Columbus Volunteer Groups Make Giving Easier
New organizations are looking to change the way we donate our time, making the experience more accessible, more inclusive, more fun and, they hope, more popular.
The concept for Columbus Gives Back began with a 2009 Craigslist ad. Juliana Hardymon placed the ad to find some folks to volunteer with her—she didn’t think service should be a solitary activity. Ten people responded, and after they were done with their work at an area nonprofit, the gang went out to a bar to reflect on what they had accomplished.
“That sort of birthed the concept of what we call a social twist—doing something after to get to know people and to have a social aspect,” says Caleb Miller, current president of Columbus Gives Back, the organization Hardymon launched in the wake of that first group experience.
The combination of philanthropy and camaraderie has proven to be a winning one, especially among young, often single, professionals. Ten years after that Craigslist ad, Columbus Gives Back has a roster of about 1,000 regular volunteers.