Come celebrate with us...

[Prarthana Unkalkar Kaul]

Dear Volunteer, A very Happy Diwali J The festive season is here and the air is thick with excitement, anticipation and goodwill. Our celebrations began with a bang as we celebrated Joy of Giving Week (JGW)  across the country through the wish tree campaign. The wish trees were a great way to reach out to people and communities who may not have otherwise joined in the JGW 2013 celebrations. Building on this spirit of reaching out and enabling more people to interact with the social sector, JobsForGood organized a virtual JGW celebrations. A glimpse of these follows… While the Joy Of Giving Week may have ended, the celebrations have only begun for us! Join us, share stories and honour the contribution of those who give many others a reason to smile and celebrate - volunteers.   We invite you to celebrate volunteering with us and share stories that will inspire by example at iVolunteer Awards 2013.   Click here to view the complete report:   JobsForGood has always played a crucial role in creating a fresh pool of talent and skill for its partner organizations. Being in the recruitment space for the social development sector they knew from experience that getting noticed by potential candidates is often a big challenge for nonprofits who work on a shoestring or a zero recruitment budget. Acknowledging this, JobsForGood decided to host online celebrations during JGW by showcasing nonprofit organizations employers as ‘Featured Employers’ on the homepage of their website at no cost. This virtual celebration witnessed over 30 NGOs and 45 job posts. CVs matching some job posts were also shared with employers for free.  This event received a favorable response and JobsForGood is committed to continue its efforts to connect socially conscious, passionate candidates to organizations in the nonprofit space by rolling out such initiatives regularly in the future for both candidates and organizations. Now I am 72, but my days of volunteering are not over! I still love to contribute my time for any volunteering cause.  My motto is 'Give time for a Good cause'. -  Sarla Mukund. I started volunteering to pass my time, now I have begun liking volunteering after seeing that I can make some difference in people's lives. Connecting to different kinds of people also feels good. I couldn't have spent my time better than volunteering. -  Sandeep Mannan. In fact, India has a rich history replete with examples of dedicated volunteers.  “We often overlook the fact that the entire freedom movement in India was driven by volunteer zeal!” says Shalabh Sahai, Co-Founder & Director, iVolunteer. He adds, “Unfortunately though, at the level of society - within families and institutions, among peers, at state and policy levels and in businesses - there is hardly any recognition of volunteers and volunteering. Today potential volunteers have little inspiration and almost no support to thrive on. The iVolunteer Awards aim to change this by celebrating, rewarding and promoting volunteering in India. The awards will raise awareness around volunteering by sharing stories of volunteers and organisations that engage them. Celebrated annually, the iVolunteer Awards are today the premier national recognition for volunteers and organisations that promote volunteering. Awards will be given in three categories. ‘Volunteer Hero 2013’ - This category recognizes individuals who have impacted India’s social development and inspired others to volunteer through their voluntary work throughout the year. ‘Leader in Volunteer Engagement 2013’: This category recognizes NGOs engage volunteers effectively, using policies and procedures that are innovative and which advance the organisation’s goals. ‘Leader in Employee Volunteering 2013’: This category recognizes companies with the best employee volunteering practices that encourage volunteering among their team. Nominations are now open. Individuals and organisations may choose to nominate a co-worker, an employee, a volunteer or an organisation for the awards here