As I mentioned early on, I sit on a couple of boards. One that I work with is the Leadership Council of AmeriCorps Alums. It is not a typical board with fiduciary responsibilities because AmeriCorps Alums lives inside of a larger organization, Hands On Network. The organization has been a stand alone 501( c )3 in the past, but it couldn’t find sustainable footing so now it is housed in a larger organization. Probably more information than you care to know… but I think it is important to look at the sustainability of the nonprofit sector as it grows to provide services and organizing of our communities.
The last weekend in March I traveled to Denver for a meeting of our Leadership Council. I was on this body a few years ago and stepped off for a year and now I am back. It has been interesting to watch this organization grow. I am very excited about where we stand and where we are headed. AmeriCorps has now graduated 500,000 some odd AmeriCorps Members into the community. That is 500,000 Alums that we have as our constituency. There is an African proverb that say something about “when spiderwebs unite, they can tie up a lion…” this is one big spider web!
So in the last 3.5 years, AmeriCorps Alums has established nearly 200 chapters across the country, created a strong advocacy committee to address national service legislation, and is on its way to a strong governance structure that consults on its strategy and sustainability.
We have infrastructure... We have a great mission... we are on our way!
Hours as of 3/29/08: 71.5
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