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About Jayne Cravens
Jayne is an internationally-recognized professional with more than 20 years of experience regarding communications, community/volunteer involvement, and capacity-building for nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations/civil society, government-based community programs, and corporate philanthropy programs. She has worked on the local, regional, national and international level, and has worked extensively with multi-cultural audiences, corporate audiences, United Nations agencies, international aid workers, low-income communities, and those who are traditionally socially-excluded. She has a demonstrated commitment to gender issues and mainstreaming gender considerations in her work. A citizen of the USA and a native of Kentucky, she lived in Germany from February 2001 through April 2009, except for six months in 2007, when she lived in Afghanistan. She now lives again in the USA, and is currently based in the Portland, Oregon area.

Jayne is available for short-term consulting onsite anywhere, long-term consulting in the Portland-Oregon area, and long-term employment (open to negotiation for anywhere).

She launched this web site in January 1996. She's been active on the Internet since 1993.

Her CV, which fully details her professional experience and skills, and her references, are available upon request. You can also read about her core professional competencies and her capacity-building work specifically. Below is a list of her professional experience and credentials:

 

 
 
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    The Jayne Blog, updated regularly
    provides notices on when this site is updated,
    as well as announcements and new resources.
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    Want updates on your cell phone whenever I send Tech4Impact or update my primary blog? Follow me on Twitter at @jcravens42. You may also
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    My blog on MySpace (every user gets one)
    focuses specifically on volunteerism / civic engagement
    for MySpace users (most are in their teens or 20s).
    The RSS feed address for My blog on MySpace:
    http://blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm?friendID=38885498
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    Launched on 4.January.1996, the Coyote Communications site is designed to be quick to download and accessible by most Internet users, regardless of browser type, operating system software, computer type, monitor type, or Internet connection speed. Why leave anyone out?

     
    this web site is accessible by most any computer or browser

     
     

     
    contact me

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    		 Independent Consultant
    Jayne has supported numerous organizations as an independent consultant regarding communications, community/volunteer involvement, staff capacity-building, organizational management and fund-raising. She is currently working on a second draft of the revised The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, to be published in late 2009 by Energize Inc., and a graduate-level university course for using the Internet to support volunteers, and to involve and build community.

     
    She also researched and authored materials regarding how rumor and myth can derail development or relief efforts, and ways to address such; these materials are frequently updated.

     
    Most of her consulting is through speaking and training. She also undertakes various individual consulting projects. Most recently, she lead intensive workshops and one-on-one consulting in Belgrade, Serbia, on strategic planning and demonstrating program credibility and transparency for education advising centers throughout the Balkans affiliated with EducationUSA, a global network supported by the U.S. Department of State (December 2009). She also wrote a customized strategy on the effective use of free and low-cost online networking tools to improve business processes for the Virginia State Office of Rural Health and the Virginia Primary Care Office (August 2009). Also in 2009, she wrote and recorded portions of a curriculum regarding "Social Networking and Volunteer Involvement" as part of Everyone Ready, an intensive staff development plan for national organizations, produced through Energize, Inc. In 2005, she also authored "Communication Is the Key: Keep Connected to Volunteers" for the Everyone Ready program, and she's conducted evaluations for national and international organizations (the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Planned Parenthood, the Humane Society US, American Lung Association, AARP, National Kidney Foundation, and the US Army) regarding the effectiveness of their web sites per volunteer recruitment, involvement, advocacy, and support through this program and Energize, Inc. as well (2005 - 2007).

    She authored and implemented volunteer policies and a volunteer recruitment and support system for the Aid Workers Network (2007-08); authored volunteer policies and procedures and recommendations for volunteer management for LINGOS (Learning for International NGOS) in 2007; advised UNESCO regarding business models for its Open Training Platform in 2007; conducted evaluations for national and international organizations, including the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Planned Parenthood, the Humane Society USA, AARP- American Association of Retired Persons, and the US Army regarding the effectiveness of their web sites per volunteer recruitment, involvement, advocacy, and support in 2006-07; authored Basic Fund-Raising for Small NGOs in the Developing World, (2006-07); developed a strategy for the development of an online forum for the ATSTAR program, and to encourage hundreds of educators dispersed throughout the USA who have received the ATSTAR training to use such; and created a module regarding effectively involving volunteers for UNESCO's Multimedia Training Kit, for trainers working in telecenters, community radio, and other ICT4D initiatives (2005).

     
    She also undertakes numerous pro bono assignments for organizations and activities she feels passionate about, most recently:

    • Writing press materials for Bpeace (Business Council for Peace), a UNIFEM partner and non-profit organization that mobilizes business professionals as volunteers to help entrepreneurs in countries emerging from war, like Rwanda and Afghanistan, to expand local businesses and create employment (and thereby build a peaceful, prosperousproperpus future).

    • Volunteer Coordinator, Advice Page Editor and Forum Moderator for Aid Workers Network. 2008.

    • Moderator of the Volunteers and Technology" online forum for TechSoup.org, an organization that helps nonprofit organizations regarding computer and Internet technology. Part of CompuMentor.org. 2002-2008.

    • Online mentor for new women bloggers in Kenya, through Fahamu and the Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), to help them learn to use blogs as a method of democratic expression and empowerment. 2008.

    • Online mentor for the inaugural Blogs for African Women (BAWo) Mentoring Project, focused on women living in Nigeria, to help them learn to use blogs as a method of democratic expression and empowerment. 2008.

    • Peer-to-peer career counseling volunteer (online) for students interested in careers in international development work, through Open University (where I recently completed my Master's Degree). 2004-2007.

    You can read a more complete list of her own experiences as a volunteer and her thoughts and resources on volunteer motivations, volunteer management and volunteerism in general.

    You can read about her fee-based communications services, and "What's Interesting To Me These Days", a list of my current professional priorities -- issues that she's actively researching, reading and writing about.

     
    You can also view her public calendar to see when she is booked and when she is available.
             

    Jayne's work has been cited in several books and other publications, including Beyond Police Checks: The Definitive Volunteer & Employee Screening Guidebook by Linda L. Graff, What We Learned (the hard way) About Supervising Volunteers by Jarene Frances Lee and Julia M. Catagnus, published by Energize, Inc, The Career Break Book, published by Lonely Planet; and The Rough Guide To A Better World, published by the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Rough Guides; final report of the Subcommittee on Public Outreach for USAID's Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA) (my input was re: how to use various Internet tools for ACVFA outreach), Oct. 2008; the 2004 document/proposal E-government Implementation in Lithuania, published by the Kaunas University of Technology Institute of Europe and the UN Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (UNPAN); USAID's Bureau for Global Health newsletter (January 2002); and World Disasters Report 2001: Focus on Recovery by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Before joining UNV/UNDP (see below), her work was cited in the UNDP Gender in Development Programme's Learning & Information Pack: Information, Communication & Knowledge-Sharing, published in 2000 (one of the first UNDP documents addressing this topic).

     
             

    		  Jayne is a frequent speaker at a variety of local, regional, national & international conferences, both in-person and online. She has also contributed frequently to graduate-level university classes regarding using the Internet to support volunteers and for greater community involvement and outreach. Her university work includes being a guest speaker for SOCW 6355: Advanced Use of Information Technology in Human Services and SOCW 6371: Community and Administrative Practice at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, Feb. 2007, and Feb. & Nov. 2008; a graduate class at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin in 2004; and a graduate class studying Volunteer Program Planning and Evaluation at the University of North Texas, 2001, 2002 and 2004. She can develop university-level curriculum relating to her areas of expertise and deliver such online or onsite, and is currently developing a graduate-level university course for using the Internet to support volunteers, and to involve and build community.
     
             

     

    		 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
    National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP)
    From March 1 through most of August 2007, I was in Kabul, Afghanistan to serve as Communication and Reporting Advisor for the National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP), a program administered by UNDP that supports the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) in Afghanistan. I was happy to return to my former employer, UNDP, but I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to work in a country in which I have been interested since the 1990s. Among my many communications responsibilities was updating the MRRD/NABDP web site and creating an NABDP Flickr account, with most photos provided by various ministry staff members. I also developed a presentation/training for staff on taking photos.

     

             

     

     

    		 United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV)/
    United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
    From February 2001 - February 2004, Jayne was the Online Volunteering Specialist at UNV, part of UNDP, in Bonn, Germany, helping to build the capacity of staff and UN Volunteers to involve online volunteers, revamping and directing the UNV-managed Online Volunteering service (formerly at NetAid), and assisting UNV in using the Internet to effectively manage onsite UN Volunteers and to build community among former UN volunteers. She was also part of UNITeS, the United Nations Information Technology Service, an initiative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that promotes volunteerism as fundamental to information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D). Contributions to UNITeS she is especially proud of: creating and maintaining the UNITeS Knowledge Base, including the publications Handheld computer technologies in community service/volunteering/advocacy and Volunteers: Essential to ICT projects in developing countries, as well as coordinating the profiling of all UN Volunteers engaged in ICT4D activities. Jayne advised UNV regarding volunteer management issues and volunteer center development in developing countries, and was responsible for the content and volunteer coordination for UNV's first-ever online events, including a live web cast featuring Tim Burners Lee.

     
     
             
    Virtual Volunteering Project
    From December 1996 - January 2001, Jayne directed the internationally-recognized Virtual Volunteering Project, which encouraged and assisted agencies in the development and success of volunteer opportunities that can be completed via home or work computers and the Internet, and helped agencies use the Internet to manage all volunteers and connect with volunteer management resources. This included creating the most comprehensive information available, on or offline, regarding online mentoring programs and best practices, and engaging in the first ever research regarding online volunteering.

     
     
             

    She has published papers in these academic and professional journals:  
    She has published articles in:  
             

    In March 2003, Jayne, still officially a resident of Austin, Texas, was a co-winner of the Dewey Winburne Community Service Award, presented at a special ceremony in Austin, Texas, at the conclusion of the Texas Interactive Media (TIM) Awards Ceremony. Dewey Winburne served as one of the original co-founders of what is now known as the SXSW Interactive Festival (one of Jayne's favorite events), and the teaching of multimedia skills to teenagers, particularly teens of low-income and minority descent, was also a great passion in Dewey's life. The Award named in his honor "celebrates the vision that technology is society's most effective tool to level the playing field between the haves and the have nots." Jayne is beside herself at this recognition -- it is something all the more special because it came from the city she still considers her home.

             

    Jayne was named one of the Top 25 Women of the Web in 2001 by the San Francisco Women of the Web. She's still wondering when someone will send the "just kidding" e-mail.
     
             

    Jayne regularly contributes to various civil society/mission-based-organization-related online discussion groups, such as the AidWorkers Network. In 2008, she was the top contributor (most answers voted "best") on the Yahoo!Answers Community service forum, and among the top three on the Yahoo!Answers Careers & Employment/Government & Non-Profit fora.

             

    Jayne is an avid traveler and has visited, worked in or lived in more than 30 countries and more than 30 states in the USA. She is a believer in transire benefaciendo: to travel along while doing good, and in tourism as a sustainable tool for the development of communities all over the world. Her article "Doing Good On Vacation in a Developing Country," was the highest rated and most-popular volunteer-related article by far on the now-defunct Bluelist by Lonely Planet.

             

    In October 2005, Jayne completed the requirements for a MSc in Development Management (how to start, manage and sustain human, community and institutional development initiatives) at Open University, with the submission of her final research project (which, shockingly enough was not on volunteerism but, rather, on theater as a tool for development). You can read about development topics of particular interest to her.

    She received her B.A. in Journalism (with minors in both theater and history) from Western Kentucky University. In 2005, she passed the initial level exam in the Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera (DELE) (certification for basic abilities in Spanish), and is currently studying for the next level. She completed the following classes that are part of the Professional Certificate for Nonprofit Management (in the first year it was offered), San José State University (California): Fund Raising, Board Governance & Leadership, Financial Management, Human Resources, and Strategic Planning & Needs Assessments. She has also been trained in planning and evaluation by Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation (PIRE).

             

    Jayne is or has been a member of
        the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, promoting "Kentucky's opportunity,
    heritage, history, and entertainment."
    		  picture of Jayne Cravens in 2001 in a tower of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
             
    Jayne finds it fascinating to talk about herself in the third person...

             

    As part of the Charles A. Dana Center, which was home to the Virtual Volunteering Project from 1998 through 2000, Jayne researched and developed these online resources:
      Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program
      Jayne designed this program, designed the web site, and recruited, screened and trained the online volunteers who participated in this program to mentor two classes at Sanchez Elementary School in Austin, Texas, as part of the Virtual Volunteering Project. This web site, sans mentor and student information and interactive functionality, is provided to help others, particularly schools, to develop their own online mentoring programs.

      Community Engagement and Volunteerism Resources for Texas K-12 Schools
      Part of the Texas Education Network (TENET), this web portal is for school administrators, teachers, parent/family volunteers, and others who coordinate volunteer and community partnership activities between schools and other organizations, including businesses. It has become a nationally-recognized web site. To view the site, cut and paste http://www.serviceleader.org/old/schools/ into archive.org.

      AmeriCorps for Community Engagement and Education Program (ACEE)
      VISTA School Volunteer Management Handbook
      A resource guide for VISTAs in charge of managing school-based volunteers for Sanchez Elementary School in Austin, Texas through the ACEE program in 1998, and a good model for managing school-based volunteers anywhere.

      Music in Schools
      This web portal is for educators and others to learn about and use music-in-schools resources, and to learn how music-in-schools programs have a positive effect on academics, including math and science. Includes curriculum resources, and a list of groups and associations that support music-in-schools programs, particularly those that support music being used in the classroom to teach other academic subjects. Originally developed for the Texas Education Network (TENET dropped these resources in 2001 because of a change in its education resource priorities. I would like these resources to find a home at an education-focused or arts-focused nonprofit. If you represent such and are interested in taking over hosting these resources and continuing to update them, please contact me).

      Contextual Learning to Teach the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
      Included a section mapping "Science and Math School-to-Careers Resources for Texas K-12 Educators." Contact the Charles A. Dana Center for more information.

     
             

    From February 1995 to April 1996, Jayne was the internal communications manager at Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network (she built the original JV Web site and those of most of its 13 affiliated organizations in 1995, and edited Joint Venture's landmark publication The Joint Venture Way: Lessons for Regional Rejuvenation). She lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for six years before moving to Austin, Texas in Fall 1996. She has also worked at Maxtor Corporation, managing this Fortune 500 company's community giving program and employee volunteer program; the star-studded and internationally-acclaimed Williamstown Theatre Festival (NYC & Massachusetts), where she was Publicity Director (1990); and the Tony-Award winning Hartford Stage Company, where she also worked in public and press relations (1988-1990). She worked in publicity for the Capital Arts Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and was publicity director for WKU's children's theater series in the Fall of 1987. She began her professional career as a journalist writing for the Henderson Gleaner, in her hometown in Kentucky, followed by the College Heights Herald at Western Kentucky University.

     

             

    Career Women's Up Close & Virtual profiled Jayne in 1998. In May 2001, Jayne blabbled endlessly to the folks at Tech Ranch, a nationally-syndicated radio program, which featured her for an entire week. And Jayne recently found an interview she did for the Chronicle of Philanthropy that she has no memory of whatsoever: regarding what her early days in theater public relations and marketing taught her that she still utilizes in her current work (I know those are my words, but I don't remember ever saying them to anyone...)

     

             

    Jayne produces a monthly online newsletter, Tech4Impact, to help mission-based organizations know how to get the most out of computer and Internet technology. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to:

             

    The Jayne Blog features regular updates about this web site, and resources and issues relating to mission-based organizations (nonprofits, non-governmental organizations/NGOs, civil society, and public sector agencies). The blog provides a way for readers to post comments as well. She also has a MySpace blog focused on volunteerism / civic engagement, in an effort to reach their users, mostly teens and people in their teens and 20s.

     

             

    Jayne has online profiles all over the place, including a profile on Yahoo (which features an audio message), a profile at LinkedIn and a profile at change.org. Consider asking everyone at your nonprofit organization, paid staff and volunteer, to complete professional profiles on these and other professionally-focused social networking sites, to show their affiliation with your organization and, potentially, drive more potential supporters to your web site. She's written her profiles at Yahoo and LinkedIn as examples of this (both paid work and volunteer contributions are in her profiles).

    Jayne also has a Nabaztag, and if you have one too, contact her and she will tell you her bunny's name (and if you don't know what a Nabaztag is, you may contact her and she will tell you).

     

             

    Jayne is also the creator of the popular web page Camping With Your Dog(s), which is visited by thousands of people each month and is the most popular resource on her web site.
             

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    The art work and material on this site was created and is copyrighted 1996-2010
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