Nonprofit Leaders Talk Change At United Front

Three years ago, nonprofits in Minnesota came to a realization: Government funding was disappearing as a result of the recession, and they were going to have to make significant changes.  The Greater Twin Cities United Way brought together nonprofit leaders from the state to come up with an answer.  What came out of that meeting was the United Front campaign.  It encouraged Minnesota nonprofits to work together so they could adequately address the problems facing their communities.  The annual meeting of this campaign took place last week in St. Paul, Minn.

According to the Star Tribune, the ultimate goal of these annual meetings is to create coordination among the agencies involved so they can help residents of the Twin Cities who have been affected by growing poverty and the economic downturn.  To help this effort, the Twin Cities United Way created a nonprofit merger fund.  This has helped support the mergers of more than 20 nonprofits over the last three years.  The organization has also funded programs like the Twin Cities Hunger Initiative and the Minnesota Coalition to End Violence.

You can read the full piece from The Star Tribune by visiting their website.  You can also visit The NonProfit Times to read an article about how Minnesota nonprofits were affected by their state's recent government shutdown.

United Way Sets Up Volunteering Connection Website

Note: This is a summary/reaction of an article from an outside news organization.  If you want to read the original article, please follow the first and last links in this post.

Looking for a good way to boost your volunteer activity in New Jersey this Spring?  United Way has a solution for you.

According to an article from The Star-Ledger, The United Way of Northern New Jersey/Sussex County has launched a new website, called the Volunteer Link program, to help New Jersey residents connect with volunteer opportunities at a variety of nonprofit organizations.  Kathleen Nelson, coordinator of the program, told The Star-Ledger that new site is meant to be a "one-stop shop" for would-be volunteers in New Jersey.  Currently, there are 33 Sussex County nonprofits participating in Volunteer Link, and Nelson said that she expects it to grow throughout North Jersey in the coming months.

To access Volunteer Link, simply go to Sussex United Way's website and click on Volunteer Link.  From there, users can search volunteer opportunities by a variety of different methods, including keywords, zip code, or type of volunteer job.  As of this writing, there are about 50 volunteer categories currently listed on the site, like homelessness, literacy, and drug abuse.

Read more about Volunteer Link and The United Way of Northern New Jersey at The Star-Ledger.