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Volunteer Impact Program Featured in North Seattle Herald-Outlook

ESC's Volunteer Impact Program and VIP Manager, Wendy Graff, were featured in an article discussing the opportunity for hunger organizations to assess and improve their volunteer management programs. VIP is offered in collaboration with and funded by United Way of King County's Volunteer Center.

2009 Jefferson Awards

Nancy Long was part of the panel discussion at this year's Jefferson Awards, which honor ordinary people who do extraordinary things for others. See the links below for more information on the discussion and the 2009 winners.

The Promise and Challenges of Service: the 2009 Jefferson Awards Discussion

2009 Jefferson Award Winners

Nancy Long Presents on Recruiting and Using Executive Volunteers

Nancy presented on "Recruiting (and Using) Executive Volunteers" at the Mental Health Corporations of America, Inc. Summer Conference on August 20, 2009. Visit our Resources page to watch the presentation and download supplemental materials from the workshop.

ESC Volunteer Consultant John Rains Cook Passes Away

ESC mourns the passing of John, who died in his Dallas home on July 8, 2009 of complications related to cancer. John and his wife, Sandy, joined ESC in 2000. Together they received the John Pehrson Award for their outstanding strategic planning work with Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program in 2002 and 2003. His work with Page Ahead was just one example of John's commitment to education; his obituary in The Dallas Morning News reflects his long history of volunteer work. Memorials to John may be made to St. Simon's After-School Program, P.O. Box 700324, Dallas, Texas 75370.

Jolkona Foundation Featured in The Seattle Times

ESC client organization Jolkona Foundation was featured along with another local nonprofit in a front-page article about making philanthropy more personal.

Jolkona allows potential donors to choose a specific project to fund, and then provides detailed information on the impact of the contributions made. The organization targets young people, primarily aged 15 to 35, showing them the power that even a very small donation can have.

Co-founder and Executive Director Adnan Mahmud approached ESC for assistance when the organization was just getting off the ground. Consultants Doug Petrie, Neha Khandelia, and Kim Heuss have been working with Jolkona since September 2008 on a business plan and long-term strategies for success.

Nancy Long speaks on skills-based volunteerism at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service

ESC Executive Director Nancy Long spoke about skills-based volunteers at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service this week. The conference was the largest in history and skills-based volunteerism was one of the "buzz topics." While the Executive Service Corps movement has existed for over 30 years - and ESC of Washington was founded 20 years ago - the field of volunteerism is rediscovering this high impact form of volunteerism. Nancy partnered with Alison Carl White, executive director of Seattle Works, an affiliate of the HandsOn network, reinforcing the point that professionals of all ages are interested in providing pro bono service with its focus on time-limited engagements guided by a clear scope of work. The Skills-Based Volunteerism presentation and Readiness Assessment tool she presented can be found here.

Read Nancy's blog posts from the conference on the Philanthropy Northwest website, including information about Michelle Obama's keynote speech.


Funding News

The Boeing Company supports collaboration between ESC and Shunpike

The Boeing Company recently announced a $20,000 joint award to Shunpike and ESC. The funding will support a collaborative effort between Shunpike and ESC to explore enhanced programs for mid-sized arts groups looking for strategic development support. Shunpike's Sustainable Organizations program targets these groups with customized services, and ESC serves these groups through its cohort-based Springboard program. Together, Shunpike and ESC will work to meet the needs of mid-sized arts groups. Members of the service corps will also have opportunities to work with Shunpike staff to support arts and cultural organizations.

Seattle Foundation approves $70,000 grant to expand ESC's capacity.

The Seattle Foundation, a long-time supporter of Executive Service Corps work with nonprofits has increased its support for 2010 in order to support the addition of new staff and organizational changes at ESC. The Seattle Foundation Vice President of Community Leadership, Michael Brown, said of the grant “We have been impressed with the work ESC has been doing to make high quality capacity building services accessible and affordable to nonprofits. We are investing in an exciting plan ESC has developed to expand these services into a full service management support organization. For too long, King County has been without this important resource.”