The Points of Light Foundation, the non-profit partner in USA WEEKEND's Make A Difference Day, is the nation's leader inpromoting more effective volunteering through initiatives focused on strengthening volunteer leadership, increasing the quality ofvolunteer opportunities and raising the national awareness of the importanceof volunteering.

Newman's Own: Paul Newman, a Make A Difference Day judge and supporter, donates all of his after-tax profits from his food company to educational and charitable purposes. The site also includes information on his summer camps for kids who have cancer and blood diseases.

America's Promise: Founded in Philadelphia, at the Presidents' Summit for America's Future, America's Promise aims to provide every at-risk child in America with access to all resources needed in orderfor them to lead happy, healthy, and productive lives.

The Corporation for National Service oversees three national service initiatives which engage over a million Americans in community projects. Americorps allows people of all ages to earn help paying for education in exchange for a year of service. Learn and Serve America supports teachers and community members who involve young people in service that relates to their school studies. And the National Senior Service Corps helps people age 55 and older find service opportunities related to their interests.

The National Assembly: This is a great stop for anyone interested in human serviceas a career. Dedicated to youth development, their homepage includes anewsletter and the On-line Directory For Internships in Youth Development.The directory allows job hunters, counselors, students and retirees to searcha database of over 2,000 paid and non-paid youth development internships.

The Global Service Corps invites you to address social inequities and environmental problems around the world. At the same time, you can experience learning and friendshipthrough working with, and living inthe homes and communities of Global Service Corps partners andhosts in Kenya, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Thailand. This experience isavailable through volunteerproject trips as well as longer term volunteeropportunities.

Volunteers of America 49 community-based service organizations throughout the U.S. offer more than 160 different programs that help people including children, youth, the elderly, families in crisis, the homeless, people with disabilities or mental illness, and ex-offenders returning to society.

The Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) is a not-for-profit private voluntary organization which was established byscientists and engineers to respond to technical inquiries from people in developing countries. VITA collects, refines, and disseminates information that helps to to improve food production, minister health needs, increase productivity of businesses, generate higher incomes, and preserve natural resources.

Volunteermatch.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help everyone find a great place to volunteer, and offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement.

Ohio's Governor's Community Service Council is Ohio's state office of volunteerism and community service.  The Council administers, coordinates, and/or funds; AmeriCorps programs in Ohio, Community-based Service Learning, Youth leadership activities, and other activities and programs that promote, support, and connect volunteerism, service, learning, and giving in Ohio.

National groups that encourage local participation in Make A Difference Day
- Aid Association for Lutherans- Altrusa International- American Association of Retired Persons- AmeriCorps- AMVETS- Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America- Boy Scouts- Boys & Girls Clubs of America- Camp Fire Boys & Girls- Campus Outreach Opportunity League- Capitol Records/Nashville- Catholic Family Life Insurance- Chase Manhattan- Citizens Scholarship Foundation of America- Delta Sigma Pi- ERA Realty- Farm Aid- General Federation of Women's Clubs- Girl Scouts- Golden Key National Honor Society- Goodwill Industries- J.C. Penney- KaBoom!- Keep America Beautiful- Kiwanis- Knights of Columbus- League of Latin American Citizens- LensCrafters- Lutheran Brotherhood- Miss America Organization- National 4-H Council- NetDay- RSVP- Salvation Army- Slovene National Benefit Society- Special Olympics- State Farm Insurance- Students in Free Enterprise- Telephone Pioneers of America- U.S. Air Force- U.S. Army- U.S. Navy- United Way of America- USA Harvest- Veterans of Foreign Wars- VISTA- World SHARE