Our feature articles are sourced from practitioners around the globe and seek to encourage new thinking, highlight innovative practice and stimulate debate in the world of effective volunteer engagement.
Engage Library
Feature Articles
In 2014, Paul C. Muller and his team of researchers published a report called "The Economic, Social and Cultural Value of Volunteering to Tasmania," the first such study in that Australian state. The report agrees with the authors of previous e-Volunteerism articles that…
April 2015
Irish-Australian colleague DJ Cronin speaks his mind with passion and humor, reflecting on the importance of truly loving the role of leading volunteers.
I love my job. I am in love with my job. I intend to live forever! So far so good! But saying such things in today’s society…
April 2015
Whatever Happened To . . . is a recurring feature at e-Volunteerism that allows us to revisit past articles to see what has been happening since we first published the stories.
In this issue, we revisit “Perspectives on Membership Development,” a story from 10 years ago about…
January 2015
Andrew G. Haldane, Chief Economist, Bank of England, recently stated that “whether seen from an economic or social perspective, volunteering is big business, with annual turnover well into three-figure billions.” And in his recent lecture to the Society of Business Economists…
January 2015
The ability to measure the processes and outcomes of organizational initiatives is vital to understanding whether an organization has achieved its mandate. But determining the best method to measure the impact of volunteers and how to successfully report on those findings are…
January 2015
On November 5, 2014, for the 15th consecutive year, volunteer management professionals around the world will celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day (IVMDay). This global event acknowledges the people who lead volunteers, salutes them for their essential role in creating…
October 2014
Though online volunteer recruiting has been around for decades, it is still a rapidly evolving field. Today, online recruiting is boosted along not only by technological advances but also by the ingenuity and determination of dedicated nonprofit professionals who recognize the…
October 2014
Chris Linnell, volunteer services supervisor at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (FPDDC), Illinois, thought it was crazy when Eagle Scout Gavin Burseth approached her with the idea to bring a herd of goats to eat the poison ivy and other invasive plants at…
October 2014
Take a moment to think about your worst job ever. The one you struggled to get out of bed to go to. The one you gleefully left at the end of your shift or the start of your weekend. What job design factors contributed to your dissatisfaction? Was the work boring or repetitive?…
July 2014
Intrepid Australian volunteer and traveler Louise Rogers writes:
Don’t you love travelling? The preparation…the journey…the reflections…the recollections…and ah!...the experiences to be had?
I’ve had an amazing journey over the past 25 years, working in the voluntary sector in…
July 2014
Three British volunteers founded The National Trust in the UK 1895. In 2013, the Trust celebrated the involvement of over 70,000 volunteers in this conservation charity, one that protects historic places and green spaces while opening them up forever, for everyone. In terms of…
July 2014
Over the last 10 years, a number of formerly thriving national Volunteer Centres in English-speaking countries have faltered, forced to find avenues of new funding or to merge with other organisations. But what about the fates of local and regional Volunteer Centres? How have…
April 2014
Cees M. van den Bos, a pioneer in the volunteering field in the Netherlands, recently discovered that there was very little academic research on the subject of volunteering infrastructure. So he set out to investigate the establishment, development, and functioning of local…
April 2014
This much is clear: Volunteer Centres are vital to build and sustain local and regional volunteer ecosystems. Often seen as the “one-stop” help for individuals looking to get involved in the community, Volunteer Centres are not only remarkable at surviving funding and policy…
April 2014
The Volunteer Program Assessment (VPA) provides consulting services to nonprofit volunteer programs across the United States and Canada. VPA consultants are graduate students and faculty from five universities who volunteer their time to work one-on-one with leaders of…
January 2014
Ask care providers of chronically sick children or adults how they are coping, and Kathryn Berry Carter bets that they will say they are tired, stressed, and worn out. During her tenure as the Volunteer Services director of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Berry Carter has…
January 2014
Do we take ourselves too seriously? Volunteering plays a critical role in so many organizations, in so many countries across the world. And these days, being in the volunteer management business isn't easy. It’s no surprise that many of us are stressed. What we need, says John…
January 2014
Do church volunteers ever experience conflict? Of course they do. Conflict is unavoidable and, when handled in a healthy way, can even result in benefits. Identifying strategies for building unity and minimizing unhealthy conflict among church volunteers are crucial steps in a…
October 2013