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This is a nationally-recognized, Texas-based project to serve the leaders and managers of volunteer and community service initiatives. TxServe is a project of the Charles A. Dana Center of the University of Texas at Austin in collaboration with Texas Commission of Volunteerism and Community Services (a state agency).

Betsy Clubine was coordinator of the TxServe Project from its inception in 1996 through January 2000, and developed most of the resources on the site, such as its resource guide for recruiting volunteers in Texas. She worked directly with all TxServe online volunteers, developing volunteer assignments and supervising and evaluating volunteers.

"Volunteers are recruited for very specialized positions via word of mouth and via the corps group of Virtual Volunteering Project volunteers. We are also contacted by volunteers who have visited TxServe and are interested in supporting our work. Many have been professionals in the field of volunteer management. We have had one volunteer who was a software engineer at a local computer company, who helped us think through the technical needs of a proposed TxServe searchable database."

"We screen volunteers based on the requirements and competencies set forth in the volunteer task description. Since none of our volunteer positions are direct service in nature, we do not conduct criminal background checks. All volunteers must be complete an online application to work with us, and depending on the assignments they are looking for, they are also interviewed in person or via the phone by me."

As a project designed to support the effective leadership of volunteers via Web-based resources, TxServe is dedicated to building its own capacity to support virtual volunteering. More than two dozen online volunteers have contributed to the site so far.

The site will be managed entirely by the Texas Commission of Volunteerism and Community Services (a state agency) in the Fall of 2000.