The internet can be a wonderful thing. Thanks to social media, I have made some amazing connections with fellow bloggers and others passionate about philanthropy. Emily is a young and bright philanthropist with big dreams.
Name: Emily Wavering
Age: 22
Career: Tell me a bit about your career or the career you hope to have.
I’m a recent graduate of St. Mary’s
College of Maryland, where I got my B.A. in economics, and volunteered heavily
with Circle K International and Habitat for Humanity (for those of you who
don’t know, Circle K International is the largest collegiate service
organization in the world and the college branch of Kiwanis International). I’m
heading to the College of William & Mary in the fall to get my Master’s
Degree in Public Policy, and from there I dream of working with nonprofits that
address hunger and homelessness.
Until my career dreams become
reality, I’m working on a website called BlogCAUSE (you can find it at
blogcause.org). The goal of BlogCause is to create and support a community of
bloggers who volunteer and blog about their volunteer work.
Are you philanthropic? Why?
As a freshly minted college
grad, I think I’m too poor to be philanthropic in the traditional monetary
sense. But I do hope that someone describes me as philanthropic some day – that
would be high praise
What does philanthropy mean
to you?
To me, philanthropy is giving in all
senses – giving your time, your passion and your resources to help however you
can.
What organization(s) do you
donate time and/or money to?
Let’s see, in the past I’ve worked
with/donated to Habitat for Humanity, the National Alliance to End
Homelessness, Locks of Love, Donor’s Choose, and Heifer International. But for
the purposes of the next couple of questions, I’ll focus on the work that I’m
doing to start BlogCause.
What do you do? I run an online community that encourages bloggers to volunteer.
So basically, at this point in the game, I send bunches of emails and do lots
of research to match bloggers with volunteer opportunities in their area.
Why do you support this
(these) cause(s)? I’m a big fan of local, community action, and wanted to inspire
people to serve their community. And, I’m very much of the mind that volunteer
work is more fun when you can share your stories and opportunities that you
enjoy!
How did you find these
opportunities? Well, I sort of self-created the opportunity to run BlogCause.
As for digging up opportunities for bloggers, Idealist.org and
Volunteermatch.org are both fantastic.
Do you enjoy it? I do! I find it really exciting to help people find unique
opportunities to help their community, and I get a kick out of all the awesome
nonprofits that I stumble upon.
If you had a million dollars to donate, what organization(s) would you give to? International or domestic? Why?
Toughest question on the
page, right here. I think I’d give it to the National Alliance to End
Homelessness, because I really support the many, many ways in which they’re
working to end homelessness – advocacy, policy evaluation, practical programs,
education…they’ve got it all.
Is there a philanthropist
you admire?
There are many, but I most
admire Mark Horvath, the founder of Invisible People. He does an incredible job
of telling the stories of homeless men and women, and is a terrific inspiration.
What advice would you give to a young
adult wanting to embark on a career in public or non-profit services?
Seeing as I am a young adult hoping to embark on a career in the
nonprofit sector, I find myself asking other people this question a lot. Contact
me in a couple of decades, and I might have an answer!
To learn how to join BlogCAUSE, contact operationphilanthropy@gmail.com or visit BlogCAUSE.
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