ATLANTA - May 7, 2009 - President Obama just announced his full budget for fiscal year 2010, and 10 million dollars is proposed to support the Volunteer Generation Fund, an important first step in growing and strengthening our nation's volunteer infrastructure, and an integral part of the President's call to service campaign. The Corporation for National and Community Service, an organization that engages more than four million Americans yearly in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, will be responsible for distributing the funds.

Points of Light Institute played a significant role in the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act through its role as a Co-Convener of Service Nation, and specifically helped advocate for the creation of the Volunteer Generation Fund. This fund represents a significant and important investment to ensure that there is a robust and responsive system for increasing volunteerism, and ensuring that volunteer efforts are well-managed and effective.

"We are thrilled that the President has prioritized the funding of the Volunteer Generation Fund. This will dramatically strengthen citizen service and enable nonprofits to effectively channel the enormous increase in volunteer interest across the country," said Michelle Nunn, CEO - Points of Light Institute, the largest volunteer management and civic engagement organization in the world. "This year alone, we have seen a 60 percent increase in the number of volunteers stepping up to support communities through our network of 250 volunteer management and connector organizations. It is essential that we continue to develop a strategy to ensure that we take advantage of the upsurge in volunteerism to support our over-burdened social service agencies."

The need for this increased infrastructure support was highlighted in the 2009 Volunteer Impact Survey results, recently released by Deloitte. For example, of the nonprofit respondents who agree that the Obama administration's national call to service will cause an influx of volunteers to their organization, nearly 30 percent don't have the infrastructure in place to effectively deploy those wanting to help.

"After so many years of advocacy in this regard, the 10 million dollars is an extraordinary win for our field," continues Nunn. "We believe that this initial investment is a tremendous down-payment on the future opportunity to mobilize millions of additional volunteers that will create literally billions of dollars of return in value for local nonprofits across the country."

About Points of Light Institute
Points of Light Institute is the largest volunteer management and civic engagement organization in the nation and has a global focus to redefine volunteerism for the 21st century by putting people at the center of community problem solving. Our vision is that one day every person will discover their power to make a difference, creating healthy communities in vibrant democracies around the world. To realize this vision, Points of Light Institute operates three dynamic business units that share a mission to equip, mobilize and inspire people to change the world: HandsOn Network, MissionFish and the Civic Incubator.

Points of Light

Points of Light

Points of Light is a global nonprofit organization that inspires, equips and mobilizes millions of people to take action that changes the world. We envision a world in which every individual discovers the power to make a difference, creating healthy communities in vibrant, participatory societies. Through 145 affiliates across 39 countries, and in partnership with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages 3.7 million volunteers in 16.7 million hours of service each year, contributing $498.7 million of value in people power into communities around the world. We bring the power of people to bear where it’s needed most. To learn more about Points of Light visit pointsoflight.org. 

Partnering with Points of Light means you’ll have the expertise and support you need to mobilize your colleagues and create community impact using all aspects of civic engagement. We've helped companies with a variety of needs including implementing large-scale employee volunteer events, tackling your larger social impact vision, expanding how you engage communities and consumers, infusing new ideas to your annual employee engagement programs, connecting with peers to bring the latest and greatest ideas on impact measurement, and getting company leadership investment and buy-in. Learn more today.

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