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
"Time dollar" advocates claim that their currencies are not money, when in fact they are - special-purpose monies that function differently from the general-purpose monies we are accustomed to using. Does this mean that time dollars are a detriment to volunteerism? Not…
July 2002
I began work as a Coordinator of Volunteers in 1964. A year later I started writing poetry and haven't been able to stop since. I only hope this is not another occupational hazard in a profession already well supplied. Still, it's true that poetry can say some things hard to…
July 2002
During the period of 1975 to 1998, the defining change in volunteer involvement was the shift in styles of volunteering from the Long Term Volunteers, who had dominated volunteering in the 20th century, to the Short Term Volunteers, who struggled to balance the demands of work…
July 2002
The fiasco of the United States Presidential Election 2000 in Florida made a mockery of a democracy's fundamental activity: voting. Mountains of paperwork analyzing what went wrong with election technology or election laws have accumulated in election offices, legislatures and…
January 2002
At a time of world crisis , this paper calls for proponents of volunteerism to join together in a rethink of priorities and programs. Managers of volunteer programs and volunteers are challenged to take a big picture approach and see volunteerism as a powerful tool in…
January 2002
David Brettell was the Manager of Venue Staffing and Volunteers for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games ('SOCOG"). Susan Ellis interviewed David while she was in Australia and taped the interview for e-Volunteerism.
Questions Asked in Audio Interview:
What -…
October 2001
David Brettell was the Manager of Venue Staffing and Volunteers for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games ('SOCOG"). This article includes excerpts from keynote speeches David Brettell gave at three volunteerism conferences in July and August 2001, in Singapore…
October 2001
In the mid-1970s, the Association for Volunteer Administration embarked on a revision of its professional credentialing program. AVA selected a performance-based system, based on a core group of competencies deemed essential for the effective administration of volunteer programs…
October 2001
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…
October 2001
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…
October 2001
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
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
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
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
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
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
Modern technology makes it easy for anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to access training on virtually any subject. With the click of a mouse, you can learn how to arrange flowers or earn a degree without leaving the comfort of your home. You can log in to join a…
April 2001
The future of volunteer management as a profession is a hot topic on both sides of the Atlantic, if not in other parts of the world. As evidence, consider the fact that the inaugural issue (Fall 2000) of e-Volunteerism featured several articles dealing with this subject.
If our…
January 2001
Research years ago showed a very high turnover rate among Coordinators of Volunteers -- the figure I remember is one out of three leaving the field every two or three years (though often staying in the same organization). It was a substantial percentage, anyhow, and I expect it…
January 2001