3.21.2005 ET

(CSRwire) SAN FRANCISCO -- Jessica O'Connell, an English teacher and Honor Society Advisor, made history on March 16 when she volunteered to help with a fundraiser in New York City. O'Connell found an opportunity with the Huntington's Disease Society on VolunteerMatch, and by offering to help she became the 2,000,000th volunteer referral. A regular user of VolunteerMatch, she relies upon the free service to assist National Honor Society students at the Bronx Leadership Academy in Manhattan. With O'Connell's guidance, VolunteerMatch has helped the students find out about opportunities to serve in their neighborhoods, as well as in the rest of the city.

"I appreciate how easy it is to search on VolunteerMatch," said O'Connell. "I love being able to screen the service opportunities to see what would be good for my teens who might want to volunteer in a group, and it's a good teambuilding and morale-boosting resource, as well!"

Of the 2,000,000 volunteer referrals originating from VolunteerMatch since its introduction in early 1998, more than 25% occurred in the last 12 months. A number of important factors contributed to this record growth, including increased awareness of the VolunteerMatch service, and the domestic volunteer response to the tsunamis in Southeast Asia, which set record levels of volunteer referral activity in December and January.

Currently, VolunteerMatch generates more than 1,500 new volunteer referrals a day to nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations throughout the United States. These community service organizations--including soup kitchens, schools, homeless shelters, government offices, etc.--supplement their volunteer recruitment efforts by collectively posting more than 30,000 volunteer opportunities on VolunteerMatch. The free service more efficiently and effectively helps them find the volunteers that they need. For example, the organization Jessica O'Connell chose to volunteer with--The New York City chapter of the Huntington's Disease Society of America--has had excellent results with VolunteerMatch, receiving nearly 100 volunteer referrals for the volunteer opportunities it has posted with the free nonprofit service.

The VolunteerMatch service makes it easy for anyone to find volunteer opportunities and get involved in communities throughout the United States. Potential volunteers simply enter their ZIP code on the VolunteerMatch home page at www.volunteermatch.org to receive an up-to-date listing of local volunteer opportunities. Volunteers may also specify an interest--the most popular are "Community," "Children & Youth," and "Education & Literacy"--to refine the list of available opportunities.

"Every day, both volunteers and nonprofit organizations across the country visit VolunteerMatch to do an ever-growing number of good deeds," said Deborah Dinkelacker, president of VolunteerMatch. "It is truly our privilege to bring so many people together on behalf of our shared needs and ideals, and as we take a moment to celebrate two million volunteer referrals, we eagerly anticipate the next two million."

To volunteer, or to learn more about VolunteerMatch, visit www.volunteermatch.org.

About VolunteerMatch

VolunteerMatch is a leader in the nonprofit world dedicated to helping everyone find a great place to volunteer. The organization offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. VolunteerMatch welcomes millions of visitors a year and has become the preferred volunteer recruiting service for more than 30,000 nonprofit organizations. The organization also offers professional business services to support corporations committed to managing successful community involvement programs. VolunteerMatch is the recipient of Webby Awards for "Activism" and "Services," and has been recognized for its accomplishments by The White House, M.I.T, the Smithsonian Institution and most recently as the Grand Prize winner of the 2004 Yale-Goldman Sachs Foundation's nonprofit business plan competition.

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