Engage Library
Many organizations that engage volunteers also work with paid staff. This mixed workforce can be a huge benefit, but it can be difficult to schedule these two groups’ hours in a way that allows organizations to optimize efficiency and ensure adequate coverage of all roles and…
April 2025
What if Volunteer Management software providers had a crystal ball? What would they see and hope for in the next decade? And, looking back, what visions did they have for software today, and how have those expectations been realized or not? In this Ahead of the Curve, author Sam…
April 2025
Ruth Leonard gets right to the point: “I never intentionally planned to become a Volunteer Involvement professional. I wonder how many of us do?” In this Engage feature, Leonard continues this issue’s feature focus on why and how people choose life-long careers in Volunteer…
April 2025
In November 2024, Sue Kobar retired after 44 years of working in the volunteer sector in both paid and unpaid leadership roles around the globe. In this poignant, first-person account, Kobar highlights many of the key lessons she learned along the way, and describes the…
April 2025
What if every volunteer-involving organization had, as part of its mission, a mandate to involve community members as volunteers – a mandate that is fundamentally tied to why the organization exists and not simply how it achieves its goals? In fact, should volunteer-involving…
April 2025
Several recent studies examine volunteering trends from a variety of countries, using the latest available data. What do these studies reveal about volunteer participation and the factors that contribute to current trends in global volunteering? This Research to Practice takes a…
January 2025
"Ahead of the Curve" doesn't begin to describe this April 2001 article about virtual training, and Engage is delighted to revisit this prescient feature by our founder, Susan J. Ellis. In "Workshops the Wired Way," Ellis describes how to develop and deliver virtual training (…
January 2025
The COVID-19 pandemic proved a watershed moment for Volunteer Engagement the world over. For many, it marked the end of a time where volunteers were plentiful, funding readily available and program stability an almost certainty. COVID meant that many organisations had to…
January 2025
In this Points of View, editors Erin R. Spink and Rob Jackson try something new. Instead of presenting their personal musings on topics, trends and issues that they see as relevant to the Volunteer Engagement profession, they turn their gaze inwards and examine an article…
January 2025
In honor of the start of our 25th year at Engage (formerly e-Volunteerism), authors Rob Jackson and Erin R. Spink revisit the first ever Points of View from our journal's founding co-editors, Susan J. Ellis and Steve McCurley. Never known to mince words or shy away from a spicy…
October 2024
In today’s rapidly changing and unpredictable world, managing volunteers comes with distinct challenges. Volatile social and political climates, frequent technological disruptions, and the ongoing impact of global events such as pandemics and social movements have created an…
October 2024
For as long as there's been a formal practice of Volunteer Management, there's also been a notion that professional Volunteer Managers should do a better job of training a more effective volunteer. That notion is about to change. Could it be possible that one of AI’s hidden…
October 2024
Engaging volunteers to transition into lifelong donors is a challenge for any nonprofit organization seeking sustainable support. In Ahead of the Curve, author Sam Fankuchen explores effective strategies and mechanisms to convert volunteer commitment into long-term financial…
July 2024
Part Four of a Four-Part Series
During their recent, three-part Engage series into Care Circles, author Todd McMullin with DanaLitwin and Joan Cardellino defined, described, taught and inspired readers of Engage with thepotential of harnessing this organic construct to address…
July 2024
The year 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of International Volunteer Managers Day. With this in mind, Points of View co-author Erin R. Spink did a little digging. She discovered that in just three years from now, 2027 will mark the 80th anniversary of the first document that…
July 2024
One of the most recognizable basics of Volunteer Engagement practice is the “3 Rs:” Recruit, Retain and Recognize. The 3 Rs are in most Volunteer Engagement job descriptions and Volunteer Management 101 texts and blogs, and remain a constant and ongoing topic of conversation…
April 2024
In the beginning, there were sign-in sheets. Then there were time-tracking tools, followed by web registration forms. While these processes began to engage a volunteer, they did little to help understand who that volunteer is. At the fundamental level, knowing a person means…
April 2024
For 17 years, author Sam Clift has worked in Volunteer Engagement, in paid and volunteer roles across museums, arts and educational settings. In his role as the Volunteer Resource Manager for the London Transport Museum, he reported a volunteer satisfaction rating of 93 percent…
April 2024
In this issue,Voices revisits two favorite Volunteer Engagement “voices” to debate a topic that could not be more timely today: Are we using the wrong model for volunteer work? In this repost of an April 2003 column by the late Susan J. Ellis and Steve McCurley, these two co-…
April 2024
In this issue, Voices revisits two favorite Volunteering Engagement “voices” with arepost of a thought-provoking January 2017 column by the late Susan J. Ellis and RobJackson. In this previously published column, Ellis (the Founder and former Editor ofthis online journal) and…
January 2024