Nonprofit Boot Camp, Social Media Training a Winning Combo

June 4, 2013 By
PinterestShare
social-media-for-nonprofits-ritu-sharma-by-pam-marino-good-neighbor-stories

Social Media for Nonprofits Co-founder Ritu Sharma at last year’s Silicon Valley conference.

Silicon Valley nonprofit leaders, staff, and other key volunteers take note: the best training and networking events for nonprofits are taking place right in your backyard next week, June 12 and 13.

The group Social Media for Nonprofits (SM4NP) is bringing back the popular Nonprofit Boot Camp, previously run by the Craigslist Foundation, on Wednesday, June 12, and is conveniently offering its invaluable Social Media for Nonprofits Conference the following day. Both day-long conferences are being held at Microsoft’s Mountain View Conference Center, 1065 La Avenida St.

Registration is happening now on line, and if you want to take advantage of this opportunity sign up as soon as possible, as both events are expected to fill up. There’s an added incentive of a 25 percent discount on registration fees if you sign up for both.

Nonprofit Boot Camp

The Nonprofit Boot Camp returns after a two-year hiatus, during which the Craigslist Foundation wound down and transferred its programs to other nonprofits. SM4NP took over the organizing role of Boot Camp, which was a natural fit since SM4NP co-founder, Darian Rodriguez Heyman, was the original Boot Camp founder, while serving as the Craigslist Foundation’s executive director. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nonprofits Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Five Ways to be a Good Neighbor in June

June 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment
PinterestShare

Child-Advocates-Silicon-ValleyIt’s warm in the Bay Area this weekend, a preview of the summer ahead. After school is out, and graduations are over, think about helping out  to make our communities just a little nicer and friendlier during this season. Here are five suggestions for the month of June.

1. Speak Up for Children: The nonprofit group  Child Advocates of Silicon Valley is looking for volunteers who are willing to stand up and aid children in the foster care system. More than 100 children are currently on the waiting list for advocate services. Orientations for interested or new volunteers are taking place throughout the month at locations in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, Milpitas, and San Jose. See the group’s orientation page for more information.

2. Enjoy Some Music, Dance, and Food in SF: Kick off your summer with some great music and maybe some dancing in The City. Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9, tap your feet to the beat of the Golden Gate Band Festival, at the Spreckels Temple of Music in Golden [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fundraising Help for Nonprofits

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
PinterestShare

globalgiving-nonprofits-fundraising-pamela-lee-good-neighbor-storiesEditor’s Note: I’m happy to welcome Pamela Lee as a guest blogger. I first met Pamela through Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue, which she leads and works for tirelessly as a volunteer. She’s now a GlobalGiving Ambassador for the San Francisco Bay Area, with a goal of helping even more nonprofits.

Ever wanted to boost your fundraising with more online tools, or expand your donor base?

GlobalGiving has helped 7,858 projects, non-profits and social entrepreneurs grow their community of donors and volunteers to raise a total of $85 million since 2002. GlobalGiving works with non-profit organizations registered anywhere in the world to upgrade their fundraising strategy in many ways:

  • Expand your donor networks and access resources to develop your fundraising strategies.
  • Connect to corporate giving campaigns at companies like Ford, Nike Foundation, Dell, and more.
  • Non-US organizations can get tax-deductible donations for US-based donors.
  • Each week, about 40,000 individuals visit GlobalGiving’s website, offering great exposure for our nonprofit partners’ projects! [Read more...]
Filed Under: Nonprofits Tagged With: , , , , ,

Five Ways to Be a Good Neighbor in May

May 2, 2013 By 2 Comments
PinterestShare

thank-a-teacherRecently I was told that “Top 5″ lists are “OVER!”, as they say in Portlandia. Random numbered lists are supposedly in.

Ah, well, it’s a tradition here at Good Neighbor Stories to count down five ways to help others in the Bay Area every month. So maybe the number is a little passe, but helping others never goes out of style. Here is the May 2013 list of ways you can be a good neighbor.

1. Praise Our Public Servants: We could not function without our nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. May is the month to formally thank them, with May 4 as International Firefighters Day, May 6-12 as National Nurses Week, May 7 as National Teacher Appreciation Day (6-10 is the official week), May 12-18 as National Police Week, and May 19-25 as National EMS Week. Consider saying “thank you” to these [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Update: Super Volunteer Weekend Includes ‘Giant Sweep’ Event in SF

April 25, 2013 By 1 Comment
PinterestShare

Giant Sweep EventEarlier this week I told you about what I’m dubbing as the Bay Area’s “Super Volunteer Weekend”, with numerous volunteer and charity walks taking place all over the region. Beautiful Day and Compassion Weekend alone could attract more than 10,000 volunteers. Now add a “Giant Sweep” event on Saturday, April 27, sponsored by the San Francisco Giants, the City of San Francisco, and Starbucks.

I don’t normally visit Starbucks, so I”m not surprised I missed the news that the company declared April as the “Global Month of Service,” and Saturday, April 27, as the “Global Day of Service”. It’s all part of a community service initiative of Starbuck’s to rack up 1 million hours of community service amongst participating staffers and patrons by the year 2015.

On Saturday the company is partnering with the San Francisco Giants and the City of San Francisco for a Giant Sweep anti-litter event. The public is invited to meet at 8:30 a.m. at the U.N. Plaza, 1150 Market St., for a kickoff ceremony, followed by clean up events located all over the city. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Pay It Forward’ Today

April 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
PinterestShare

Pay It Forward DayToday, April 25, is the 7th annual Pay It Forward Day, when people around the world are asked to perform kind deeds for up to three people, and in turn encouraging each recipient of the deed to “pay it forward” to up to three more people, and so on. The hope is to spread a wave of 5 million acts of kindness around the world in one day.

The Pay It Forward website includes downloadable and printable cards to pass out to the receivers of the good deeds. The cards themselves are then passed on to the next recipients. On the back of each card are check boxes, so that as they travel recipients can see how many people have already been a part of the chain of kindness. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Kindness Tagged With: , , , , ,

Wounded Soldiers Catch Some Waves Thanks to Operation Surf

April 24, 2013 By 1 Comment
PinterestShare
Operation-Surf-Amazing-Surf-Adventures-Operation-Comfort-Van-Curaza-Richard-Schmidt-Mark-Brazwell-wounded-soldiers-by-Pam-Marino-Good-Neighbor-Stories

Mark Brazwell (front) steadies himself while surfing with Operation Surf in Santa Cruz.

When San Jose native Mark Brazwell  suffered debilitating leg injuries in Afghanistan as part of a U.S. Navy explosives ordinance disposal unit, he had no idea that experience would lead to standing tall while riding the waves in Santa Cruz.

“It’s absolutely amazing; it’s beyond words,” Brazwell said, after a morning of surfing off of Cowell’s Beach near the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. After growing up Boogieboarding, bodysurfing, and skateboarding, he always dreamed of actually surfing. Thanks to a nonprofit program called Operation Surf, that dream became a reality last week—despite his injuries.

Brazwell and nine other soldiers—some missing legs, arms, or feet—got a week of surfing April 15-19, thanks to the program coordinated by the nonprofit Amazing Surf Adventures, in conjunction with another nonprofit, Operation Comfort.

“We had no idea it would be this intense, and there would be so much support,” Brazwell said, referring to the dozens of volunteers who made Operation Surf possible.

There were two volunteer surf instructors in the water for every soldier that particular day, with even more on the beach coordinating food, transportation, lodging and anything else the soldiers needed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nonprofits Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bay Area’s Super Volunteer Weekend Approaches; Sign Up to Make a Difference

April 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
PinterestShare
Beautiful-Day-volunteer-events

From Beautiful Day 2012.

A wave of kindness and compassion is about to wash over the Bay Area this weekend. Are you ready to dive in?

Numerous nonprofit and faith-based groups are sponsoring large-scale volunteer events all over the region April 27 and 28, and they’re counting on you, along with thousands of others, to swing hammers, pull weeds, paint homes, beautify schools, and take long walks all in the name of helping our communities.

The biggest events of the weekend, Beautiful Day and Compassion Weekend, could draw as many as 10,000 people to projects from San Francisco to Hollister.  National Rebuilding Day takes place on Saturday, when even more thousands of volunteers representing four local chapters of Rebuilding Together will refurbish dozens homes. There are a few more Earth Day events taking place, and several charity walks are slated.

UPDATE (4/25/13): Giant Sweep, a collaboration of Starbucks, the San Francisco Giants, and the City of San Francisco, is also taking place on Saturday, April 27, in what the coffee giant is calling a Global Day of Service. Up to 1,000 volunteers are needed to clean up litter and make improvements around the city from 8:30 a.m. to lunchtime.

Below is a rundown of all the major events happening in the region this weekend, with links to online registrations. Consider joining your neighbors in making the Bay Area a better place for all.

Did I miss an event? Please share the information in comments! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Earth Day!

April 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
PinterestShare
earth-day-2013

Image Credit: Giving Tuesday.

On this Earth Day, let us remember that by being good neighbors to the Earth, we are good neighbors to all who inhabit the planet.

Filed Under: World Tagged With:

Silicon Valley Solidarity Run for Boston on Monday Evening

April 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
PinterestShare

Picture 3Members of Silicon Valley’s running community are gathering in Mountain View on Monday, April 22, to run in solidarity with victims of the Boston Marathon bombings last Monday. A local running store is hosting the event, and will be taking orders for t-shirts as part of a fundraiser for The One Fund Boston.

The “Runners for Boston Solidarity Run” will take place at 6:30 p.m. along the Stevens Creek Trail. Anyone interested in participating in the four-mile fun run/walk is encouraged to meet before 6:30 p.m., by the Burger King in the Mountain View Shopping Center, 177 W. El Camino Real. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts