Leadership Memphis

Leadership Memphis (LM) is a non-profit organization founded in 1979 to bring together leaders to better communicate across racial lines. In its early years, that was accomplished by delivering a program built around an annual cohort of diverse, cross-sector leaders learning about the community and about each other. It has never been the purpose of the organization to train people to be leaders. It has always been about bringing leaders together to have a stronger impact on the community.

Leadership Memphis prepares and mobilizes leaders to work together for the good of the whole community. We like to say, “Leadership Memphis empowers our community to Step Up.” Volunteer Memphis (VM) is an action initiative of Leadership Memphis. We are at the heart of volunteering, connecting people with opportunities to serve, as well as building capacity for effective volunteering primarily throughout Memphis and Shelby County. VM is open to including volunteer efforts in neighboring counties where there is interest. VM works with nonprofits, churches, schools, corporations, civic groups, governments and other groups that engage volunteers to make the community a better place. VM currently prioritizes our capacity as follows: •Volunteer advocacy through Volunteer Tennessee and local presentations/media •Volunteer to volunteer opportunity matching via the VM website •Volunteer opportunity postings by nonprofits in search of volunteers on the VM website •Maintaining and communicating with 20,000 registered VM volunteers •Scaling community volunteer events and activities such as the 2017 MLK Days of Service •Engaging employees through corporate relationships and the VM Corporate Volunteer Council •Partnering with the City of Memphis for volunteer organizing in support of Memphis 3.0 •Offering training for nonprofit volunteer managers and volunteer project leaders More than 290 community partners are able to help thousands in need from all religions, ethnicity, and socio-economic levels thanks to the efforts of VM. VM is also the local affiliate of the HandsOn Network.