All for Good – New Platform Powers Obama Administration’s Service Initiative and Helps More Americans Find Ways to Do Good

Sharing Volunteer Opportunities and Empowering Nonprofits

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – June 22, 2009 – As the leaders from the Obama Administration fan out across the country today to kick off United We Serve, a national community service initiative, leaders from the technology community and nonprofit sector have come together to launch All for Good (allforgood.org). All for Good makes it easier for all Americans to find and share service opportunities. It is an open-source application that provides a single search interface for service activities across many major volunteering organizations.

Inspired by the President’s call to service, a group of volunteering enthusiasts from Google, Craigslist Foundation, YouTube, FanFeedr and UCLA united to create what some call a “craigslist for service.” All for Good helps people instantly find simple ways to get involved in their community, from being a mentor to helping design a website for a nonprofit. The platform also lets people sign in with services like Facebook or Google to share volunteer activities with friends across social networking services such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others.

“By bringing together amazing service opportunities from existing volunteer organizations, we hope to amplify their efforts and share ways to do good across the web,” said Paul Rademacher, a software engineer at Google and a tech lead on the project. “Built as a free, open-source project, the All for Good platform and search API allow the community-at-large — from software developers to community organizers and local activists — to contribute innovations to the site and drive the direction and growth of the platform.”

The All for Good platform and API empower community organizers and nonprofit leaders to reach more volunteers.  Developers who want to build volunteer applications can visit www.allforgood.org/docs/api.html.  The All for Good Apps page (www.allforgood.org/apps) provides examples and instructions.

Listed below are examples of how some major companies and start ups are using the All for Good API:

YouTube

In partnership with All for Good, YouTube is launching “Video Volunteers,” a platform designed to make connections between non-profit organizations with video needs and skilled video makers who can help broadcast their causes through video. Video Volunteers will pool nonprofit, video-related volunteer postings from All for Good and then match them up with YouTubers who want to volunteer their video-creating skills to make a difference. Because many YouTubers have amassed a large online audience, the influence of their work on behalf of nonprofits can have a big effect in raising the profile of the causes nonprofits are working on and can drive others online to take action. Here’s how it works: Starting today, nonprofits can post video assignments (with the words “Video Volunteers” in the description) on idealist.org, serve.gov or volunteermatch.org; these posts will be cycled through the Video Volunteers feed of the All for Good widget on youtube.com/videovolunteers. YouTube Video Volunteers can visit youtube.com/videovolunteers to pick up assignments directly from nonprofits. Select videos will be showcased on the Video Volunteers YouTube channel and in other high-traffic areas of YouTube.

MTV

Serve.MTV.com, which also launched today, brings All for Good and its unparalleled array of service opportunities directly to young people nationwide.  The network is developing two dedicated PSAs – the first of which will premiere in prime time later this week.  The PSAs will go into regular rotation, driving viewers to Serve.MTV.com and encouraging them to make civil service a part of their lifestyle.  MTV also plans to integrate this call to action in a number of its marquee on-air programs including “The Real World,” “Buried Life,” and more.  Additionally, MTV will produce a series of short, viral Web videos, which feature leading artists and celebrities discussing their volunteerism efforts and calling on young people to make a positive impact in their communities.

The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post, one of the leading news sites on the Internet, is using All for Good to provide localized service opportunities to its readers.  For example, they have developed a customized All for Good widget that presents volunteer opportunities in the New York City area that are relevant to this section.  The Huffington Post plans further expansion on other local pages to create a compelling, localized experience for each reader.

Catalista

The Catalista mobile phone application shows people nearby volunteer opportunities based on their location. The Catalista App helps individuals find real-time, local opportunities on their mobile phones — so no matter where people are, they can always be connected to service opportunities happening that day, weekend, or month near their area. Volunteers can also keep track of their impact and rate their volunteering experience once they’ve done their good deed. Catalista is the first third-party application developed for the Android platform and is available only on the All for Good Apps page (www.AllforGood.org/apps).

All for Good Widget

All for Good created a widget people can add to their websites, blogs, social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), Gmail, and iGoogle homepages to track and browse volunteer activities.  Using the widget, individuals can find specific volunteer opportunities and further customize searches to show listings in a particular geographic or interest area. For example, a marine biology teacher interested in finding beach clean volunteer events in her area can now find the right opportunity via the All for Good widget.

Quotes from a few individuals who supported and helped drive the endeavor:

“It is a rare moment that such a remarkable group of thought leaders and visionaries come together and serve. All for Good represents the best of the business community and non-profit sector working together to improve our community,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, President of Our Good Works, the non-profit organization managing All for Good.

“All for Good makes it easier for Americans to find a way to help others — to give someone a break — in a new spirit of volunteerism,” said Craig Newmark, Founder and Customer Service Representative, craigslist.

“I have been impressed — and inspired — by the way the people behind All for Good are putting their expertise in technology and the new ways we communicate at the service of service. By connecting those who can help with those in need, All for Good is an exciting step down the road of turning our impulse to serve into acts that reduce the human suffering that has been exacerbated by the hard times we are facing.  Now, more than ever, we must mine the most underutilized resource available to us: ourselves.  And All for Good can help us do just that,” said Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post.

Our Good Works

The All for Good product was built as a Google 20-percent project (Google lets engineers spend 20 percent of their work time on projects that interest them). All for Good is now supported by Our Good Works (OGW), a new non-profit organization created to release and develop open-source technology in the public interest.  The Board of Directors includes luminaries from across the technology, non-profit, media and corporate industries.  Founding board members include:

• Jonathan Greenblatt, Member, Faculty, Anderson School of Management, UCLA (President, OGW)
• Chris DiBona, Director, Open Source, Google (Treasurer OGW)
• Susan Nesbitt, Director, Online Programs Craigslist Foundation (Secretary OGW)
• Randi Zuckerberg, Director of Marketing, Facebook
• Craig Newmark, Founder and Customer Service Representative, craigslist
• Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post
• Reid Hoffman, Founder and Chairman, LinkedIn
• Michelle Nunn, CEO, HandsOn Network / Points of Light Foundation
• Bill Strathman, CEO, Network for Good
• Paul Schmitz, CEO, Public Allies
• David Cohen, Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation
• David Eisner, former CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service
• Ami Dar, Founder and CEO, Idealist
• Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Founder and CEO, FanFeedr

Listing Partners

The service activities available on the site come from nonprofits, companies and self-organized groups. Activity providers include 1-800-volunteer.org, 1 Sky, AARP, American Red Cross, American Solutions for Winning the Future, City of New York, Corporation for National and Community Service, craigslist, Girl Scouts of the USA, Habitat for Humanity, HandsOn Network and Points of Light Institute, Idealist, Meetup, Network for Good, Organizing for America, ServeNet.org, Sierra Club, The Extraordinaries, Truist, United Jewish Communities, USAservice.org and VolunteerMatch.

All for Good Media Contacts:

Jennifer Hwang, jenn.hwang@aha-ink.com, 415-420-3259

Dana Young, dana.young@aha-ink.com, 415-378-7998

Jamie Yood, yood@google.com, 650-336-4479