Engage Library

International youth exchange programs have been around for as long as most of us can remember, arranging for teenagers to spend time in a foreign country living with volunteer “host families.”  Over 50 countries are engaged in this sort of exchange, through dozens of…

This edition of Research to Practice looks again at research into volunteering by older people. Globally it seems we are witnessing an increased desire to get older people involved in voluntary and community organizations. This may be for a number of reasons − from recognition…

This edition of Along the Web is a compilation of some of the more interesting material on volunteer involvement that we have encountered during the first half of 2008.  Among the listing are items on background screening of volunteers, LGB T (lesbian, gay, bisexual,…

Despite the prevalence of small nonprofits and all-volunteer organizations, training for leaders of volunteers is often geared towards the full-time volunteer manager working in a large organization.  While most training is valuable to volunteer managers in all sizes of…

Every four years, the local organizing committee of either the summer or winter Olympics faces the challenge of recruiting and deploying thousands of volunteers in support of the massive event. And every four years, the committee seems to reinvent the system from scratch.…

When Elizabeth Ellis was Volunteer Development Manager for the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys, she managed, promoted and expanded their “Talent Match” database. This database listed the specific skills, preferred service locations, age group preferences and…

Have you ever wondered what grantmakers and foundations look for when considering whether or not to give money to your group? In this excerpt from the new book, Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker, leading philanthropist Bill Somerville and writer Fred…

How do you manage volunteers who don’t choose to be in your organization, those volunteers who often show up after being “bullied” into service? In other words, how do you manage the non-volunteer volunteer? In this e-Volunteerism feature story, volunteerism expert and author…