CEO Michelle Nunn Helps Lead ServiceNation Campaign and Development of Key Service Legislation

ATLANTA (September 12, 2008) – Points of Light Institute, the largest volunteer and civic engagement organization in the nation, is one of four major organizations behind ServiceNation – a national campaign to increase service opportunities, solve chronic social problems through service and promote a culture of service in America. Today, leaders from all sectors of public and private life – including Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute, are together for the ServiceNation Summit to discuss and plan a bold policy blueprint for addressing America’s greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for volunteerism and national service. Points of Light Institute is one of the lead organizations along with Be The Change, City Year and Civic Enterprises—that are helping to coordinate the ServiceNation effort.

At the Summit, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced the much-anticipated Serve America Act that he is introducing in the Senate with Chairman Ted Kennedy (D-MA). This bill is originally co-sponsored by both presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. The act will build on existing national service and volunteer programs to provide millions of Americans new opportunities to serve – from early childhood through retirement, to tackle our nation's toughest problems, and to show the compassion and commitment of Americans at home and abroad. The bill includes the establishment of a Volunteer Generation Fund designed to support the capacity and availability of community-based volunteering and will help nonprofit organizations recruit and manage more volunteers. Points of Light Institute has been central in the development of this key component of the proposed legislation which provides an important intersection between support for volunteerism and for national service programs like AmeriCorps, Peace Corps and VISTA.

“The Volunteer Generation Fund is a critical aspect of the bill and necessary in order to truly expand opportunities for all Americans to volunteer and serve,” said Nunn. “We live in a time when the opportunity and urgency for civic engagement and volunteerism are at critical levels, as is the need for long-term commitment to this issue. That commitment should come from our elected officials by making service a policy priority, from our business leaders and corporations by becoming more involved in their communities through encouraging and enabling volunteerism, and from every citizen because it’s really people who are at the center of community problem solving.”

The ultimate vision of ServiceNation is an America where 100 million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces and faith-based and community institutions every year by 2020, and that increasing numbers of Americans will commit a year of their lives to national service. Points of Light Institute, through its network of 370 HandsOn Network Action Centers, is uniquely positioned to build and sustain the capacity required to achieve the vision of ServiceNation. In 2007 alone, Points of Light Institute and HandsOn Network directed 785,000 volunteers who provided more than 88 million hours of service.

The Network also directly engaged 434,000 volunteers in value-directed projects generating more than 4 million hours toward critical community problems. In addition, HandsOn supported a network of 31,000 nonprofit organizations with training and resources for volunteer management.

Following the ServiceNation Summit, Points of Light Institute and HandsOn Network will help SeviceNation lead thousands of Americans in communities across the country in a national Day of Action, Saturday, Sept. 27. Currently, there are more than 2,200 service events scheduled in all 50 states, and the number continues to grow each day. From there, Points of Light hopes every citizen will make each day a day of action.

About Points of Light Institute
Points of Light Institute was created by the merger of the Points of Light Foundation and HandsOn Network in August 2007. The result is a powerful, integrated national organization with a global focus to redefine volunteerism and civic engagement for the 21st century, putting people at the center of community problem solving. To realize this vision, Points of Light Institute operates three dynamic business units that share a mission to inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the world; HandsOn Network, Mission Fish and Civic Incubator, which provide a variety of ways for people to participate in civic engagement.

About ServiceNation
ServiceNation is a national campaign to increase service opportunities, solve chronic social problems through service, and promote a culture of service in America. The ultimate vision of ServiceNation is an America in which, by 2020, 100 million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each and every year (up from 61 million today), and that increasing numbers of Americans annually will commit a year of their lives to national service. For more information, go to www.ServiceNation.org.