Trends and Issues

In this special Voices, Allyson Drinnon, the director of the Volunteer Resource Center for Habitat for Humanity International in Americus, Georgia, reports from the field at the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) World Volunteer Conference that took place in Mexico City, November 2016.

Through her reports and on-the-spot audio interviews, Drinnon presents an array of diverse voices and opinions from the international volunteer community, capturing thoughts on issues, challenges, and ideas. Read and listen as Drinnon talks with Joselito C. De Vera, Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency; Alex Torres, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Viviana Zazil, Centros de Integracion Juvenil; Anita Ramachandran, Micromentor; and Alejandro Mayoral Banos, PhD student from York University. 

In this e-Volunteerism feature, author Jill Jukes from the March of Dimes Canada’s Western Region argues that it’s time to update how organizations plan and prepare for volunteer involvement. Taking a close look at what she calls the traditional “Volunteer Engagement Cycle,” Jukes outlines why the current sequence of planning, recruitment, intake/onboard/screening, placement, training and supervision, recognition and retention, and evaluation does not always reflect current trends and realities. The remedy? Jukes proposes an entirely new Volunteer Engagement Cycle, one that that she calls Version 2.0. “This isn’t a monumental change to the traditional cycle,” Jukes writes, but one that renames and reimagines how organizations plan and prepare for volunteer engagement. Is it better? Will it work? Has Jukes merely proposed new words for the same things? In the end, Jukes asks you to decide.

Lutheran Community Care SA/NT (LCC) is an Australian community services organization that utilizes a formal model of volunteering. In response to changing trends in volunteering and the desire of new volunteers for more flexibility, the organization has experimented successfully with more informal types of volunteering. In this feature article for e-Volunteerism, Rachel Friebel, the Volunteer Administrator at LCC, explores the model of “micro-volunteering” – related to but different from other informal volunteering – and the potential it offers organizations, the volunteering sector, and the community at large. Friebel explains why micro-volunteering can attract wider community engagement. 

We all recognize that 2015 became a landmark year for refugees, with unprecedented levels of migration unknown since the civil disruption of World War II. In this issue of Along the Web, writer Arnie Wickens explores how specific volunteer services around Europe responded to this humanitarian crisis. He also reviews what happens when other continents face an influx of refugees fleeing from natural or man-made disasters or persecution of some kind, and highlights how local volunteer programmes and initiatives often respond. 

 

Retiring Baby Boomers, life-long tech users, and skilled professionals! Oh, my! What’s a volunteer administrator to do? It may seem overwhelming to keep up with all the recent trends in volunteering – especially when trends force us to change or adapt how we recruit and work with volunteers.

But fear not: the basic components of volunteer management don’t go out of date. We can meet the unique needs and preferences of these so-called “newer” volunteers with some tweaks to our traditional methods. This edition of Along the Web explores Web resources that describe the characteristics of evolving categories of potential volunteers, with a focus on their motivations, preferences, and needs. Here, you'll also find tips and strategies for effectively engaging and retaining such newer volunteers. 

There has been considerable development since the April 2004 Along the Web article on “Volunteers in Arts and Culture." In this 2015 issue, Along the Web returns to the topic and explores a range of recently created resources that have been developed either by or on behalf of museum volunteer programs.

This article focuses specifically on museums around the world, rather than looking at the broader cultural sector in general, because there are such interesting and current materials easily available online from museums. The Web sites of the worlds’ major museums are well worth browsing in their own right. As a start, take a look at the British Museum’s site, including its volunteer page.  

Even if you don’t work in a museum or heritage setting, author Arnie Wickens notes that there is still plenty for you to enjoy and learn from in this Along the Web. Many of the research studies, training designs, or technical and practitioner resources that Wickens features can be applied widely to any setting engaging volunteers.