Getting involved and giving back have become more of a focus for me in the second half of my twenties. Contrary to many millennial stereotypes, polls have suggested that millennials dedicate more time to volunteerism than previous generations did.
And the right volunteer opportunity may give your career that little jolt it needs.
I love looking to articles like this for ideas on how other twentysomethings are doing making their communities a better place, and by extension, the world. In this case, it’s the tale of a Manhattanite who has a buffet of options at her fingertips. She’s a Junior Leaguer who’s on the board of the Yellowstone Park Foundation, is Chair of the National Audubon Society’s New York Young Members, and is part of the Young Patrons Leadership Committee for the American Friends of the Louvre museum in Paris.
That’s a lot of involvement, and it’s all well and good for those who live a subway ride from their next board meeting. But getting involved with the greater New York community is different than getting involved with the greater Dubuque community. I think the phrase “Bloom where you are planted” is highly applicable here.
See if you can get involved remotely
It’s not a guarantee, but it never hurts to ask. I occasionally phone in committee meetings for The Princess Project, so I imagine it would be perfectly fine if I were to be a remote member. You should definitely be upfront and transparent – some organizations want all of their members to attend meetings.
Consider organizations with localized chapters
Kiwanis, The Rotary Club, Lions and the Junior League may have a chapter that’s closer to you than you think. There are two major perks that come with these types of social-slash-philanthropic organizations. One is that they add a sense of community to the good you’re already doing with them. Second, they can expose you to local nonprofits you didn’t know existed.
Seek out opportunities online
When Google doesn’t work out for you, Idealist and VolunteerMatch are good options to enlist in your search for the perfect volunteer opportunity. LinkedIn for Good is also ripe with possibilities. If you don’t mind doing a bit of sleuthing, seeing what foundations other professional locals are involved with can be a great application for Linkedin.
Start your own organization
I’m not saying it’s easy, and you’ll inevitably face geographical challenges. But technology allows a remarkable amount of work to be done remotely today. Social media is wonderful for building communities. If you’re particularly skilled with this, you should absolutely give it a shot.
Just to fire up your motivation, here are interviews with three young women who’ve started their own nonprofits.
Rachel Sumekh of Swipe Out Hunger
Julie Greenbaum of Fuck Cancer
Meghann Gunderman of The Foundation for Tomorrow
Travel
I know this isn’t an option for everyone, but if you think it might be I encourage you to give it a shot. There are numerous conferences and retreats hosted annually. Some may be a few hours’ drive from you. Others may be across the country. If you opt to participate in an event that falls into the latter category, make the most of it by arriving a few days early and seeing the sights.
Once you make connections with people at these events, you can continue to communicate with them and potentially collaborate with them remotely. It’s just about getting out there, putting yourself in the way of like-minded peers and leveraging technology to develop your dream project. I might some amazing people at a social media conference I attended last year. It was local for me, but they had traveled from Texas and New York to be there. I’ve found that Twitter is a surprisingly effective way to keep things friendly.
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