Grassroots.org

Getting Tools to City Schools is a NYC-based nonprofit, whose mission is to procure and deliver free basic school supplies to students at low-income public schools. Our website recently went live and we are already accepting donations for our cause!

Grassroots.org's free services saved our organization a lot of money, which we then used to fund our first school supplies delivery to P.S. 335 in the South Bronx. The Web Builder tool we used to build our site has user-friendly features which allowed us to embed videos--most recently our delivery to P.S. 335

In addition to the free website builder, Grassroots.org’s free virtual office tool helped our organization receive a professional phone number, which increased our efficiency. Thanks to Grassroots.org, our start-up organization has created a strong professional presence on the web. The helpful staff was there for us with answers to our questions every step of the way. Working with this caring organization over the course of several months was very rewarding.

Just as we help schools and students with free tools, Grassroots.org has done the same for our nonprofit. Looking back, I can't imagine building the web site and the organization without them. Thank you so much, Grassroots.org!

-Dennis Kitchen, Director/Founder
Getting Tools to City Schools
262 Ainslie Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
info@GettingToolsToCitySchools.org

Hello fellow Grassroots.org friends!

My name is Mark Szymczak and I support Grassroots.org primarily as a financial donor. I'm one of those people who made/makes a couple bucks in the corporate world, but has come to believe that my money is better served helping others rather than satisfying my personal ego (although I can't seem to shake a thirst for a local brewski each day).

Many people find their local church as an outlet for their giving side, and I applaud any giving whether it be for the environment, social justice or animal rights. Some of us look for other ways to "give back". There are so many charities and nonprofits with such wonderful causes battling against incredible odds, and I can't possibly give to nearly as many or as much money to each as I would like. So, my money goes a lot further when I donate to an organization like Grassroots.org! This way, I'm ultimately helping nonprofits secure free tools they can use to make their businesses more effective.

While giving money is one step toward helping make the world be a better place, I suggest we donors not stop there. The real trick is to compartmentalize one's corporate life and find ways to dive deeper into the service sector by volunteering or using one's skills to help an organization make progress against their Goliath. Cheers to all those donating or serving in this wonderful sector of our society. You have made great strides toward letting go of ego--and old habits don't die easily!

-Mark Szymczak
markzimzak@yahoo.com

Pike County Skaters is a group of youths (and adults who support them) working to raise funds for a municipal skateboard park in our rural Illinois community. Our organization grew from 13 youths in a living room to 90 members of the youth community in two years! To accompany this growth, we have procured nearly $15,000 towards our project.

Getting information out to the community was a challenge when we first started. Pike County’s population of 17,000 is widespread over nearly 850 square miles. Today’s youth don’t read the paper or listen to the local radio station, but they do use the Internet. Before we discovered Grassroots.org, we struggled to communicate with our youth, parents, and other members of the community.

Using the Grassroots.org Toolbox, we were able to create our site with the Doodlekit Web Builder. Having a site makes it easy to find us on the web. Our site includes activity details for members and background information for community members and potential funders. The Toolbox was super easy to use and our site looks great!

Beyond delivering information, the site builder also allows our organization to post downloadable forms on the site, which allows members in outlying communities to print and post flyers in their areas. Skaters and others can print order forms for our products in the community which helps us with fundraising!

Our budget would not have allowed for the typical expenses associated with a website. Grassroots.org has made our website possible by facilitating communication with members and our community, which adds credibility to our grant applications and funding requests.

-Michele Wester
Pike County Skaters

One week ago I arrived in New York City, five thousand miles and ten-flight hours away from the sunny beaches of my home state of Hawaii. Two days ago I moved into a spacious Gramercy apartment that seems far too luxurious for a couple of summer interns. Today I sit on the 8th floor of East 26th Street in coveted office space overlooking Madison Square Park, just a short walk from the iconic Flatiron Building and a prime location to take photos of the Empire State Building. Blogging on my first day of work, I feel slightly guilty for all that I have been blessed with in the recent weeks.

Last night, as the excitement of my first full day on my own in New York wound down, I came across two articles from my local newspaper that brought down my high. The first article discussed how the Domestic Violence Action Center (a non-profit) has experienced an increase in calls during the recent recession; the second article detailed the layoffs that many Hawaii non-profits have been forced to make due to cutbacks in funds resultant of the recession. The juxtaposition of these two articles was a sobering reminder of the critical role of non-profits in society. Non-profits step in to fill in the gap left between what government and businesses provide for the common good; however the recession has forced both the public and private sectors to scale back. It is in trying economic times when the importance of non-profit work is especially pronounced, when the effects of cutbacks in funding are especially palpable, and when it is especially vital to support non-profits in order to maintain the services that they provide.

While I will enjoy picturesque lunches beside the Flatiron Building, the real reason I am in New York is to learn more about the non-profit sector and to gain a better understanding of its relationship with the public and private sectors. I am a third-year student studying Political Science and pursuing a minor in English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and I am thrilled to complete my practicum at Grassroots.org. Growing up in an era when Google is a verb and when Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized social networking, I recognize the Internet as an instrumental domain for communication and information gathering. I strongly believe in the mission of Grassroots.org to ensure that non-profits have access, free of charge, to the technology and resources needed to establish a virtual presence in an increasingly digital and financially trying world. I am excited to work for a non-profit that serves the non-profit sector and am looking forward to a wonderful summer!

My first few days in New York City so far have given me feelings of inspiration and eagerness to experience, learn, and dream for the bustling community that I am now lucky enough to live among. Although this is my first day at Grassroots.org, I am sure my enthusiasm will not wane. I have only walked aimlessly down 3rd and 5th avenue, but just by noticing the homeless man on the corner of the street or the single mother struggling to provide for her children allows me to realize the immediate need of nonprofit organizations such as Grassroots.org. I am ready to contribute and attempt to understand the diverse needs of my community, country, and world.

I am going to be a senior at Providence College in the fall and hope to use my experiences at a political grassroots campaign last summer to address the need of and urgency for grassroots organizations on a global level. I found fulfillment in representing a Congressman that I believed could initiate important change in not only his district, but could also be a voice for policies being created and modified in Washington D.C. My most valued experience as an intern for a politician included talking to local citizens about kitchen table issues such as taxes, healthcare, and education. While I enjoyed my internship for the political campaign, Grassroots.org’s direct work with nonprofit organizations and volunteers has a very genuine mission that truly appeals to me. I really look forward to being able to help expose current issues such as those that are prevalent beyond my area through Grassroots.org.

Grassroots.org intrigues me because of its ability to create successful relationships between volunteers, donors, and nonprofit organizations that represent a diverse amount of people, issues, and cultures. The dedication of the team at Grassroots.org is immediately obvious, and their mission is simple and effective. The web designing, graphic designing, and consulting that Grassroots.org offers to its clients assure me that their efforts match the needs of our technology-dependent world. Grassroots.org gives hope to individuals and charities today as they face an economic crisis that often allows little faith to grow for the possibility of mutual goals between the individual and the world of capitalism. The idea that communication is a key catalyst for change is both timeless and necessary in today’s society, and I am happy to work for an organization that realizes this.

I am finally here in NYC, one of the most capitalist hubs on the planet, as an intern for a nonprofit - Grassroots.org. At first, I couldn't overcome the irony of it all. But soon enough, I walked onto the 8th floor of 15 East 26th Street where full profit businesses amalgamated with Grassroots.org seamlessly in full humor and courtesy. Madison Square Park couldn't be seen in eyes any clearer than the windows on the floor - I saw different sectors coming together in better practice with their own surroundings and those of others. Self-proclaiming capitalism did have a soft side; after all, most of the time they do fuel the accounts of nonprofit organizations.

A majority of my curiosity of this capitalist-humanitarian dichotomy stems not just from my underexposure to the American nonprofit sector, but also because of my studies back home in California at UC Berkeley. I'm majoring in International Political Economy, a division in academia which distinguishes the fine lines between government and markets, but also celebrates - and at times, ridicules - the overwhelming interdependent reliance between the two. And just to complete my circle of universal understanding, I’m pursuing a minor in Global Poverty and Policy to see precisely how capitalism and rule affect socio-economic equity in the United States and abroad. It’s a tangled web of complex relations where humanitarian efforts sometimes have ulterior motives, and where tough decisions, which seem too drastic and marginalizing at a surface level, in the end seem to aid the greatest number of people. Sometimes it’s simpler: People are genuinely nice and selflessly devote their time to the care of others.

In the midst of all the financial crises revolving our own worlds in contemporary day, I'm realizing the importance of having social safety nets – like nonprofits and transnational corporations that practice social responsibility – because no longer can we afford to just rely on governments and our jobs. They’re merging together especially when the stakes are too high. With people resorting to nonprofit aid, accessibility to the multitude of nonprofits is crucial. Hence, I’m impressed and honored to be working for a nonprofit like Grassroots.org – a nonprofit caring for other nonprofits.

Grassroots.org makes it accessible for different populations to find their respective nonprofits over the Internet. In turn, these nonprofits can be more organized, transparent, responsible and accountable via the Internet, too. It’s great. I’m excited to grapple with the different projects nonprofits like Grassroots.org participate in and the tangible change they provide to a world greater than their own. I’m onboard, or rather, I’m online.

It is my great pleasure to offer [these words] of appreciation to Mr. Jeffrey Crawford, Ms. Ashlie Wilbon, and The Grassroots Team in assisting the Children’s Rights Council (CRC) with an important business project. Quite earnestly, the project outcomes to redevelop our national network of Chapters will be much better served in direct response to the industrious and creative efforts expended by Mr. Crawford and Ms. Wilbon. Their academic performance and expression of interpersonal skills with senior executives and staff throughout the Agency consistently demonstrated the appropriate character, ability, discretion and trust in which much confidence and confidentiality was placed in addressing many sensitive issues.

Moreover, each exercised an appropriate level of polite and friendly respect, courtesy, and discretion in which input was readily solicited and fostered. Reports from staff indicate all dialogue was communicated in a way conducive to learning and analysis in an open, honest, nonjudgmental format supporting an environment of mutual respect, acknowledgment and recognition among the various chapter heads. Moreover, their efforts helped to support a participative process through consensus, cohesiveness, and cooperation that greatly contributed to an energetic, focused and amiable spirit throughout CRC. By helping the Chapters recognize how important their contributions and concerns are to not merely the specific functions of their own business, but to the implementation of the much larger national strategic initiative, Ms. Wilbon and Mr. Crawford have directly and succinctly assisted in helping to accomplish even the farthest most reaching goals of the Children’s Rights Council.

Mr. Crawford and Ms. Wilbon are further recognized in their efforts to produce the CRC Chapter Affiliation Plan. Their conclusions and recommendations have been enthusiastically received based on their use of well-founded, fact-based solutions; cause and effect relationships; that easily translate into actionable items. Moreover, their ability to organize and articulate the complexity of strategic concepts in a clear and concise manner is sufficiently well developed to present their work to the Children’s Rights Council Board of Trustees with little modification.

During the entirety of the project period, Ms. Wilbon and Mr. Crawford remained inspired by accomplishment, infused spirit and drive, fidelity and close self-identification with CRC and to its mission, goals, and objectives. In short, it is been the distinct pleasure of the Children’s Rights Council to have been the beneficiary of such helpful work as provided by Mr. Crawford and Ms. Wilbon in concert with the Grassroots Team and the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Sincerely,

Marcus A. Trelaine, MBA

Chief Operating Officer

Children's Rights Council

Millennium Scholars Academy was initially created during the summer of 2007, as I had met many parents who were interested in school options within our community. As our group and interest both grew, we began considering the idea of starting a visual and performing arts charter school for students in grades K-9. After submitting a successful Planning Grant proposal to the state chartering agency, our organization was awarded a $5,000 grant to help with start-up costs. Our grant was quickly depleted and we still needed a professional web presence. Grassroots.org came through for our new organization in a major way! After two unsuccessful interactions with web designers, I came across Grassroots.org's site through a Google search. I was elated at the free services that Grassroots.org offered, especially since we had yet to begin soliciting and receiving any donations.

I have told other charter school developers about Grassroots.org because they will encounter some of the same problems, especially with regard to lack of financial assets to obtain a fax, free web hosting, domain name, and web site builder. I would also like to add that the parents have praised the web site for its professional appearance, ease of use, and overall aesthetics. I quietly laugh because they think it was professionally developed, but in reality, I built the site myself!

Many thanks to Grassroots.org, its staff, and affiliates for making these important marketing tools available to nonprofit organizations at no cost!

Sincerely,

Monise L. Seward, Ed.S.
CEO & Founder
Millennium Scholars Academy

My name is Natalia Wester and I am a volunteer with Grassroots.org through the Graphic Design program. I have been a volunteer since February of 2009. Grassroots.org has given me the opportunity to give back to my community through a medium in which I love, Visual Communications. I have helped several organizations to establish a successful, strong, and positive image through the creation of logos, brochures, and other promotional materials, which in turn has aided them in their efforts to help many others in their communities.
Some of the organizations I have worked with are:

· Until Journey's End
· Hope Recovery Services, Inc.
· Swept Away Media

With the experiences and skill I have gained as a volunteer with Grassroots, I have recently been accepted into a 4 year program where I will be pursuing my Bachelors degree in New Media Arts. All this is thanks to the Graphic Design program with Grassroots.org

Samples of my work can be seen at www.QuixoticVC.com

Thank you,
Natalia

Hello Grassroots community!

My name is Tim Devane and I am the co-founder and CEO of the environmental non-profit organization Birthright Earth. Birthright Earth's mission is to create a generational shift in how young people think about and take care of the environment. We believe that people will not be motivated to doing anything about the environment until they see it first hand. Thus our slogan: See It to Save It.

Our organization gives the gift of a 10-day eye-opening, educational trip to eco-lodges in the Amazon rain forest to 18-26 year old people worldwide. During these trips, BRE participants are shown how intricately connected we are with the world's ecosystems, taught how badly they need our help, and given opportunities to do their part in maintaining the health of our planet.

If you've read the news today, you will see that the Environmental Protection Agency has published findings that declare Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases contribute to atmospheric pollution that may endanger human health. As a nation and planet, we are obviously taking steps in the right direction, but there remains much to be done.

Through Birthright Earth, we will give participants the motivation to do what needs to be done and also provide avenues after their trips to help them contribute.

We recently launched our new website, www.birthrightearth.com, which is now our on-line headquarters. This site would not have been possible without the help of Grassroots.org. Through this amazing site, we were able to find a web designer, Harish Chouhan of Dreams Media, who was willing to work with us.

Sura Hart and everyone at Grassroots has been incredibly helpful all along the way as we designed and tested our site. Without Grassroots, Birthright Earth would not be where it is today!

For more information on the Birthright Earth program please visit our website, www.birthrightearth.com where you can sign up for our newsletter or make a donation. If you have additional questions, please send them to info@birthrightearth.com

See It, Save It
- tim