Gerhard R. Andlinger, who is an investment manager, has pledged 100 million dollars to Princeton University for research in the fight against global warming.

Photo by R82 Photography

The past month with the cost of fuel increasing 100% plus, food up to 14% has caused volunteers to decease the amount of out of pocket expenses they are willing to incur to volunteer.  This cap on expenses is due to three facts:

•  The federal deduction for volunteering base on miles is capped at an extremely low rate.
• Individuals do not like to keep track of actually expenses.
• A person volunteering viewed their giving of time as cost neutral to them.

Programs that are heavily dependent on volunteers have been the most effected.   This example of a network of volunteers highlights three important issues to consider:

1. Is there a sufficient network of providers for communication to government to education officials the cost benefit of increasing the mileage reimbursement rate for volunteering?
2. Is the network of volunteers able to be adapted to be more neighborhood focused or more localized to a person’s residential community or employment geographic area?
3.  Is the problem an opportunity for organizations, individuals and businesses to work together to address the problem of meeting the communities need’s in a different manner?

Networking is a beginning to creating opportunities for solutions and will require never ending attention to be the most effective.