Notes: Make A Difference is a 501 c3 non-profit organization that mobilizes volunteers, develops and manages innovative programs and cultivates service leaders to create strong and vibrant communities.

In 1990, Marty Moore was looking for opportunities to volunteer but working as a young real estate broker with limited free time made it difficult to find community-based organizations that could use his help. Armed with a great idea, Marty gathered some friends and in 1993 started Make A Difference, an organization with the mission to meet critical community needs while creating volunteer opportunities especially designed for working people. During the past ten years we have experienced tremendous growth and are now one of the Valley�s premier volunteer organizations. Our budget has grown from less than $30,000 and one employee in 1994 to more than $900,000 and a professional staff of 13 in 2004.

Throughout the last decade Make A Difference volunteers have been mentoring children, revitalizing neighborhoods, providing meals to the homeless, supporting seniors, caring for animals and protecting our environment. Our volunteer projects are held in conjunction with pre-screened community service organizations, neighborhood associations and under-resourced schools. We work directly with these agencies to design projects that both address critical community needs and can take place on evenings and weekends integrating busy individuals as volunteers. Make A Difference staff and project leaders then maintain an ongoing dialogue with these community agencies to ensure that each project is adequately staffed, that each agency's needs are being met and that the volunteers have a rewarding experience. Today Make A Difference engages more than 14,000 people annually, hosts between 40-50 volunteer projects each month and contributes more than 50,000 hours of service to the community every year.

As Make A Difference moves forward, we will continue to be a vibrant and dynamic organization that advances volunteerism, community service and civic engagement. Make A Difference will work to bring people together to build better neighborhoods, stronger non-profit organizations and successful schools. We will provide a wide range of volunteer opportunities so that every individual can make a difference and support the efforts to solve our communities� most pressing social problems.

Make A Difference is an affiliate of Hands on Network, an innovative alliance of volunteer organizations working to build community through service and civic engagement across the United States, UK and abroad. Hands on Network affiliates engage over 250,000 volunteers in direct service to their communities each year. The primary mission of Hands on Network is to provide support for and strengthen the existing Hands on Network , while fostering the development of new Hands on Network organizations

• Affiliations, Communities & Organizational Networks