Today’s post comes from Gared Jones, Points of Light Instute‘s Vice President of Global Service.

In November 1997 the United Nations General Assembly declared that 2001 would be the International Year of the Volunteer.  It is striking to me that in September of 2001 the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies occurred and in the wake of the disaster we saw one of the greatest outpourings of citizen compassion and support the world has ever seen.

It was the events of September 11, 2001, and the handful of days that followed while I was stuck in a hotel room in Houston waiting for the airports to reopen, that led to my retirement from management consulting and sojourn to India to join Ashoka – initially as a volunteer – and seek to “figure out” how social change can transpire on the grandest scale.

A few weeks ago I boarded a plane for Singapore and arrived 26 hours later to attend IAVE’s World Volunteer Conference. The conference kicked off the tenth anniversary celebrations for the International Year of the Volunteer.

More than a thousand participants from nonprofit organizations, corporations, government, and academia came together to share and learn best practices in volunteer engagement, strategies for cross-sector collaboration, and inspiring stories of individual impact.  The proceedings were impeccably well organized by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center of Singapore and IAVE, and transacted on the backdrop of local preparations for Chinese New Year and Singapore’s extraordinary cuisine.

For me, the conference was a space far from home – ten years after my departure for India – to reflect on how one changes the world.  And, specifically, to discern how Points of Light Institute can accelerate and deepen its impact internationally, and, in particular, through HandsOn Network in Asia.

So what did I learn?

I learned that the HandsOn model (creating structured, short-duration opportunities with nonprofit organizations for members of the community to make an impact on issues they care about) is a new and powerful idea in many international contexts, and one that is transforming the way citizens can be of service.  Singapore Cares has recruited more than 15,000 volunteers in its first year of operation.  Keynote speaker and former Prime Minister of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, identified “flexible, bite-sized” volunteering as one of three trends transforming community engagement in the country.

I learned that some of the most compelling innovations in volunteering are being generated by international HandsOn action centers.  Two of the five finalists in UBS’s “Pitch” competition for $75,000 investment funding for a new initiative were members of HandsOn Network:  HandsOn Manila and HandsOn Korea.  HandsOn China was highlighted in multiple conference sessions for its entrepreneurial approach to growing volunteerism in China.

I learned how deeply many of Points of Light Institute’s corporate partners (including UPS, Kraft, Pfizer, Lilly, and Disney) are making their unique impact in countries around the world. UPS has mobilized its global workforce of more than 400,000 employees to contribute 1.2 million hours toward building healthy, prosperous communities in the 200 countries where they work.  Kraft leverages a network of 250 internal leaders to orchestrate its Make a Delicious Difference Week with more than 350 local nonprofit organizations around the world.

And I learned that nothing beats looking into someone’s eyes, and sharing a smile, when working to strengthen a network.  More than anything, it is these glimmers that I still carry with me.

I returned home with a sense that the sector as a whole is on the cusp of a collective “ah hah” around how all of our efforts in heart, mind and hands; organization, corporation, and institution; Asia, the Americas, and Europe; technology, program, and evaluation… are converging to revolutionize a global movement of the heart.

That there is an impatient rumbling for “what’s next.”

It is on this journey that I have now embarked.  I look forward to sharing in it – and sharing a smile – with you.

If you are looking for ways to connect more deeply with this global movement, I would encourage you to get involved in the Get HandsOn’s Follow the Leader and try to win a volunteer vacation with HandsOn Manila.  I would also encourage you to indicate your commitment to service by signing the ServiceWorld Declaration.