The folks at soon-to-be-launched OnlyUp.org affectionately ask, <30?  Part of the nonprofit sector and/or have big plans to make change in the social justice movement?

They’re building an online community of young people involved in the nonprofit sector, and they want you to be part of it.

In their own words:

OnlyUp is an organization that helps nonprofits prepare for the next generation of leaders through consultations, awards, and community-coalition building.

Young people have the vision and energy needed to revolutionize social justice organizations. Amplifying their voice and advocating for their needs will help revitalize the nonprofit sector.

To this end, OnlyUp plans to:

• Publish a blog for information sharing, web newsletters to organize advocacy, and mobilize an active membership database
• Provide constructive analysis of how nonprofits incorporate young people in goal creation and execution of their work
• Connect young people with quality opportunities so they may learn from and contribute to their field: The website will include job listings from organizations that have established histories of providing real opportunities for young people

Find out more at the project coordinator’s blog and join up at OnlyUp.org.

Last week we hosted a sold-out webinar on using Facebook for community building and nonprofit fundraising.  Well, technically it wasn’t sold out because it was free, but the session was completely full!  If you missed it or couldn’t get in, you can see slides and audio for the session here.

During the session, we talked about Facebook Pages (aka fan pages) and why they’re good for nonprofit organizations.  A Facebook Page is your nonprofit’s official presence on Facebook, and you can use it to send an unlimited number of messages to your fans, add applications, and track metrics (like how many people visit your Page).  For more on why you might want to have an official presence on Facebook, check out our webinar.

One thing we didn’t get to in the webinar was the topic of adding “Favorite Pages” to your nonprofit’s Facebook Page.  People who like your nonprofit’s Page on Facebook can become your fans, but did you know that you can connect to other nonprofits and organizations on Facebook through your Facebook Page?  Here’s how:

1:  Find a Page you want to add to your Favorites:

2. Select where you want to have the Page appear (if you have more than one Page on Facebook, you’ll need to choose one of them from the drop-down menu):

3.  Voila!  The Page now appears in the “Favorite Pages” box on your nonprofit Page:

In addition to the Elizabeth Peabody House (pictured above), we just added Will Work for Social Change, an organization dedicated to accelerating positive change by serving the talent-related needs of social entrepreneurs, to Firstgiving’s Favorite Pages.  Visit our Facebook Page to see more of our favorite Pages or to become a fan!

Every day, from coast to coast, Firstgiving helps nonprofits find online fundraising solutions, and for the past few months we’ve been out on the road visiting you and listening to your fundraising success stories.  We love having an online platform because it helps us connect to nonprofits all over the place, but we also have a special place in our hearts for the nonprofits here in our own backyard.

That’s one of the reasons we were really impressed when we found out that the 1st Annual Nonprofit Awareness Day is being celebrated today in Boston.  It’s a day set aside to honor the work of nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts, and it’s sponsored by one of our own nonprofit partners, the Massachusetts Audubon Society (who, by the way, raised over $60,000 online with their annual Bird-a-Thon event).

We’re also proud to say that one of our nonprofit partners, Minute Man ARC, is receiving the Nonprofit Governance Award. And more of our nonprofit partners are recognized in the list of nonprofit award nominees.

We salute you for your hard work, and we’re rooting for your fundraising success!

The Social Venture Network has been hard at work, connecting and building a community of business and non-profit leaders all over the U.S. and Canada.   They’re facilitating discussions about sustainability and providing resources for leaders engaged in socially responsible innovation in their areas of expertise.  These folks also sponsor an annual SVN Innovation Award, and applications for the 2009 Award are being accepted through June 15.  You can read more about the award and download the application here.

What is the SVN Innovation Award for?

As SVN looks to the future, we’re committed to inspiring and supporting the next generation of innovative, socially responsible business and nonprofit entrepreneurs. That’s why we created the Innovation Awards. The goal of the Awards program is to recognize the leaders of emerging enterprises, bring them into the SVN community, and give them access to a network of 500 successful socially responsible business and nonprofit leaders, investors, and other resources and connections that can help them achieve success with their own enterprise.

Are you eligible?

• Applicants must currently hold positions as C-level executives (CEOs, executive directors, founders, etc.) of businesses or nonprofit organizations implementing an idea that is having a positive social or environmental impact on the business sector. 
  

• Eligible applicants will have started implementing their new idea fewer than five years ago, and their business or organization must be less than 5 years old.
  

Even if you aren’t eligible for the award this year, you might want to subscribe to or even submit something to their Enewsletter, here.  

If you work for a non-profit organization, big or small, chances are you rely on the generosity of volunteers at some point during the year.  And now that the weather is warming up, it’s a great time to be thinking about how to get your volunteers outside and involved in your events!

Flickr photo courtesy of dheuer

Your organization’s volunteers might help direct athletes at an event, stuff envelopes for a mailing, or even raise money online.  By the way, if you’re looking for an online tool to help organize your volunteers, our friends at VolunteerSpot have a great one.

People like to volunteer for causes they care about.  People are usually very busy.  So, the easier you make it for people to volunteer, the more your organization can benefit.  A no-brainer, right?  We found some great insights over at the Entry Level Living blog about how Children for Children is connecting volunteers with their organization FTW (for the win).  Allison, a prospective volunteer with a busy schedule, decided to volunteer for this particular non-profit’s event because:

• It matched her values, both in terms of the cause and how the event was being run.  As a strong supporter of youth leadership and organizations that target families and friends for community involvement, Allison loved Children for Children’s family-oriented service day event and the fact that it was coordinated and led by the organization’s Youth Planning Committee.
• The organization made it easy to communicate and responded quickly when she signed up to volunteer. Allison signed up online and received a confirmation and additional information within minutes.  The timely response helped her plan, as her schedule tends to fill up quickly.
• The one-time event opportunity facilitated group participation and networking.  Allison saw the event as an opportunity to involve her family and friends and to meet other people who share her interests and passions.
• The event had an immediate impact. A specific goal was stated: to decorate reusable canvas bags and fill them with healthy foods for a local food pantry.  The sense of accomplishment at the conclusion of the event was felt by all who participated.
  

Here at Firstgiving, we care about all kinds of causes and know how important volunteers can be for your organization.  That’s why we volunteer together in our community.  In fact, if your organization is in the Boston area and needs some volunteers this summer, let us know!

How do you make it easy for volunteers to contribute to your organization?

As you may know, the Firstgiving team is all about feedback and listening and research and data.  It’s part of what has made us successful.  So we’d like to ask you, our blog readers, to tell us a little about yourselves so we can improve our blog and our service in general.  Please take our super-quick blog reader survey.  As an incentive, we’ll draw two surveys at random and give each one their choice of a $25 donation to any US charity or a $25 Amazon gift certificate.  Thanks for your feedback!  We’ll do the drawing in a week, so take the survey today.

While doing some research for World Malaria Day last week, we came across some GOOD online journalism from the folks at GOOD Magazine.  Like Firstgiving, GOOD helps non-profits raise money online (their magazine subscription fees go straight to non-profit organizations).  In their own words,

GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.  Since 2006 we’ve been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.

The GOOD people (how would you like to be described like that?!) have conversations going about all kinds of nationally and globally-relevant causes, like the environment, public health, and economic development.  When you subscribe to the magazine, 100% of your subscription fee goes to a non-profit organization of your choice.  From the GOOD website, you can also can navigate to their blog, recent articles, and event listings.

Just to give you a taste, here’s an example of some of the cool content on their site (this particular chart is an “infographic,” a visual representation of cause-related data):

If you work for a non-profit and want to learn more about partnering with GOOD magazine, you can contact them at partners@goodinc.com.