My employer, ASI, gives employees three hours a month to use to do volunteer work of your choice, and I’m busy thinking up ways to use that time. After Hurricane Katrina, I spent a half day at the Capitol Area Food Bank, using some hours that BMC gave to employees to spend their time helping Katrina evacuees. In a half day, four of us processed 8,400 pounds of food which can make 6,720 meals. So I might try to do that work again. It was interesting and I learned a lot. I’d also like helping out kids or parents, so I may investigate areas where the local school districts use volunteers. I also like that our local NPR station, kut.org, has a Get involved page.
Working at a company that enables non-profits has really made me want to learn about our users and how non-profits work. I found this game online called Karma Tycoon, where you run your own non-profit. It looks like it’s sponsered by Chase. Also interesting reading lately has been about non-profits in Second Life. I haven’t tried Second Life yet, mostly due to lack of time (I’d rather be blogging).
So if you’re knowledgeable about non-profits, membership management, church organizations, and so forth, let me know of websites and books that you find useful. And if you have good ideas for three hours a month of time spent volunteering near Austin, TX, let me know. I’ll keep you posted on my efforts.