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History of Idealist's Work With Campus Communities

campus culture

Idealist.org's work with campuses began in 2000 when we partnered with the University of Chicago for the first ever Idealist.org Nonprofit Career Fair. Since then we've expanded our work with student populations to include programs related to Nonprofit Careers, Civic Engagement and Volunteering, and Graduate Education. Our work was shaped by our July 2003 merger with the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (C.O.O.L.). For the full history of C.O.O.L.'s work from 1984-2000, please click here.

The Campus Conference
From 2004-2007, we continued the enormous task of hosting C.O.O.L.'s annual student conference, which we renamed the Idealist Campus Conference. This event, which first took place in 1985 at Harvard University, assembles student leaders, college faculty members, and nonprofit organizations from around the United States to trade ideas, experience, and contacts in order to build networks for sustained civic engagement and community service.

The 20th anniversary conference took place at the University of Pennsylvania in March 2004, and our campus conferences at University of California–Berkeley in 2005, Vanderbilt University in 2006, and DePaul University in 2007 continued to bring together large numbers of students, faculty, and nonprofits for mutually rewarding summits. In 2008, we made the difficult decision to stop hosting the conference and were thrilled when a group of students, campus administrators, and nonprofit professionals stepped forward to continue growing this tradition in new ways. Click here to learn about The IMPACT Conference, hosted annually for 1,000+ student leaders from across the United States.

More Programs for Student Leaders
Our programs support college students and faculty in a number of ways. If students want to know how to channel their on-campus activism, community service, political or advocacy work into a meaningful career path, they can take advantage of our:

• Graduate Degrees for the Public Good Fairs
• Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center
• Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers
• Idealist.org Career Fairs

If students are looking to channel their good intentions to action on their campus, in the surrounding community, or during a summer or semester in another city or country, they can:

• Search for Internships, Jobs, Volunteer Opportunities and More
• Start or Join an Affinity Group
• Help to Spread Idealist
• Attend an Idealist.org Global Volunteerism Fair
• Get Inspired by the Generation Idealist Resource Center

We also provide in-depth, customized trainings on nonprofit careers, community engagement, leadership skills, and more. Please contact us for more information.

Contact us with questions, comments, and additional resources.

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