar, ServiceNation is a coalition of organizations dedicated to strengthening our democracy and solving problems through civic engagement and service, of which Commongood Careers is a proud member.

Kicking off the campaign on September 11th in New York City, Senators Obama and McCain set aside partisanship to speak together at a Presidential Forum about the importance of service and their views on how to expand its impact.  The following day, the ServiceNation Summit brought together hundreds of leaders – nonprofit and for-profit CEO’s, elected and appointed government officials, army generals and celebrities – to discuss and embrace the future of citizen service.  But the rubber really hit the road on September 27th’s “Day of Action,” during which more than 2,700 service events were organized across all 50 states to showcase the power and potential of service.

The month also brought some of the most powerful legislation in decades to expand and improve service opportunities when, on September 12th, Senators Kennedy and Hatch introduced “The Serve America Act” with co-sponsorship from Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain.  When many policy efforts grind to a halt during an election cycle, waiting to see what the election will bring, it is tremendously encouraging to know that the next President of the United States has already endorsed this sweeping and important reform.

These developments are likely to have a profound impact on the workforce of the nonprofit sector, as more and more people are introduced to service and earn marketable experiences working to those ends.  Particularly in response to conversations about the sector’s impending leadership crisis, there may be few more effective strategies for increasing the talent supply than to expand national service programs like City Year, Public Allies, Civic Ventures and Teach For America.

Finally, it is also worth noting that this work represents some of the absolute best tenants of social entrepreneurship – innovating new approaches to addressing social problems, pursuing audacious goals, measuring impacts, and building powerful cross-sector coalitions.  As is often the case with successful examples of social entrepreneurship, and as was certainly the case during ServiceNation events, I found myself thinking daily about Margaret Mead’s often quoted observation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

As a citizen of the world and on behalf of all of us…. thank you ServiceNation!

On October 8th, the Stanford Social Innovation Review will host a conference called Online Giving Marketplaces: Changing the Face of Philanthropy. I’m thrilled to see these platforms finally getting the attention they deserve. I’m also delighted to be moderating one of the panel discussions. Over the years I’ve paid a lot of attention to online giving sites—GlobalGiving, Kiva, NetworkForGood, GiveIndia, HelpArgentina, DonorsChoose, GiveMeaning, and GreaterGood South Africa, among many others (check out socialactions for a mashup of more than 30 platforms).

Why do these sites matter? Because they represent giving that’s faster, more global, and boasts multi-media interactivity? Or is there something else, something more transformative, going on here? Why are these sites proliferating, and what differentiates them from each other?

These platforms are important beyond just their speed and glitz factors in several ways.  They enable small gifts to be aggregated—by the donors—and they let donors manage portfolios of their giving. This is a baseline for ultimately getting to more strategic giving. Second, online giving platforms provide a potential source of data about giving trends and patterns, in something approximating real time. Third, they could provide a common backbone for donation transactions. Fourth, they are positioned to gather real feedback and input from people within funded institutions, as well as the people who benefit from them (see GreatNonprofits for more on this possibility). Fifth, they might serve as early warning signals about issues or giving patterns. Sixth, there are already emerging connections between “online giving platforms,” “social investors,” and “social stock exchanges”—so it only makes sense that new metrics systems, reporting tools, and portfolio assessment tools will come next. Seventh, these sites are specifically set up as marketplaces with buyers and sellers connected by interests; this framework is distinct from the way nonprofits and donors usually talk about themselves, and one that has both advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we have not yet seen real interconnectivity between online giving platforms and “offline” donor services. Is this next, and what might the results of such partnerships look like?

The speakers at the Online Giving Marketplaces conference, who include the founding executives and board members of several of the sites named above, will surely add their ideas to this list.

Updates: The conference has been moved to a larger venue; the original site sold out. (You can find information on logistics here.) If you can’t attend, but have key questions you’d like to ask, send them to me, at and I’ll do my best to get them asked. I’ll report answers via a blog post.

Levin emphasized the importance of bringing education to America’s students now, noting that KIPP does everything it can to make learning and teaching both fun and productive. “One of the things we want to do is make sure that every kid has a chance to work toward their own future,” he said. 

“We can think of education like steroids for our kids’ futures,” he said.  And while the analogy garnered some laughs, KIPP’s record shows that it really is improving kids’ futures astronomically.  It isn’t steroids, but commitment, dedication and hard work on the part of students, teachers, and families that give KIPP’s kids the boost they need. 

Only one question remains: When will the “Colbert Bump” kick in for KIPP?

This year, over 1,000 projects were submitted, which has since been narrowed down to five projects. We are thrilled to see that two Commongood Careers clients—DonorsChoose.org and Kiva—are amongst the top five nominees!

If you are an AMEX cardholder, you can cast your vote at: http://www.membersproject.com/

If you are not a cardholder, AMEX invites you to show your support by sounding off about your favorite nominated projects at: http://community.membersproject.com/category/Discussion-Board/3

The PSAs feature City Year corps members in meaningful moments that convey the impact they have as young people engaged in citizen service: tutoring in schools, mentoring students, cleaning up neighborhoods, and ultimately working together for a common purpose.

“The more you learn about City Year, the more you are inspired by the energy, passion and optimism that shine through everything they do,” said Brian Hayes, creative director, Arnold.  “We hope that these new ads convey this feeling and motivate more young people to get involved in the program.”

The PSAs will be shown almost 2,500 times as part of Comcast’s three-year commitment of $27 million to City Year. 

The award recognizes organizations with a wide range of missions and visions, but all of those awarded are making significant change in their communities.  Winners this year include ACCESS, “for its commitment to provide economic and social services to Arab immigrants, Arab Americans, and non-Arabs alike, while breaking down the barriers of linguistic and cultural differences;” Native Americans in Philanthropy, “for its work to promote, facilitate, and celebrate philanthropic giving to Native communities, while providing professional development opportunities and support for Native Americans working in the field of philanthropy;” and The Twenty-First Century Foundation “for its efforts to facilitate strategic giving for black community change, working with donors to invest in institutions and leaders that address challenges within black communities across the country.”

The National Leadership in Action Award Program promotes high-level performance of philanthropic institutions and nonprofit organizations and the award honors innovative approaches to connecting resources of time, money and expertise to the philanthropic work of communities of color.

For a full list of recipients or to learn more about the award, click here. 

Among the calls to action for our next administration are:

1. Expand innovation incentives and free them from the earmarks and conditions that have blunted past initiatives. Adequate incentives, coupled with rigorous accountability, would remedy this.

2. Use influence over state and local policy to sweep away regulations that hamper innovative thinking, such as caps on the number of public charter schools allowed and excessive restrictions on how teachers are trained and credentialed.

3. Continue the strong push of two efforts already underway. One is the move toward a common set of standards for what students should be expected to know and be able to do. Then, to make shared standards work, a national data infrastructure must be built to assess educational progress.

This op-ed also featured the outstanding work of other Commongood Careers partners such as KIPP, Teach for America, and New Leaders for New Schools.

Read the full article.

Last week, Team Commongood Careers enjoyed the good fortune of being able to hold our annual retreat in beautiful new boardrooms and training spaces within the offices of City Year and Citizen Schools.

They say everything happens for a reason.  In this case, not only were City Year and Citizen Schools able to provide some great space to meet our logistical needs, but it was also a tremendous inspiration to be discussing sector-wide impact in the national headquarters of these two outstandingly successful and entrepreneurial organizations.

And if you don’t already know all about these two leaders in their fields, please check them out and help us return the favor by doing all you can to support their efforts.

City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world. As tutors, mentors, and role models, these young leaders make a difference in the lives of children and transform schools and neighborhoods across the United States and in South Africa. More than 1,500 corps members serve in 19 City Year sites across the United States and one site in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Citizen Schools has built a creative and effective learning model that addresses community needs while building student skills through hands-on experiential learning activities. Citizen Schools operates a National Network of apprenticeship programs for youth that connects middle school students with adult volunteers in hands-on learning. At Citizen Schools, students develop the academic and leadership skills they need to excel in school, build self confidence, get into college, and become leaders in their communities. Citizen Schools currently enroll 2,000 middle-school students and engage 1,500 volunteers at 30 school campus sites nationwide.

Tenacity will be honored by the USTA during Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day at the US Open this year as the featured National Junior Tennis League organization. Attracting over 30,000 adult and youth spectators, Arthur Ashe Kids Day honors tennis legend Arthur Ashe and continues his mission of using tennis as a means to instill in kids the values of humanitarianism, leadership and academic excellence. To see the coverage, tune in to CBS Sports TV on Sunday, August 24th, from 12 - 1:30 PM (EST) for the Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day national broadcast featuring a short video on Tenacity.

We congratulation our partner Tenacity for being recognized on this special day that celebrates the importance of shaping and encouraging youth in the classroom, on the court, and in the community. 

The article also highlights the work of Teach For America, teachNOLA, and New Leaders for New Schools and shows incredible images of students of Langston Hughes Charter School.

We applaud the tremendous effort of New Schools for New Orleans and its supporters to further the transformation public schools in New Orleans. 

Net Impact, an international community of new leaders who use business to improve the world, is currently conducting a survey to inform a report on MBAs working in the social sector. Participate in the survey

Plus, Foote cites some impressive stats, for example that about 10 percent of Yale, Georgetown and Harvard seniors apply to be a part of Teach For America’s corps of world-changing teachers.  She also writes about the realities of the challenges facing America’s education system and how Teach For America is offering solutions. 

Encouragingly, the article notes that many of Teach For America’s alumni are inspired by their experience to do more.  Foote points out that KIPP, whose impressive education successes we recently blogged about, was started by Teach For America alums. 

Due to lack of state funding, the school’s future was uncertain just a few weeks before it was to open.  Fortunately for Hartford and its students, local figures like Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving came forward to champion Achievement First’s cause and energize donors to help get the schools ready for the fall.

With Achievement First’s success in education, it’s no wonder so many in Hartford were ready to step forward to support the organization.  A recent report shows that students at a similar school in New Haven, Conn. performed an average of 56 percent higher on all sections of the state test than their peers in non-Achievement First schools in that city.  Now that’s putting achievement first!

That’s where the article recognizes organizations like Kiva and DonorsChoose.org.  The article advises: “if you want to exercise the kind of control that deep-pocketed philanthropists enjoy, consider donating to one of a new breed of charities that allow donors to browse descriptions of specific projects online and fund them, in whole or in part. “

Both Kiva and DonorsChoose.org use the Internet to connect individual donors directly with recipients of the donation, whether through Kiva’s microloans or DonorsChoose’s donations to classrooms.  They champion diverse causes, but they’re both doing what’s great: helping people exercise their philanthropic spirit, no matter the size of their bank account. 

Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews recently wrote an article about KIPP’s focus on finding the cause for any drop-outs from its schools and its continuing research on learning how its graduates are doing once they reach college.  He highlights the importance of KIPP’s dedication to looking at the data to achieve results. 

And achieve they do.  The article also notes that in addition to being much more likely to graduate high school and go to college than their non-KIPP school peers, middle school students who completed four years at KIPP increased their average math achievement level from the 40th to the 82nd percentile and their reading level from the 32nd to the 60th percentile.  Dare we say “KIPP up the good work”?

Pride partners throughout Latin America use social marketing tools to change attitudes and behaviors critical to conservation.  Rare provides the tools, along with in-depth training and technical support as its local partners launch two-year Pride campaigns that have resulted in truly impressive results.

One Pride program alum, Martin Castillo Paniagua of Mexico’s National Park Service, helped lead a campaign that grew knowledge of one area as protected in the target community from 35 to 98 percent.  You can read all about his and other Rare Conservation success stories here.

The grant will allow for at least 500 students in 2008, 750 in 2009, and 1,000 in 2010 to participate in the BELL’s highly effective Summer program in New York City.  The program, which helps to strengthen reading, writing and math skills, has been so successful that over 95 percent of children enter their program at the “failing” level advance to a higher academic performance category and at least 75 percent of them go on to achieve “proficient” or “advanced” levels in core skills.

Plus, Earl Martin Phalen, Co-founder and CEO of BELL, notes that the students on average gain four to six months worth of education during BELL’s six-week program.  What student wouldn’t want the equivalent of six month summer vacation?  With growing support, learning programs like BELL make summer a great time to achieve. 

We recently blogged about our involvement with ServiceNation, a national campaign promoting voluntary citizen service. The ServiceNation campaign will officially kick off with a national summit Sept. 11-12, in New York City.

On the evening of September 11, the Summit will open with a presidential candidates forum on citizenship and service. Senator John McCain has agreed to participate, and Senator Obama may agree to attend as well.

Then, on September 27, ServiceNation will stage a nationwide Day Of Action, with hundreds of events across America celebrating the power and potential of voluntary citizen service.

ServiceNation truly has the potential to transform our nation, and Commongood Careers is committed to helping drive this incredible campaign. But we can’t succeed without your help and your involvement. 

As a first step, you can help us let our leaders know that we are ready to become a ServiceNation by taking our service poll, and submitting a question to be asked at the Sept. 11 presidential candidates forum. (To inspire you, ServiceNation will select up to five of the best questions and offer the authors a ticket to the event!)

Take the poll at: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/take_action/poll/careers

We hope that you are as excited by the potential for ServiceNation as we are, and that you will join us in this bold campaign. 

Last week, the Akron City Council gave the go ahead for an agreement between OneCommunity Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic to create a network that will provide wireless Internet connectivity in an 11-square-mile area of the city.  The agreement puts into action the first $250,000 in matching funds from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s $500,000 challenge grant.

Akron will also be the new home of the OneCommunity Knight Center for Digital Excellence, which provides resources to spread broadband access programs so that communities can fully participate in today’s digital world. 

A little while back, Alice Lunsford, Teach For America’s Director of External Talent Recruitment, told us about some opportunities for entry-level jobseekers at her organization.  She said that “[Teach For America] is filled with people who are passionate about their work and working in a smart manner toward measurable goals.  It’s the culture that I think makes it a great place to work, especially coming out of college.” (Read the whole article here.)

That sounds to us like CollegeGrad.com had it right when they chose Teach For America for the top of their list!

Service Nation , an effort headed by Be The Change Inc. , is building strong foundations. 

Habitat for Humanity just joined the movement, whose goal is to engage 1 million Americans in a year of full time national service by 2020 and inspire a culture of civic service nation-wide.  Habitat’s added support makes the list of organizations backing Service Nation 100 strong.  Support for the movement is impressive and expansive.  The organizing committee includes entrepreneurial organizations like College Summit, Teach For America, Year Up and many more.

Service Nation aims to engage the country in a dialog about national service.  Keep an eye on them as they set forth bold goals for national service in America at their Service Nation Summit Sept 11-12 this year.

The national Read for the Record effort is designed to build awareness for America’s crisis in early childhood education and Jumpstart’s role in solving the crisis by breaking the world record for the greatest number of children reading the same book on the same day.

While the campaign’s spokesperson LL Cool J wasn’t there (see him voice his support in this YouTube video) the party did boast a few celebs, including Boston Bruins player Bob Sweeney.

This year’s Fellows will tackle issues as wide ranging as community improvement, economic development, education, the environment, health, human rights, and legal advocacy.

Since 1987, Echoing Green has invested $27 million in more than 450 leaders to make a difference in lives all over the world.  This year’s promising Fellows will be an excellent addition to Echoing Green’s impact.  Congratulations and best of luck to the 2008 Fellows!

Neil Armstrong Elementary’s 4th and 5th grade students grew over 5,000 marigolds from seeds that they planted at school. By growing and selling the marigolds in the past year, the Neil Armstrong Elementary students funded over 20 teacher proposals on DonorsChoose.org, resulting in over 2,500 hours of instruction to over 600 students.

This coming year, they are hoping that their efforts will have an even greater impact.  So far, they’ve met over half of their $10,000 goal.  Visit their challenge page to see their progress, an adorable photo of the class, and how you can help them out!

Venture philanthropy is getting quite the buzz, from MBA campuses to nonprofit conferences. This model of taking a business-minded investment approach to funding new organizations offers a viable alternative to traditional grantmaking, and allows emerging nonprofits to obtain the capital they need to get off the ground and scale their programs.

An innovator in venture philanthropy, New Profit Inc. has helped some of the nation’s most entrepreneurial and effective nonprofits get off the ground and grow to achieve huge social impact. New Profit provides multi-year financial and strategic support to a portfolio of social entrepreneurs working in education, youth development, workforce development, and other areas.

New Profit is also the main driver of America Forward, a coalition of more than 60 social entrepreneurs and high-impact organizations that have come together to present presidential candidates and policymakers with a new and transformative way to solve the difficult social problems facing our nation.

Are you looking for way to get in on the ground floor of this amazing organization? New Profit Inc. is currently seeking a Portfolio Analyst to join its team. The Portfolio Analyst is an essential role that encompasses a broad set of responsibilities requiring analytical skills, project management capabilities, and general research abilities.  This person will work closely with the New Profit Portfolio Management Team, representatives from New Profit portfolio organizations and other relevant external stakeholders. Read the full job description.

For the past several years, we have been honored to help facilitate hires at several West Coast-based organizations, such as Kiva, TechSoup, Room to Read, Craigslist Foundation, Breakthrough Collaborative and Springboard Forward. As many of our national partners are focused on scaling their programs and operating sites across the country, we’ve also been able to help support the regional growth of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, College Summit, City Year and others. Helping these amazing organizations has inspired our own expansion into the Bay Area.

Heading up the office as Regional Director is Missy Longshore. Missy brings nine years of experience in nonprofit organizations and most recently served as the Business Development Manager at New Door Ventures. She served as a nonprofit management consultant at TDC after completing her MBA with a concentration in Public and Nonprofit Management at Boston University. Her prior nonprofit work in the Bay Area included work in advocacy, public television, and youth development. Missy can be reached at mlongshore@cgcareers.org or 415-531-3998.

Joining Missy as a transplant from Boston is one of our senior Service Managers, Kevin Flynn.  Prior to his work at Commongood, Kevin was with National TenPoint Leadership Foundation, working with high risk and gang involved youth to reduce violence in the most underserved neighborhoods in cities through the country. Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College and is a board member of the Boston chapter of Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN).

Hitting the ground running, Missy and Kevin are already hard at work supporting our existing West Coast clients, connecting with new organizations, developing connections with local talent pipelines, and generally enhancing our nationwide capacity for social impact. Keep your ears open for exciting workshops, programs, and networking opportunities made available through our new office.

Thanks to all of the talented individuals and dynamic organizations that have made this growth possible. We are so excited to help to create even more social impact from our new office on the West Coast!

No, this is not guacamole gone bad. Blue Avocado is a new online magazine created by and for people who work and volunteer in community nonprofits. According to the Director and Editor-in-Chief, Jan Masaoka, Blue Avocado’s “aim is to engage and support the people of community nonprofits, the ones who do the heavy lifting in building social justice and strong communities, and who create and drive the ideas that change our world for the better.” Standing features include of the publication include:

• Lead investigative journalism article
• Board Café column for nonprofit board members
• Dear Rita in HR
• Real World Nonprofit Finance
• Personal Finance for the Non-Profiteer
• Headline News from the Field
• That’s Nonprofit Life

Blue Avocado offers a few ways for its readers to get involved, such as writing articles, spotting stories, posting comments on the site, and joining as a member. Check out the inaugural issue at Blue Avocado.

The Conference Board Research Working Group on Managing an Aging Workforce at Nonprofits, part of the Mature Workforce Initiative, is surveying boomers and experienced workers to better understand the key challenges (cultural, generational, intergenerational) they face, and which pathways they find most effective in moving to the nonprofit sector. They are also surveying nonprofit organizations to better understand how they reach out to this talent pool and which recruitment and “crossover” strategies work best.

If you are an experienced worker who has moved or wants to move into the nonprofit sector from a for-profit or government job, or if your organization has recruited and/or hired experienced workers from these other sectors, we invite you to participate.

Please click on the appropriate link below to complete the survey:

Employer—for nonprofit organizations
Job Seekers—for individuals seeking nonprofit jobs
Job Holders—for individuals who have transitioned into nonprofit jobs

For further information, please contact jill.casnerlotto@conference-board.org

Please click the link to take the survey:
http://survey.confirmit.com/wix/p613715498.aspx?pid=300

Commongood Careers supports Civic Ventures’ efforts and sees this kind of research as crucial to the goals we share.  Please note that this study is being done for research purposes only.  Your responses will remain confidential, and you won’t be added to any mailing lists or be solicited for any reason as a result of the survey.  The survey results will be made public on the Civic Ventures website in June 2008.

Your experience is valuable to the field and your help is most appreciated.

Read the full report.

Read the full article.

Interested in learning more about social enterprise? Does your organization use market-based strategies to advance social change? Then join Commongood Careers at the 9th Social Enterprise Summit, hosted by the Social Enterprise Alliance.

9th Social Enterprise Summit
Building Networks - Forming Partnerships - Accessing Capital
March 9-11, 2008
Boston Park Plaza

Through this conference, get connected to this exciting movement for social innovation through:

• Meeting successful social enterprise practitioners.
• Enjoying tours of local social enterprises in Boston.
• Discovering double-bottom line organizations in your community.
• Attending any of 50 informative sessions on social enterprise strategies.

Social enterprises can do more together than alone, and the Summit will be an opportunity to discuss ideas for advancing the field and creating a more conducive climate for social enterprise. Be there, and tell your friends and colleagues.

Learn more and register.

Will portfolio work turn epidemic? Probably not, although its incidence is growing, according to recruiters, career coaches, and others who follow trends in work culture. James Weinberg, a recruiter for nonprofits, sees an uptick in those willing to work this way - and those willing to hire them.

More job candidates are asking Weinberg for part-time work, saying, “ ‘I’m trying to knit together a career’, or ‘I’d like to have multiple roles that will allow me flexibility,’ “ observes Weinberg, chief executive of Commongood Careers in Boston. Sometimes, executives work on a shared basis for several groups, splitting their time between jobs, he says.

Read the full article.

There is an ongoing debate in the nonprofit sector on what makes an organization a social entrepreneur. Forces for Good, a recent voice on the subject, provides a fresh approach to this topic.

To make the distinction between social entrepreneurs and traditional nonprofits, authors Crutchfield and McLeod-Grant spent four years researching the management techniques of hundreds of nonprofits.  Their findings target the management techniques of twelve nonprofits that they conclude are examples of high-impact, socially entrepreneurial change agents.  In their analysis of these organizations, Crutchfield and McLeod-Grant posit that these groups do not measure success through revenue increases, brand recognition or organizational chart sophistication.  Instead these twelve social trailblazers measure success by the change they are affecting in the piece of the world that they are attempting to improve. 

While old-school nonprofit management looks to governance, organizational structure, fundraising and other internally facing strategies to build a strong organization, social entrepreneurs focus their energy externally through six creative techniques.  These techniques (such as one that advises nonprofit groups to cross sectors and include for-profit partners into the execution of the mission) challenge traditional nonprofits to rethink goals and strategies in the execution of their mission. By exposing limitations and even flaws in traditional thinking, Forces for Good identifies commonly held myths about nonprofit management that are indicative of an outdated system of thought.

The authors conclude that the twelve nonprofits in study focus on the end-goals of creating impact and improving society rather than focusing on building a secure, fiscally sound organization, as their traditional counterparts so often obsess.  The authors offer well researched and thought out examples of innovative approaches to management employed by these groups. The case for innovation and out-of-the-box thinking is also supported by the authors’ warning against reckless management based on wild idealism.  The success of the organizations featured in Forces for Good is instead a product of an unwavering management philosophy that postures mission above tradition.

BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Citizen Schools
Civic Builders
College Summit
DonorsChoose.org
New Leaders for New Schools
Points of Light Foundation & HandsOn Network
Reach Out and Read
Room to Read
Year Up

We are honored to help each of these organizations build stronger teams, scale operations, and ultimately create deeper impacts in the communities they serve.

Read the full list of winners.

From the article:

“...Commongood Careers, helps nonprofit organizations recruit, screen, and hire for jobs ranging from support staff to senior managers. It also provides career advice to job seekers, keeps a database of about 20,000 job candidates, and maintains online listings of job postings across the country.

Those services are filling a gap that has long hindered the nonprofit sector, which often struggles to fill vacant positions. Commongood specializes in working with rapidly expanding, high-impact, socially entrepreneurial organizations. And its low-cost, flat-fee search model is designed to make it affordable to even the smallest nonprofits, whether they need to fill a $20,000-a-year job or a six-figure executive position.”

Read the full article.

There are two irrefutable truths about nonprofit employment. First, it’s not the salary that attracts us to work in the nonprofit sector. Second, these wonderful nonprofit job opportunities often take us to cities that boast expensive living costs.  Being fully aware of this, every month Commongood Careers will pick a city in which one of our clients operates and we will hunt down the “nonprofit-salary-friendly” neighborhoods, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, cultural events and yes, even hair salons. These spots will be sure to keep you living the exciting urban lifestyle that your lawyer and banker friends enjoy while keeping your finances afloat. First stop, Boston … home of Commongood Careers!

Good Eating

A Russo and Sons – Located in Watertown, Russo’s is a grocery store that offers the selection of Whole Foods at a fraction of the price. Highlights include fresh produce, rare cheeses and a wide selection of gourmet groceries.

Volle Nolle – The historic North End in Boston is famed for its quality and quantity of Italian eateries that will fill your stomach while emptying your wallet. Volle Nolle breaks the mold by offering great pasta salads and delicious soups and panini sandwiches (try the Cubano). The quaint interior and low prices make Volle Nolle perfect for a quick lunch stop or a small dinner. 351 Hanover Street Boston, MA 02113

Good Culture

Institute of Contemporary Arts – Boston’s newest art museum by award winning architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Located on the waterfront, the design of the building rivals the artwork it houses. Enjoy the museum free of charge every Thursdays from 5pm-9pm. If you have kids under the age of 12, bring the whole family for free on the last Saturday of every month.

Museum of Fine Arts ­– With a permanent collection of over 1,400 European paintings and 1,900 pieces of decorative art and sculpture, the MFA, Boston never disappoints. Every Wednesday from 4pm-9:45pm, peruse the galleries and enjoy classics from Matisse, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh and Rembrandt at no cost.

Free Shakespeare on the Common – Summers in Boston are legendary for free outdoor events held in the Boston Commons and the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade. One highlight is the weeklong Shakespeare on the Common held in July. Free plays acted by professionals on a warm midsummer night prove that the Bard himself was right when he wrote that “all that glisters is not gold”.

Good Looking

Filene’s Basement – Though the famed Downtown Crossing shop is currently closed due to construction on the T that runs near it, Filene’s Basement, with stores on Boylston Street & in nearby Newton, MA still offers designer styles at Target prices. Though selection can be “hit or miss”, the “hits” make a visit worth its while. ()

Liquid Hair Studios – I’m no hair expert (my brother-in-law cuts mine in his basement), but Liquid is known for keeping other Bostonians looking sharp. Located on Tremont Street in the South End, this colorful and hip hair salon cuts costs as well as bangs. Though the décor is funky the stylists work to match your hair cut with your personality and lifestyle. With hair cuts and styles running from $25-60 you will have money left over to buy some shampoo.

Are you a Bostonian who thinks we may have missed some great-deal places? Please leave a comment on this blog and advertise your favorite places and events. Let the discussion begin!

(Please note: On our staff we have someone who scored a perfect 800 on the verbal SAT. Thus, we are well aware of the grammatically incorrect nature of slogans such as “livingood”. However we are also aware that sometimes cheesy catchiness beats proper grammar.)

In all organizations, diversity of experience and backgrounds has proven itself to be a vital success factor. This can be gained through many types of diversity, including racial and ethnic diversity. Diversifying a team’s membership increases the range of opinions, ideas and opportunities available in decision-making processes. This, in turn, will improve the quality of those decisions, the ease of new strategy implementation, and the organization’s effectiveness in meeting its goals.

Social and human service organizations have are particularly sensitive to ensuring ethnic and racial diversity because so many of these organizations serve a highly diverse constituency. In order to most effectively understand and respond to the needs of their clients and partners, social service organizations know that their staff should be reflective of the communities they serve. Some funding organizations have recognized the importance of these facts and have started to require staff diversity reporting among their grantees.

The social sector needs to continue to improve its workplace diversity, particularly at the senior management level. In order to achieve these goals, Commongood Careers makes several broad recommendations:

(1) Build a hiring pool of diverse talent through constant, year-round outreach to targeted communities and groups, instead of focusing on outreach only for open positions;

(2) Structure your searches so that you can allow a longer hiring window, possibly adding 2-3 months to a search, in order to ensure that every effort has been made to include diverse candidates in the final candidate pool, especially with senior level hires;

(3) Build an internal pipeline of diverse talent by hiring for diversity at lower organizational levels and then ensuring effective retention and career laddering to grow that talent into senior management roles.

Organizations that truly value diversity at all levels have proven to be the most successful at building workplace diversity. Making diversity an organizational priority in all areas, as opposed to focusing on diversity only in recruiting, will make your organization stronger on many levels and will enable you to attract and retain diverse candidates more effectively.

This is our second year supporting the conference and once again the conference organizers out did themselves—the event was a huge success. Serving as one of approximately 100 exhibitors, our team met and had wonderful conversations with women interested in fulfilling their personal and professional mission in the nonprofit sector.

Our team felt that the conference provided a fabulous opportunity for women to come together to hear from panelists expert from a wide swath of professions including financial planning, nonprofit management, marketing and communications. Commongood Careers’ very own Jana Reed spoke on the topic of “Leading Innovations to Advance Nonprofits”. Her remarks focused on talent and the need for talent in the nonprofit sector at all levels of the organizational chart. In reflection, we heard from many women that the day was inspirational and helped them to see the impact of their careers through a different lens.

Were you at the conference? If so, please share your thoughts on the day and comment on this blog! If you were there but missed Jana’s presentation, you can find related topics in our Knowledge Center. If you missed the conference this year, we hope to see you next year.

To address this challenge, Commongood Careers has a few suggestions:

1. Know the skill sets you seek. Create a list of common skills and competencies required for hires, both for specific roles and for all employees. If you build these profiles today, you’ll be better prepared when a position opens up in your organization.

2. Be able to connect quickly with candidates who possess those skills. Smart organizations are always “recruiting” to some extent; keep track of and keep in touch with any potential employees you may meet even if you’re not hiring for an open position today. Then, when it comes time to fill an open position, you’ll have a few leads in mind from the start.

3. Elevate talent acquisition planning to a strategic level. Your organization wouldn’t launch a new fiscal year without a budget, right? Planning for new hires is just as important. Build hiring plans, even if they are just forecasts or estimates, into your yearly planning process. A little work on an organization chart in advance will help to avoid hiring “fire drills” down the road.

Other suggestions for how nonprofits can best plan ahead for hiring? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment to this blog entry.

“A ‘Social Entrepreneur’ is one who pursues opportunities to create pattern-breaking social change without regard for the resources that she/he can currently control.”

She explained that where as traditional nonprofits had sought to meet community needs by institutionalizing support systems for those in need, social entrepreneurs generally endeavor to change the way the world itself works in an attempt to root out the primary causes of social ills. They will not rest until they have done this, and they will rarely stop to consider if they have the necessary funding, capacity, workforce or support to get something done. They just dive in and get to it.

“This month we attended 7 events starting first with the Social Venture Partners Conference in Seattle where we heard from Patty Stonesifer, Executive Director of the Gates Foundation and I sat in on a session on transitioning from the for profit to nonprofit sectors. From there back to Boston for two days in the office and then back to Seattle for the Action Without Borders, Idealist Career Fair. We connected with hundreds of jobseekers and presented two back-to-back Workshops on Finding a Great Job in the Nonprofit Sector. I left Seattle feeling exhilarated about the energy and interest from so many people with diverse experience and background—all interested in working in the social sector.

From Seattle I flew the red eye back to Boston to conduct two career advisories and then on to Los Angeles for the Independent Sector conference. The first day at the conference the Nonprofit Sector Workforce Committee met and our very own James Weinberg was nominated Vice Chair! The Committee focuses on three areas: general marketing of the sector; diversity in the sector; and student debt. The Independent Sector conference feels like old home week in that so many of our colleagues and partners in the sector come together to share ideas, best practices, and old fashioned conversation!

After Independent Sector, I joined my colleague Kasey in Portland, OR for the Action Without Borders Idealist Career Fair at Portland State University. Over 800 people attended the Career Fair, I presented one workshop on Careers in the Nonprofit Sector. The room was packed and people flowed to the hallway.

After the event, Kasey and I jumped on the red eye and flew to Boston. I spent a few hours at Logan and then on to Washington DC for the Academy of Women Symposium at the Women’s Military Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. Commongood Careers was invited to participate in the conference and we were excited to accept the invitation. I was humbled and awed by the sheer intelligence and commitment the women I met have for the country. Many of the women I met want when they leave service to continue to serve the country by working in the social sector. I know that Commongood Careers will be helpful to them as they chart their path. “

For several reasons, we believe nonprofits would actually benefit from stating “BA or Equivalent Experience Required” (instead of “BA Required, Masters Preferred”) in their job descriptions:

(1) It’s more legally compliant. Requiring a BA can be construed as discriminatory. Stating “BA or Equivalent Experience” in a job description helps an organization stay compliant with hiring laws.

(2) It nets candidates possessing a range of experiences, not just a specific educational background. This strongly supports our tried and true best practice of hiring based on core competencies—such as qualities and characteristics gained through experience of all kinds.

(3) It fosters a diverse workforce. To many, attending college is not a path taken, either by choice or by circumstance. For those not attending college right out of high school, they may be starting their professional career earlier than most, thus gaining more on-the-job training from an early age.

But what does “or equivalent experience” mean exactly and how can a hiring organization best measure this requirement, especially in comparison to an academic degree?

What’s important is that candidates being considered for an open position have the right competencies—skills, knowledge, technical abilities, and personality characteristics—to succeed at a job.

In some instances, a specific type of educational background is required. This is certainly true of practitioners in healthcare organizations, for example. We’ve also found this to be the case occasionally in the fields of finance and IT. Even in these cases, however, it is typically specific coursework or certifications that are required, not a degree.

We want to know what you think about this topic. What are the advantages and challenges of stating “BA or Equivalent Experience” in a job description? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Some members of the Commongood Careers service team recently decided to take the plunge and go paperless. However, in addition to the immediate benefit of creating less waste and saving more trees, our team soon realized some genuine work efficiencies resulting from going green.

“Instead of spending my time sorting through piles of applications, I now do all of my screening electronically in our database,” says Kevin, a Commongood Careers Service Manager, “The result is less time spent shifting papers around, and more time spent getting to know candidates for our nonprofit searches.”

“Besides saving time, going paperless has created less clutter in our office,” added Allyson, another Service Manager, “We now are mindful of our paper consumption. Paper can be an unnecessary use of space.” (How Zen-like of Allyson.)

If you have other ideas for ways to green the workplace, please leave a comment below.

If you have other thoughts or opinions about the topics addressed in the survey—specifically the values, expectations, and competencies of socially-driven jobseekers—please join the conversation by leaving a comment to this blog entry.

Now it’s your chance to voice your opinions to a wider audience here on the Commongood Careers blog. What did you think of the survey? What issues did it raise for you? What other thoughts do you have about the values, competencies, and expectations of nonprofit jobseekers that you’d like to discuss further?

Leave a comment below and let the Commongood Careers community know!

Are you one of those people? Contact us and we may be able to help connect you with some local opportunities.

Also, we are curious, what are the factors that would pull you toward New Orleans right now and what are the concerns that would make you hesitate? What type of assurances and/or support would you need to consider relocating to New Orleans if the right opportunity was available? What other aspects of life in New Orleans could benefit from an entrepreneurial approach? What innovative models from other organizations or cities could help? Leave a comment and let us know.

We attended YNPN’s kickoff event at the Revolution Rock Bar. Most of the other attendees were there to meet other people who work in their fields or network for new job opportunities. There was a genuine feeling of comraderies, and many attendees commented to us that this was really a one-of-a-kind gathering in Boston.

We also met some professionals interested in making the leap to the nonprofit sector. They saw this opportunity as a great way to speak with nonprofit professionals in an informal and fun setting.

We look forward to participating in more YNPN events and wish them the best in building a great network of young nonprofit professionals in the Boston area.

Join the YNPN Boston listserv.

We also met many organizations concerned with the need to develop nonprofit talent in Texas. A representative from the San Antonio Nonprofit Council shared, “Talent is a real need for organizations. We wish there were more resources devoted to connecting professionals and organizations.”

BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Citizen Schools
Hands On Network
Jumpstart
Nonprofit Finance Fund
Teach for America
Year Up

A very special congratulations to these organizations! We at Commongood Careers are honored to be helping to hire talent and build the teams of these organizations.

We know first-hand the value of employee referrals. Out of all of the searches we’ve completed in the past year, nearly 50% of placements have come either from the Commongood Careers network or the network of the hiring organization. When we begin any search, we reach out to our professional and personal contacts to explore their interest in a given position or to find out if they know anyone who might be interested. Besides drumming up buzz about a specific position, this strategy also helps us stay in touch with our networks and develop a talent pipeline.

Hiring interns is another effective way for entrepreneurial organizations to build relationships with developing talent. When hiring interns, it’s critical to make sure there is a valuable role an intern can play in your organization. Remember, interns are typically looking for meaningful work experience and exposure to the mission-critical aspects of your organizations. A summer of taking lunch orders or shredding paper is not a meaningful internship. Interns are typically bright and ambitious; employ these talented resources wisely and you may be surprised at what they can accomplish.