Engage Library

The Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) hosted its biennial conference on May 8 - 10 in Minneapolis. MAVA is one of the premier professional societies in North America and its conference is always excellent. Participants come from Minnesota and way beyond,…

Sarah Jane Rehnborg has more than a decade in the classroom – teaching volunteer management on the graduate level to students from public affairs, business management, social work, communications, fine arts and other areas of specialization. Along the way, Rehnborg found some…

Bicycles? In a journal about volunteering? Of course! As pedal-powered transportation continues to gain popularity in urban centers throughout the world, long-distance cyclist Tristan Dahn (who also happens to be on the Energize, Inc. staff) takes a look at the many volunteer…

Always looking to share innovative ideas with our readers, this issue highlights a new American initiative called Voolla, which calls itself “the new way to give…turning volunteer skills into money for charities.” In this feature story Q&A, Stephanie Downs, founder and “…

What is the definition of “giving?” Has the term become synonymous with nothing but money – rather than the giving of an individual’s time, talents and skills?  And what about the word “philanthropy?” Has it, too, become indistinguishable from the giving of only money? Are…

In this issue, guest author Emma Corrigan shares resources that enable volunteers to summarize meaningful information about their volunteering experience – and turn it into great material for their CVs or résumés. Corrigan, a Volunteer Coordinator for the housing and…

We hear over and over again how volunteers are indispensable to many organizations. While we have previously covered articles on different methods used to estimate a value for volunteer contributions, a new study out of New Zealand looks at how volunteer value is communicated,…

Volunteer-involving organizations – whether nonprofits, government agencies or all-volunteer associations – regularly search for new philosophies and technologies to maximize volunteerism and advance the organization’s purpose. However, implementing the use of personality…

Leaders of volunteers often feel pressured to know the right responses or to solve all the problems presented to them. In this Training Designs article, Sue Jones challenges this perception. Jones asks volunteer leaders to consider the value of supporting individuals and helping…

In the previous issue, we asked e-Volunteerism readers to help us in “Keeping the Plural in Points of View,” and a number of you did just that.  We received a range of thoughtful and provocative opinions about the major challenges facing leaders of volunteers in their everyday…

Due to the nature of volunteering, this sector of society is not often associated with conflict. However, like the wider community, conflict within volunteer-involving organisations can be a persistent problem. Although most volunteers enjoy positive and fulfilling experiences…

This issue’s Research to Practice provides great food for thought on organizational factors affecting volunteer management. For example, how do the goals of the organization, area of activity, or degree of bureaucracy impact the role that a volunteer management program can take…

Want to incorporate writing techniques used by professionals to inspire, motivate and recruit volunteers? Want to know what works in prompting a reader to move from the armchair to the work site? Of course you do – because you already know that you can make or break your program…

It was one of those moments in time that starts a movement – a movement to increase the recognition and support given to Managers of Volunteers. In this feature article, author Claire Teal of Volunteering New Zealand explains how the movement got started at a 2009 National…

It’s a challenge that leaders of volunteers have always faced: how to retain productive volunteers. According to Volunteering in America 2008, one in three American volunteers dropped out in 2007, and this lack of retention can be costly. True, some turnover is expected and even…

More and more, companies want to engage their communities through employee volunteering programs. For most businesses, this means calling a nonprofit and scheduling an activity. The nonprofits that can readily design and host successful employee volunteering events will find…

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…

As practitioners in the field of volunteer engagement, we all know the extraordinary impact volunteers have on creating real change in diverse communities. We are also familiar with the multitude of altruistic motivations that inspire individuals to step up and lend a hand. At…

How can an organization and its volunteers get more done for the people and the communities they serve? In this article, Graham Allcott, the former CEO of Student Volunteering England and the author of the new book called How to be a Productivity Ninja, combines his love of…

Take a tour of some of the technology tools currently being used in learning design and delivery.  In this issue, Sue Jones introduces a range of new learning platforms and explores the potential for organisations to further develop and enhance the ways they train volunteers.…