The next time you do a Google search on a nonprofit, take a look at the right-hand side of the results page. You may now find key information on the organization in the Knowledge Graph, that box of facts on your search topic that started showing up on Google's results pages last year.

Google made the announcement earlier this week that it has started to fill its Knowledge Graph with information about nonprofits:

"We’ve just started to add information about nonprofits to the Knowledge Graph. When you search for a nonprofit organization on Google.com, you will start to see information to the right side of the search results that highlights the nonprofit's financials, cause, and recent Google+ posts. Start following the organization on Google+ directly from the panel by clicking the Follow button. To learn more about related nonprofits, click on one of the organizations under ...

---

 

Volunteers are vital to any successful nonprofit. Next month, these exceptional individuals will be celebrated during National Volunteer Week (April 21-27).

Bringing recognition to the work of volunteers since 1974, National Volunteer Week "focuses national attention on the impact and power of volunteerism and service as an integral aspect of our civic leadership. The week draws the support and endorsement of the president and Congress, governors, mayors and municipal leaders, as well as corporate and community groups across the country."

In recognition of the week, the Philanthropy Journal (PJ) wants to honor outstanding volunteers. PJ is asking its readers to nominate extraordinary volunteers in three categories for a total of 12 awards: Adult Volunteer, Youth Volunteer and Volunteer Services Coordinator. To nominate your favorite volunteer, click here. Entries must be received by Friday, March 29.

Here are some other volunteer recognition programs:

The President's Volunteer Service Award was created ...

---

 

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2013 DoGooder Video Awards. Presented by YouTube, See3 Communications, and the Nonprofit Technology Network, the DoGooder Awards will honor the best nonprofit videos of the year.

Any nonprofit that made a video in 2012 is eligible to apply, and this year, for the first time, the submissions will also be open to individuals who are creating inspiring "videos for good."

According to The Official YouTube Blog, winners will be chosen in four categories: the ImpactX Award for videos that demonstrated impact for their causes; the Best Nonprofit Video, honoring nonprofits' use of video to make change; the Funny for Good Award, recognizing effective use of comedy to make people take action; and the Change Agent Award, for individuals who’ve been inspired to speak out on an issue by making a video.

“We are excited to present another year of the DoGooder Video ...

---

 

Now in its 12th year, The Green Festival, the nation's largest green consumer event, is returning to New York on Earth Day Weekend to celebrate the green community.

Attendees will be able to shop for eco-friendly products, have a drink at the organic beer and wine garden, watch a film at the Sierra Club Green Cinema and hear from keynote speakers and leaders in the environmental community. The festival will also feature music, healthy vegetarian and vegan cuisine, DIY workshops, cooking demos and a Green Kid's Zone.

On Friday, April 19, from 3 -7 p.m., the festival will launch the first NYC business-to-business (B2B) Green Trade Day, which will allow retail and wholesale buyers to conduct business with the event's exhibitors before they are open to the public.

In New York for the second year in a row, the Green Festival will be held in the ...

---

 

The first GoodxGlobal, a day focusing on social good, technology and entrepreneurship, will be held at Austin City Hall, Austin, TX, on March 10th. The forum will take place the same week as South by Southwest 2013.

Hosted by World Food Program USA, United Nations Foundation and Social Good Summit Austin, and presented in collaboration with the Social Good Summit, Sunshine Sachs, We Are Women Online, Ushahidi and iHub, the day will include panel discussions, talks, and breakouts from 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

According to the GoodxGlobal website, the forum "will showcase tech-driven approaches to aid effectiveness, mobile innovation, women's empowerment, global North-South digital campaigning, social entrepreneurship in action, impact funding for good and more."

The event will be live-streamed to a global audience online. You can join the conversation on Twitter @GoodxGlobal.

For more information on the event, including a list of speakers ...

---

 

Valentine’s Day has become a popular holiday to show love not only to your significant other but also to your favorite charity or cause. There is even a movement to turn February 14^th into Generosity Day, a day to celebrate acts of kindness and “to create more space for generosity.” 

Many local charities are using fashion shows, auctions and Valentine’s Day-themed parties to raise funds. Here are two global events using the hearts-and-flowers-day to increase awareness on important issues:

Cupid Undie Run

Last weekend, people around the country ran half-naked in the cold to benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation during Cupid’s Undie Run.  On Saturday, February 16^th, even more participants will strip down to their skivvies in Cleveland, St. Louis, and New York.

All donations to the run go directly to The Children’s Tumor Foundation, an organization dedicated to ending neurofibromatosis, a debilitating ...

---

 

A new grant-making foundation has pledged to give away $1,000 a day this year to support individuals’ grassroots efforts to make the world a better place.

The project was the idea of 39-year-old Dallas-based real-estate developer and philanthropist Ariel Nessel, who found that, although he was regularly donating money to his favorite causes, he was still feeling unfulfilled.

“I was writing, say, 12 big checks a year, but that form of being generous didn’t leave me feeling nurtured inside,” Nessel told The Chronicle of Philanthropy. “I thought, instead of giving a few times a year, why not give every day, and right to the people who are doing the work?”

Nessel teamed up with his sister-in-law, Stephanie Klempner, to start The Pollination Project, which, on January 1 of this year, began giving away $1,000 seed grants daily. Nessel has pledged his own money to the effort, and ...

---

 

Well, here is a new take on fundraising.

A recently-launched startup called Moolta is enabling users to raise money by creating and completing dares, or "challenges."  Friends challenge each other to do something difficult or (more likely) embarrassing, and then get people they know to donate money if the dare is completed. Once the task is completed and a video documenting the antic is posted on the platform, the prize money can be claimed.

While successful challenge participants can opt to claim cash prizes, the platform can also be used as a way to earn money for charity. Moolta has partnered with FirstGiving.com to channel its donations to non-profits.

For example, one user named Adam is attempting to raise $1000 for the NYC-based Robin Hood Foundation by climbing the 1,000 stairs of the Empire State Building. As of this writing, he is 60% of the way towards his ...

---

 

Australia has been deemed the most generous country in the world by the 2012 World Giving Index (WGI), which looks at charitable giving trends worldwide.

The Index is compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation using polling information from the market research firm Gallup, which surveyed the charitable behavior of more than 155,000 people in 146 countries across the globe.

According to the CAF website, The Index is based on an average of three measures of giving behavior - the percentage of people who donated money to charity, volunteered their time to an organization, and helped a stranger, in a typical month. Based on interviews conducted in 2011, Australia had the highest levels of involvement in all three giving behaviors putting it at the number one spot.

Ireland came in second in the ranking, followed by Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Helping a stranger war the most prevalent giving ...

---

 

The Grantwell has compiled a list of several recent and ongoing funding opportunities focusing on community development. You may be interested in the following grant opportunities:

TD Bank and the Arbor Day Foundation's new grant program, TD Green Streets, is offering grants to support urban forestry initiatives in underserved communities.

According to the program’s website, “municipalities must be current Arbor Day Foundation Tree City USA®-recognized communities within TD Bank’s footprint."

More information can be found here.

Deutsche Bank and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. are launching the Lowering the Cost of House Competition, which will provide grant funding to innovative proposals for sustainable and affordable housing.

"The goal of the competition is to create innovative models for cost efficient prototypes that are sensitive to the scale and composition of the existing conditions while providing a new vision that is legible to a wide array of existing and ...