As volunteer managers, communicating with current and potential volunteers can be one of our most frustrating, ongoing challenges. We send newsletters, write thank you notes, produce brochures, make phone calls, and write training manuals.
The Keyboard Roundtable asked participants from the United States, Australia, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Denmark to comment on the structure and state of National volunteer centers or umbrella groups in each of their countries.
The Global Perspectives Keyboard Roundtable asked colleagues from Wales, Korea, Australia, Switzerland and the United States to make comments on ways to maximise the International Year of Volunteers 2001 on a global scale. A number of key themes emerged:
The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later known as the March of Dimes) was founded by Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 and immediately engaged thousands of volunteers in a two-decade struggle against the dreaded disease of polio. And it was successful, ultimately having…
At the Regional IAVE Conference in India early in 2002, Dr. Kiran Bedi, the first and highest ranking woman in the Indian Police Services, shared some of her experiences in helping the poor of Delhi. In this first-person article, Dr. Bedi discusses a very special organization…
Founded in 1904, the American Lung Association is the nation’s oldest voluntary health agency. Our work throughout our first century has been innovative – ours was the first disease-specific organization to couple the skills and expertise of the medical professional with the…
At some point in any meeting of volunteer managers there emerges a recurring theme:“They” don’t respect us! It is raised in tones ranging from angry shouts to bemoaned cries, and is often followed by a litany of examples of neglect, misunderstanding and abuse. To whom the “they…
This report examines the civic and volunteering behavior of young adults age 15-25 following September 11th. There are surprising findings, some of which we don't quite understand, so you'll have a chance to join in the analysis as we're trying to figure out what's going on.
This edition of “Along the Web” is designed to complement our Keyboard Roundtable discussion topic for this issue. What follows is a listing of a variety of discussion papers regarding current status, future trends and emerging developments. While most of these are relatively…
"There is an essential integrity in a relationship with a volunteer that I find worth examining."
Sarah Elliston proceeds to analyze the fundamental differences between relationships with employees and relationships with volunteers:
"As I examine integrity as this simplicity…
In the spring of 2001, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) contracted the services of an external consulting firm to conduct a review of its volunteer program. The research had two key purposes. The first was to explore how CBS might improve both the involvement, and the management,…
Six months before it opened in July 2002, the Imperial War Museum North embarked upon an ambitious community volunteering programme, working with over 100 local residents – many from disadvantaged backgrounds. Volunteers worked towards vocational qualifications in the Museum,…
Volunteer manager Laura Hamilton knew there had to be a better way to manage and schedule volunteers at George House Trust, the largest HIV Social Care Charity in the North West of England. So when her organization began to review rota management software packages to help manage…
It’s common wisdom in the business world that “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” In this feature article, author Tony Goodrow proposes a method of measurement that gives a whole new yard stick to help demonstrate the successes of volunteer deployment in…
Almost every nonprofit has volunteer leaders – people who are especially passionate about an organization’s mission and dedicate time, energy and talents to even the smallest tasks. Over time, studies have shown that organizations that offer these dedicated individuals…
Can you put a monetary value on volunteering? What is a volunteer’s time and effort worth? This Research to Practice re-visits theses questions by studying a paper called “The Economic Value of Volunteering in Queensland,” by Dr. Duncan Ironmonger, Department of Economics, The…
