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Getting Started
Gather supporters and promote your meeting
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Gather supporters online
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Idealist.org Personal Profiles
If you want to find people with similar interests, try reaching out to them directly through Idealist. Thousands of users have created Personal Profiles you can search according to location and their interests and contact them directly about working together.
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Idealist.org Volunteer Profiles
If you want to recruit volunteers, a good place to begin looking is our database of Volunteer Profiles created by other Idealist Members. With this search you can find people according to their interests and location and then contact them through our site.
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Idealist.org: Helpful Hints and Resources - Professional Associations
Use this page to find networks that will allow you to connect with colleagues in the nonprofit sector.
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Idealist Volunteer Center - More Volunteer Sites
This resource offers a list of additional places to connect with volunteers online.
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Social networking sites:
You may already be using sites like MySpace, Facebook, or Friendster to connect with your friends or meet new people. Have you ever thought of using these sites to find people in your community interested in taking action?
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Action oriented networking sites
In addition to social networking sites, there are several sites available that are designed to connect individuals and groups who are interested in coming together to create change. Some of these sites include Care 2 Make a Difference, D groups - Development Through Dialogue, and TakingITGlobal.
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Gather supporters offline
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The Nonprofit FAQ: Volunteer Recruitment
This section responds to some frequently asked questions about recruiting volunteers.
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Recruiting Volunteers: A total approach
This downloadable workshop from Idealist on Campus provides a comprehensive approach to recruiting volunteers or group members.
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Recruitment Methods
This resource presents strategies for recruiting members to your community group. It is put out by Transforming Communities, an organization that focuses on preventing violence against women, but the strategies outlined are applicable to any type of group or issue.
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Getting People
Citizen Works, a nonprofit organization that supports citizen participation, offers this resource which outlines even more ways to get people in your community involved in your initiative.
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Door Knocking
As part of the "Basics of Organizing" guide written by Shel Trapp and available on Tenant.net, this section discusses the best strategies for recruiting by going door-to-door in your neighborhood.
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Include everyone
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Involving Volunteers from Underrepresented Groups
As one of the largest social policy research and development charities in the United Kingdom, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation seeks to better understand the causes of social difficulties and explore ways of overcoming them. This resource on involving volunteers presents a summary of the findings of research on this subject and offers suggestions for the best ways organizations, community groups, and other institutions can be more inclusive of underrepresented groups.
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Under-Represented Groups
This article from Volunteer England, a national volunteer development organization, discusses the issue of social inclusion among volunteers and offers practical steps you can take to involve volunteers from a diverse variety of backgrounds.
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Promote your meeting
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Idealist Groups
You can use Idealist.org to create an Idealist Group and list events, volunteer opportunities, campaigns and more. Also check out the site for upcoming meetings in your community.
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Power Your Website
Want to let people know that you've started a group or posted a profile on Idealist? Idealist.org offers tools that allow you to link directly to these features from your blog, MySpace page, Friendster Profile, etc...
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Meetup.com
With over two million registered users, Meetup.com is a simple way for people to find people in their communities who share their interests and then form groups that meet face-to-face. You can use Meetup to identify individuals or groups in your community that may be interested in joining you in taking action.
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Craigslist
For years, craigslist.org has served as a community classifieds for people online. Have you ever thought of using it as way to connect and meet with people who want to make a difference?
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Upcoming.org
Upcoming.org is a social events calendar which allows you to manage and share your events with family and friends. This is an easy tool for community groups to promote meetings events.
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Eventful.com
Eventful.com allows you to find events that you care about, share information with your friends, family and contacts, and create grassroots campaigns for events that you would like to see happen.
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Publicity and Media
RESULTS, a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization, offers this resource on publicity and media that includes suggestions on increasing turnout and gaining the attention of policy makers and the media.
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Tips for Attracting Publicity
This resource from Transforming Communities offers some ideas for how you can use a variety of forms of media to publicize your meeting.
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