Hands on Network

Last updated
HandsOn Network
Type Private, Non-Profit
Founded1992  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia

The HandsOn Network was a non-profit organization focusing on community service based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. It sought to bring people together to strengthen communities through meaningful volunteer action, and mobilized some half million volunteers in communities inside and outside the United States. HandsOn Network created and managed nearly 50,000 projects a year, from building wheelchair ramps in San Francisco to teaching reading in Atlanta, to rebuilding homes and lives in Gulf Coast communities following Hurricane Katrina. Originally an independent organization, it became part of the nonprofit organization. The nonprofit was disbanded sometimes in 2019.

Contents

History

The organization was founded 1992 under the name City Cares. They sought an alternate way of doing volunteering, in contrast to established organizations such as the Points of Light Foundation and its associated Voluntary Action Centers. [1] In particular, they sought to focus on attracting younger, more business-focused volunteers by offering a single day of service on a per-month basis. [1] The national entity would then be an umbrella organization and which would provide shared resources to local entities. [2]

Example local affiliates included New York Cares, which in point of fact was launched in 1987 and provided the basis for the later national model. [2]

In 2004, City Cares renamed itself to the HandsOn Network. [1]

Over time, HandsOn Network became made up of 58 national and international volunteer organizations that act as entrepreneurial civic action centers. HandsOn Network worked in partnership with local organizations and schools to create HandsOn service projects that produce tangible benefits in communities. The Network enlisted a corps of hundreds of thousands of volunteers who join forces to address community needs worldwide.

HandsOn Network collaborated with hundreds of major companies and organizations to promote volunteerism across the United States. They include the CMT television station [3] and SAP investments, [4] as well as several with nonprofit organizations and volunteer groups. [5] Additional corporate sponsors of HandsOn Network included Home Depot, Outback Steakhouse, Cisco Systems, Ameriquest, The Coca-Cola Company, Corporation for National and Community Service, W.K. Kellog Foundation, UnitedHealth Group, Case Foundation, Singing for Change, and others.

In August 2007, HandsOn Network merged with the Points of Light Foundation to form the Points of Light Institute, the nation's largest network of organizations skilled at mobilizing volunteers to meet important needs in local communities. [6] and its website redirected to www.pointsoflight.org/handsonnetwork during much of 2019. Its original website, handsonnetwork.org, no longer works and the Points of Light Foundation page about the network was taken down by the Fall of 2019. [7]

The individual volunteer centers under the HandsOn Network, such as HandsOn Atlanta, HandsOn Suburban Chicago, HandsOn Twin Cities (Minnesota), HandsOn San Francisco and HandsOn PDX (for the Portland, Oregon Metro area) remain.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">America's Promise</span> Foundation in the United States

America's Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest cross-sector alliance of nonprofit, community organizations, businesses, and government organizations dedicated to improving the lives of young people.

The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit sector, in contrast to the public sector and the private sector. Civic sector or social sector are other terms for the sector, emphasizing its relationship to civil society. Richard Cornuelle coined the term "independent sector" and was one of the first scholars to point out the vast impact and unique mechanisms of this sector. Given the diversity of organizations that comprise the sector, Peter Frumkin prefers "non-profit and voluntary sector".

Points of Light is an international nonprofit, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Georgia, United States dedicated to engaging more people and resources in solving serious social problems through voluntary service.

Citizen Corps is a program under the Department of Homeland Security that provides training for the population of the United States to assist in the recovery after a disaster or terrorist attack. Each local Citizen Corps Council partners with organizations, volunteers and businesses to organize responders, volunteers and professional first responders for an efficient response so efforts are not wasted by being duplicated. By training in Incident Command, volunteers know whom to report to and how the incident is organized. This prevents sites from being inundated by untrained and unprepared personnel preventing operation. Citizen Corps also works in conjunction with the Corporation for National and Community Service in promoting national service opportunities for promoting homeland security needs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Cares</span>

New York Cares is a nonprofit organization focused on volunteer management and was founded by a group of New York residents in 1987 who wanted to take action against social issues in New York City. The organization currently engages 65,000 volunteers in service each year. The organization works with about 1,300 nonprofits and schools, and aims to improve education, meet immediate needs, and revitalize public spaces throughout NYC. The organization plans and manages about 1,600 volunteer projects each month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Youth Service Day</span> Annual event

Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), originally launched and known as National Youth Service Day in the United States, is a coordinated annual event which voluntary gathers young people around the world in conducting community service, service learning, and youth voice activities that benefit their communities, their countries, and the world. Activities are organized in more than 100 countries each April to help mark the celebrations, and engage millions, making it the largest annual celebration of young volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Volunteer Day</span>

The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development, more commonly referred to as International Volunteer Day (IVD), is an international observance mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985. It offers an opportunity for volunteer-involving organizations and individual volunteers to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts, and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national, and international levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Olson</span> American philanthropist

Karen Olson is an American philanthropist who is the founder, and president emeritus of Family Promise, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping homeless and low-income families.

The phrase "a thousand points of light" was popularized by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and later formed the name of a private, non-profit organization launched by Bush to support volunteerism.

The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore (CFES) was established in 1984, and is located in Salisbury, Maryland. Its mission is to "To strengthen our community by connecting people who care with causes that matter to improve quality of life in our region" and its vision is for "...a community where all can live, learn, work, create and prosper". It serves the three lower counties of the Eastern Shore of Maryland: Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volunteering</span> Unpaid work undertaken freely by individuals as a service to others

Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve on an as-needed basis, such as in response to a natural disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Center for Voluntary Action</span>

The National Center for Voluntary Action was an independent, private, non-profit organization that existed in the 1970s, and then extended on in merged forms, that sought to encourage volunteerism on the part of American citizens and organizations, assist in program development for voluntary efforts, and sought to make voluntary action an important force in American society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Nunn</span> American nonprofit executive

Mary Michelle Nunn is an American philanthropic executive and politician. Since 2015 she has been president and CEO of CARE USA, the American national member of CARE International, the humanitarian aid and international development agency. She was CEO of Points of Light, an American nonprofit organization, from 2007 to 2013, and is a member of its board of directors as of 2015. She had been an executive for the volunteer service organization since 1990, previously running the predecessor and member organizations Hands On Atlanta, City Cares, and HandsOn Network. Nunn, a member of the Democratic Party, was her party's nominee in the race for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat in 2014. She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn.

Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) established and registered in 2005 in Kathmandu, Nepal by a group of social activists, educationalists, development workers, and other professionals. VIN is a non-religious, non-political, and non-profit organization. VIN focuses on empowerment projects in marginalized communities of Nepal through its programs and projects VIN mobilizes local and international volunteers and interns in developmental and humanitarian projects including research, education, training, and counseling.

Join Hands Day is the first Saturday in May. It is a national volunteer day and annual event sponsored by the American Fraternal Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good Deeds Day</span>

Good Deeds Day is an international day of volunteering. Beginning in 2007, its mission is to unite people from around the world in doing good deeds for others and the planet.

The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) was founded and incorporated in 1971 by David Horton Smith, with the help of Burt R. Baldwin, Richard D. Reddy, and Eugene D. White Jr. as the Association for Voluntary Action Scholars (AVAS).

Chicago Cares is a nonprofit organization that connects prospective volunteers with volunteer opportunities throughout Chicago. It was founded in 1991 by Leslie Bluhm and Mary Prchal and has mobilized more than 600,000 volunteers from all over Chicago. Chicago Cares is the largest volunteer organization service in the Midwest region. The organization hosts annual programs including the Serve-a-thon and a speed dating volunteer event. Their current mission statement is “Chicago Cares mobilizes volunteers to build a stronger, more unified Chicago.”

Susan J. Ellis was a trainer, presenter, researcher and consultant regarding volunteerism. She founded the largest publisher of volunteer-related books, Energize, Inc., which has published more than 25 books and provided consultancy and training services for organizations worldwide that involve volunteers, including the Everyone Ready Online Volunteer Management Training Program. She wrote or co-wrote 14 books, wrote more than 100 articles for various publications and is cited in more than 150 articles and books re: volunteerism. She was frequently called on by national media outlets for commentary regarding volunteerism and was quoted in stories in The New York Times,Fortune Magazine, the Chronicle of Philanthropy and many others. She is considered a pioneer regarding the promotion of the management of volunteers as a profession. She was based in Philadelphia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ellis, Susan J. "Historical Context of the Merger Between POL and HON". Energize, Inc. Retrieved March 18, 2012. Included linked-to chart from the third edition of the Ellis–Noyes book.
  2. 1 2 "Volunteer Centers: A History of America". Points of Light Foundation. March 31, 2005.
  3. ↑ (2006) CMT One Country and University of Phoenix Partner to Recognize the Power of Volunteerism. Archived 2007-09-11 at the Wayback Machine 4/25/06. Retrieved 4/27/07.
  4. ↑ (2007) Atlanta-Area Companies Drive Efficiency, Performance and Growth with SAP. 4/20/07. Retrieved 4/27/07.
  5. ↑ Sills, M. (2007) Charity aim of spring breaks: Students to spend vacation volunteering. Archived 2008-03-21 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 4/29/07.
  6. ↑ Points of Light Foundation website. Retrieved 11/11/07.
  7. ↑ "Points of Light's HandsOn Network Inside the United States". Points of LIght. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.