Volunteering is generally presented very seriously – largely because many of the causes volunteers support are very serious. But not all. And even grim situations can evoke laughter, since a sense of humor is a great coping mechanism.
Humor is also a great communication tool…
Voluntas is a pilot project underway in New South Wales, Australia, that aims to test whether early intervention when conflict begins among volunteers can lessen the burden of destructive conflict. The pilot uses the services of volunteer facilitators trained in mediation to…
Now that we’ve gone through April, May, and June, most countries have completed their annual national “Volunteer Week” to celebrate volunteers and volunteering. Unfortunately, despite good intentions, it usually feels like the only people who are aware of the celebration are…
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…
Inquiry-based interpretation is a growing educational trend in zoos across the country. But training zoo docents to become familiar and comfortable with this practice can prove challenging. It is critical to use existing research to develop an inquiry-focused training module…
Volunteer recognition is one of the few aspects of volunteer involvement about which we actually have quite a bit of reliable information. Mostly this is because volunteer recognition is simple to evaluate since recognition is, after all, in the eye of the receiver: “Does the…
Music festivals have changed dramatically in the 50 years since Woodstock, that seminal, outdoor musical event in the United States that arguably started the much slicker concept we are familiar with today. Although music festivals in the wet UK often involve standing in…
Barwon Health, the largest and most comprehensive regional health services in Australia, concluded several years ago that its 1,000 volunteers were ready and able to improve the health of their community. So in February 2014, the health service implemented a Volunteer…
As every volunteer manager knows, your mission is BIG! It takes a lot of creativity, funding, and work from staff and dedicated volunteers to accomplish. But what happens when those very volunteers detract from your efforts instead of supporting them? Are some volunteers in a…
Someone once asked me how I hold my head up so high after all I have been through. I said it's because no matter what, I am a survivor, NOT a victim. - Patricia Buckley
Volunteering with victims of crimes can be a somber experience, yet many find this area of…
Today’s workplaces may have as many as five generations of workers, each raised in different times with different influences affecting their work styles. The same is true of volunteer programs. Organizations are now experiencing many different generations of volunteers…
Volunteers are the backbone of our communities, a fact that we all appreciate every day on the job while coordinating and managing volunteer programs. This article is about one volunteer manager’s successful experience helping a valued community member with special needs…
In this Points of View, authors Rob Jackson and Susan J. Ellis take issue with recent research on volunteering and, in a cautionary tale, argue that asking the wrong questions will ensure the wrong answers. Point by point, they review troublesome assumptions in a published…
What do cats have to do with training?
As a trainer, it is often easier to facilitate sessions when the group has similar experiences and similar levels of expertise or starting points. Yet there is a richness of knowledge and experience that diversity can yield. Cats are not…
Those who manage, lead, or work alongside volunteers often give advice to their teams, and may be surprised and perhaps frustrated when it's not acted upon. This can happen both in situations where volunteers have a lot of independence and authority to act on their own, but…
