Engage Library
A year ago the RGK Center at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) started the Investigator series and has generously shared pre-publication drafts with the readers of e-Volunteerism to get additional input. The goal of the series is to act as a resource and a promoter of in-…
January 2006
This Research to Practice reviews a report on recruiting and retaining volunteers to work with AIDS service organisations. The study findings were developed through a survey of volunteers plus interviews and focus groups with managers of volunteers. The study examined the…
January 2006
Research shows that over 50% of those volunteering do so in response to being asked by a friend, co-worker, or relative. This leads to what Steve McCurley and Rick Lynch call the “concentric circle” theory of recruitment, an approach that maximizes the relationships of those…
January 2006
Thousands of volunteers from around the world donate their time and considerable talents to knit, crochet and quilt handmade items, often blankets, for those in need. On many levels this simple act of compassion weaves a common theme – that comfort heals.
The history of…
January 2006
In the post-Enron (or Tyco, WorldCom, IGA, etc) accounting-scandal era, corporate citizenship has taken on new meaning and relevance. Boards of directors are suddenly on the hook as much for their company’s ethical performance as their financial results (as well they should be…
January 2006
South Australia boasts the highest volunteering rate in Australia, celebrates a strong level of government support for volunteers and even has volunteer involvement featured in the state’s ‘strategic plan’. The northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital city, has…
October 2005
Building collaborative relationships with highly-skilled volunteers can gain huge dividends for your organization and for the volunteers who participate. Based on her research for the upcoming book, The Art and Science of Engaging Baby Boomer Volunteers, Jill Friedman Fixler…
October 2005
We have, in Points of View, spent some time in past columns looking at questions, problems, difficulties and quandaries. Alas, there are a lot of those things in our field to look at and ponder.
But since that’s not the only picture, in this issue we thought we’d focus, for a…
October 2005
This article examines a research report done at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada by Evelina J. Rog, S. Mark Pancer, and Mark C. Baetz: “Corporate Volunteer Programs: Maximising Employee Motivation and Minimizing Barriers to Program Participation.” The…
October 2005
This training exercise aims to get participants to explore their own perceptions around cultural diversity. Nancy Nuñez, Training Service Manager for Volunteering Ireland, shares an exercise she learned in ‘Anti Racism Training for Trainers’ that she usually uses with volunteer…
October 2005
We commonly do “Along the Web” by subject categories, but in this issue I thought I’d just list a variety of interesting reports that have shown up recently that either don’t fit neatly into categories or are within subject areas that we have already covered. We’ll continue this…
October 2005
One of the more interesting, and more useful, new ways of engaging people in volunteering developed in the past decade has been the concept of “family volunteering,” recruiting entire family units to volunteer together.
The implementation of family volunteering has made the…
July 2005
It is often said that volunteering is a great way to test-drive a career. But that premise is only as good as the opportunities we make available to volunteers. And with an increasing number of thirty- and forty-somethings expressing disaffection with their present careers, it…
July 2005
We often think of well-functioning volunteer programs as happy little families, systems in which people get along so well that they resemble the idyllic picture of family relationships portrayed in U.S. television shows from the 1950s. And while this is often true, occasionally…
July 2005
Volunteering is increasingly being recognised as an activity that can promote social inclusion. However, it has been debated (certainly in the UK) how far volunteering is still an exclusive activity benefiting certain sections of society far more than others. We know barriers…
July 2005
For years I have been encouraging managers of volunteer programs to function as in-house consultants; building commitment, capacity and competency of all staff that interface with volunteers in their organization. For too many years, I have seen the leaders of volunteer programs…
July 2005
Direct action organizing is a powerful instrument for change while engaging your organization’s supporters and volunteers. It is how ordinary citizens become involved in the democratic process and have an impact. Its tools are many, ranging from voter registration drives to…
July 2005
During the 1939 German Blitz, many people in Britain lost their homes and, subsequently, their ability to cook meals for themselves. The Meals on Wheels Association of America Web site further recounts:
The Women's Volunteer Service for Civil Defense responded to this…
July 2005
Although South Africa has a long history of volunteering, employee volunteer programmes are a relatively new trend. Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa (CAFSA) has been actively encouraging and facilitating employee giving for a number of years. They have recently embarked…
July 2005
Research-to-Practice Editor Steven Howlett re-visits a paper by Colin Rochester published in Voluntary Action, the journal of the Institute for Volunteering Research in 1999, about the management implications for volunteer coordination based on the organisational setting in…
April 2005