A 'Flip' Chat With…Ami Dar of Idealist.org

This is the first in what we hope will be a regular series of video "chats." This one's a little rough around the edges (fuzzy image, lots of background noise), but we thought it captured some of the personal qualities that, over the last fifteen years or so, have helped make Ami Dar such an inspiring nonprofit leader. Do you have any Flip tips to share? Anyone you'd like to see featured in future installments of our "Flip" series? Leave us a comment below or drop us a line at rnm@foundationcenter.org.

Last week, my colleague Alison Alford and I had the pleasure of attending the third event in the Meet the Change -- What Happens Next Is Up to You! series hosted by Pursue -– a partnership between American Jewish World Service and AVODAH: the Jewish Service Corps. Held at Lolita Bar on the Lower East Side, the event featured Ami Dar, founder and executive director of Action Without Borders/Idealist.org.

For many of the young New York City "changemakers" in the audience, Dar is something of a celebrity, and we were looking forward to hearing how he launched Idealist in 1996 with just $3,500 and a dream.

According to Dar, he never planned for Idealist to become a "job site" -- it just turned out to be a great way to generate a steady income while achieving the organization's mission "to connect people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives."

Before the event was in full swing, Alison and I sat down with Dar and asked him about his career at Idealist and the state of the nonprofit sector.

(Total running time: 2 minutes, 12 seconds)

For more information about the event, be sure to read Jonathan Horowitz's post at the Pursue blog here.

-- Regina Mahone