By Bob Moore
With an influx of the newly unemployed, New York Cares, an organization that links volunteers to projects, is anticipating over 50,000 recruits this year, up from 27,000 just four years ago. Likewise, Taproot, a San Francisco-based nonprofit saw its volunteers jump by nearly 125% last year – even though they had stopped actively recruiting. “Without more money to train and manage the surge of volunteers, this will be a missed opportunity for many charities”, says Lindsay Firestone, Project Manager for Taproot.
To that end, many non-profits are putting their hopes on the sweeping legislation that President Obama signed in April. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act is the largest expansion of national service since President Kennedy launched Peace Corps and VISTA in the early 1960’s.
http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/releases_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=1283
The act will add tens of thousands of new positions to the AmeriCorps program – including older Americans – while also providing funds to charities across the United States to train and oversee more volunteers. Good news for all organizations looking to expand their volunteer base.
Bob Moore is the Executive Director of Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed and a featured blogger.
