VolunteerMatch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
VolunteerMatch is the dba name used by Impact Online, Inc., a San Francisco, California-based 501(c)(3) public charity organization which promotes volunteerism and civic engagement by helping volunteers find a charity which can use their services and non-profit organizations recruit committed volunteers. The organization's best-known service is its public web service, volunteermatch.org, which in December 2007 listed opportunities from over 54,000 non-profit organizations and had over 1.3 million members. In 2006 the service received visits from more than 4.7 million visitors, and made 441,000 referrals of volunteers to opportunities.[1]
VolunteerMatch's approach to civic engagement and community involvement is primarily market driven. The organization considers social engagement in a charity's mission to be a public good with both a supply-side (the volunteers) and a demand-side (the charity) dynamic. In relation to the ability of internet technologies to connect volunteers with nonprofits, VolunteerMatch considers traditional market mechanisms of social engagement such as institutional volunteer programs, generational volunteering, newspaper display ads, campus internship offices, and bulletin boards to be inefficient structures for volunteer recruitment and management. The organization also argues that volunteering based on one's personal needs can lead to stronger identification and engagement.
In December 2007, VolunteerMatch.org was the only non-for-profit service included in TIME magazine's list of "Top 10 Websites" for 2007.
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[edit] Operations
VolunteerMatch's public web service, volunteermatch.org, in December 2007 listed opportunities from over 54,000 non-profit organizations and had over 1.3 million members. In 2006 the service received visits from more than 4.7 million visitors, and made 441,000 referrals of volunteers to opportunities.[1]
[edit] History
Impact Online was founded in 1998 by Jay Backstrand and Craig Jacoby, with some $300,000 in backing from Silicon Valley companies. [2] [3]
[edit] Corporate Organization
ImpactOnline, Inc. is the formal legal name for the 501(c)(3) corporation which operates the "VolunteerMatch" service. ImpactOnline's address is 717 California Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA. Its telephone number is +1-15-241-6868. Its web site is volunteermatch.org
In 2005, Impact Online Inc. reported revenues of $2,133,012 and expenses of $2,940,328, for an operating deficit of $807,316. Net assets dropped from $3,310,123 to $2,503,478 over the year.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- http://volunteermatch.org/, VolunteerMatch's website
- http://www.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/, VolunteerMatch for Nonprofits
- http://www.volunteermatch.org/corporations/, VolunteerMatch Corporate Solutions
- http://www.issuemarketing.com/case-study/volunteermatch/background.html, Case Study at Issue Marketing
[edit] References
- ^ a b VolunteerMatch. "A Network for Social Change: 2006 Annual Report". Retrieved on 2006-09-28. Usage statistics on pages 3, 6.
- ^ Miller, Leslie (1998-04-29), “Volunteers only need to click to sign up”, USA Today, <http://www.volunteermatch.org/pressroom/news/newsshell.jsp?id=159>. Retrieved on 28 September 2006
- ^ Caplan, Jeremy and Kristina Dell (2007-09-10), “The Activists - VolunteerMatch”, TIME Magazine, <http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1657256_1655085_1654848,00.html>. Retrieved on 10 September 2007
- ^ VolunteerMatch. "Form 990 tax return". Retrieved on 2006-09-28.

