Barack Obama has only been in office for a few hours, but he has already spurred teenagers to want to get involved in public service, according to a new study released by the Girl Scout Research Institute.

In the institute’s survey of 2,309 girls and 975 boys, aged 13 to 17, nearly half (49 percent) said the election had increased their interest in politics, and 44 percent reported that it had inspired an interest in social and political activism. The majority (71 percent) of those surveyed said they plan to vote when they are old enough.

The election also heightened young people’s awareness of gender and racial barriers, but at the same time appeared to lift their confidence in their ability to overcome such obstacles. While one-...

Nonprofit groups and Chronicle journalists have been sharing their photos from volunteer activities to mark the Martin Luther King holiday and today’s inauguration activities on the Chronicle‘s Flickr group.

Help us add to the slideshow by joining the group and uploading your own photos.

It didn’t take long for President Barack Obama’s staff to remake the official White House Web site.

The site, which debuted at 12:01 p.m. as Mr. Obama was preparing to take his oath of office, includes details of his administration’s agenda — including a page outlining his goals for promoting volunteer service.

Among Mr. Obama’s goals: doubling the size of the Peace Corps, requiring all middle and high school students to volunteer at least 50 hours per year and all college students to spend 100 hours per year volunteering, and to create a federal office that would oversee social entrepreneurship.

“During the election, people all across the country talked about feeling a new sense of civic engagement and got involved in politics for the first time,” the Web site says. “Now, President Obama and Vice President Biden are counting on Americans from all walks of life to serve the nation...

President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address, echoed a common theme from his transition — a call to serve. In addition, he urged Americans to join together to remake the country.

Mr. Obama said in his address that Americans can not sit idle through the recession and called upon them to take responsibility for the nation’s future.

“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task,” he said.

What does this message mean for nonprofit groups? What should the Obama administration do to help charities? To help spur your thoughts, read what many experts on the...

Several hundred people gathered Monday at Simon Elementary School in Washington to participate in a service project as part of pre-inauguration activities on Martin Luther King Day.

Participants reflect on the project —and talk about why they believe volunteerism is on the rise — in this video report.

About 300 nonprofit officials and members of the Washington elite rubbed shoulders last night at a swanky Washington nightclub to celebrate the start of the Obama administration — and enjoy free alcohol.

The aptly named party — “Cocktails we can believe in” — was an invitation-only event sponsored by TechnoServe, a international aid charity, and three nonprofit consulting and communications companies.

Leaders from Global Voices, the Association of Small Foundations, and other nonprofit groups mingled with art curators and members of the news media, like Matthew Bishop, co-author of Philanthrocapitalism.

Several party-goers were dressed in tuxedos and gowns, apparently ready to make a quick exit to even more-upscale gatherings: pre-inaugural galas.

As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, more than 10,000 volunteers descended on Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington to make care packages for U.S. military personnel overseas.

At the event, which was the largest service effort in the city, hundreds of volunteer managers were needed to organize the crowds.

One of them, Alice McAlexander, from Abilene, Tx., motivated about 50 volunteers who were sitting in the stadium seats and waiting to get to work. Standing in front of them on the roof of a dugout, she gave the Obama campaign’s well-known cheer.

“Fired up?” she said through a megaphone.

“Ready to go” responded the volunteers, who hailed from as far away as Florida and California.

She then taught the crowd the “Obama dance,” a Macarena-esque move to get people excited — and warmed up in the cold weather.

Ms. McAlexander, who worked for the Obama...

Atlantic Philanthropies and the Musk Foundation for the first time sponsored a pre-inaugural ball last night to celebrate “change in Washington, the rise of new media, and a renewed commitment to service and the environment.”

The Huffington Post Pre-Inaugural Ball, held Monday night at the Newseum in Washington, had as its theme a “countdown to a new day.”

Gara LaMarche, president of Atlantic Philanthropies, says his group was encouraged to see the mass outpouring of citizen action that took place during the recent presidential campaigns, particularly in the Obama campaign, and the way it drew a connection between service and advocacy.

“The idea of celebrating that and lifting that up in all the inaugural events appealed to us,” he says. “I thought it would be a good thing to do.” Atlantic Philanthropies contributed $135,000 toward the event.

Mr. LaMarche says his organization...

What message will Barack Obama deliver to the nonprofit world today when he takes the oath of office?

We’ll be posting updates on this historic event throughout the day on this blog and on our Twitter feed.

But we want to hear from you: Tell us how you expect the new administration to affect your organization and what you would like to see accomplished in Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office.

Post your comments on this blog and contribute your photos to our Flickr group.

Politicians, celebrities, and nonprofit leaders—speaking to more than 1,200 people in Washington—today urged Americans to take up President-elect Barack Obama’s call for a new era of community service.

Speakers at the breakfast gathering, which kicked off a national day of service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., said Mr. Obama’s presidency would give new momentum to the effort to get more people involved in solving the country’s problems.

“We have a champion in the White House,” said Alan Khazei, chief executive of Be the Change, a civic-engagement group in Boston that helped start ServiceNation, a coalition of more than 120 organizations that organized the breakfast.

“We all must double down now and seize this moment,” he said. “Otherwise it may pass us by.”

Mr. Obama asked people to volunteer on the King holiday, but also to make a commitment to work regularly to improve...