A study for the nonprofit Womens Way found that women who volunteered improved their leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. According to the Womens Way press release,"The correlation of women’s professional growth and development with their philanthropic involvement makes a strong business case to employees and employers about the importance of investing in community involvement as a professional development tool."
I've been doing volunteer work for a long time, and although I'm not entirely sure that it has improved my leadership, communication and problem-solving skills, it always improves my mood, very often teaches me something and occasionally has led to a new job.
Here are some BlogHers who are giving back through volunteering, or using their blog to advertise do * good opportunities:
Rocks in My Dryer puts the word out for Operation Special Edition, a program that provides volunteer doulas for pregnant women whose husbands or partners are deployed when they give birth.
bekka writes about volunteering at the Algiers Regional Branch Library in New Orleans where she sorted through books that thousands of people sent to the New Orleans Public Library System after Hurricane Katrina.
Sarah Lynn Seaton participated in a Women Build with Habitat for Humanity last May in Knoxville. I thought it was a cool idea to have a team of women building a house together. You can find a Women Build project near you here.
Shop Girl tells her readers about a Women of Wardrobe fashion show fundraiser happening in Houston today. Women of Wardrobe is a volunteer branch of Dress for Success, an international nonprofit that provides suits and other work clothes to low-income women.
KungFoodie is volunteering with Girls Inc and helping out with their fall fundraiser Women of Taste. She is asking Bay Area food bloggers to link to the Girls Inc. web site with one of the Women of Taste banner images, and to let their readers know that volunteers are still needed.
And One Good Bumblebee is designing products to to sell for Nest, a nonprofit that supports women artists and artisans in the developing world by providing micro-credit loans to be used for the purchase of the supplies necessary to start or run their art or craft-based businesses.
Image via VolunteerMatch
Hat tip to Joanne Fritz for info. about the study.
women
volunteer
This is a great study you cite. I think it's important to note, too, that with volunteering you are more likely to get responsiblitiy in areas that would not be open to you within a corporate hierarchy.
ReplyDeleteI think people would volunteer more if they could see more how it helps their career. And one way to approach volunteer work is to focus on a skill you know you need to develop, and then volunteer to do it at an organization that will support you through the learning process.