Community Impact and Hands on San Francisco Announce Agreement to Merge Organizations.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2004

"Hands On Bay Area" will be a leading force in volunteerism and

will bring combined strengths and resources to hundreds of

community service agencies in San Francisco Bay Area 

Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco today announced they have signed a definitive agreement to merge the two nonprofit volunteer organizations. The merger is expected to close by April 1, 2004.

The combined organization, "Hands On Bay Area," will serve as a single resource for volunteerism and civic engagement in the Bay Area and will create and promote volunteer opportunities for individuals, as well as community and corporate groups. Bringing together Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco's respective strengths and resources, Hands On Bay Area will have a combined volunteer base of more than 9,500 volunteers that will serve and support more than 300 community service agencies throughout the Bay Area. Hands On Bay Area volunteers are expected to complete 120 community service projects each month and provide more than 47,500 volunteer hours in the first year of the new organization.

"In merging the volunteer programming and regional expertise of both Hands On San Francisco and Community Impact, we will be able to engage more volunteers, serve more community agencies and create a greater depth and breadth of volunteer opportunities," said Beth Meyer, executive director of Community Impact and future executive director of Hands On Bay Area. "Hands On Bay Area will be an expert voice on community and corporate volunteerism, and as one organization, will ultimately improve the communities where we work and live."

Hands On Bay Area will be headquartered in San Francisco. The current Hands On San Francisco office and Community Impact's Mountain View office will be maintained for some period of time after the merger is completed. Hands on Bay Area will have an ongoing regional office presence, which will be determined by the needs of its service areas. Currently, both Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco are affiliate members of CityCares, an alliance of volunteer organizations working to build community through service and civic engagement. Hands On Bay Area will continue as a CityCares affiliate.

"Hands On Bay Area is poised to be the driving force for volunteerism in the Bay Area," said Audrey Evje, current board chair of Hands On San Francisco and future board chair of Hands On Bay Area. "Our vision is to help volunteers better understand the challenges facing the Bay Area and provide them with the opportunity to make a difference in their communities."

About Community Impact

Community Impact is a nonprofit organization that enables individuals to serve their community through volunteerism. By creating and managing meaningful volunteer experiences that make it easy for busy, caring people to get involved, Community Impact addresses some of the most pressing issues facing the Bay Area. Since 1988, Community Impact volunteers have provided more than 200,000 hours of service to their local communities. This past year, Community Impact's 5,000 volunteers have provided more than 25,000 hours of volunteer service to more than 150 nonprofit agencies in five Bay Area counties. All projects are managed by a volunteer project manager, and are completed in a few hours on a weeknight or weekend. Community Impact also enables corporations to support their communities through volunteerism. Community Impact works with companies such as Levi Straus & Company, Cisco and Sun Microsystems to develop and manage volunteer programs that meet the unique needs of their employees. For more information, visit www.communityimpact.org.

About Hands On San Francisco

Founded in 1994, Hands On San Francisco (Hands On) is a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to helping busy individuals make a positive impact on their community. Hands On creates, manages and leads volunteer projects that benefit more than 150 San Francisco agencies, including the San Francisco Food Bank, Glide Memorial Church, Hamilton Family Center, Ronald McDonald House, SF AIDS Foundation, and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. All projects are coordinated by a volunteer project coordinator and require no more than a few hours commitment. Each month, Hands On coordinates and manages more than 70 community service projects that engage more than 4,500 registered volunteers each year. In 2003, Hands On volunteers completed 22,500 volunteer hours. Hands On also organizes and manages projects for corporations that want to inspire their employees to public service, such as Gap, Inc., Deutsche Bank, Macy's, Starbucks and Digitas. For more information, visit www.hosf.org.