Launched in 1996, servenet.org is a website that mobilizes and empowers the volunteer service community to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing local communities. Since its inception, servenet.org has enabled millions of youth volunteers to connect with local nonprofits to make a difference in communities throughout America. In 2000, as a part of Global Youth Service Day, Servenet.org expanded into a global resource for the 3.5 million young people, in 155 countries around the world that participate in Global and National Youth Service Day.

On April 20, 2007, Youth Service America and iBelong Networks released the fifth generation of servenet.org. The redesigned servenet.org builds on its 13 year legacy of empowering visitors to search for local volunteer service opportunities by location, interests, or skills. The new servenet.org integrates the latest advanced web-based social networking tools such as shared news feeds and real-time news alerts via email, and mobile messaging. The site also features searchable user profile pages, issue-related groups, widgets, maps, and free self-service websites for nonprofit organization.

These types of advanced internet tools currently are used by internet users of all ages for professional and social activities. The new servenet.org puts the power of the most innovative internet tools into the hands of a global network of volunteers, as they tackle the world’s toughest challenges, such as achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, such as eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, and achieving universal primary education.

Some of the new features of this fifth generation of servenet.org include:

Take Action

Visitors will immediately notice on the top of every servenet.org page a prompt to immediately “Take Action” by volunteering, donating or advocating. To actively engage its members to learn more about our world’s toughest problems, servenet.org provides tools to explore issues, form groups, and get involved in discussions around identifying solutions.

ServiceWire:

A syndicated news reader and community news blogs enable servenet.org users to submit, categorize, tag, and form discussion groups on service-related articles and research. ServiceWire articles and blogs are categorized according to the type of challenge, such as the Millennium Development Goals or eradicating malaria, enabling visitors to participate in active, fact-based discussions to learn more and help formulate solutions.

National Service Briefing:

The National Service Briefing, currently with over 170,000 monthly readers, is an online newsletter that aggregates relevant content for the service community. The new servenet.org enables National Service Briefing subscribers to customize their subscriptions according to their individual interests and preferred delivery frequency. The new National Service Briefing delivers real-time news alerts via email and mobile messaging.

iBelong Pages:

All registered servenet.org users will receive an iBelong page – a customizable webpage for posting their user profiles and logging their volunteer service preferences, in terms of skills, interest, and location. Users also can track time spent on volunteer service projects to assist in receiving school-based service learning credit hours; upload and share their service-related photos; blog about their service experiences; and search for other volunteers to be a part of their private online service network.

Online Community:

The new servenet.org enables registered users to form online communities in order to network and foster community action around volunteering. Group members can share volunteer tips and opportunities, post events and stories, upload photos and videos, submit news articles, and meet and message other users.

National Service Widget:

A fully functional National Service Widget will integrate all servenet.org features with any other website, such as Facebook and MySpace, serving as an interactive “bumper sticker” for national service.

Google integration:

Integration with Google Maps enables users to find volunteer opportunities near their homes or schools. In addition, the new servenet.org will integrate with other Google tools, such as Google Apps, enabling volunteers to share and collaborate on documents that include best practices, templates and tools.

iBelong Groups:

Servenet.org's over 10,000 registered nonprofits will receive an interactive website containing a syndicated version of servenet.org's capabilities. iBelong Group pages enable nonprofits to post volunteer opportunities, receive online donations, participate in discussions through servenet.org's Service Blogs, and manage their member base through iBelong’s member management and newsletter publishing tools.