3/18/06 - VMC Certifying Organization for President's Volunteer Service Award

Alexandra Buga, center, a senior at Villa Walsh Academy, recently was designated a Daily Point of Light by The Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network. Pictured with her are New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, left, and Carol McKinney, executive director of Volunteer Management Centers in Morris Township, and a Points of Light Foundation affiliate.

Volunteer Management Centers, Inc. (VMC) announced it has teamed with the White House to become a Certifying Organization for the President’s Volunteer Service Award, a national program recognizing Americans who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to volunteer service. Established in 2003, the Award was created by President George W. Bush to recognize individuals, families and groups who meet requirements for volunteer service, measured by the number of service hours performed over 12-months.

VMC is one of thousands of organizations that have joined forces to deliver the President’s Volunteer Service Award and honor the volunteers who strengthen our Nation. As a Certifying Organization for the Award, VMC is responsible for verifying service hours, nominating potential recipients and delivering the Award.

“We are extremely proud to recognize our most outstanding volunteers with the President’s Volunteer Service Award,” said Carol McKinney, Executive Director. “Even if you’ve never volunteered before, the President’s Volunteer Service Award is within your reach. There are many ways to contribute, and every volunteer hour makes a difference in improving the quality of life for others in our communities.” The first group of President’s Service Awardees will be recognized at VMC’s annual volunteer recognition event on April 27th.

The Award is issued by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, a group convened by President George W. Bush to help foster and encourage a culture of volunteer service and civic participation among Americans. Chaired by two-time Super Bowl Champion Darrell Green, with former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and John Glenn as honorary co-chairs, the Council is composed of leaders in government, media, entertainment, business, education, nonprofit and volunteer service organizations and community volunteering.

VMC mobilizes people and resources to meet community needs and serves as a leader, catalyst and advocate for effective volunteerism. For information about volunteer opportunities in your community, please search our database. For information about The Presidential Service Award, please visit www.presidentialserviceawards.gov or call 1-866-545-5307.

2/23/06 - VMC and Seton Hall University Partnership Receives $300,000 Grant from The UPS Foundation

Pictured reviewing the preliminary course outline are: (l to r) Carol McKinney, executive director of VMC; Dr. Naomi Wish, director of the Center for Public Service at Seton Hall University; and Anthony De Sando, Systems Manager, UPS I*Net and VMC Board Secretary.

VMC and Seton Hall University Partnership Receives $300,000 Grant from The UPS Foundation

South Orange, NJ - Seton Hall University and the Volunteer Management Centers (VMC) are partnering to offer an innovative nonprofit leadership program through a generous $300,000 two-year grant from The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UPS.

The grant is one of The UPS Foundation’s three new national grants under its Nonprofit Leadership Development Initiative. It will be used for a new initiative titled the Board Leadership Institute (BLI): Empowering Executives As Nonprofit Leaders.

BLI is designed to maximize the enormous potential for executives to be effective leaders in the nonprofit sector as well as in the role of nonprofit board members.

A collaboration of Seton Hall University’s Center for Public Service/Nonprofit Sector Resource Institute and VMC (Volunteer Management Centers), BLI will be piloted in New Jersey, and rolled out nationally thereafter. As home to numerous major corporations, and over 20,000 charitable organizations, New Jersey is an ideal setting for the pilot.

Seton Hall has long been recognized for its programs for businesses and for nonprofits. As part of its commitment to enhancing the effectiveness of volunteers, VMC has a well-established program for board members that provides the basic building block for the new BLI pilot.

During the fall of 2004, 20 UPS employees from throughout New Jersey participated in VMC’s Board Leadership training at UPS’s Morristown location. Upon completing the six-week training, Anthony De Sando, Systems Manager, I*Net, indicated, “I found the course extremely informative and the contents very transferable to any Board setting. Because VMC is striving to dramatically increase the impact and effectiveness of the entire not-for-profit community in northern New Jersey through volunteerism, I applied to serve as one of its trustees and was recently elected Board Secretary.

Through my encouragement along with endorsements from my UPS colleagues, VMC and Seton Hall University reached out to The UPS Foundation to able to bring this training to a broader executive audience.”

Carol McKinney, executive director of VMC, has volunteered with her organization’s board training team for more than 15 years. “The Board Leadership course has always received rave reviews from its participants. Now it will be available in the spring and the fall, using the best of our VMC trainers and exceptional faculty from Seton Hall, where I received my first nonprofit training twenty years ago. And VMC is going to assist every participant in finding a board on which to serve.”

“It’s a credit to The UPS Foundation, that it not only wants UPS employees better trained to serve the nonprofit community,” adds McKinney, “but it is providing vital funding to open this training opportunity to executives throughout the metropolitan area.”

The BLI course will cover such topics as: roles and responsibilities of board members, running effective board meetings, resource development, strategic planning, legal and fiduciary responsibilities, collaborations and marketing.

As Director of the Center for Public Service at Seton Hall University, Dr. Naomi Wish serves with Ms. McKinney as the BLI co-chair. “We are proud to work in collaboration with VMC, an organization with a long history of promoting corporate social responsibility which complements our Center’s ‘servant leadership’ mission,” declared Wish. “The BLI program will help business leaders more fully realize their enormous potential to use their skills and expertise for maximum impact in the role of nonprofit board member. Increasingly, corporate executives understand that their work in the nonprofit sector is a vital part of corporate leadership, work that ultimately affects their bottom line.”

Established in 1951 and based in Atlanta, GA, The UPS Foundation identifies specific areas where its backing clearly impacts social issues. In support of this strategic approach, The UPS Foundation has identified literacy, hunger relief and volunteerism as its focus areas.

In 2005, The UPS Foundation began its Nonprofit Leadership Development Initiative to support organizations’ efforts to provide skill-building and renewal opportunities to nonprofit leaders; to create opportunities to prepare the next generation of nonprofit leaders, arming them with the skills they need to be successful; and to enable nonprofit boards of directors to exercise a sound leadership role through strategic governance.

“Giving back to the communities is an important part of UPS’s culture that’s embraced by our employees through volunteerism, making donations and sharing their intellectual capital,” said Evern Cooper Epps, president of The UPS Foundation and vice president of UPS Corporate Relations. “Together with nonprofit partners such as Seton Hall University and VMC, we work to make a positive impact on the lives of people in need.”

For information about the Board Leadership Institute to be offered in late spring and early fall 2006, call 973-761-9734 or e-mail