Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

Besides doing this blog and my website ( www.helping-hearts.net ), I am the Volunteer and Charity Guru on Facebook where I post interesting tidbits about the charity and volunteering world on a semi-daily basis. At my Facebook page , you can find inspiring stories of people changing the world, links to fun and easy opportunities to do some changing yourself, as well as quotes and videos. I recently found out I’m not the only guru in the volunteering and charity business. Who knew?   Tom Kelly is the Fundraising Guru on Facebook. We’re joined by the Gap Guru as well. The more the merrier, I say! Kelly has some great tips for how to start a fundraising organization and how to raise money. His fundraising ideas include how to use QR codes and smartphones , mobile fundraising options and crowdfunding as well as categories like school fundraising, church fundraising, club fundraising, nonprofit fundraising and corporate fundraising. The Gap Guru specializes in students who...

Did you know every state has at least one national park in it and that there are 401 total national parks   in America? July is National Parks and Recreation Month and is a great time to visit a park and volunteer in one.  I’ve written about volunteer vacations before and some of the best are in parks across the country. Join the American Hiking Society for a week of building and maintaining trails with five to 14 other people in exciting and diverse locations like Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming. Crew requests for 2014 open this month. Sierra Club Outings does service through its group and chapters as well as through volunteer vacations. With 65 chapters and more than 400 groups nationwide each contributing to local service projects,  Group and Chapter Outings  give an incalculable number of volunteer hours to parks and public lands. Many groups and chapters devote special trips solely to service projects. Through the roughly 90 serv...

Have you been looking forward to your vacation for months? Going to a new place in the states or to another country?   As of right now, we’re not planning to take a vacation unless it’s a weekend trip nearby, but I would love one day to do a volunteer vacation.   You can go as an individual, group or even as a family. Like any vacation, you get to see a new place but with volunteer vacations you can also make a positive impact on that place.   The opportunities range widely, from tapping maple syrup at a Native American reservation in America to constructing a health center in Kenya. The Volunteer Family provides a list of companies that give families an opportunity to do a project together.   That’s the kind of trip I would really like to take. Another good source is Volunteer Guide because it categorizes the type of projects so you can choose between animal welfare, helping children, community development, environmental protection, health and sa...