Engage Library
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…
July 2001
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…
July 2001
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…
July 2001
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 -…
July 2001
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…
July 2001
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…
July 2001
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…
July 2001
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…
April 2002
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…
April 2002
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…
April 2002
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…
April 2002
Abstract
An innovative approach to raising funds burst onto the nonprofit scene a few years back. Entitled "new philanthropy," it has enthusiastically been adopted by fundraisers wishing to raise the level of their success. This article proposes that those responsible for…
April 2002
We often speak of volunteers as being on the "cutting edge," or challenging the status quo - both descriptions that represent change. Likewise, the presence of volunteers within an organization may also represent change, a new ways of doing things, or a new way of…
April 2002
No ancient holy book mentions "volunteering" by that name, but every religion in the world encourages charity, service to others, and personal risk for one's beliefs. This unique article compares the major religions of the world in terms of charity.
April 2002
One of the more amazing things about the Internet is the sheer amount of information that is available. While much of it is foolish, a good bit of it is the result of hard work and research. Those seriously interested in volunteerism can find an immense amount of survey research…
April 2002
Volunteers with strong loyalty to their cause tend to hold their traditions sacred. Imagine what would happen if two long-standing volunteer groups, serving different children's hospitals in the same city, united after decades of fiercely independent -- even competitive --…
April 2001
Our previous issues have dealt with serious topics related to volunteerism, demonstrating the capacity of the Web to produce amazing amounts of useful material to assist managers of volunteer programs.
Of course, that's only one side of the Web. The other, more entertaining,…
April 2001
Susan: The question of finding "men" to be volunteers and also to be volunteer program managers surfaces quite regularly, frequently accompanied by deep sighs from female colleagues. When a live male candidate actually appears, the sighs change to heavy panting.
As you can tell…
April 2001
Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America
Marc Freedman
Public Affairs, New York, 1999
ISBN 1-891620-17-1
Marc Freedman's premise in Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America is that the baby boom…
April 2001
The Saguaro Seminar is a program of Harvard University that builds on the work of Robert Putnam (author of Bowling Alone: Collapse and Revival of the American Community). One of its initial activities was to conduct this national survey of almost 30,000 people, released in…
April 2001