Guest Post!

Originally published at PopTech by the amazing and talented Janette Crawford, author of the ethical fashion blog Fashion Loves People. Janette also does communications for her husband’s site, the fabulous Storenvy.

All for Good

Since President Obama’s candidacy, he has challenged Americans to engage more widely in service. Inspired by his expression of a “Craigslist for service,” a team of developers and do-gooders began work earlier this year on AllforGood.org, a technologically advanced online aggregator of volunteer opportunities. In contact with the White House throughout its development, All for Good now powers the volunteer search for the United We Serve initiative at Serve.gov.

All for Good’s search results feed from a long list of sources, including Volunteer Match, Craigslist, United Way, Habitat for Humanity and more. The primary need it has served is in helping people find and share volunteer activities on a broad level. But beyond connecting volunteers and organizations in traditional ways, the true vision of the site is to encourage innovation in volunteerism, through the use of its open-source platform.

“By no means do we think we’ve found the final solution,” says Jamie Yood, All for Good’s communications lead (and Google spokesperson by day). “We can’t wait to see what other people come up with — we’ve just enabled them to do it.”

One concept using the All for Good API in an innovative way is YouTube Video Volunteers, where video editors use the All for Good widget to connect with nonprofits that need video editing.

With nonprofits needing as much help as anyone with social media and online exposure, the possibilities for connecting skills to needs is better than ever — and many examples that come to mind here can be done remotely, by anyone, anywhere. Wouldn’t many of us be more likely to volunteer an evening on Facebook than a Saturday of dirty work?

Users can sign in through Facebook Connect or Google Friend Connect, putting their service interests on public display for further interaction with friends. There is a selection of All for Good apps, including an All for Good widget that can be posted throughout the web for use by individuals and organizations alike.

Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist and one of All for Good’s co-creators, is already thinking about his own extension of the All for Good technology, which he’d like to see used for job creation. We already think of Craigslist as a great resource for job searching, but, he said, “We need to find better ways to get job ads in front of the people who need to get work.”

The White House’s United We Serve campaign runs through Sept. 11, a day that from now on will be marked as the National Day of Service and Remembrance. Though that date marks the end of the campaign, the purpose of the initiative is to grow into a sustained effort to promote service as a way of life. AllforGood.org will be sustained and supported through the nonprofit Our Good Works, created specifically for this purpose.

You can search for volunteer opportunities at either AllforGood.org or Serve.gov by entering your location and interests. To post listings for volunteers, follow these guidelines. To initiate your own service project, find a relevant toolkit at Serve.gov.

Tags: All for Good, Craigslist, culture, Google, innovation, Obama, service, social media, technology, United We Serve, Video Volunteers, youtube