It’s been a big week here at VolunteerMatch! On Tuesday we announced that VolunteerMatch will be merging with Idealist. As many of you know I’ve been with the organization for a pretty long time – I started in May of 2007 – and I’ve seen the organization change and evolve quite a bit. I’ve seen our platform modernize, I’ve watched colleagues and organization leaders come and go, and no matter what changed I believed wholeheartedly in the mission of VolunteerMatch and the work I was doing.
When I first learned about the merger, my initial thought was that it just makes so much sense. You might know Idealist as the place you go to find a job in the nonprofit sector (I found my job at VolunteerMatch on Idealist), but it’s so much more than that. Idealist has also been a place to post volunteer opportunities and find great volunteers. And, Idealist has made a commitment to helping individuals find a way to get engaged and take action. In my time at VolunteerMatch I’ve always tried to advocate for streamlining the work that goes into recruiting volunteers. I don’t want leaders of volunteers to have to post in a dozen places. And while VolunteerMatch has been pulling in volunteer opportunities from Idealist since 2020, the newly combined organization is going to make finding the right volunteers even easier.
If you’ve heard me talk about why I do what I do, and what I believe about engaging volunteers in mission-driven work, you might know what my next thought was when I learned about the merger. I was really excited!
Idealist’s Founder and Executive Director Ami Dar has made a lifelong commitment to making the world a better place by helping people take action in their communities. I personally believe that working with volunteers is a privilege and that there’s something really rewarding about connecting a volunteer with work that matters to them and tapping into their desire to make a difference in their community. So, to me personally, it feels like a really good fit. And, I can’t wait to start collaborating with my new colleagues and find out what we can do when we combine our skills, our passions, and our missions. I think it’s going to be really great.
While there have been conversations happening behind the scenes for a few months, this is really just the beginning. While the newly merged organization will be called Idealist, right now VolunteerMatch and Idealist will continue to be two sites and two platforms. When you log into your account in either place everything will look and function in the same way. As we move forward you should expect to hear from us well in advance of any changes. And I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you every step of the way.
As a first step I invite you to join Ami and me for a conversation on Thursday, January 16th at 11 am Pacific/2pm Eastern. Register here. It will be a chance for you to learn a little more about Idealist and what our combined organization might look like in the future. I hope you’ll join us on Thursday for this exciting new adventure for VolunteerMatch and Idealist.
