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Giving is big business. Every year non-profit organizations solicit companies in the hope of obtaining

Giving USA reports corporate giving increased 5.5% to $14.1 billion in 2009.

Businesses are willing to give, but are often confused as to which causes might be best for them.

Flash forward to 2011, and philanthropy is the new black. Everywhere you turn, people are spending a few months abroad to build a school

volunteering at the blood bank in the evenings after they finish their 9-to-5 job. Everyone has a cause

This nouveau philanthropic righteousness is definitely making the world a better place and is empowering a generation to believe that they, as concerned citizens of the world, can make a difference to global issues

focusing on a market before an actual product idea

By starting with a market and focusing on data/interviews to find an addressable problem, rather than building software from day one, we encountered problems I would never have predicted

spent our time talking to as many parents/teacher/psychiatrists that would give us their time

included within the campus community, conducted a competition amongst sororities and fraternities for accepting mentors for OCT members. 

The winning team will be announced April 15. The incentives include a trophy from OCT, recognition on campus, volunteer hours for resumes and the experience of helping the community.

“I suggested we hold a competition,” Andes said, “where teams from sororities and fraternities can compete on the basis of who can accumulate the most number of hours by volunteering at OCT.”

She's been to Sri Lanka and South Africa as a participant in Accenture Development Partnerships, a program that sends employees to work on nonprofit projects in developing countries.

As more employees see volunteer work as a way to learn new skills or move their careers forward, volunteering has become a sort of corporate benefit.

For an annual fee between $5,000 and $50,000, companies can give their employees access to a VolunteerMatch list of 55,300 nonprofits seeking help. Nonprofits join for free.

Internal communication and collaboration within intranets has documented solid ROI’s encouraging companies to look to it more and more for increased innovation and decreased costs.

Q. So how do you activate your internal community to reach a positive ROI? A. Facilitate Employee Engagement within the platform. A successful company and a thriving corporate culture doesn’t come from an org chart and people identified by numbers it comes from HUMANS, community, and allowing other users to benefit from each other’s expertise. Successful internal community participation directly and indirectly helps users across divisions and regions achieve their goals, find experts, and collaborate efficiently.

Successful internal community participation directly and indirectly helps users across divisions and regions achieve their goals, find experts, and collaborate efficiently.

Striving to make everyday business tasks more engaging, a growing number of firms, including International Business Machines Corp. and consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., are incorporating elements of videogames into the workplace. They're deploying reward and competitive tactics commonly found in the gaming world to make tasks such as management training, data entry and brainstorming seem less like work. Employees receive points or badges for completing jobs or meeting time limits for assignments, for example. Companies also may use leaderboards, which let players view one another's scores, to encourage friendly competition and motivate performance, experts say. This "gamification" of the workplace, or "enterprise gamification" in tech-industry parlance, is a fast-growing business. Companies have used digital games for a number of years to help market products to consumers and build brand loyalty. What's emerging is using games to motivate their own employees.

Tech-industry research firm Gartner estimates that by 2014, some 70% of large companies will use the techniques for at least one business process. Market researcher M2 Research estimates revenue from gamification software, consulting and marketing will reach $938 million by 2014 from less than $100 million this year.

SAP even turned its gamification efforts into a game, holding a series of "Gamification Cups" to generate ideas for turning various business processes into games.

s transitioning from living primarily as a Facebook canvas application to running off of its standalone website Causes.com

led to a two-fold increase in the amount of money the site raises in donations from its ‘Birthday Wish’ feature on a daily basis — $20,000 a day, up from $10,000 two months ago.

Causes gift cards in every Safeway and Vons location in California.

10 Experts, 10 Predictions, 1 Year January 6, 2012 at 9:06 AM by Research & InsightsLast month we looked back at the top trends of 2011, but now that the New Year is upon us, it's time to look forward to what 2012 has in store. We've convened the biggest and brightest minds in cause marketing, corporate responsibility, nonprofit marketing and volunteerism to share their top predictions, programs and issues for the New Year.As for our perspective, we say look out for an influx of disruptive campaigns in 2012. The cause industry continues to mature, and with the flood of new campaigns in the market, companies and nonprofits must do more to make sure their cause stands out in the chatter. Companies will make bigger and braver commitments, support broader and bolder issues and increasingly go out on a limb all in the name of cause. We'll also see more companies support niche causes and partner with smaller, more nimble nonprofits for further differentiation. Let's shake things up this year!

My one cause marketing prediction is that by the end of 2012

2012 will see the rise of the employee activist. As 2011 saw the second coming of the consumer activist with powers heretofore inconceivable, the new year will bring the awakening of the most powerful brand ambassadors - the employees. This year employees will awaken to the opportunity they have to create real change inside the corporation and in their communities, simultaneously. Corporations will embrace the chance to help their employees to make that change."

Last month, Tufts Inter Fraternity Council, made up of representatives from all the fraternities on campus, launched a partnership with Tisch College to strengthen their capacity to have a positive and constructive impact on campus, in the local area, and in the global community.

As I worked on that and heard about the fundraising and volunteering that other fraternities were doing I started thinking about the impact we could have through collaboration

philanthropy summit for organizations to share fundraising resources and tips, and found that other fraternities were looking for ways to collaborate as well

Facebook is launching a resource center to help non-profits use the social network.

The site will include educational materials, tutorials and a downloadable non-profit guide geared toward raising awareness and funds for causes specifically through the social network.

how to create a Facebook Page and explains how to set up events and use discussion boards to connect with an audience

Pro Bono Standards & Valuation In partnership with the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), Taproot Foundation has developed standards for pro bono service to professionalize the field and ensure the consistent quality of services delivered to recipient organizations

Examples of Pro Bono Service HR team audits the HR systems of a nonprofit Finance team develops managerial accounting systems for a nonprofit Property development team helps a nonprofit secure and design office space Creative team develops a nonprofit's annual report Working as part of her company's pro bono commitment to a nonprofit, a professional tax accountant provides tax consulting to needy individuals in the community

Examples of Other Skills-Based Service (Not Pro Bono) Executive serves on a nonprofit board and gives informal advice Manager coaches high school student on a business plan competition An accountant independently provides free tax services to an individual in the community who can't afford tax advice Engineer designs a technology curriculum for an after school program Working as part of her company's pro bono commitment to a nonprofit, a software designer sets up staff computers (setting up computers is not within the core description of a software designer's professional expertise)

LinkedIn is adding a new “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to profiles, the company announced Wednesday. The section will let users highlight and showcase their unpaid or charitable work experience.

Promoting your charitable experience will help get you a job, according to a recent survey by LinkedIn. The company polled nearly 2,000 U.S. professionals and found that 41% said that when they are evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work just as much as paid work. Of the hiring managers surveyed, 20% said they gave a job based on a candidate’s volunteer work experience.

Of the 2,000 professionals surveyed, 89% had volunteer experience but only 45% included that information on their resume.