This much is clear: Volunteer Centres are vital to build and sustain local and regional volunteer ecosystems. Often seen as the “one-stop” help for individuals looking to get involved in the community, Volunteer Centres are not only remarkable at surviving funding and policy…
Local volunteer centers exist in many countries around the world. Granted, they operate under different names and reflect regional differences in the specific things they do, but all volunteer centers have a surprising number of things in common, such as matching volunteers with…
There was a time when the word “intern” was used mainly for doctors-in-training. Over the last 50 years, however, the concept has widened to include many different experiences in nonprofit, government and for-profit settings. Some internships are formal requirements through…
During 2011, a small group of volunteer managers in the UK responded to an invitation to be part of a project that would ultimately allow them to develop new skills, extend their networks and create a team of ‘Volunteer Management Champions.’ The goal was to help create a ‘buzz…
In a Research to Practice article in e-Volunteerism last year, Laurie Mook explored the Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work, a recent publication of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The manual was designed "to guide countries in generating systematic and…
What does the field think about credentialing? In this Keyboard Roundtable, volunteer management colleagues from the UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia provide their personal and widely different perspectives on the value of a professional credential. One expert thinks…
In late 2009, Volunteering England established a Volunteer Rights Inquiry to look into a rising number of volunteers who were complaining, sometimes very publically, about their treatment by their volunteer-involving organizations. After nearly 18 months of confidential…
In this issue, Rob Jackson’s feature story about volunteer rights describes and analyzes the unique Volunteer Rights Inquiry led by Volunteering England from 2009 to 2011. In this special, companion Voices presentation, Jackson interviews two key participants who were deeply…
Volunteering infrastructure is a crucial element to encourage the development of a broad range of meaningful volunteering opportunities and the engagement of a diverse spectrum of people in volunteering.
Magic strategies for success. Breaking the rules and getting away with it. What we can teach leaders in the corporate world. Creativity. Innovation. Generational theory. Happy meals vs. real cooking. Leadership. Motivation. Risk management.
The Australian Journal of Volunteering published a speech by Stephen Parsons of Australian Volunteers International entitled "International Volunteering: Challenges in the 21st Century." With Parsons' permission, e-Volunteerism has used our Keyboard Roundtabl
Over the last few years, we have seen employer-supported volunteering grow into a vital element of the volunteerism field around the world. More recently, we’ve begun to see a shift from the so-called “team challenge” approach to volunteering (where teams of employees perform a…
Over the last few years, we have seen employer-supported volunteering grow into a vital element of the volunteerism field around the world. More recently, we’ve begun to see a shift from the so-called “team challenge” approach to volunteering (where teams of employees perform a…
In this Keyboard Roundtable, we’ll explore one of the perennial issues of volunteerism: When should work be done by volunteers and when should it be done by paid staff? Convening Editor Rob Jackson brings together a range of perspectives to explore this issue. Our…
In this Keyboard Roundtable, we’re casting a wide net to explore a number of volunteerism issues from the diverse perspectives of people involved in volunteering. “From Whose Perspective?” will include a discussion of such important issues as:
Employer-supported volunteering:…
As e-Volunteerism enters its eighth year, it is clear that one of the original aims of this online journal project hasn’t been met: Namely, to get people in our field to interact more online. Most of our online readers don’t make use of the interactive publishing features that…
When it comes to describing volunteers and the volunteer community, attention tends to be focused on social or human services. In fact, case studies, examples of volunteering, and vocabulary choices disproportionately assume that the volunteers are "solving problems" or "…
