Author Archives: Amy Potthast

11.03.09
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“The Way We Get By” Film to Air on PBS and Online Next Week

A new film shares the story of an community of service in Maine.

On Veteran’s Day, The Way We Get By — a new documentary about senior volunteers who staff a welcome center in the airport at Bangor, Maine, to receive returning military folks — will premiere on PBS stations as part of POV, “documentaries with a point of view.” (Check the broadcast schedule.)

From the show’s synopsis:

On call 24 hours a day for the past five years, a group of senior citizens has made history by greeting over 900,000 American troops at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. The Way We Get By is an intimate look at three of these greeters as they confront the universal losses that come with aging and rediscover their reason for living. Bill Knight, Jerry Mundy and Joan Gaudet find the strength to overcome their personal battles and transform their lives through service. This inspirational and surprising story shatters the stereotypes of today’s senior citizens as the greeters redefine the meaning of community.

Participants of the Conference on Volunteering and Service in June 2009 were invited to a preview of the film, but now anyone with a television or internet connection (Nov. 12 through Dec. 12, the film will stream online) will be able to view the film.

Here are other ways to share the film’s message in your community:

11.03.09
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Chronicle of Philanthropy Announces VolunTV Contest Finalists

Nov. 4th Update: A submission based on the t.v. show 30 Rock won the competition, with prize money to benefit Quality Services for the Autism Community, a New York nonprofit. Read more here:

The entry was submitted by Joe Moran, assistant director of multimedia development at the autism group, who created a video showing how 30 Rock could highlight the organization’s work in one of its episodes. The plot twist involves a cast member’s confusion over the words “artistic” and “autistic.”

And check out his submission:

This month, the Chronicle of Philanthropy has sponsored a contest for people to produce scripts of their favorite television shows with plot themes that incorporate volunteerism.

Finalists, announced recently, submitted scripts and video for shows like Bones, House, two submissions for Two and a Half Men, a couple for 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glee and at least a couple inspired by The Office (and here). (See all the submitted ideas and the nonprofits that will receive the prize money here.)

VolunTV contest judges include people like Ashley Judd and Nigel Barker  from the entertainment industry as well as leaders in our sector like volunteer resource management guru Susan Ellis, social media mavens Beth Kanter and NTEN‘s Holly Ross, and blogger and podcaster Rosetta Thurman.

Contest prizes and categories include:

  • $5,000 Grand Prize: The most creative pitch, script, or scene that best incorporates volunteerism
  • — written or video — into a TV show.
  • $2,500 Silver Prize (Text): A written pitch/script that effectively incorporates volunteerism into a TV show.
  • $2,500 Silver Prize (Video): A video pitch/scene that effectively incorporates volunteerism into a TV show.

Recently the Entertainment Industry Foundation and partners piloted the iParticipate campaign, in which t.v. shows actually mentioned volunteerism, or at least offered public service announcements in support of the iParticipate campaign.

11.02.09
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Atlas Corps Needs Your Help to Win America’s Giving Challenge

Last year, Atlas Corps won America’s Giving Challenge, and this year it’s in the running again — but it needs the support of people like you who care about service, crossing borders, and professional development for people dedicated to working in social impact careers from all over the world.

Atlas Corps, a year-long international service fellowship which sends U.S. residents abroad as well as brings foreign nationals to the United States to serve in nonprofits, is currently in sixth place in the overall competition that rewards the number of daily donors, not the total amount raised through the competition. Your daily donation of $10 can help Atlas Corps win, as it did last year.

See the standings — for today and “all-time” for this year’s competition — here.

America’s Giving Challenge, which takes place using the Facebook Causes platform, is co-sponsored by the Case Foundation, the W.G. Kellogg Foundation, and Parade Magazine, among other groups. According to the rules:

$50,000 will be awarded to the cause with the highest total number of unique daily donations over the 30 days of the Challenge. $25,000 will be awarded to the causes with the second and third highest total number of unique daily donations over the 30 days of the Challenge. $10,000 will be awarded to the next five causes with the highest total number of unique daily donations over the 30 days of the Challenge.

So far, over $1.3 million dollars has been donated to 7,600+ organizations, through the competition—by over 70,000 donors. Atlas Corps’s had nearly 2000 donors.

Last year Atlas Corps not only raised $33,000 through America’s Giving Challenge, but also won the $50,000 grand prize for having the most donors. The organization, headed by Scott Beale, went onto to win $20,000 from an online Ideablob competition. (Read more about these online contests here.)

I plan to donate daily this week because I believe that Atlas Corps’s mission of bringing nonprofit professionals from the Global South to serve in the U.S. nonprofit sector stands to strengthen our perspectives as well as help us discover new ways of solving problems. As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I also admire Atlas Corps’s efforts to send mid-career U.S. nonprofit professionals overseas — people who have a great deal of targeted skills, and who already speak the host country language fluently and can jump into short-term, high-skill roles at partner organizations. Atlas Corps is completely privately funded, and has only recently emerged from its pilot phase.

Learn more about Atlas Corps:

And please consider donating to Atlas Corps as part of America’s Giving Challenge.

11.02.09
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Site Visit: San Miguel School Gary Comer Campus in Chicago

Comer Staff greeting students as they enter the building

Comer Staff greeting students as they enter the building

Jim Conti contributed this post — a visit to a site where  Inner City Teaching Corps (ICTC) of Chicago’s Volunteer Teaching Corps (VTC) members serve. Jim is the program’s Recruiting Coordinator and Associate Director.

For 18 years, the Inner-City Teaching Corps has placed highly excited and motivated recent college graduates in high-need, urban schools.  Though some schools have been partners for many years, the Inner-City Teaching Corps’s Volunteer Teaching Corps also searches out new placements for volunteer teachers.  One such partnership was established in 2007 and has had members of the Volunteer Teaching Corps ever since.  The character, identity, and make-up of the school are specific to this one placement, but the message and sense of hope are transferable to all other school placements.

San Miguel School – Gary Comer Campus is located on Chicago’s West-side, specifically within the Austin neighborhood.  The school and community are almost entirely African-American, with a small percentage of students and residents coming from a Hispanic background.  The neighborhood lies to the West of the Garfield Park and Humboldt Park neighborhoods, and to the East of Chicago’s first Western suburb, Oak Park.  For several years now, residents have been facing the loss of affordable housing as the surrounding neighborhoods continue to be re-gentrified and the identity of this proud neighborhood is transformed. Continue reading →

10.30.09
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New Jersey Nonprofit Leader: Heather Calverase, Teach For America

Posted as part of Nonprofit Career Month, featuring the diversity of career opportunities in the nonprofit sector. Listen to more shows in this series.

Today’s guest is Heather Calverase, Executive Director of Teach For America’s Newark, New Jersey region where she is responsible for growing sustainable base of financial, community, and district awareness and support including cultivating and stewarding donations, building strong ties with local school districts, and recruiting corps members.

Prior to her position with Teach For America, Heather worked in the business sector, including nearly a decade with Kaplan, best known for its test preparation books and classes.

Amy Potthast chats with Heather about what is appealing about what Heather brings to the nonprofit sector from her business sector experience, as well as her background on educational issues.

Podcast transcript coming soon.