Sparked Blog

This guest post is by Super Volunteer, Jerry Bishop. At Sparked, we can’t say enough about Jerry. His commitment to online volunteering is off the charts! Thanks Jerry. You can find Jerry’s Sparked profile here: http://www.sparked.com/profile/118de0fb7f 

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I realized this weekend that it was a year ago Christmas that I began as a
volunteer on Sparked.com. The year has gone by really fast and I have been
reflecting on what my volunteering has meant to me.

More than anything, I am just so grateful to be able to volunteer through
Sparked and in very small ways, help people who are on the front lines of
making a difference. It may seem crazy but in researching answers to
challenges I often feel like I am taking a little trip to a new place and
clicking on the Choose a Challenge feature is like taking a spin on a
roulette wheel where every number is a winner.

I also really enjoy being able to ‘meet’ the others Sparkers and
collaborate challenges. I love reading people’s answers and getting a
little glimpse into who they are through their profiles. Seeing the ideas
and contributions of others inspires me and challenges me to improve my own
contributions. The Sparked site is also nice in that we can acknowledge the
great ideas of others with a Thumbs Up or comment.

But having just looked back through my past challenges I feel a little
guilty my contribution has been more consistent. After all, it takes so
little time to help out on a challenge that I should simply schedule it
like everything else (done).

Looking back this weekend has also reminded me how important Sparked has
been for so many organizations, the challenge authors, and the causes they
serve. It reminds me to follow-up with a few of them I haven’t seen in a
while. It also reminds me just how important the micro-encounters we have
with one another on Sparked can really lead to some very big things
happening.

PS – I would also like to acknowledge the fantastic work by the Sparked team for their continued investment in the service. It has been a lot fun watching the innovations roll out and the popularity of the site explode.

Talk about starting off with a bang! Last Friday, the folks over at LinkedIn had their first foray into microvolunteering — launching Sparked globally to their employees as part of InDay, the one Friday of each month where employees worldwide break from their daily routine and work on investing in themselves and their communities. And the results were pretty staggering — in one day, LinkedIn employees from all over the world completed 235 nonprofit challenges for organizations from every corner of the globe.

You can read more about it here, on the LinkedIn blog.

Interested in starting an employee volunteering team for your company? Find out more on our corporate home page.

(Photo of employees microvolunteering courtesy of LinkedIn)

Meet Julienne Mascellino: nonprofit staffer, social media maven, Master’s student, German-speaker, and killer microvolunteer.

When she’s not working – as International Exchanges Coordinator and Communications guru at the International Institute of Buffalo – Julienne is using her non-profit know-how, communications expertise, and boundless creativity to solve challenge after challenge… 92 to be exact.  We caught up with Julienne to find out what fuels her volunteering fire, and here’s what she had to say:

Why do you volunteer?

It’s good for the soul.

What do you like best about microvolunteering?

I love talking about nonprofits (their structure, the theories behind their conception); and I enjoy brainstorming about ways to make them better.  This is the essence of microvolunteering: idea-sharing our way to change.

Nonprofit organizations are living organisms that achieve results and change communities.  Your hospital or your college may be a nonprofit.  If you’re part of religious organization, then you are a member of a nonprofit organization.  These agencies touch each of our lives in very special and powerful ways.  I really value the opportunity to help strengthen this sector – both in the US and abroad.

What was your favorite challenge so far?           

I really enjoy the challenges on social media or Facebook.  There is such potential to use these means to reach new demographics – arguably, specific demographics – but the tools can be really effective.  They are cost-effective (or free!) and often come with useful apps like analytics.

One organization posted articles that needed to be transcribed for an upcoming exhibit at a history museum, as well as for inclusion in a soon-to-published book.  The agency really communicated the end goal to the volunteers, which bolstered productivity.   This was a great challenge for the microvolunteering format.  It made me feel like I was really contributing something – and transcribing one of the articles didn’t take much time at all.  After the challenge closed, the nonprofit posted that the Sparked volunteers transcribed 30,000+ words in 8 days.  These transcriptions had been piling up in their Michigan office for 5 years and the challenge was completed in 1 week!

When you’re not volunteering, where can you be found?             

With my head in the books – I’m two semesters and a thesis away from completing graduate school at SUNY Brockport.  I’m studying for my Master’s degree in Public Health Administration, with a Certificate in Nonprofit Management; for which, I’ve already completely my coursework.  The grad work requires a lot of my attention, but otherwise you will probably find me planning my upcoming wedding to the coolest guy in the whole world!

We have so many awesome designers on Sparked using their creative abilities and brand know-how to help nonprofits, we thought it was about time we showcase some of their work. This is one of those designers.

Jennifer Bettendorff is a Visual Designer with Frog Design Inc.’s San Francisco office. We asked her a few questions about her work as a designer, and about her experience microvolunteering.  Check out her responses below, along with some samples of her work.

How did you get started as a designer?

I kind of got a late start in design. I began my career as a computer engineer and became a victim of the dot com bust. As sad as it was that I was unemployed with few opportunities for getting another job, it made me re-evaluate what I was doing and where my real passion lies. I ultimately decided to go back to school, get another bachelor’s degree, and enter the world of design. I’ve never looked back.

Save the Date Card for American Heart Association

What’s your favorite thing about being a designer?

What I love most about being a designer is having the opportunity to influence the way people view and interact with things that surround them…while, hopefully, making beautiful things at the same time.

Where does your design inspiration come from?

I get my design inspiration from my surroundings. Whether it be the physical space that I am in or the people who surround me, I always gather inspiration by observing my environment. I am also now inspired by my toddler whose innocence in exploration has reinvigorated my ability to see things from a different perspective.

Stationery and business cards for Yansa.

What motivates you to volunteer?

I volunteer because it makes me feel good to share my skills with people who are doing amazing, very meaningful work…often times on a very small budget. I enjoy being a designer, so if I can volunteer my time and skills and allow an organization to spend their budget elsewhere, then it’s a positive situation for everyone.

For me, the best part of microvolunteering is being exposed to so many non-profits who are doing such great work. Having so many choices for volunteering based on the amount of time I have available makes it SO easy to help whenever I have some spare time. And, honestly, if it wasn’t for Sparked, I might not take the time to find an organization to volunteer for.

Marcia Silva knows a thing or two about using her professional skills to help nonprofits.  In addition to microvolunteering, she works full-time as a nonprofit branding and communications consultant at i.e. Communications in San Francisco, California, and sits on the board of Go Inspire Go, a media organization that uses storytelling and social media to inspire people to do good.

“I volunteer because it makes my life feel complete, and I really don’t mean to sound cheesy about that,” she says. “For me, it’s all about balance – I love having my me-time, but if I could spend some of my free time doing something that’ll help someone out, I’d like to dedicate that time.”  Microvolunteering initially caught her attention as a way to collaborate with peers online, and has kept it because she loves the flexibility. “It’s great knowing that at 10pm on a Sunday night, I can just go online and spend a few minutes tackling a challenge,” she says.

In addition to helping nonprofits with their communications needs, Marcia also loves a good brainstorming session, and has been known to coin a phrase or two in the process. For example, “I recently won an award of excellence from the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) for helping to name their blog,” she says, noting that the final choice they made from her suggestions was actually one of the more simple ideas presented. “I think we sometimes over-think our messages, which is so easy to do when we’re inundated with information and calls to action everyday – sometimes the simplest message is the best choice.”

When she’s not volunteering, Marcia is usually to be found absorbing any and all media “like a sponge,” she says, be it from the Internet, television, movie theatres, music venues, or panel discussions.

One of the coolest things about microvolunteering (if we do say so ourselves) is its global reach. Not only do we work with nonprofits in over 50 countries, but our volunteers come from all corners of the globe as well.  Take Shraddha Sankhe, for example – a 21-year-old accounting student and journalist from Mumbai, India.

In addition to her accounting skills, Shraddha is a self-professed social media devotee who loves helping nonprofits with Internet optimization and blogging, which she has learned from personal experience.

We wanted to get to know this young volunteer a little better, so we asked her a few questions about her Sparked experience:

What motivates you to volunteer?

I’m 21, totally revved up to change the world-starting with the community we belong to.

What about microvolunteering?

I am tempted to volunteer, doubly tempted to save time. Microvolunteering is the future. I want to be a part of it, in whatever small way I can.

Do you have a favorite challenge so far?

There is one where I answered EarthRights International’s query on blogging and social media, [and] got an award of excellence. Being appreciated is good too.

What do you like to do when you’re not volunteering?

On Twitter, in the library or writing a blog about street kids in Mumbai.

Meet microvolunteer and Sparked twitter-vangelist, Deb Mills-Scofield.  A strategy and innovation planner (or professional trouble-maker, as she puts it), Deb has been part of our Sparked community since the launch back in October of last year.

She joined the microvolunteering ranks after hearing our very own Jacob Colker present a the Business Innovation Factory, because she says it, “gets you to think creatively and outside of your normal sandbox.” Since then, she’s completed several challenges, including her favorite so far — helping CALICO (Child Abuse Listening, Interviewing & Coordination Center) figure out how to optimize the little time they had for social media.

Her hidden talent of “figuring out how some very simple things can have a huge impact,” serves her well in microvolunteering challenges, where the recipient organizations often have limited resources, and the challenges generally take only a few minutes.

A long-time volunteer, Deb says she does so because, “to whom much is given, much is joyously required.” She also sees a ripple effect in her own life from microvolunteering:

“As a parent it’s a terrific way to show my kids how they can easily have a big impact and improve lives, [and] that small things count as well as big things.”

What is Deb doing when she’s not volunteering? Working, watching her kids’ soccer and basketball games, reading, or mentoring.

Learn more about Deb on her website: www.mills-scofield.com or follow her on twitter @dscofield.

Here’s another post from our Volunteer Spotlight Series, where we pick one of our awesome Sparked microvolunteers and share their story with you. Enjoy!

Rachel Smith is, as she puts it, “just another Smith in a world of 2,720,817 Smiths, trying to live my life to the fullest extent.”

A recent graduate with a B.S. in Professional Writing, Rachel will start law school in the fall, and the Cedar Hill, Missouri resident has thus far spent the time in between doing a whole lotta good. Through her website Just b.CAUSE (http://justbcause.com), she offers free design services to nonprofits and bloggers, asking only that those bloggers make a donation to a charity of their choice as compensation.

“I believe in this famous quote [by Ghandi]: The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” she says of her love of volunteering.

Only having been with Sparked for a few weeks, Rachel confesses that she is “already hooked” — drawn to the international nature of microvolunteering, and the exposure it allows her to nonprofits she would otherwise never had heard of.  “Above all, though,” she states unequivocally, “it’s the community vibe that keeps me coming back!”

Just what kind of microvolunteering has she been doing? Well, she designed the custom Twitter background seen below for Samaritans Offering Support, and also took on a slightly larger project which she calls her favorite so far — creating a Facebook landing page for Physicians for Peace. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know the organization and learning more about AJAX in the process,” she explains.

Learn more about Rachel on her website http://justbcause.com.