By Michelle Nunn, CEO, Points of Light Institute

We stand at a moment that brings decades of leadership to fruition.

Thousands of individuals have worked to bring volunteer participation to historic high thresholds, to pass unprecedented legislation that expands national service, and creates new platforms for investment in our civic infrastructure.

Many of you have been a part of the legion’s that have created this moment, but whether you have been a part of the history of this movement, it’s destiny is and will be up to us.

Realizing the fullness of this moment’s potential is in our hands.

Together we will determine whether this moment of civic promise is fulfilled.

As a sector, we need to think about:

• The innovative ways that social media and technology are being used to rapidly mobilize volunteers in innovative ways;

• The emerging global service movement, with a proposed International Service Impact Fund to increase capacity. Global volunteerism is  pulled towards entrepreneurial and innovative efforts as the number of volunteers and local organizations around the world increases;

• The Millennials, who are just entering the workforce, are poised to become the great service generation. They are global, service minded, and seek to make a difference. They are tech-savvy.  They are the next largest generation after the baby boomers, so they will have strength in numbers to apply to causes that resonate with their passions.

We must demonstrate that we can extend the scale of our work to encompass hundreds of thousands of additional national service members and we must embrace millions of new volunteers.

We must work to ensure that through this  extended capacity, we demonstrate that service is a central strategy in addressing our national and international priorities.

I believe that we must continue to both demonstrate and document how service is a strategy for healthy communities and a strategy for solutions to tough challenges.

I think it is important that we reaffirm that we know that service and civic participation are core to vibrant democracies, and that civic networks and social capital are at the heart of strong communities and fundamental to individual development.

We know that service and the quality of empathy are fundamental to human emotional and intellectual human development- it makes us smarter, healthier, happier, and live longer.

We know that service to others is the primary shared spiritual value across all faith traditions.

Service is what makes us fully human.

As a service community we must continue to expand the research that makes these dimensions of civic participation evident and well understood.

I believe that as a service community, we must also embrace a broader understanding of service and civic engagement.

Individuals don’t think about how they create change in the narrow silos that our nonprofit community often acts within.

People think about how they can use their time, their passions, their skills, their purchasing power, and their voice to create change.

President Bush 41 said that

“We can find meaning and reward by serving some higher purpose than ourselves, a shining purpose, the illumination of a Thousand Points of Light…We all have something to give. So, if you know how to read, find someone who can’t. If you’ve got a hammer, find a nail. If you’re not hungry, not lonely, not in trouble, seek out someone who is. Join the community of conscience. Do the hard work of freedom. And that will define the state of our Union… What government can do alone is limited, but the potential of the American people knows no limits.”

President Obama said last fall at our Presidential Forum in Houston,

“In the end, when it comes to the challenges we face, the need for action always exceeds the limits of government. While there’s plenty that government can do and must do to keep our families safe, and our planet clean, and our markets free and fair, there’s a lot that government can’t — and shouldn’t — do. And that’s where active, engaged citizens come in. That’s the purpose of service in this nation.”

And his point is one I want to emphasize today: that “service isn’t separate from our national priorities, or secondary to our national priorities — it’s integral to achieving our national priorities. It’s how we will meet the challenges of our time.”

The 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service kicks off in New York City today. Visit the website for highlights and updates from the nation’s largest, annual gathering on service and civic engagement!