Community Impact and Hands on San Francisco Announce Completion Of Merger.

News Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

Hands On Bay Area Brings Combined Strengths and Resources to

Hundreds of Community Service Agencies in San Francisco Bay Area and

Creates Leading Force in Volunteerism 

Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco, two Bay Area volunteer organizations, today announced the completion of their merger. The new organization, Hands On Bay Area, will create, promote and lead volunteer opportunities for individuals, as well as community and corporate groups, and serve as a single resource for volunteerism and civic engagement in the Bay Area.

"The merger of two strong organizations such as Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco is evidence of visionary, open-hearted leadership," said Jan Masaoka executive director of CompassPoint, a nonprofit training and consulting organization. "Hands On Bay Area now steps into a field of volunteerism that is eager for the innovations and energy that they can build."

Bringing together the strengths and resources of Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco, Hands On Bay Area now has a combined volunteer base of more than 9,500 that will serve and support more than 300 community service agencies in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and San Mateo Counties. Together, Hands On Bay Area volunteers will complete 120 community service projects each month and provide nearly 50,000 volunteer hours in the first year.

"People in the Bay Area are very mobile and want to volunteer in the community where they work as well as where they live, which for many means different cities or even counties," said Beth Meyer, executive director of Hands On Bay Area. "As a new force for volunteerism, Hands On Bay Area will provide volunteers with the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in one or several Bay Area communities. We are excited about making impactful volunteer opportunities more accessible and attainable, resulting in even more volunteer service for our nonprofit agency partners and improved Bay Area communities."

Hands On Bay Area provides its volunteers with the flexibility to make a meaningful impact in Bay Area communities by taking part in a one-time project, such as painting a school, to committing to an ongoing volunteer program, such as tutoring a child for an entire school year. Hands On Bay Area also includes an educational component in each volunteer project, in an effort to build a community of service-minded citizens. Additionally, Hands On Bay Area offers volunteers the opportunity to take on leadership roles within the organization and provides the training that enables them to be successful in serving their communities in new ways.

Recent research highlights the importance of volunteer resources and indicates a rise in volunteer activity. A study on volunteer management capacity, conducted by the Urban Institute, reported that nine in ten charities surveyed cited that volunteers brought benefits to their organization and that two-thirds indicated that their volunteers provided substantial cost-savings and greatly increased the quality of services or programs provided. Additionally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, about 63.8 million people did volunteer work at some point from September 2002 to September 2003, up from 59.8 million for the similar period ended in September 2002. The volunteer rate grew to 28.8 percent, up from 27.4 percent of the civilian non-institutional population over the age of 16.

"Volunteers play an integral role in helping The Salvation Army deliver on our mission," said Dana Hojsack, volunteer coordinator, The Salvation Army San Francisco. We've been supported by both Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco in the past and look forward to working with Hands On Bay Area and having access and exposure to its expanded volunteer base."

Hands On Bay Area is headquartered in San Francisco with a South Bay office located in Mountain View. It currently has a staff of 12 and a projected budget of $1 million for its first year of operation.

About Hands On Bay Area

Hands On Bay Area is a leading force for volunteerism in the San Francisco Bay Area. Created in April 2004 through the merger of two nonprofit volunteer organizations, Hands On San Francisco and Community Impact, Hands On Bay Area strengthens communities by engaging a diverse group of caring individuals and corporations in community service and civic engagement. The organization creates, manages and leads volunteer projects that benefit more than 300 Bay Area nonprofit agencies, including The San Francisco and Second Harvest Food Banks, Glide Memorial Church, The Salvation Army, Ronald McDonald House, San Mateo County AIDS Program, San Jose Family Shelter, Oakland Parks and Recreation, and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Each month, Hands On Bay Area coordinates and manages more than 120 community service projects that engage more than 9,500 registered volunteers each year. Hands On Bay Area also organizes and manages projects for corporations that want to inspire their employees to public service, such as Accenture, Cisco, Charles Schwab & Co., Gap, Inc., Fleishman-Hillard Inc., The Home Depot, and Levi Strauss & Co. Hands On Bay Area is an affiliate of CityCares, an international alliance of more than 30 volunteer organizations working to build community through service and civic engagement. For more information about Hands On Bay Area, visit www.handsonbayarea.org.