Engage Library
In 2010, United Way of King County, in partnership with 501 Commons, launched the Volunteer Impact Program (VIP) in Seattle, WA. Now moving into its third year of operation, this free program provides volunteer management training, assessment and consulting services to local…
January 2012
To kick off a new year and a new issue, Points of View authors Susan J. Ellis and Steve McCurley sink their editorial talons into the lack of quality academic research on volunteering, lashing out at researchers who approach volunteering as a mystery and routinely neglect to…
January 2012
Want to elicit an “ah-ha!” moment from people who think too narrowly about what volunteering is and who does it? The “Personal Volunteer History” worksheet provided in this Training Designs article is the core of a training exercise that will do just that. It will help:…
January 2012
Volunteer “voice” in nonprofit organizations has not been the topic of a lot of study. What happens, for instance, when volunteers encounter situations they find dissatisfying? This issue’s Research to Practice looks at this subject through “Volunteering an Opinion:…
January 2012
It’s good to have a plan. In this issue of Along the Web, author Steve McCurley presents a wide range of global, national and local strategies for improving volunteer involvement – covering pretty much everything from the grand scheme to the minor details.
January 2012
When Sarah Jane Rehnborg, Ph.D., wrote her doctoral dissertation at the University of Pittsburgh, she not only fulfilled an academic requirement but also helped document the basis of the new “Certified in Volunteer Administration” (CVA) competency-based credential for the…
October 2011
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…
October 2011
What do stakeholders from around the world have to say about credentialing? As it turns out, plenty. In this Voices feature, e-Volunteerism presents a compilation of short, personal views from stakeholders in various fields - a diverse set of voices speaking out on everything…
October 2011
Between them, Steve McCurley and Susan J. Ellis have about 70 years of experience in teaching volunteer management, providing training for far more than 500,000 managers of volunteer programs. In this Points of View, these well-known trainers and authors nonetheless acknowledge…
October 2011
When it comes to professional football in America, most people associate “special teams” with players who take the field for kick-offs, punt returns and kicking an extra point. But for the Miami Dolphins, an American football team based in Florida, “special teams” means so much…
July 2011
For nearly two decades,the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies research group has conducted comparative research on volunteer work and the nonprofit sector. This year, in conjunction with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and in collaboration with…
July 2011
This Training Design presents a thought-provoking, high-level exploration about the volunteer management field and its future. According to those who attended the recent presentation of this material by author Katherine H. Campbell, Executive Director for the Council for…
July 2011
In April 1973, the Saturday Review published a special business supplement, “Can the Businessman Meet Our Social Needs?” In this series of essays, noted business authority Peter F. Drucker and then New York City deputy mayor Edward K. Hamilton debated the pros and cons of this…
July 2011
The last decade has witnessed an incredible growth in volunteering by youth, with several countries operating intense schemes to generate and foster youth volunteering efforts. We first looked at volunteering by youth in the January 2004 edition of Along the Web. In this issue,…
July 2011
The next time you have a few volunteer program managers together, here’s an interesting exercise question: “How many of you have volunteers working side-by-side with you to do what’s needed for successful volunteer engagement – beyond helping with clerical work?” When we ask…
July 2011
In this issue of Along the Web, author Steven McCurley takes a quick trip through recent reports and studies on volunteering from Japan, Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad, Tobago and Northern Ireland. Then, to make sure that no one feels…
April 2011
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…
April 2011
e-Volunteerism readers raved about Part 1 of Erin R. Spink’s presentation on "Volunteer Engagement: Defining the Future of the Profession." Posted in the last issue, one reader called it "a brilliant, educational and provocative article,” while another noted that it “challenges…
April 2011
How can texting a friend raise significant funds to help patients and families who are battling brain tumors? The answer is simple for Judy Zocchi and Olivia Questore, the two driving forces behind “Text for 10,” a unique fundraising event to benefit Monmouth Medical Center’s…
April 2011
In March 2011, 10News in San Diego, California, ran a story with the following headline: “Habitat For Humanity Charging Local Volunteers: Group Forcing Local Volunteers To Pay Before Helping Build Homes.” The resulting controversy revealed both facts and opinions about “passing…
April 2011