Two organizations working side by side for nearly two decades with complementary missions, Cambridge Volunteers and the Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition, announced Tuesday that they are becoming one on Aug. 31, with Cambridge Volunteers transferring its placement programs and resources to become part of the coalition.
Elena Sokolow-Kaufman, executive director of the Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition, will lead the merged organizations to keep connecting nonprofit leaders, volunteers, residents and city government. Laurie Rothstein, leader of Cambridge Volunteers for 11 years, said she is retiring this month. “The time is right to actually join forces,” Rothstein said.
“For years, the connections between our work – joint events, shared campaigns, overlapping members – were obvious to anyone watching,” Sokolow-Kaufman said. “Bringing Cambridge Volunteers into Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition makes that partnership official and underscores the critical role volunteers play in nonprofit organizations.”
The organizations say the move arrives at a high point, with Cambridge Volunteers’ base of active users up 101 percent and new users by 65 percent as it facilitates more than 500 placements annually. The volunteers are now able to be connected directly to approximately 100 member organizations of the coalition, founded in 2013.
Cambridge Volunteers was founded in 1994 as the Cambridge Senior Volunteer Clearinghouse. Its operations and communications manager Alexis Rabkin will stay on with CNC so “our institutional knowledge does not walk out the door with me,” Rothstein said.
“Cambridge Volunteers’s constituents can count on continuity,” Rothstein said. “The volunteer database will remain local, open and free. The Volunteer Fair will happen as planned on Sept. 30. Our workshops and volunteer guidance will continue. What changes is the size of the network behind them. I couldn’t ask for a better home for the people and organizations I’ve spent the last decade serving.”
The organizations will operate separate websites and event calendars for now, with updates shared as the transition progresses.
This post took significant amounts of information from a press release.
