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This makes for slightly grim reading, we have our work cut out!! What do you think we should do to change perceptions and attitudes? Only Eight Percent are Extremely Involved in Giving Time or Money It is easy to point the finger and say corporations should be more socially responsible, but when it comes to individual social responsibility, two-thirds of U.S. adults have “Good Intentions” and they believe that social responsibility is a good idea, and they do what they can in terms of volunteering, but they do not sacrifice huge amounts of time or money. At the top end of the spectrum, 8 percent of U.S. adults “Practice What They Preach” and for this group, individual, as well as corporate, social responsibility is extremely important. One-quarter of U.S. adults, however, follow a philosophy of “To Thine Own Self Be True” and, for this group, social responsibility has little consequence in their lives. These are just some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,383 U.S. adults conducted online between May 8 and 14, 2007 by Harris Interactive�. …..full details here http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=774

Hands On Central Texas Director Armando Rayo was featured in the latest issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Check out what he has to say about minority managers at nonprofits. Some young managers who are members of minority groups say they already face doubts from supervisors and prospective employers about their abilities based on their age and level of experience. Ethnicity adds one more barrier for them. In some cases, they say, their own bosses or other nonprofit leaders have made them acutely aware of their physical differences. “I don’t look like a typical nonprofit director to them,” says Armando Rayo, the 33-year-old director of Hands On Central Texas, in Austin, a department within the local United Way that helps to raise money and bolster a corps of volunteers. Read the entire article here.

One of our 3 Focus Areas moving forward is Education. We feel, in order to close the “opportunity gap” that exists here in Central Texas, that it’s vital to provide world class education for our community, in order for all to prosper. Get involved at a series of upcoming town hall meetings. Mark your calenders now! Austin:6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25 and Nov. 1; Reagan High School , 7104 Berkman Drive Bastrop: 6 to 8 p.m. Monday and Oct. 22 and 29; Mina Elementary School , 1203 Hill St . Eanes:6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 23 and 30; Hill Country Middle School , 1300 Walsh Tarlton Lane Manor:6 to 8:15 p.m. Tuesday and Oct. 23; New Tech High School , 10323 U.S. 290 East Round Rock:6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday; McNeil High School , 5720 McNeil Drive , Austin San Marcos:6 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 22 and 29 and Nov. 15; San Marcos High School , 2601 E. McCarty Lane To RSVP, for more information or to volunteer to be a moderator, visit www.e3alliance.org.

Last Friday, I attended the volunteer recruitment kick-off for the Community Tax Centers to support Foundation Communities in this very important community initiative. We’re helping them get the word out about their need for volunteers: Intake Specialists, Translators and people that like crunching numbers & helping families, Community Tax Center Volunteers. This year, the Community Tax Centers will help prepare 16,000 tax returns and bring over $20 million into the pockets of Central Texas families. That’s pretty amazing and even more amazing are the people that step up to help; people like Willow Lucas. Willow gave a great presentation at the volunteer kick-off on why she volunteers with the Community Tax Centers and I just had to share her story with you! Tell us a bit about yourself. Willow Lucas, born (and raised) in South Austin.   How did you get involved in volunteering? I originally started volunteering with a friend in college who had a daughter. We volunteered to coach her soccer team and her girl scout troop. When I graduated, I took a position with Americorp as a Volunteer Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity.   How did you find out about the Community Tax Centers? Basically what happened was, I took an H&R Block tax course for work so I could be the resident “Tax Expert”. After the class was over they asked if we wanted to apply for a job preparing taxes. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pick up a couple of extra dollars because my […]

Last summer, I met with Christine Chute, former United Way fundraiser and now development & volunteer coordinator for Goodwill Industries of Central Texas. We were brainstorming on how she can engage more fun people to be involved with Goodwill. So after a few weeks, she comes back with a great idea – the Ghoulwill Ball 2007! What a great match since everyone and their family goes to Goodwill to buy their costumes for Halloween. I’m actually surprised they hadn’t done that before. So I’m going to check it out and I encourage everyone to do the same. It’s a great cause and seems like lots of fun! Here’s what they have in store…. Paparazzi Photo-ops Costume Contest Fashion Show Silent Auction Entertainment by the Flametrick Subs & Satan’s Cheerleaders! To rsvp or buy tickets, go to http://www.ghoulwillball.org/

I’m proud of our United Way for our focus on diversity and inclusion, and it’s one of many reasons why I choose to spend my days working here. Over the past several years, we’ve changed our policies to be more inclusive of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community by requiring all agencies that we fund to sign a sexual orientation non-discrimination policy and providing domestic partner health benefits for our own employees. Now, we’re embarking on outreach into the GLBT community. This past week, we participated in the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (agliff). The festival always has an impressive showing of international films and this year featured 120 films from 21 countries. My personal favorites were The Bubble, an Israeli-Palestinian love story set in Tel Aviv, and Poltergay, a hilarious French spoof on ghost flicks and 70s disco fever. We were involved in the film festival in a couple of ways. United Way Capital Area placed an ad in the agliff program book, distributed materials at the festival, and sponsored two films which included speaking for a few minutes to the film audience. We were paired with Through Thick & Thin, a documentary about seven bi-national gay and lesbian couples whose lives are dramatically affected by the current US immigration laws, and My Super 8 Season, a story of the friendship between two young activists in Paris in the early 1970s. Our future plans for GLBT inclusion & outreach include distributing our materials at University […]

North Austin residents are taking back their neighborhoodSenior Officer Michael Young, Sergeant William H. Beechinor and Sergeant Eddie E. Holland. Photo by John L. Hanson Jr.(source: KUT.org)Austin receives low grade in giving Birthdays: IBM turns 40 & El Buen turn turns 20 Help re-shape Education in Central Texas San Antonio Spurs & Houston Rockets support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas Group wants to make Philadelphia neighborhoods safer with 10,000 men Grand Haven man is 93, but still puts others first

Armando Rayo, Director of Hands On Central Texas, was interviewed by KUT for a story about doing criminal background checks on volunteers, and how that affects both the nonprofit and the volunteers themselves. This is a growing issue, as more and more donors/supporters demand that nonprofits use volunteers who don’t have serious criminal backgrounds. What do you think? Is doing criminal background checks on nonprofit volunteers a good thing—or would it deter quality volunteers from lending a hand in the first place? Let us know your thoughts by commenting here. Listen to the interview here. (Fast forward to 1:48 to hear the story.)

We’ve heard a lot of positive feedback so far about our Third Annual Speaker Series event with Lee & Bob Woodruff. Everyone who attended said the presentation was captivating; the discussion of veterans’ needs and the impact on family and community was positive and fruitful. We thought it was great that the Woodruffs referenced United Way in their speech, and mentioned the United Way’s three focus areas (Education, Financial Stability, Health), and how these issues resonated with their own experiences in dealing with tragedy. This drove home to the crowd how important United Way is on so many different levels, not just locally or nationally, but worldwide. Lee Woodruff’s point about everyone having their own personal tragedy to relate to theirs was very touching and struck a chord with the crowd and made everyone able to relate. The event was a very personal experience, and even though it was a huge crowd, it seemed intimate the way it was set up, as if it could have happened in our living rooms as a discussion, rather than being just another public speaking event. The VIP reception was elegant but conducive to discussion with the Woodruffs and with other’s attending. A special “thank you” to presenting sponsor Wachovia and all of our other sponsors for making the event happen! If you attended last night’s event, we’d love to hear your observations as well–don’t hesitate to offer a comment on Bob and Lee Woodruff’s story. From today’s Daily Texan: “You don’t have to […]