volunteerplaintalk

Tag: volunteer management

  • Keeping in Touch With Volunteers

    We are in new territory and for many organizations, volunteers are temporarily staying home. What can a volunteer manager do to keep volunteers engaged when we can’t sit down with them, hug them, hear their stories or laugh with them?

    Right now, we can supplement our daily spontaneity with strategy. First, we need to plan the approach. Where do your volunteers see/hear/read/absorb information from you or your organization? Common ways are:

    • emails
    • phone calls
    • website
    • social media
    • meetings

    Next, determine strategies for each information pipeline. Schedule communications (weekly, daily, bi-weekly) so volunteers look for regular updates from you. And, giving yourself a deadline helps keep you on track. Prepare your scheduled messages.

    For those volunteers who only get information through phone or meetings, create a phone tree of volunteers to pass along information and also to encourage those volunteers to choose a tech method in which to stay informed. Not all will, but this is an opportune time to start funneling volunteers into more central avenues of communication such as your website. This is a time to create a new normal in which volunteers expect to learn, be informed, find educational offerings, meeting schedules, inspirational stories etc. from the tech site(s) you find most advantageous. (for example, you would like all volunteers to follow your Facebook page or you would like all volunteers to check your volunteer portal)

    A few ideas for scheduled communications are:

    • provide helpful information on your website. Volunteers trust us, so be the site they go to for correct and factual information-if you give volunteers information, be sure to include the source, don’t re-word the information, quote accurately, don’t opinion-ate on facts.
    • set up a new hashtag for your volunteers specifically during this time ( example: #SpringhillVolsCov19 ) and share what your org and you, as their LoVols are doing during this time. (include your website address to funnel volunteers towards a central spot)
    • post testimonials from past clients, volunteers, etc to celebrate volunteer impact and for inspiration to keep engagement alive.
    • set up Facebook live events to speak directly to your volunteers. You are their anchor and seeing you is reassuring.
    • this is a great time to share the history of your organization. Share old photos, stories of how the mission was created, and the early struggles. If possible, interview your org’s pioneers; those who were there when it began. Connecting your volunteers to the birth of your mission strengthens their engagement.
    • issue a challenge-read a book, exercise, learn a skill. A challenge illustrates that you care about their well-being (which you do) and makes this time about them.
    • ask volunteers to email their favorite volunteering memory and share those memories with the volunteer team. You can also re-purpose the stories to use later as testimonials for recruitment and training purposes.
    • create a quiz. Quizzes are entertaining and can serve an educational purpose at the same time. Add a bit of humor to your multiple choices by making one answer funny.
    • survey your volunteers. What have you always wanted to know? Create a survey with multiple questions to help you plan forward.
    • ask volunteers to share their tips for surviving a shelter in place order and post those tips.
    • Netflix party with your volunteers (through Google Chrome). Pick a comedy, or classic or feel-good movie and watch together with volunteers. You can even chat during the movie.

    This is a stressful time filled with chaos. Strategically planned communication with volunteers helps decrease our stress while continuing their engagement. The immediate future may be uncertain, but one thing has not changed. Volunteers appreciate information and connecting and we, volunteer managers are excellent at keeping our volunteers engaged.

    Uncertainty is less stressful when a plan is in place. Plan your communications and use this time to invest in volunteers, funnel them into a centralized information hub and gather opinions and stories from them to be used now and later.

    Be well. Be safe.

    -Meridian

  • We are Human, too

    Pandemic. It’s a worrisome time and we, leaders of volunteers worry. A lot. Like mother hens, we cluck about, gathering masses under our protective wings. “I got you,” we murmur, pulling everyone close.

    We worry about the frail volunteers who are determined to keep volunteering but may become infected with the virus. We worry about the volunteers who stay home and are missing that one, bright, social spot in their lives as they hunker down, alone. We worry about the clients we serve and how they are deprived of that perfect moment, when our skilled volunteer makes a connection, soul on soul.

    We worry we aren’t doing enough, or we’re overlooking a volunteer who needs us. We worry that things will never be the same again, and our volunteers will leave over new regulations. We worry that volunteers may experience a new normal and be reluctant to work directly with clients. We worry that no one will come to the next training class. (although I always worried about that, anyway)

    I’m not going to say, “stop worrying.” Worrying is human. It’s the tough part of being a caring, sentient being. It’s part of a volunteer manager’s drive to be effective.

    But I will offer this: Your worry means you care. Your worry means you are determined to make this world a better place, one volunteer, one client, one program, one training, one speech on volunteer value, one long night of blowing up balloons, one showing up at a volunteer’s swearing in as a new citizen at a time.

    You believe in possibilities. You believe in light. You believe in neighbors stepping up to help neighbors. You believe in people wanting to help. You might even believe that some good will come out of this and volunteering will increase. You are optimistic.

    You’re the very essence of what being human is about. So be human and care about the world. We, volunteer managers are resilient. We adapt, we adjust, we pivot, we overcome. We are always moving, and altering our direction to keep going forward. Our worries are often a map to finding the way. We’ll be all right.

    Believe in your abilities and take care of yourself. We need you.

    -Meridian

  • You Can Water Plastic Flowers, But They Won’t Grow

    In a volunteer manager’s chaotic day, volunteer impact is difficult to plan, hard to complete and often impossible to execute. We laughingly describe our chaos in phrases like, “herding cats,” “wearing many hats,” and “controlled chaos.” But, the inability to move ourselves and our volunteers forward due to chaos is no laughing matter.

    I’d like to add another phrase to the lexicon: “Watering plastic flowers,” which means time spent on futile activities. But wait, futile is a strong word; it means “pointless,” or “incapable of producing results.”

    So, let’s eliminate the word futile, because there’s always hope right? As volunteer managers, we hold hope in our hands: Hope for that volunteer who is hurting and wants to help, but keeps canceling. Hope that our impassioned speech about volunteer value changes minds. Hope that today we will fill a role no volunteer wants to do.

    Instead, let’s look at ROI-return on investment. When our time investment does not produce enough results to continue, this doesn’t mean we must stop reaching out to that volunteer who never shows up; it means we have to weigh how much time we spend doing it.

    And remember, for every minute we spend on something with little ROI, we miss spending that minute on something with a large ROI that has impact and moves us in the direction we want to go.

    What steps can we take to determine where we should invest our time?

    • Volunteer ads: Analyze ads’ effectiveness and spend more time on effective ads. Relegate lesser producing ads to your office volunteers to manage. (and if you don’t have a team of volunteers helping you in every aspect of your job description, what the heck are you waiting for?)
    • Volunteers who are unreliable: Set a tolerance number-I will contact a volunteer X number of times and after no response, I will send them a letter/email/message thanking them, inviting them to contact us when ready.
    • Conflict challenges: If a challenging volunteer repeats egregious behaviors, craft a policy on expectations and stick to it. Make sure every volunteer is given a copy, reads and signs the copy and is aware of your policies and the final dismissal step.
    • Educating staff on the many aspects of volunteerism: Start with one important point and repeat, repeat, repeat; then build on that one concept. Too many concepts dilutes the ability to absorb it all.
    • Staff who improperly manage a volunteer’s time: Move the volunteer to a department that effectively engages volunteers. Make no apologies for moving volunteers to departments or positions that meet the volunteer’s needs.
    • Report, speak and substantiate the why: Want change? Infuse the why (specifics) into everything you say and do. For example, “We have an opportunity to partner with a local florist whose employees want to volunteer and potentially donate flowers, fund-raise for us and help advocate for our services. This will lead to other business partnerships so I need support from multiple departments.” Or, “I moved volunteer Tess to finance because her skills were underutilized in client records.”
    • Close your open door: Set aside planning time and remove yourself from distractions. With any repeated behavior, people will grow accustomed to “oh, yeah, Julie’s out right now. It’s planning time. She’ll be back in an hour.”

    Overloaded volunteer managers have no time for weak ROI. Under our careful cultivation, we need flowers that bloom and grow into effective volunteer engagement and impact.

    So, watch out for plastic flowers; they may look colorful, but water them all you want and they still won’t grow.

    Instead, water the flowers blooming with impact and watch your garden grow into a lush volunteer initiative.

    -Meridian

  • What do volunteers want? f/u.

    “Wait. you caught me off-balance.”

    What? You thought I meant… No, f/u=follow up. Like sending volunteer managers to leadership training, it’s sadly nonexistent these days.

    Lately, as a volunteer, I’ve experienced a rash of major lack of follow/up. Most of the time, follow/up applies to a new idea or project, but it can include things like getting answers on an assignment .

    Truth is, I’m guilty of it too. But when you experience it from a volunteer perspective, it is a motivation killer. No follow/up is like saying to a volunteer, “this is not important or worth my time. YOU are not important or worth my time.”

    When I was confronted by volunteers for not following up, I would feel off-balance and I’d use the excuses, “I’m working on it,” or “I haven’t gotten an answer yet,” (when I hadn’t even asked) or “I was just about to call you.” I’ve strung people along, put them on hold, shelved them, or ran the other way when I saw them coming; all because the follow/up wasn’t there. (But I was trying, so that made me a good person, right?)

    Why do we do this to our volunteers and to ourselves?

    • we have the best of intentions- but the road to the volunteer apocalypse is paved with good intentions
    • we can’t say no-which creates a loop in which we never get anything done
    • we are caught off guard-and we have no comeback prepared
    • we live in a visionary world-but we have no visionary strategy
    • we think we must prop up all volunteers-so we feed a need in some that may not align with our mission work
    • we are “nice” people-but we mistakenly equate nice with doormat

    The bottom line is this: if we can’t follow/up, we have no business engaging in the first place. What are some ways to prevent the volunteer f/u syndrome?

    • Make priorities known: It’s ok to say, “that is an interesting idea. Right now, our priority is to fill these volunteer roles. Can you help us do that first?”
    • Share the responsibility for f/u with the person: “I’m swamped with this event coming up. Will you remind me after the event?”
    • Be honest: “I might forget because we are in the middle of a recruitment campaign and I don’t want you to think I’m just giving you lip service, so can we revisit this at a later date?”
    • Weed out the serious from the non-serious: “That is an interesting concept. We have a volunteer task force that meets monthly and one of their objectives is to choose and implement a new idea. Would you come to the next meeting and make a pitch?”
    • Define the f/u: “What do you need from me? I will put it on my calendar and get back with you on the 20th of next month after I speak with the finance director.”
    • Don’t sugarcoat the no: “I’ve spoken to our CEO and at this time, she is unable to allocate the resources to your idea. It is not because the idea isn’t a good one, but because we are about to implement a new initiative and it’s all hands on deck right now. Try again after we’re successful.”
    • Don’t own the work: “I would like to help with that, but we are in the middle of volunteer appreciation planning. Can you work up a proposal with specifics and examples and get it to me? Without a fleshed-out proposal, I can’t get an audience to hear your idea.”

    I’ll not lie. I’m disappointed in my recent experiences with f/u even though I understand the why because I’ve been there and had those good intentions. But, still, lack of f/u kills motivation.

    So, let’s not make volunteer f/u an actual….F…. well, you know what I mean.

    -Meridian

  • Please volunteer for us, you caring person :-)

    You’re gonna love it!

    Picture a potential volunteer skimming through volunteer ads, and they come upon yours. Are they intrigued? Do they shout “Golly gee, this is fabulous,” and run for the phone, desperate for the wonderful opportunity? Or do they keep looking?

    According to research, the science of naming brands is more than descriptive words. Clever word coinage, rhymes that fall off your tongue and words that sound like the actual word (think fizz) all play into choosing a name.

    What if we rename common volunteer-wanted ad titles, using these techniques? But wait, let’s add a dose of job realism, shall we? For example, instead of:

    Office volunteer wanted:  Let’s use (and include a tagline)…

    • Mundane-Loving Myrtle; Boredom is the new black
    • Stays-In-The-Cubicle Carmen; see no evil, hear no evil, report no evil
    • Filing-Fool Fiend: keep your head and your hopes down

    Marketing/Fundraising Volunteer wanted: 

    • Shake-Em-Down Shirley; we’re all about the money, er the mission
    • Beggar Bonnie; sucking up to the donors so we don’t have to
    • Stay-In-Your-Lane Larry; we’re the experts here, silly, not you

    Events Volunteer wanted: 

    • Pack-Mule Pete; Hee-haw, following your dreams is so yesterday
    • No-Instructions-Needed Nell; Confusion is the spice of life
    • Stand-And-Wait Stanley; it’s just like being in line at Disney World except there’s no fun ride at the end

    General Volunteer Help wanted:

    • Obedient Ozzie; cause we don’t want no backtalk or new ideas
    • No-Personal-Life Latasha; stay by your phone, we might need something
    • Squeaky-Clean Shaquille; we can’t afford background checks

    While ad titles like Front desk volunteer, Office volunteer and the soul-sucking Dracula of all ad titles, Data Entry Volunteer may describe the positions, they lack the meaning that volunteers crave.

    Other outdated ad titles such as “Caring Volunteer,” or “Friendly Visitor,” feel like they were written with a chisel on stone. Recruitment ads forgotten on social media sites gather more dust than the speech I wrote in case I’m voted employee of the year.

    Or how about these dusty goodies: Bring Your Smile! Hold a Hand. They’re as effective as an ad for a VCR.

    Volunteer ads are passive recruitment which means they work for us while we are out talking to civic groups or sitting at community fairs or having lunch. Spending time and energy on writing these ads and regularly refreshing them is one of the most effective things we can do.

    Picture a student, late at night, phone in hand, swiping through ads that will fulfill their desire to be a change maker. Or a senior, recently widowed, searching in the still morning for something that will add meaning to a bruised soul. Or a working parent, sneaking a peek at ads while helping with homework, looking to spend some me time helping others. What speaks to them?

    Dive deep and find the meaning in your volunteer roles and convey that to potential volunteers. Try:

    • ask existing volunteers to help write ads
    • include quotes or testimonials from volunteers, staff, clients that get to the essence of why this job is important
    • use what I call the 3-way method: describe the job, describe what it means to clients/org and describe what benefits volunteers will reap
    • experiment with funny ads, pop-culture reference ads, or mimic current events
    • create a targeted volunteer profile and write for that person
    • write a question into your volunteer application that asks, “how did you find us,” and include a choice for ads, asking-“which one spoke to you and why?” Evaluate the feedback

    You work hard to recruit volunteers. Volunteer recruitment ads should work as hard as you.

    -Meridian

    This is an update from an old, old, old, dusty post: Caring Volunteers Wanted, Well duh.

  • #LoVols, Our Secret Sauce

    “…it’s so temptingly good!”

    We, volunteer managers have this rare overview of mission operations because our volunteers are involved in many/all departments and services. We know things other staff don’t know. We know Darcy secretly eats pudding at her desk which is why she always needs to swap out her keyboard. We know Lucas watches ninja videos on YouTube while claiming to do research. We know it was Kelly who jealously sabotaged Degan’s report because Degan got to go to that conference in New York.

    But, we also see how siloed everyone is and how much work is disjointed: For example – marketing sends a rep to schmooze a group of potential donors at a civics meeting. A month later, the CEO asks the education coordinator to “teach” a class at this same group. Meanwhile, you have this detail-loving volunteer and you realize they could help marketing and education efficiently merge their efforts.

    The same holds true for endless organizational meetings about a new project that is left simmering because staff is too overworked to get it going. Meanwhile, you know some amazing volunteers who could run with this idea and implement it.

    All throughout your organization, you see where volunteers can add tremendous value. You know what that makes you? (No, not a busy-body). A Visionary. Yep, it does, so let’s own it.

    We have a unique opportunity to offer volunteer value, although speaking up with authority can be downright terrifying. But remember, what is obvious to you is most likely not obvious to everyone else.

    We see where volunteer involvement can tie things together and how collaboration increases effective efficiency (or efficient effectiveness). We can show volunteer value in ways administration hasn’t thought of, but how should we offer?

    The ineffective way of pointing out volunteer help: (Negative Observation = Need Help)

    • Our volunteer heard a presentation given by Marcus at one of her club meetings and she said Marcus mumbled through the whole thing and nobody at her club could hear him so why don’t we use volunteers instead? We’ve got some real chatty volunteers!
    • Our volunteer overheard Gwen in marketing say she is delaying sending Skip the new marketing plan because she’s mad he won the employee of the month award but we have volunteers who are not petty like that so let’s put them in charge of the plan.
    • A volunteer said Jazmine in finance is afraid she’ll lose her job because she is having trouble learning the software, so hey, let’s give her some student volunteers because they all have computer skills.

    We don’t need to share negative tidbits. The visionary approach is to offer the impact of volunteer involvement and remove the objections to it. This is where the secret sauce comes in: It enhances your proposal with volunteer qualifications and the delicious work you have done to develop wonderful people into effective volunteers.

    Think of it this way: Would you feel confident if a staff member said to you, “I see you look stressed and I have someone to help you manage volunteers. They’re really nice.” No, you wouldn’t feel confident, you’d feel anxious. Why? Because negativity breeds anxiety and besides, nice isn’t a qualification. Neither is smart or honest or fun-these are attributes.

    Qualifications are the specific skills that are suitable to the job. (think office skills, public speaking). It’s imperative to ask questions to find what qualifications staff value in volunteers (able to work quietly, self-starter).

    We must offer volunteer help packaged with the volunteer’s qualifications and the background work we’ve done with each volunteer. Our volunteers are a package deal, not some random nice person off the street. We’ve invested time and knowledge in our volunteers and that investment will help open the silo walls.

    The secret sauce way to present developed volunteer help: (Positive observation + volunteer qualifications + secret sauce = win/win)

    • Volunteer Terrence, who is thoroughly vetted (secret sauce–vetting), has volunteered for five years in several roles (qualification), including working directly with our clients. He has been instrumental in bringing in 3 new donation streams (qualification) and through numerous training sessions (secret sauce–training), is versed in mission verbiage. Under my and marketing director Gwen’s watchful eyes (secret sauce-looping), Terrence can double the number of presentations given and he is ready to pilot a volunteer presentation program.
    • Volunteer Mizrah has been thoroughly vetted (secret sauce-vetting) and briefed (secret sauce-training) on the role in finance. He understands the importance of team and boundaries (a qualification you learned is important to Jazmine by talking with her) and will take the burden off Jazmine so she can focus on other important tasks. I will monitor their working relationship closely (the secret sauce – your leadership in looping, mediating and adjusting) so Jazmine is confident with the help.

    The #LoVols’ secret sauce is the work we do in the back of the organizational kitchen, mixing volunteer ingredients, stirring the pot frequently, tasting and adjusting so wonderful people are developed into effective volunteers: See The VOL E TEAM (vetting, orienting, looping, effectively communicating, training, educating, adjusting and mediating).

    We have a vision for our volunteer initiatives. Our volunteers are qualified. We have the secret sauce for their success. Let’s not keep our sauce so secret anymore.

    -Meridian

  • VIP-volunteer investment process free download

    Investing in people through strategic engagement is the way #LoVols develop effective volunteers.

    • vip flow chart
    vip flow chart
    volunteer-investment-process-flow-chartDownload

    Use this flow chart as a tool when explaining volunteer engagement or keep it in your desk to remind you of all the people-saturated skills you have in your toolbox and remember: Volunteers are wonderful people who develop into effective volunteers through strategic investment. That’s what #LoVols do all day.

    -Meridian

  • #LoVols, This Needs to Change Now

    #LoVols, This Needs to Change Now

    Ask an astro-physicist “what do you do all day,” and I’ll bet her answer isn’t “I look through a telescope.” Ask a software developer the same question and it’s doubtful he’d say, “I type on a keyboard.” So why do we, #LoVols say, “I work with volunteers?”

    Astro-physicists and software developers have complicated jobs producing impressive results that stretch far beyond the simplest terms. Our jobs as #LoVols?…..most people don’t have a clue as to the skills and strategies we use when engaging volunteers and crafting volunteer impact. We need to change that perception.

    This doesn’t mean whining, “volunteer Jenny did that amazing work because I spent extra days training her since our staff couldn’t take the time to show her how to do her work and oh, I listened to all her last-minute questions on a Saturday night when I could have gone to see Star Wars at the movies with my now ex-boyfriend who incidentally went without me and showed up with my best friend Carla and yeah, my life is in tatters, but hey, Jenny did a great job, thanks to my sacrifice, didn’t she?” Hmmmm, maybe that’s not quite the way to show our work.

    Instead, we can show our strategies in developing effective volunteer teams and by doing so, dispel the myth that volunteers need nothing more than coordination. By laying out the upfront and continual work in developing effective volunteer teams, we accomplish these objectives:

    • we ingrain the idea that volunteers don’t magically appear, ready to go.
    • we show that volunteers are people, not tools, and like employees, need continual mentoring and support.
    • we reinforce the truism that volunteer initiatives are not “herding cats” but are strategically structured for success.
    • we support our argument that not every volunteer can be interchanged and that thoughtfully matching volunteers to role creates successful outcomes and prevents disasters.
    • we show that there are processes in play and that even our chatting with volunteers is structured to mentor them for success.
    • we point to a volunteer’s progression from first contact to integrated volunteer and reinforce the idea that volunteers require continual support, not just from us, but from the entire organization.
    • we highlight the creative processes in forming innovative volunteer roles that impact the mission.

    The acronym, VOL E TEAMS will do nicely here as in, “Let me show you how I develop teams of volunteers who are effective.” You can substitute excellent or efficient for the “E” but I’ll argue why effective is the best choice when talking about VOL E TEAMS. Let’s look at definitions:

    • Effective: producing the intended result
    • Efficient: functioning in the best manner without wasting time
    • Excellent: possessing superior merit

    Say a physician recommends her patient take a medication to alleviate symptoms. The physician could say, “this medication is excellent,” or “this medication is efficient,” or “this medication is effective.” Which word speaks to results? Effective. That doesn’t mean our volunteers are not excellent nor efficient. They are and you could also say, “I’m developing volunteers for an effective, efficient and excellent team.”

    As we, LoVols report volunteer impact, effective is a key word to support the contributions our volunteers make. Verbiage is crucial and we must use results-type words to describe volunteer value such as effective, outcomes, results, impact, accomplish, contribute to, produce, achieve, implement, enact, create, effect, etc.

    So, what does the acronym VOL E TEAMS stand for? (Hint- it stands for the work #LoVols do to create and sustain the volunteer factor.)

    • vetting
    • on-boarding and/or orienting
    • looping
    • efficiently and effectively communicating
    • training to position
    • educating
    • adjusting or agile thinking
    • mediating
    • structuring

    Next time: An effective team requires an effective leader. Looking at the components of VOL E TEAMS or it’s time we show our value as Leaders of Volunteers.

    -Meridian

  • Volunteer Management in The Past Decade

    Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

    Ahh, the 2010s. In looking back over the past 10 years, what ideas took hold and where do we need to go?

    I decided to do a look at volunteer management terms and see how often they appeared in a “google search.” I chose to search “news” with a date range. Warning: This is in no way scientific (mainly because I don’t own a lab coat, but I did wear my goats in Santa hats bathrobe during the search so maybe that counts) nor do I claim to be a qualified researcher (more like a nosey, busy body-just ask my neighbor) but anecdotally, I found some interesting tidbits (especially if you count that sale on orthopedic inserts that keeps popping up).

    I researched these terms- “volunteer impact,” “volunteer factor,” “still volunteering at,” “corporate volunteering,” “volunteers impacted the mission,” and “volunteer engagement,” all with quotation marks. The results are:

    “still volunteering at”

    Photo by Roman Carey on Pexels.com
    • 2010 2 results
    • 2011 9 results
    • 2012 25 results
    • 2013 27 results
    • 2014 28 results
    • 2015 49 results
    • 2016 58 results
    • 2017 95 results
    • 2018 116 results
    • 2019 219 results

    It bugs the heck out of me that a bulk of stories on volunteer activity center around a volunteer who is still volunteering at 99 years old. Before you groan at me, sure, this is great, but where is the focus on the value this 99 year old brings to the mission? Or, better yet, where is the evidence that volunteering benefits this volunteer’s well-being (helping them remain active at 99) which explains why she/he is still able to volunteer at 99? These articles for the most part miss the point and that needs to change.

    “corporate volunteering”

    Photo by Fox on Pexels.com
    • 2010 1 result
    • 2011 3 results
    • 2012 10 results
    • 2013 23 results
    • 2014 32 results
    • 2015 50 results
    • 2016 73 results
    • 2017 82 results
    • 2018 123 results
    • 2019 251 results

    There’s a clear direction here; a direction that needs our immediate attention as more companies become involved with corporate volunteering which includes group volunteering and allowing employees paid time off to volunteer. For more information on corporate volunteering, see Removing the Headache from Corporate Volunteering, the second part, Creating Partnerships from Corporate Volunteering. and finally Volunteer Manager Strategy and CSR.

    “volunteer engagement“

    Photo by Marta Ortigosa on Pexels.com
    • 2010 5 results
    • 2011 8 results
    • 2012 27 results
    • 2013 32 results
    • 2014 50 results
    • 2015 99 results,
    • 2016 140 results
    • 2017 119 results
    • 2018 242 results
    • 2019 245 results

    Ok, so the steady increase in articles mentioning volunteer engagement shows that engaging volunteers is becoming part of our lexicon. Good.

    “volunteer impact”

    Photo by Japheth Mast on Pexels.com
    • 2011 3 articles
    • 2012 3 articles
    • 2013 4 articles
    • 2014 6 articles
    • 2015 7 articles
    • 2016 6 articles
    • 2017 9 articles
    • 2018 28 articles
    • 2019 53 articles

    A bit of an uptick the past two years for the term “volunteer impact” is encouraging but there is much work to do because we are leaders of volunteer engagement and impact. We not only engage volunteers, but we guide and lead the impact that volunteers have on the outcomes. The two terms go hand-in-hand. When volunteers are engaged, they positively impact our missions and vice versa. These two terms have a symbiotic relationship which means one increases the other and to integrate volunteer engagement into our nonprofit culture, we must show volunteer impact in order to expect more volunteer engagement. I’d draw an impressive flowchart, but heck, it’s basically just a circle.

    “volunteer factor”

    Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com
    • 2010 0 results
    • 2011 0 results
    • 2012 0 results
    • 2013 0 results
    • 2014 1 result
    • 2015 1 result
    • 2016 0 results
    • 2017 no results
    • 2018 1 result
    • 2019 9 results

    The term, “volunteer factor” sounds so right for us, doesn’t it? Factor’s definition includes “influence that contributes to a result or outcome.” Bingo! Think X factor. Or the “It” factor. Now think about hearing your CEO tell a reporter, “and now let’s talk about the volunteer factor.” We can make the 2020’s the decade of the volunteer factor.

    “volunteers impacted the mission“: no results, when removing quotes 368 results for the entire decade.

    Ok, so there’s work to do here.

    We’re on our way to making the 2020’s the decade when volunteer programs take center stage. The roots of change are already sprouting such as:

    • Research pointing to volunteering as a vital component of wellbeing.
    • Corporate entities looking to be socially responsible.
    • Grassroots volunteering taking hold.
    • Research showing employees want to have paid volunteering time.
    • Volunteers wanting to use their skills and talents in innovative ways.

    Here’s to the next 10 years. We are making inroads, but we have more work to do. And if there’s anything I know in my gut about volunteer managers, it’s that we are not afraid of hard work. As a matter of fact, we eat hard work for breakfast and throw it up by lunchtime. Wait, ewwww, that’s not right, is it?

    What do I wish to see by 2030? I’m convinced that together, our efforts will produce the results we want and all the volunteer manager conference themes for 2029 will no longer be “Time for Change,” but will rather proclaim, “Holy Hell, We Did It!”

    -Meridian

  • Happy New Year! Volunteer Plain Talk Podcast Episode 4

    Happy New Year! Volunteer Plain Talk Podcast Episode 4

    https://www.buzzsprout.com/605416/2382236-episode-4-interview-with-sam-clift-volunteer-resource-manager-london-transport-museum

    How do you evolve your volunteer program for the volunteers of tomorrow whilst meeting the needs of your volunteers today? Sam Clift, Volunteer Resource Manager at London Transport Museum talks through achieving senior management buy-in, involving volunteers in strategy planning, getting volunteers on board with organisational change and using technology and volunteer support to make volunteering more accessible and inclusive. Sam can be contacted at sam.clift@ltmuseum.co.uk or alternatively at his LinkedIn page: http://linkedin.com/in/sam-clift-0363a821
    Tips I learned from Sam:
    Court senior manager buy-in by chiming with their priorities. 
    Keep volunteer value continuously in view.
    Technology can be embraced by volunteers.
    One change can create looking at other ways to change and grow.
    Use incentives to make changes more palatable.
    Involve volunteers in strategic roles.
    Be honest about limitations.
    Elevate volunteers to mentor roles.
    Find new ways to embrace inclusion.
    Meet challenges head-on.

    Thank you to Sam for his hard work and insights and for sharing his program with us. And here’s to an exciting new year.

    -Meridian