Join the Online Career Chat “Breaking into the Sector”

This Thursday, October 8th at noon ET, Idealist.org will partner with the Chronicle of Philanthropy for an online chat on Breaking into the Sector.

An intensely competitive job market is making it harder than ever for recent graduates and established business professionals to break into careers in the nonprofit world.

• What can you do to stand out from the crowd?
• What can you do to make sure you are an attractive candidate for a great new role when conditions improve?
• And if you do land a position, what should you do to make the most of your opportunity?

Career transition experts Meg Busse and Steve Joiner (authors of the Idealist.org Guides to Nonprofit Careers and our Career Corner advice column) and nonprofit leader Rosetta Thurman will answer these questions and more.

We hope you will join us Thursday.

Quick Survey: Have You Volunteered Abroad?

From Flickr user Adamina via Creative Commons

From Paul Nauert, an intern in our Portland office, originally posted on the Idealist.org homepage blog.

Have you volunteered abroad? Do you have thoughts on where to find funding or how to decide between going with a program or going solo? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Since the start of this decade, more and more people have been going abroad to volunteer, getting involved in an ever-expanding and more diverse range of places, types of work, and social and environmental causes. Lately at Idealist we’ve been delving into several projects to better understand what is going on in the burgeoning world of international volunteerism and how we can help provide more resources for folks interested in becoming part of it.

Career Tip: Don’t Just Hunt for Your Next Job…Develop It!

From Flickr user suttonhoo

By Steve Joiner; cross-posted from the Idealist.org homepage blog. Click here to peruse the Career Corner archives.

What exactly is career development and how is it different from just looking for and then applying to openings? The truth is that the work world is still ours to create, to develop, and to grow.

I was at a career development conference last week and one of the keynote speakers—a fantastic Career Development professional named Denise Bissonnette—had a lot to say about this very idea. Her talk focused on the idea that professionals in the

Careers: Brand New Career Transitions Book for Current and Former Service Corps Members

My career transitions book is live on Idealist! Free, downloadable, accessible from any place with an internet connection — and written just for you.

I’ve been working on this for almost a year — giant thanks to everyone who helped out reading and offering feedback!

Intended for national and international service corps audiences of all ages, Service Corps to Social Impact Career – A Companion to The Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers is a free new book from Idealist.org.

While most resources and trainings focusing on “life after” the corps begin and end with career search skill building, Service Corps to Social Impact Career emphasizes integrating career development throughout the term.

The book highlights practices that current corps members can incorporate during their service experience which also prepare them for their next steps, including discerning their professional calling, gaining relevant skills, building relationships, and documenting their accomplishments.

For corps members actively transitioning from their service term to a career or further education, Service Corps to Social

The Idealist.org Career Center at NCVS

At the National Conference on Volunteering and Service this week, look for the Idealist Career Center in the West Hall’s Third Floor Lobby, near the escalators and against the wall.

Monday through Wednesday, we’ll have staff on hand for one-on-one or small-group conversations about careers, as well as a series of 30-minute workshops to address specific topics. All of these are free to attend, and no reservation is required.

Monday, June 22

3-5 pm        20-minute Career Conversations with Steven Joiner, Director, Career Transition Program or Russ Finkelstein, Associate Director. Got burning questions? Need a sounding board? Here’s a chance to brainstorm ideas with some people on our careers team.

Tuesday, June 23

Idealist Graduate Admissions Fairs – Next Week in Washington DC and New York

Social impact professionals at all stages in their careers get a chance to meet representatives from a range of public-service focused grad schools next week in DC and New York. The events are free, after work, and include information sessions.

Idealist’s 2009 season of Graduate Degree Fairs for the Public Good launches next week in Washington, DC, and New York.

These events are unique among graduate admissions fairs in that they are completely geared toward degree areas that our Idealist network is looking for—ranging from nonprofit and business management to public policy and social work. Education, divinity, public health, and

AmeriCorps Week: Challenging and Building Capacity through VISTA

I hope everyone has had a fabulous AmeriCorps Week, which ends tomorrow. Our series of interviews concludes today. This interview is with  former Idealist.org intern Julia Sylla who is now serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA through Oregon Volunteers. To read more about Idealist.org-involved folks who have also served in VISTA, check out my post on the “V is For __” campaign which features grad school blogger Eileen Gallagher, Idealist staffer Jung Fitzpatrick, and me. But, now for Julia:

Where do you serve?

My site is a nonprofit organization called SOLV, based just outside of Portland, Oregon.  SOLV is a state-wide organization focused on the promotion of environmental stewardship.  In a nutshell, we create opportunities for environmental volunteerism and support restoration and cleanup initiatives in communities throughout Oregon.  The work I do at SOLV is based in a collaboration between SOLV and Oregon Volunteers. I serve both organizations, even though I spend most of my time at SOLV.

What were you doing before you joined AmeriCorps VISTA?

AmeriCorps Week: Exploring Different Ways to Get Involved

As part of our AmeriCorps Week Interviews, I’m sharing stories of current or former AmeriCorps members, about their service, and its impact on their communities and their careers. This interview is with my colleague Erin Barnhart who served with AmeriCorps NCCC. NCCC stands for the National Civilian Conservation Corps.

Where did you serve?

I served with AmeriCorps NCCC at their Central Region campus in Denver from 1997-98.

What do you do now?

AmeriCorps Week: Education for Increased Health and Food Security

In honor of AmeriCorps Week, I’m interviewing people who are current or former AmeriCorps members, to talk with them about their service, and its impact on their communities and their careers. This interview is with Randall Cass, a former Idealist.org intern who’s currently serving with the Northwest Service Academy (NWSA).

Where do you serve?

I am the AmeriCorps placement at Oregon Tilth’s Organic Education Center. Oregon Tilth is a nonprofit dedicated to organic research, education, and certification.

What were you doing before you joined AmeriCorps?

I started my position about four months after I graduated from college. During those months I worked a retail job (not really my thing) while crashing on my sister’s couch until I found a place of my own.

Why did you join AmeriCorps? What did you hope to accomplish?

AmeriCorps Week: Diverse Approaches Strengthen Team Work

In honor of AmeriCorps Week, I’m interviewing people who are current or former AmeriCorps members, to talk with them about their service, and its impact on their communities and their careers. This interview is with my colleague at Idealist.org Hannah Kane who served with City Year.

Where did you serve?

I served primarily at the Boston Renaissance Charter School in 1999-2000 and then at various schools and community agencies in Washington, DC in 2000-2001.

What do you do now?

Career Tip: Timing Your Job Search and Supporting Yourself During the Transition

If you aim to move onto a salaried job after your service term ends, you may be facing some big logistical challenges — when do you start actively looking for your next job? If you don’t have something lined up when your term ends, how do you support yourself till you land that job?

When to Start Your Active Job Search

Regardless of your service corps, your term probably has a definite end date.  If that is the case, lining up a job can pose tricky questions, such as when do you start applying for jobs? And when, during the application process, do you let the hiring team know your availability limitations?

When to start your active job search—sending in applications—is a little fuzzy. The typical job search takes about six

How to Apply to AmeriCorps

To clear up some confusion about how you get into AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps is a network of programs throughout the United States (and its territories — yes, you can serve in Puerto Rico!) that provide the chance for you to serve in your community full-time for a year on a range of critical issue areas.

Programs also allow nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and schools to host you — in order to extend their capacity to fulfill their mission, and so you can initiate and run new projects that they haven’t been able to get off the ground, and/or to leverage the support of community volunteers whom you recruit and engage.

When do AmeriCorps applications come open?

The short answer is, it’s not too late to apply now and in the coming months.

Because AmeriCorps is a network of programs, the longer answer is that application dates vary by program. Different programs operate on different cycles, with new AmeriCorps members starting at different times.

Most programs that I know of open up their application process in spring and early summer; and incoming AmeriCorps members start in the fall (usually starting sometime between August and October).

Of course some programs, like City Year and Teach For America, offer many deadlines throughout the school year.

School or Service? In a Down Economy which Way Should You Turn?

For the Class of 2009, job prospects appear grim. As an employment alternative, which is better: heading straight onto grad school, or participating in a term of service?

Is grad school the only safe haven from the nightmarish job market? Absolutely not. For an aspiring public service professional, serving full-time for a year or two with a national or international volunteer organization, or finding a fellowship in your field, may be better solutions.

The Case for and against Grad School

In any economy, both good and bad reasons exist to go to graduate school. Where normally a graduating college senior may be attracted to the structure of campus life, the security of knowing what’s next, and the parental nod of approval that come with a grad school experience, in this dismal job market even more reasons make grad school appealing as an alternate to the job search.

First: If you have a good idea about what direction you want to go in professionally, but fear few job openings in your field, you may be better off going to grad school so that you can work toward your professional goals rather than take a low-paying job that is completely unrelated, and that will take up valuable space on your resume.

Further, grad school also will allow you to defer loans, and may offer more affordable health insurance options than if you worked in a hourly-wage job that didn’t afford you health coverage.

At Idealist.org, we tend to think that grad students fair better after they’ve gotten a few years of work experience. Read more about why most undergrads should wait before going to grad school. Strictly academic fields of discipline (biology, history, literature, language) may be more inviting of undergrads, but professional degree programs (nonprofit management, business, public interest law, social work, public health, etc.) want to see people with real-world skills and professional experience.

Waiting to go to grad school gives you a chance to explore your professional talents and interests, offers you a basis for understanding what you’ll learn in school, and helps you to sharpen your career goals.

In addition to these normal arguments to postpone grad studies, this economic climate poses funding challenges for potential grad students.

• First, federal loans may not cover 100 percent of your need. Usually students can use private loans to supplement federal funds. But this year, private loans are limited because of the credit crisis.
• Second, competition will be stiffer for scholarships. School- and foundation-based scholarships are tied to endowments, which are weaker now due to recent stock market declines and fluctuations.
• Finally, state-funded schools face big declines in funding, due to state budget shortfalls caused by unemployment and lost income tax revenue, so graduate assistantships may also be harder to get.

If you do go directly onto grad school this fall, take advantage of your time in school to get as much field experience as possible, including internships, part-time jobs, and volunteer opportunities. Also take advantage of your school’s alumni and career services to to explore and network in your areas of interest. Your experience and networks add to the value of your education in the eyes of employers.

Service Corps as a Temporary Alternative to Grad School, or Not

Participating in a term of service may be a great alternative for you for a year or two. You’ll be on the front lines of helping the people who are hardest hit by the economic crisis —communities already living on the financial edge. You’ll likely take on meaty service projects—in a team setting or on your own—and get more responsibility than you’d get in a entry-level job anyway.

Most service corps offer basic health coverage, and make it possible for you to defer student loan payments for the length of the term. Check with individual programs for details; you can see a list of Corps and Coalitions in the right-hand side bar of this blog. In the best of economies, service allows you to jumpstart your career with connections and responsibility you’d be hard-pressed to gain in an entry level position. And it offers the essential benefits like a living stipend, student loan deferment, and health insurance that grad school also does — without the burden of morestudent loan debt. To read about the value of service as a launching-off point for a social-impact career, read Why Service?

The bottom line is that service opportunities may be more plentiful than jobs, and more plentiful than ever if President-Elect Obama’s stimulus plan calls for the expansion of national service. The Change/Wire blog has had great reporting of why service should be included in the package, and it is a raison d’etre of the Service Nation movement to increase support of national service. Even if the stimulus package overlooks national service, Congress may still choose to increase support of national service programs which leverage private funds and volunteers, to make them very cost-effective investments.

Good reasons exist not to do a term of service. If you can’t afford to live on less than $1000 a month because of other financial burdens, service may not be feasible. My friend Jen is supporting her husband who is still in school, for example.

You may know yourself well enough to know that you’ll be miserable living “simply.” My cousin Meagen, who will soon graduate from George Washington University, says she hated being a camp counselor last summer because of the primitive accommodations — so she knows that serving out some Peace Corps assignments would be disastrous for her.

You might also consider finding a fellowship opportunity. Idealist.org has a list of fellowships in public service, and a discussion forum with even more opportunities listed.

Keeping Your Options Open

Julie Harrold, Director of Admissions and Recruitment at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at University of Minnesota, says the most important things are to keep your options open and to put yourself in a position to learn and network with leaders.

While she agrees that grad school is more valuable after a few years of professional experience, Julie advises this year’s rising grads to apply for service corps, jobs, fellowships, and grad school—and see what comes up. She says most grad schools should be willing to defer enrollment for a year if an admitted student wants to use that time for AmeriCorps or another enriching opportunity. (You can also combine the two experiences.)

She goes onto say that developing a relationship with a leader who will mentor you is very valuable—as is putting yourself in a position to really learn something new. She also cautions young people from turning down a great opportunity in, say, community development, simply because their ultimate goal is in education policy. What you learn in one discipline will offer you broader insights as you move onto other disciplines, so community development may in fact help prepare you in unique ways for a career in education policy.

Finally, Julie Harrold is willing to answer questions about admissions and can be reached via email, jharrold[at]umn.edu.

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Brookings calls for More Peace Corps

Coalition on international volunteering calls for support of the More Peace Corps petition.

The Building Bridges Coalition — a project of the Brookings Initiative on International Volunteering and Service —asks today that all U.S. citizens “who believe that Peace Corps is an important part of our outreach to the world” sign the petition urging President-Elect Barack Obama to double the number of Volunteers serving through Peace Corps, as well as to support Peace Corps in specific ways.

The petition will be presented to Obama in a little over a week. Sign it here.

According to National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) President Kevin Quigley:

More Peace Corps means having the resources to respond to the more than 20 countries  that have requested programs for which Peace Corps has insufficient funds. It also means having the resources to give the many highly qualified Americans who would like to serve overseas the chance to do so.

More Peace Corps does not mean a simple expansion of the numbers of Peace Corps volunteers, although that is part of it.

More Peace Corps may mean revising the Peace Corps model in ways to take better advantage of the significant technological and demographic changes that have occurred in the 46 years since Peace Corps was launched.

More Peace Corps will consider how to make Peace Corps so much more
effective at addressing the problems of poverty. This will probably require
significant innovation and some risk.

The Building Bridges Coalition works to double the number of volunteers serving internationally by 2010 and includes groups such as Idealist.org and the NPCA (the independent group of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers).

One of the Coalition’s policy recommendations is to double the number of Peace Corps Volunteers, something President-Elect Obama also included in his pre-election stance on service. (Their other policy recommendations include the Global Service Fellowship and permanent authorization of Volunteers for Prosperity.)

To learn more, check out the More Peace Corps website, and read Ten Times the Peace Corps, a paper by Quigley and Brooking’s Lex Rieffel.

To sign the petition, go here!

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AmeriCorps*NCCC Members Earn Certification through American Humanics

AmeriCorps’s conservation corps partners with American Humanics to offer corps members certification in nonprofit competency.

Also note that AmeriCorps*NCCC has new deadlines: April 1 (summer class) and July 1 (winter class).

Recognizing that a term of service is a valuable education, American Humanics (AH) offers AmeriCorps*NCCC corps members the opportunity to count service hours towards AH nonprofit certification.

A national organization that offers educational opportunities on nonprofit management topics to undergraduates throughout the United States, AH has been “preparing tomorrow’s nonprofit leaders” since 1948. Around 3,000 students across the country are engaged in AH programs at 70 colleges and universities. Many of these students are working towards AH certification.

(Note that neither AH nor any other nonprofit management certification is required to get a program-management job in the nonprofit sector. Some public service roles do require certification. Read more about professional certification — and how to assess the value employers place on it — on Idealist.org’s Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center.)

The requirements of typical AH certification include 300 hours of approved internship service, general engagement in nonprofit leadership activities, academic coursework, a Bachelor’s degree, and completion of one AH Management Institute (the organization’s annual conference). What this means for NCCC corps members and alumni:

• AmeriCorps*NCCC members serve for 1700 hours which more than achieves the internship and nonprofit leadership objectives of certification.
• NCCC’s extensive training throughout the 10-month term of service counts for most of the academic course work requirements.
• NCCC alumni must attend one AH Management Institute to complete some of the course requirements.
• For the remaining course requirements, NCCC alumni can take courses at AH partner schools. Louisiana State University’s Shreveport campus allows NCCC members and recent alumni to take the needed courses  online—paying in-state tuition. (The Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award can apply to the costs of these courses.) LSU Shreveport also waives the GRE requirement for NCCC alumni taking these courses.
• If NCCC corps members haven’t finished their Bachelor’s degree yet, AH gives them seven years to complete it in order to be eligible for certification.

AmeriCorps*NCCC is the branch of AmeriCorps that is a conservation corps, modeled after the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps. NCCC stands for National Civilian Conservation Corps and is pronounced “N-triple-C.” The program is team-based and residential, for people aged 18-24. Teams travel to a variety of work sites throughout the 10-month term of service, exposing the young people to a variety of new service experiences. NCCC has been instrumental in rebuilding New Orleans and Mississippi in the wake of Hurrican Katrina in 2005. Each team is based out of one of the following campuses: Denver, CO; Sacramento, CA; Perry Point, MD; and Vinton, IA

AmeriCorps*NCCC is accepting applications through April 1, 2009, for its summer-start class, and July 1, 2009, for its winter-start class.

Learn more by listening to the Idealist.org podcast with Katrina Mathis on AmeriCorps*NCCC.

AH also has its own AmeriCorps program called AmeriCorps*ProCorps. ProCorps members serve from 450-1700 hours and earn the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award (up To $4,725 for the full 1700-hour term).

Emerging Leaders Fellowship in NYC

Young public service professionals in New York can experience the support of a cohort without joining a service corps

The Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU offers the Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service to non-students for the past several years that provides career and moral support, professional development, and camaraderie to nonprofit professionals who are in the first years of their career.

So the bad news is, the deadline to apply for next year was Oct. 17. Sorry I didn’t post about this sooner! The good news is, it exists! And Wagner — which has been both a grad fair host for Idealist and a career fair sponsor — has some other can’t-pass-up fellowships that I’ll link to at the end of this post.

Here is some information about FELPS from the web site for next year:

FELPS is one of the first organized programs that actively guides and engages emerging leaders in a process that encourages self-directed career development. This process encourages Fellows to explicitly answer the question “Why public service?” while simultaneously presenting them with the exciting and challenging options that a modern-day public service career offers. Through this Fellowship, NYU Wagner is extending its commitment to educating the next generation of public service leaders.

Fellows will be brought together for a series of twice-a-month workshops in the evening, during lunch time, and over breakfast with an opportunity to:

• Discuss public service issues and career challenges with experts in the public service field;
  Gain a clear assessment of their own assets, knowledge base and skill set;
• Build a network of peers and mentors who can offer insight and guidance on career development; and
• Develop a career plan based on personal assessments and professional goals.

For those of you who are interested in Wagner as an educational destination, know about these opportunities: Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship offers a $50,000 scholarship for 23 in-coming full-time students at NYU’s graduate schools.

The David Bohnett Scholarship offers full tuition for MPA and MUP candidates who have expressed interest in working in municipal government to solve pressing social issues. Many more named scholarships and fellowships are on Wagner’s site.

Listen to this podcast show featuring Wagner’s career guru David Schachter.

Read more about grad school and financing your education on Idealist’s Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center.

This week our graduate admissions fairs are in the Midwest—St. Louis tomorrow night! Then next week the South! Durham (Oct. 27), New Orleans (Oct. 30) and Atlanta (Nov. 3).

Corps Finances: Personal Financial Management for the Service Corps Member

Earning a stipend doesn’t mean suffering financially

These rocky financial times call everyone’s attention to government spending, and cause those in public service to wonder how the nonprofit sector will survive the turmoil on Wall Street — which affects the ability of foundations and donors to contribute financially.

Scobay (CreativeCommons, Flickr)

The mess we are in also calls us to pay more heed to our own financial circumstances.

What does that look like for a member or stipended volunteer in a service corps?

Depending on the program, and on a member’s spending needs, a service corps stipend can be challenging to live on.

For service corps members facing challenges, the term of service is a great time to get schooled in personal financial management. If you are working with clients who have low incomes, the lessons you learn can also benefit them.

Do no harm

While most financial advice will tell you how to save and invest wisely, Corps members may not have any extra money to save. The priority for you, then, is to do no harm:

1. Get Your credit report free annually, know your FICO score (which doesn’t come with your free annual credit report), and learn how to protect and increase your score.

2. Track your money—all your money. Save receipts or take notes for a week. It helps to see it in black and white. That way you can spend according to priority not habit, and find cheaper alternatives.

Thinkpanama, Creative Commons, Flickr

For example, you might spend a lot on buying coffee at coffee shops, where you could make coffee at home or the office. That change would allow you to choose organic produce if that’s important to you.

A big expense that can build up unexpectedly are ATM fees. If you withdraw money from another bank’s automated teller machine, not only that bank but your own bank can deduct fees from your account. Imagine losing $4 every time you withdraw $20. And you may not see the fees till you get your monthly statement.

As part of tracking your money, list withdrawals and deposits in an account ledger like the kind you get for free with your bank account. Overdrawing your account can cost a lot of money.

3. Make a budget. Allow yourself to spend a maximum amount on a certain category each week or pay period. Some people like to put cash in envelopes at the start of the week, and when the cash runs out, so does the spending.

One envelope may be for food, and could include groceries and eating out. Another could be for gas, a third for entertainment, etc. You don’t need a fancy worksheet, all you need is to list your living expenses (rent, groceries, childcare, credit card, utilities, transportation), their due dates and their monthly costs. Make adjustments where you see waste as mentioned in Tip #2.

4. Be responsible with credit cards. Avoid running up credit card debt, as well as carrying a credit card balance from month to month.

The Truth About, Creative Commons, Flickr

Paying just the minimum payment fee on your monthly statement or paying the fee late can incur costly fees, and damage your credit score.

Also be careful about the due date in your monthly credit card statement. Those companies switch the date around like a fickle fiance, and they win if you pay too late.

If you are serving in Peace Corps or another international service program and are taking credit card debt with you, you can do a few things to help yourself out: sell off your car, books, and other valuables to pay off as much as you can before you go. If you won’t have enough cash to pay off your credit card that way, you can instead use the money to pay the minimum fee (or a set amount above that fee) monthly through an automatic bill pay that you set up through your checking account at home. It’s a very expensive solution.

Choose a credit card wisely, and understand the true cost of using credit cards. Use this calculator to figure out how much you really owe. Check out Frontline’s The Secret History of the Credit Card for understanding the fine print of your credit card agreement and more.

5. Live simply. Here are some of the biggies: live with roommates; borrow books and movies from the library; ride a bike whenever possible — going car free saves a lot of money; cook at home and have friends over for pot-luck dinners; forgo internet access and cable television at home; shop at thrift stores and swap clothes with friends; cut down on expensive drinks  like beer; reuse, reduce, recycle.

Richard Masoner, Creative Commons, Flickr

6. If at all possible, save. Similarly, avoid spending your savings you came into the Corps with. Even $5 a week adds up.

7. Know your financial goals. In the next five years do you want to enroll in school, buy a house, buy a car, pay down student loans, start a family, retire?

You may not be able to put a lot of money towards these investments this year, but can educate yourself about the financial needs you will have. Knowing what lies ahead for you may motivate you to watch your pennies now. You can also take workshops on these topics as you see them offered in your community. Sometimes they come with free pizza!

Resources

The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) offers an array of resources to help people think about money strategically, begin with Smart With Money’s Taking the First Step. Also check out this resource on Life Events and Financial Decisions.

Partnering with Idealist.org, NEFE published Making a Difference: A Guide to Personal Profit in a Nonprofit World especially for young people looking at a career in the nonprofit sector.

Service corps members are often eligible for programs that benefit all people with low incomes (such as housing for people with low incomes, Food Assistance and individual development accounts).

Another resource to check out regularly is Michelle Singletary’s Color of Money column in the Washington Post and NPR podcast.

Finally, keep an eye on the blogs in the Money Life Network.

For prospective corps members

If you haven’t yet joined a corps, have confidence that hundreds of thousands of people have participated in service corps and made it financially.

That said, do take a hard look at the numbers and make sure you can afford to live on a stipend. Take into consideration student loans (qualified loans can be deferred or put into forbearance during the term), child care expenses, rent/mortgage payments, car payments, etc. Service Corps programs, local nonprofits and government agencies may be able to offer help with certain expenses, so be sure to ask. It’s not impossible to thrive on the stipend, but a term of service isn’t worth ruining your credit history or incurring deep debt.

Also note that not all Corps are the same in terms of stipends. Peace Corps Volunteers don’t get rich, but typically earn enough to cover all their expenses (including housing, utilities, food, even medical expenses are taken care of), and sock a bit away for extras. AmeriCorps*VISTAs on the other hand, who work to end poverty, earn 105 percent of whatever is poverty-level income in their area—which can be a struggle!—and aren’t allowed to take on side jobs. Teach For America Corps members earn the starting teacher’s salary for their school district, while AmeriCorps*NCCC members earn $400 a month but have all their basic needs taken care of for their ten-month term. The terms of every program are different, so be sure to ask.

Do you know of other personal finance tips, or resources, useful to service Corps members? Are you a service Corps member or Alum? What have you done to be successful financial through your term?

Resources for International Volunteers

Ready to take your commitment to social change overseas? It’s easy enough to find opportunities through study abroad offices, gap-year fairs, or searching on Idealist.

It’s a completely separate matter to know what questions to ask before you go, to know if you can trust the program you are signing up with, how to tell if the program’s requests for payment or information are legitimate.

To help address these concerns…

Idealist.org is proud to announce the launch of the International Volunteerism Resource Center -  “a free, comprehensive online source of information, tools, and strategies for making informed decisions about engaging in meaningful international service.”

Find answers to questions like…

• What is international volunteering?
• What should I consider before deciding to volunteer in another country?
• What are some of the ethical and cost issues associated with volunteering abroad?
• Should I go with a volunteer-sending organization or on my own?
• How do I choose a volunteer-sending organization or program?
• How do I find, plan, and embark on my own independent volunteer abroad experience?
• What questions should I ask to determine if an opportunity or organization is legitimate?  A good fit for me?
• How might I volunteer while studying abroad, going on a gap year, or working abroad?
• How might I volunteer abroad with my family or employer?
• How do I determine what skills I have to offer and identify skilled volunteer opportunities abroad?
• What should I know before I go?  What logistics should I take care of?
• What are my rights and responsibilities as an international volunteer?
• How can I ease my transition home?
• What are some strategies for translating my international experience into a career?

The International Volunteerism Resource Center aims to be a comprehensive, easy to use, and accessible collection of information, opportunities, and all-things-useful for both those interested in volunteering in another country as well as those who already have.

We want feedback from current, future and past volunteers so please share your suggestions and critiques with my award-winning colleague Erin, erinb@idealist.org.

Applying to U.S. grad schools from abroad

Are you a U.S. citizen working or volunteering abroad? Know someone who is?

Check out the newest article on Idealist.org’s Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center: Applying to a U.S. Grad School as a U.S. Citizen Living Abroad.

The article offers considerations for working with your local mail system, finding test prep materials and taking tests, and finding good alternatives to the campus visit.

Idealist.org grad fairs are not as useful if you can’t participate, however, you can and should check out the list of registered schools at some of the events (for example the 117 schools at this week’s San Francisco fair and or the 107 schools registered for the Los Angeles event).

Also note that Idealist is still looking for bloggers including current or former term-of-service participants (like Peace Corps and VSO volunteers), and people crossing borders to attend grad school.

Service Nation Summit

A campaign for service

Want to keep up with the latest Service Nation news? Follow Service Nation news through BetheChangeInc on Twitter!

On September 11 and 12, 500 leaders from public, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors will come together in New York City to call on the next president of the United States to “enact a new era of voluntary service and civic engagement in America, an era in which all Americans will work together to solve our greatest and most persistent societal challenges.”

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain (presidential nominees of the two major parties) have both now confirmed that they will speak at the Service Nation Summit.

And you can watch it live (Thursday, 8 pm EDT) on CNN!

Other speakers at the two-day event will include First Lady Laura Bush (invited), Senator Hillary Clinton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The aim of the summit will be to lay out a policy blue print for solving tough social problems through expanding citizen service. Read the TIME magazine article from this summer by TIME Managing Editor Rick Stengel.

The Service Nation campaign is a coalition of over 110 organizations (including Idealist.org) that has been organized by Be the Change Inc. and founded by City Year’s founder Alan Khazei. The initiative will come to a service project near you on September 27 with over 1000 events in communities across the country on the Service Nation Day of Action. Learn more and to find out how you can get involved with the Service Nation campaign in your community. Read more on The Page blog by Mark Halperin.

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Do you have questions to ask of Senators McCain or Obama about national service?

At the Service Nation Summit Presidential Candidates’s Forum Sept. 11, facilitators will ask questions submitted on the Service Nation web site.

Also, check out the Service Nation page on Facebook.