Thursday, February 18, 2010

Time Raiser: A revolutionary way to have fun, get engaged, and make a difference in your community




Without a lot of cash in their coffers, Volunteers are one of the most important resources that local community service agencies, non profit organizations and NGO's can tap into to deliver their vital programs services. By donating their time and getting involved, volunteers can make a huge difference in the lives of people both in their local communities and on the other side of the globe. Anyone who has volunteered can tell you, that volunteering in your community has to be one of the most profoundly rewarding experiences anyone can have.

If volunteering is so important, and so helpful and so rewarding then why don't more people do it?

• We aren't asked
• We feel like we don't have the time
• We don't know where to find meaningful opportunities

Introducing Timeraiser: 
The single most innovative social purpose venture we have seen in a while.

Concept: 
Attend a lively and entertaining event, socialize with your friends, bid on original art—and if you win, you pay with your time. The struggling artist gets paid real money and you, commit to spend a little quality time with a local community support organization. Everyone wins.

After the Timeraiser:
Create a plan and track hours at civicfootprint.ca.

The Timeraiser supports emerging and mid-career artists like few other community events do: artists are paid fair market value for their work instead of being asked to donate their creativity. The art is then auctioned off at the Timeraiser to raise volunteer hours for the community. To date, the Timeraiser has invested over $310,000 in the careers of more than 450 artists across the country.

Timeraiser was conceptualized in 2002 in response to a group of friends wondering how it could be easier to find meaningful, relevant volunteer opportunities.  Now, 7 years and 10 Timeraisers later, it is amazing that this grass-roots initiative has flourished into a well-known, annual event that operates in 6 cities across Canada.

The Timeraiser helps nonprofit and voluntary organizations, large and small, connect with potential volunteers. Canadians in their 20s and 30s are one of the hardest demographics to reach. Timeraiser is an easy way to connect these organizations with skilled and energetic volunteers. Check out the timeraiser video:



The three main objectives of the Timeraiser are to:

•   Connect your organization to skilled and energetic volunteers
•   Raise awareness about your organization in the community
•   Bring together the arts and not-for-profit sectors to create community connections

To date the Timeraiser has worked with over 250 charitable organizations.

By the end of 2009 the Timeraiser will have:
  1. Generated over 51,000 volunteer hours
  2. Invested $300,000 in the careers of emerging artists
  3. Engaged 5,000 Canadians to pick up a cause
  4. Worked with 250+ charitable organizations.
Taking the total financial and social community impact into account, the program’s return on investment is estimated to approach 220%, generating nearly $2.20 in ‘social good’ for each dollar invested in programming.

Check out this brief Timeraiser agency workshop video to understand what is involved in becoming a Timeraiser agency. If you depend on volunteers to deliver your programs and services, maybe you should consider giving them a call.

If you have thought about or always wanted to volunteer some of your time to a worthy cause in your community, but were not sure how or where to begin, maybe you should check out the Timeraiser website: Find relevant and meaningful volunteer opportunities with Timeraiser, the single most innovative social purpose propagation idea we have seen in a while. Better still, attend a Timeraiser event near you.

1 comment:

  1. Social innovation refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds — from working conditions and education to community development and health — that extend and strengthen civil society.

    social innovation

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