Engage Library

Is there a big blind spot in volunteer management? Consider: the elderly gentleman in the park, feeding pigeons or even squirrels a woman regularly looking in on a sick neighbor a teenager teaching other young people how to skateboard the police officer (definitely not as…

It is difficult to isolate the topic of recruitment because its ultimate success is intertwined with the development of good volunteer assignments (the product you are selling in recruitment) and with having an organization prepared to utilize volunteers' time and talents…

Eva Schindler-Rainman was one of the few volunteerism pioneers to gain popularity both within and outside of our field. An organizational consultant, social worker with a PhD, and behavioral scientist, she was known for her advocacy of effective human resource development -…

The growth of volunteering around the world has also led to the growth of organizations whose purpose is to support volunteering. What follows is a list of such organizations. It is vaguely organized by geographic territory - sometimes by country or sub-territory, sometimes by…

Recent events have made the public more aware of the role of volunteers in protecting lives and property during fires and emergencies. Throughout the U.S. and many other countries around the world, communities (particularly small, rural ones) depend on citizens to assume those…

e-Volunteerism is always on the lookout for new innovative programs, practices and initiatives to share with our readers. When we learnt recently of two international work exchanges among volunteer management practitioners, we were quick to speak to those involved. In this issue…

As the gap widens between young and old America, we will find ourselves contending with either generational conflict or reaping the benefits of intergenerational communion. Volunteer program managers who creatively address this looming social challenge will help make the 21st…

Volunteering involves political, cultural and philosophical aspects, all of which are worthy of discussion for the ways in which volunteering interacts with other aspects of society. Much of this discussion is about how government and other institutions can work cooperatively to…

Marc Musick and John Wilson are doing some of the most interesting and useful studies of volunteer behavior today, and this current article, co-written with William Bynum, is no exception. In what is both a review of available literature and new research of their own, the…

This article outlines several volunteer-related research projects currently underway in the United Kingdom, initiated and funded by the government. There are as yet no findings to report, but e-Volunteerism feels the article will be useful to our readers as a model for how…

In the training of volunteers who provide direct services to clients, it is critical that volunteers have a basic understanding of the psychosocial issues faced by those they will serve. Having this knowledge prepares volunteers for successful short-term interactions, such as…

With volunteering by youth at an all-time high in the United States, it is important to examine the continuum of civic action to ensure that we are creating pathways that allow more volunteers to facilitate more sustainable community change.  We must recognize that each level of…

We have been privileged to travel internationally during the past few years, which gives us a very different perspective on volunteerism than anyone working only in their home country. Unfortunately, we admit to being close to despair about what is - or, rather, isn't -…

Here is a medley of three song parodies to popular Beatles songs that you can use for volunteer recognition. Although the songs are written to follow in sequence you might want to use them individually. You can be as simple or as elaborate with your presentation as time, budget…

There are many words to describe volunteering and voluntary action, reflecting the many forms of people helping each other survive and prosper over the challenges of their time and place. Whether it is trabalho voluntario in Brazil, benevolat and volontariat in France, gotong…

Alec Dickson is a name not enough newcomers to the field of volunteerism know, yet he was an active and outspoken advocate for the importance of volunteering from the 1950s up to his death in 1994. He founded the British organization, Voluntary Service Overseas, which directly…

Volunteer voices, millions of them, all speaking up and speaking out with passion about what they're doing and what they believe in. Lots of people responding to what they're hearing and giving time to volunteering for whatever they're passionate about. Now that would be…

I remember trying to recruit church volunteers for regular, one-to-one visits with jail inmates. I wasn't having much luck, until I realized that my broader, "real" or "true" goal was not one-to-one visits. It was, instead, providing healthy outside contact and influence for…

If there were a Ten Commandments of Volunteer Management, one of them would surely be the statement "volunteers should supplement, not supplant, paid staff." Drilled firmly into the head of every new volunteer manager is the fact that staff support is dependent upon relieving…

Australia has been a hotbed of volunteering activity for the past few years and this report is an indication of the increasing seriousness with which the Australian government is attempting to involve itself in promoting volunteering. The report was produced as part of the 2001…