This is the time of year when all of us think about giving back. But for some, it seems to be in their blood.

When Cory Doctorow co-founded the open-source software company OpenCola in 1999, he was just another techie genius. Then he had a discussion with people at the Electronic Frontier Foundation — a technology advocacy nonprofit and proponent of Internet civil liberties — and he became passionate about liberalizing copyright laws so he could help EFF provide citizens with greater access to and use of digital material.

Mr. Doctorow sold his software company and began working with EFF to further the cause of free digital media sharing. “They couldn’t afford to employ me at first, but then they got a grant and I became their outreach coordinator,” he says. “I set up blogs, went to meetings with studio executives, and helped to defeat proposals that weren’t in our favor.”

Mr. Doctorow eventually became the director of European affairs for EFF and was able to boast of a career as an activist.

For those who are interested in doing the same, he stresses the importance of volunteering for a cause first. “Your best bet is to join up with a cause pro bono or part time,” he says. “You have to be realistic and see the value of each experience.”

Among the various types of nonprofits, some of the most visible are community-based organizations that provide direct services such as Meals on Wheels, job-placement assistance and child care. Others are concerned with arts and culture, advocacy and social policy, scientific research or international outreach.

How do you go about targeting a nonprofit with which to work? Mr. Doctorow recommends approaching organizations as a donor would and looking carefully at their statistics. “Find out their ideology, how they pay their executives, how they administer their funds and how they handle crises,” he says.

If your hope is to procure a full-time job, your odds will be better if you select a larger nonprofit. Staff roles at these organizations include the executive director, the director of development (fund raising), the director of programming and the director of marketing.

Most nonprofits hire staffers through their human-resources departments, although volunteers can be brought on more informally. To assess your options, check out Web sites such as Guidestar, Idealist, and the Nonprofit Career Network.

In your interviews, you should emphasize your entrepreneurial spirit. Running a nonprofit is complex, so the more business savvy you can bring to the table, the better.

Even if you do manage to snag a paid position, you should prepare for a difficult climb. The majority of activists employed by nonprofits make less than $50,000 annually. And the nature of the work is known to cause high stress and burnout.

If you aren’t able to start working with a nonprofit immediately, you can still engage in experience-building activist activities on your own. From forming a group in your local community to hosting a fund-raising event, there are a lot of things you can do now to move your cause forward and whet your appetite for a career in the nonprofit world.

Write to Alexandra Levit at reinvent@wsj.com

So far in 2009, Kara Richardson Whitely of Summit, New Jersey, has run in Central Park at midnight for UNICEF, jumped in icy Lake Champlain, Vt. for Special Olympics, walked amid monkeys and alligators for the MS Society, walked/jogged where Washington slept for National Parks and walked the Flying Pig Marathon course to benefit the American Heart Association. She is taking on a physical event for charity each month of the year — an initiative she calls the Save the World Diet.

This Save the World Diet movement — of taking action steps toward better health and a better world — was inspired by her 2007 trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The journey to Africa’s highest peak was not only a celebration of her 120-pound weight loss, it was a fund raiser for Global Alliance for Africa’s AIDS orphans programs. She couldn’t justify not getting out of bed to train when a child needed fresh water, an education, a chance.

After the birth of her daughter a year later, she was left with about 50 pounds of baby weight to lose all over again. She remembered how motivating it was to be working for a cause as well as a fitness goal. She signed up for an event each month of 2009, knowing that it would allow her to go from feeling helpless about her weight and the problems in the world to feeling empowered and strong.

So far this year, she’s down several pounds, feeling great and has raised thousands of dollars for charities.

By the year’s end her treks up mountains and down the scale will help AIDS orphans, those with Leukemia & Lymphoma and at-risk youth. She will also dance for food at a Cancan for Hunger, and bicycle 220 miles from Hershey, Pa. (away from all of that chocolate) to New York City for Breast Cancer patients. The next challenge is June 6, a Shenandoah Mountain hike for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program. The year will end with another Kilimanjaro climb for AIDS orphans. (There are a few spots left on the trek, if folks would like to join her!)

Kara is the founder of www.fatwomanonthemountain.com, a website to inform and inspire others on their weight loss journey, and a contributor on www.raisedpath.com. She is a finalist in the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Casting Call competition. She was a speaker at the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Luncheon, where she also introduced Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs.

Kara has been a newspaper journalist (interned at the Star Ledger, now at the Courier News) for a decade. Her story of conquering Camel’s Hump a decade after it had left her winded and beaten was featured in Self magazine. Kara grew up in South Burlington, Vt. and is a member of the Green Mountain Club and the American Hiking Society.

She lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughter. They recently moved from Short Hills to Summit. (Really).

— ANDY LAGOMARSINO, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

You don’t need to move mountains to set up a dish hd dvr receiver and free digital tv converter. You can compare digital tv providers at Tv-Providers.com!

Charitable organizations say they are benefiting from a class of skilled volunteers ready to lend their expertise to a cause. And volunteering is giving out-of-work professionals the opportunity to develop skills, as well as network for job contacts in the process. For some people, it may even mean a new career when the economy does turn around.

Officials at Habitat for Humanity, like many others taking advantage of laid-off help, say they are looking for volunteers with managerial, public-relations and communications experience, in addition to volunteers who want to swing a hammer. “For us, we are really trying to use this time as an opportunity to emphasize to volunteers that we do more than building,” says Desiree Adaway, senior director of volunteer mobilization for Habitat, a nonprofit that builds houses for families in need.

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Volunteer
Tom Hamilton for The Wall Street Journal

Rick Overton has found that helping others benefits himself as well.
Volunteer
Volunteer

Neva Geisler, director of volunteer engagement for the United Way of Treasure Valley, in Boise, Idaho, says this year’s volunteers are highly skilled and educated, with many having global work experience. “Some are fantastic resources that we could never afford to hire,” Ms. Geisler says.

To be sure, many nonprofits are struggling despite the influx of volunteers. A January survey of nearly 22,000 individual donors by Cygnus Applied Research, a market research and fund-raising company for not-for-profits, found that 17.5% of donors planned to decrease the value of their donations in 2009 and 30% were undecided.

“Things are really grim” for nonprofits, says Todd Cohen, editor and publisher of Philanthropy Journal. “The value of endowments is down, the value of individual investments is down, and nonprofit costs are up, as well as demand for services.”

Still, laid-off workers can make a difference. Laine Seaton, who was laid off from her development-management position for an Arizona nonprofit in December, now volunteers about 35 hours a week at five nonprofits. She says that beyond supporting causes she cares about, she’s been able to bolster skills that will help her find a new position.
Laid Off and Looking

* Follow eight out-of-work M.B.A.s as they search for jobs in a post-meltdown world.

Her volunteer work with the North Country Conservancy involves setting up a fund-raising plan, grant writing and strategic planning. “In a regular job, you’d need to be a director or management staff to be able to do these types of things, but on a volunteer basis, they welcome the help,” says Ms. Seaton, 41, who says she plans to add these skills to her résumé and tout them in interviews.

For some, volunteering has offered a sense of purpose and connection, while brightening their outlook. Rick Overton, a 41-year-old from Boise, Idaho, who was laid off from a copywriting position in July, struggled with the psychological impact of being laid off. In February, he began volunteering with the United Way, and says the experience has improved his outlook on unemployment. “It’s hard to describe how much better it feels to get to the end of the day and, even if you haven’t made any money, feel like you did some good for the world,” he says. Most recently, Mr. Overton worked with the group on a project designed to help enroll at-risk pre-kindergartners into a program that prepares them for school.

Some nonprofits are even advertising the benefits of volunteer work to the newly laid off. The Web site of the American Red Cross’s Denver branch notes that volunteering for the organization helps job hunters learn critical new skills, increase their network of contacts and “introduce a little sanity” into their job hunt.

That’s part of what attracted Alexandra Lee, a 25-year-old who was recently laid off from a marketing position, to the organization. She’s volunteering in the Denver Red Cross’s public-relations department and says the work helps her cope with the drudgery of finding a new job. “I’m really extroverted, and if I sat at home all day writing cover letters and resumes, I’d be depressed,” says Ms. Lee. What’s more, she says, her efforts have been a good conversation starter for networking. “At first I was humiliated to say, ‘I’ve been laid off.’ But now I have work I’m doing,” says Ms. Lee, who gives about 20 hours of her time a week.
[Benefits of Volunteering]

And, true to the pitch, Ms. Lee says she has been exposed to elements of marketing she wasn’t involved in before, like analysis of market research. In a recent job interview, Ms. Lee was able to speak about measuring viral-marketing efforts. “My volunteer work seems to be falling in place perfectly for some job opportunities,” she says.

Volunteers can catch the eye of board members — who are often corporate executives or senior managers — looking for employees. “If a volunteer comes to our attention with a particular skill set, and we know someone on our board is looking for someone, we’d help that person any way we can,” says Robert Wilson, major-gifts manager for Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.

Donating time is also a good introduction to the culture of nonprofits, where volunteers are more accustomed to doing things on a small budget. That gives them an edge over someone from the for-profit community when applying for a paid position, says the United Way’s Ms. Geisler. “You have to have a duct-tape approach to things,” she says.

Heather Joseph, volunteer manager for the Food Bank for New York City, says that in December, her organization received phone calls from people laid off in the financial-services industry. Now, they’re looking to volunteer in hopes of changing careers to the nonprofit sector. One person will be volunteering on the organization’s upcoming gala, helping with registration, the auction and other aspects of the event.

“Volunteering is the best way I know how to break into a nonprofit,” says Enid Borden, Meals On Wheels Association of America chief executive.

And though some nonprofits are worried that volunteers will scale back once the economy improves, most are hopeful that corporations and young people will fill the gap. Ms. Borden says there has been a discernible uptick in interest from younger workers, which should help the organization should other volunteers scale back.

By DANA MATTIOLI
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com

How good would it feel if someone just gave you $1,000?

Last fall, Oprah Winfrey thrilled audience members with these words: “You will each go home with $1,000.”

Then she said there was a catch: “You have to spend the money on someone other than your family.”

Winfrey said she wanted them to experience how good it feels to give.

They still applauded, but the smiles looked a little forced.

Yet maybe she did her audience a favor, because even though the audience had to give the money away, it could get back even more than they gave.

Stephen Post explains why in his new book, “Why Good Things Happen to Good People.”

He reveals that new science shows giving — money or time — not only feels just as good as getting, but can actually improve your health.

“Giving is as good for the giver as it is for the receiver. Science says it’s so. We’ll be happier, healthier, and even — odds are — live a little longer if we’re generous,” Post said.

“Public health isn’t just about bugs and staying away from lead. It’s about doing unto others, and at the right dose, science says it’s very good for you,” he said.

Arthur Brooks, author of the new book, “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism,” also knows a lot about the current research on charity. Brooks said, “There’s evidence that it helps people with their asthma, in cardiovascular disease, weight loss, insomnia. When people have a lot of happiness, they do a lot better in their health as well.”

Helping Others, Healing Themselves

That was true for former heart patients at Duke University Medical Center. They were asked to visit current heart patients — no particular agenda, just to listen and lend support. By doing that, the volunteers had better health after their heart attacks. A similar study at the University of Miami by Dr. Gail Ironson followed HIV patients who volunteered, like Katherine Marshall Scott, who talks to teenagers about avoiding infection, and Stephen Baker, who counsels fellow HIV survivors. These and other HIV patients who helped others had lower stress levels and higher immune resistance. Scott’s disease-fighting cells went up, from 200 to 800. Baker says he could feel how volunteering improved his health. “To get involved with someone else’s problems makes your problems look a lot less,” he said. At least five studies show that seniors who gave tended to live longer, Post said. After senior Fred Dekuyper started volunteering at a school, a small miracle happened. “I used to walk with a cane all the time, and now I don’t need the cane anymore,” he said.

Service Learning

Many high schools require their students to volunteer. It’s called service learning. And oddly, even though the charity is forced, it still brings happy results. Teachers say students who volunteer raise their grades, and get higher SAT scores. Abington High School student Jeff Rohrback said, “After service learning started, I got so involved into it, I started paying attention more, picked up my grades.” So “20/20″ decided to see whether we could find a similar effect. We put an ad on Craigslist recruiting people who were not currently volunteers. We introduced them to Post, and asked them to try it for one week.

But first, Post had them fill out a questionnaire that asked how they felt about life, like how often during the week they felt calm and peaceful. Children for Children, whose mission is to get children involved in giving, agreed to help us, as did the Salvation Army, which has many different programs, from soup kitchens to after-school activities for kids. Then off they went — bringing donated books to children at an elementary school, then reading to the kids and making scarves with the kids. One spent time in a truck handing out food to the poor. All four worked at a Harlem soup kitchen. One week later we had them answer that questionnaire again. This time their answers about how often they felt “calm and peaceful” changed from some of the time to most of the time. Post said, “In fact, just seven days of activity was a kind of a transformation.” One of our volunteers, Diana Sanchez was surprised at how strongly the experiences affected her. “They were so grateful for me doing that, but it was just peas and carrots,” she said. When asked whether it had made her feel good, she said, “It did. It did.” Sanchez also spent time with kids at a Salvation Army after-school program. “Just knowing that after work I was heading over to work with the children, just seeing them smiling — that just made me feel so great,” she said. Researchers call that “the helper’s high.”

The Helpers’ High

“The helper’s high has been measured physically,” Post said. “We know there’s an actual physiological state. It’s quite euphoric.” The helper’s high shows up in MRI brain scans. People who give money show brain activity that’s associated with feel-good chemicals like dopamine — the same brain activity that happens when you receive money. National Institutes of Health neuroscientist Jordan Grafman showed us the brain scans. “Those brain structures that are activated when you get a reward are the same ones that are activated when you give. In fact, they’re activated more,” he told us.

We asked our volunteers after their week of service who had gotten more out of the experience: the people they helped, or they themselves?

Volunteer Daniel Smith didn’t hesitate with his answer. “No brainer. Me, definitely.”

Lelani Clark also felt renewed from her single week of volunteering.

“I just felt energized,” she said. “We were so caught up in this energy of helping that it was like a buzz — like a spiritual buzz.”

Winfrey’s audience members reported that, too. After a week of giving money away, many said they were changed.

Maybe we should call it selfish to help others, because it seems to help the givers more.

“If you want to define selfishness so widely as to include the warm glow that people feel in the aftermath of selflessly giving to others, guess what, we need more of it, not less of it,” Post said.

So try it.

Get out and give your money or your time. You’ll help someone else. … And you’ll feel good, too.

By JOHN STOSSEL and SYLVIA JOHNSON

ABC News