An experiment in the joy of giving
Founded: 1998
Status: Nonprofit
Processing Fee: None
Website: http://www.servicespace.org/
In their words:
ServiceSpace is an experiment in the joy of giving. What started with free web solutions for nonprofits is now becoming a bridge between the Internet and the Inner-net. Ultimately, though, all our work is a bundle of small miracles and a celebration of our inherent spirit of service.
Our wide array of volunteer programs are centered around people, our 301,235 members. Below are some of our current program offerings and its reach:
* DailyGood: extraordinary, positive changes are happening all around the world but we often just hear the bad news. Not any more. Welcome to a portal of good news! Everyday, 105,013 subscribers receive an email with an insightful quotation and a small be-the-change action that people can take.
* Smile Cards: to encourage anonymous acts of kindness, we started a game of tag -- do a selfless act for someone, and leave behind a card telling them to pay it forward. 892,148 smile cards have been shipped anonymously and without any charge, more than 13,587 members have generated 17,195 kindness stories as a part of "SmileGroups", we've created new offerings like Smile Decks and our weekly newsletter has grown to 79,071 subscribers in a short time.
* KarmaTube: a collection of short, "do something" videos coupled with simple actions that every viewer can take. Our vision is to create and connect a global network of volunteers to create uplifting stories that celebrate the work of local change agents and to generate micro-communities based on the "be-the-change" actions that each video lists. Our site currently hosts 676 inspiring videos with more than 33,610 newsletter subscribers for its weekly email.
* Service eXchange: our original program that served nonprofit organizations with web solutions; to date, 992 volunteers have successfully completed 254 projects. Most recently, we've also launched an in-house technology called CF Sites that has helped more create more than 7,765 websites.
* Conversations: just as the name says, a project that hosts conversations with social artists and everyday heroes. Coupled with a 20-year-old print-magazine started by Richard Whittaker, this project is now fully run on a gift-economy basis. Although we don't know for sure, this is probably the first ad-free, pay-it-forward print magazine in circulation. :) In addition, its e-newsletter reaches 28,470 subscribers.
* iJourney: readings from various wisdom traditions, with original photographs and audio readings each week. The site also features a growing collection of profiles of everyday heroes, and is a hub for local meditation sits simply called "Wednesdays" that have been attended by more than 20,000 people over the last decade. The weekly newsletter serves a digest of our various portals, and reaches 64,818 active subscribers each week.
* Inspiring Messages: amidst all the commercial banner-ads in the world, we thought it would be nice to get donated banner-ad space and provide inspiring messages like "Relax. You have plenty of time." or "Be the change you wish to see." Over 500 websites display these banners daily, and over 100 million impressions have been generated by this project in the course of a few years.
* PledgePage: for volunteers who run marathons as fundraisers for nobel causes, PledgePage is an easy way to publish and share their photos, diaries and donors online. When this dot-com had seen its last day in 2001, CharityFocus took it over and made it a free, dot-org service. Collectively, 7,896 PledgePage sites have generated millions of hits to raise well over $3,163,764 for good causes around the globe.
* ProPoor: a portal of South Asian nonprofit related activity that has daily news (emailed to subscribers) and information on 14,504 nonprofits. While it was started by the Sony TV founder as a staffed organization, he opted to turn it into a fully volunteer-run after being touched by CharityFocus's spirit of service.
* Email Newsletters: to keep volunteers continually inspired and connected to the spirit of service, we offer an array of email newsletters ranging from a daily quote to a weekly thought to featured articles and videos. These newsletters -- all of them commercial free, and without any hidden agendas -- directly reach over 259,098 people on a regular basis.
* Karma Kitchen: imagine a restaurant, where your check your reads $0.00 -- someone before you has paid for your bill, and you get to pay-forward what you want for those after you. What started as a experiment on a 2-week notice has now served over 29,000 guests, with over 18,600 hours of volunteer contributions, in three locations (Berkeley, Washington DC and Chicago) across the US.
* Local Events: while lot of our services are online, we fully understand and appreciate the value of connecting in person. To that end, we encourage volunteers to setup local service events where they can work together with like-hearted volunteers. Events like Wednesdays have spread to over two dozen cities in South Asia, North America, and United Kingdom and included over 30,000 participants.
Wherever people are on their personal journeys of service -- whether they just want to read DailyGood or attend local events with inspiring speakers; whether they wanna roll up their sleeves and give of their valuable skills to promote social change; whether they want to use the Internet as a bridge to experience their interconnection with the world -- ServiceSpace hopes to be an instrument to cultivate a deeper awareness of being alive.
