Engage Library
In this Ethics column, authors and Volunteer Engagement professionals Gabriella Civico and Rita Marques examine the ethics of voluntourism. Voluntourism is defined as a form of tourism in which travelers participate in volunteering activities - ranging from tracking sea turtles…
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 recorded interview and open conversation, Ethics features three Leaders of Volunteers who share their journey to find their ethical voices. Emphasizing the importance of on-the-job learning, mentorship and having a trusted circle of peers, these stories from Theresa…
January 2024
Part Three of a Four-Part SeriesIn Part Three of the Engage series on "Digital Care Circles," authors Dana Litwin, CVA, and Todd McMullin re-introduce some definitions, examples and constructs for Digital Care Circles and provide more how-to’s for getting them operational in…
January 2024
In the summer of 2023, Arizona State University and the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration hosted more than 100 volunteer administrators in 21 virtual focus groups. The topic was attitudes and experience in making organizations more inviting to a greater…
October 2023
LGBTIQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/transgender, intersex and queer) people can face significant day-to-day barriers in bringing their whole selves to a workplace, whether as a volunteer or paid worker. Yet very few studies have focused on the experience of LGBTIQ+ volunteers…
July 2023
The research reviewed by Laurie Mook in this issue of Research to Practice explores factors that support the engageability of volunteers. As distinct from satisfaction, volunteer engageability is the ability of an organization to provide conditions that maximize the involvement…
July 2023
Part Two of a Four-Part SeriesIn the first installment of this series, Engage introduced concepts surrounding Care Circles and how they are formed and managed. A Care Circle is an informally-created, often-spontaneous group of people who come together in support of a person,…
July 2023
On a scale of 1 to 10, would you recommend your organization to a friend? Would your volunteers? Incorporating this question into your volunteer survey – along with an open-ended question asking for suggestions on how your organization could improve or enhance the volunteer…
April 2023
How do we volunteer – and involve volunteers in our programs – without falling into the saviourism trap, a concept that rears its ugly head when volunteers feel that we can come in and “fix” the problems of a group or community that we don’t belong to? In this highly personal,…
April 2023
Part One of a Four-Part SeriesA chance encounter with volunteering legend Susan J. Ellis–in a New York City hotel lobby during the 1997 Points of Light conference–sets the stage for the start of this three-part series on “Digital Care Circles: The Future in Volunteering?”In…
January 2023
While recently donating blood, Adam Janes, CVA, started making comparisons between the funding and infrastructure afforded to the Canadian Blood Service verses the volunteerism sector. And that’s when the questions started. In this feature story, Janes seeks answers to determine…
January 2023
Schools, corporations and volunteer centers all send individuals and groups to perform volunteer service. In doing so, they have control over who is included and excluded in these activities. Encouraging volunteer-sending organizations to pay more attention to underrepresented…
January 2023
For the past five years, the Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement (MAVA) has conducted research and education on race equity in volunteerism. Through funding from the Minneapolis Foundation, MAVA was able to convene the necessary voices – over 40 community members and…
October 2022
As Leaders of Volunteer Engagement, we seek to make a difference to the agencies we work in and the communities we serve by recruiting community members to volunteer and make a difference. While we would like to believe we use processes that are equitable in making decisions…
October 2022
In every aspect of volunteer management, Black Leaders of Volunteers have different professional experiences than their White colleagues. They are often a part of the communities we advocate to serve and can feel a fundamental tension between wanting to make a substantial impact…
July 2022
As Volunteer Engagement Managers, we are in the business of recruiting outsiders and engaging them to their full potential. Though it’s difficult for us to admit, fundamental tenets of our approaches often introduce bias to framing opportunities, defining the audiences we intend…
April 2022
Working with and through volunteer teams presents as many opportunities as it does challenges. In this Training Design, Nancy Shelford of the Canadian Cancer Society presents a Skills Mapping Workshop designed specifically to successfully empower volunteer groups to identify…
October 2019
We’re all looking to improve our recruitment skills and to take advantage of new technologies and tools. This Training Designs presents a step-by-step guide on how to use the search function within LinkedIn to do targeted searches. In these three steps, you and your…
July 2019
With more and more volunteer recruitment done online, it is important to take a step back and look at who has or doesn’t have the opportunity to volunteer as a result of not having household Internet access. Has digital access changed the demographics of who is being asked to…
April 2019