Profession/Field of Volunteer Administration

When Sarah Jane Rehnborg, Ph.D., wrote her doctoral dissertation at the University of Pittsburgh, she not only fulfilled an academic requirement but also helped document the basis of the new “Certified in Volunteer Administration” (CVA) competency-based credential for the Association of Volunteer Administration. In this issue of e-Volunteerism, we present an updated chapter from Rehnborg’s previously unpublished dissertation, “Field Test and Assessment of a Certification Program for Administrators of Volunteers.”

In this important work, Rehnborg takes readers behind the scenes of the credentialing process. She defines the key terms and extensive vocabulary used when discussing credentialing – terms like professional credentialing, licensure, certification, accreditation and diplomas. She also provides a history and rationale for certification in occupations and professions, as well as a brief overview of the ongoing objections to this practice.  Rehnborg’s work, which has been reviewed and updated for current applicability in several countries, provides important documentation of a sometimes complicated and misunderstood topic. 

What does the field think about credentialing? In this Keyboard Roundtable, volunteer management colleagues from the UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia provide their personal and widely different perspectives on the value of a professional credential. One expert thinks credentialing can be a good thing, while another believes it is a waste of time. Yet another expert debates whether credentialing is the right thing for volunteer managers as a whole, while another questions if the field could be better at credentialing and what that means.

This special Keyboard Roundtable clearly presents some very personal opinions from people who must weigh the credentialing dilemma in their own career paths. We hope these perspectives challenge e-Volunteerism readers to share their own views and opinions, too. 

Join e-Volunteerism for a unique around-the-world tour of what’s going on today in credentialing of volunteer management practitioners. In this article, knowledgeable colleagues from Australia, Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, North America, Scotland and the United States describe how certification has evolved in their respective countries. They also discuss what is happening today, who is involved as the credentialing body, and other important features of their approach. In a special feature, readers can compare the existing credentials side-by-side and consider the similarities and differences. This is the first time this international information has been compiled in one place, and e-Volunteerism encourages readers from other countries to post responses and expand our world-wide comparison of credentialing.

Legal tender, cash, currency, change, capital, funds, riches, dough, bread, moolah, scratch, greenbacks, dinero, bank. . . According to fun-with-words.com, there are more terms for money than almost any other word in the English language! Even if there weren’t so many terms for the green stuff, it’s evident that money is an important part of our lives, for good and bad. After all, while many claim that money makes the world go ‘round, others claim that it is the root of all evil.

Certainly money and compensation is the root of a great debate among those who supervise a volunteer workforce. When it comes to the volunteer manager position, there is a disconnect between the demands of the position and the pay level attached to it. In this e-Volunteerism feature story, writer Paula Gangel analyzes a range of comparative salary levels to try and understand why there is such a discrepancy between work demands and compensation for the Director of Volunteer Services position. And Gangel presents options to help volunteer managers earn the proper amount in every paycheck. 

This Training Design presents a thought-provoking, high-level exploration about the volunteer management field and its future. According to those who attended the recent presentation of this material by author Katherine H. Campbell, Executive Director for the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration, it is not for the timid!  Come prepared to challenge the status quo and examine the complexities of titles and the nuances of duties. Use this Training Design to provide an opportunity to talk with colleagues about how we define and influence the collective work we do as volunteer professionals.

e-Volunteerism readers raved about Part 1 of Erin R. Spink’s presentation on "Volunteer Engagement: Defining the Future of the Profession."  Posted in the last issue, one reader called it "a brilliant, educational and provocative article,” while another noted that it “challenges current thinking."

In this issue, Spink presents Part 2 of her study on volunteer engagement, a continuation that readers will no doubt discover is as provocative as Part 1. In her second installment, Spink focuses exclusively on the history of the term, and concludes that a proper definition of volunteer engagement is not only necessary and practical but a step that will help define the future of the profession

Consider the term that has become popular in recent years in English-speaking countries: “volunteer engagement.”  Do you really know what it means? Surprisingly, despite its widespread use, there was no research on volunteer engagement until 2008. In this two-part e-Volunteerism feature, Erin R. Spink shares her seminal research on volunteer engagement and explores why volunteer professionals have been talking about volunteer engagement without a definition for more than a decade.

In Part 1 of this feature, which is based on a presentation at a national Canadian conference and published in the current issue, Spink examines the work of four mainstream authors and their efforts to present a framework for how concepts like "volunteer engagement" are first used and then embraced. Part 2 of Spink’s article, published in our next issue, concludes that a proper definition of "volunteer engagement" is not only necessary and practical but a step that will help define the future of the profession. Readers of Spink’s article will be challenged, provoked and perhaps somewhat surprised as Spink questions who we are as a profession and where we're heading.

In February 2010, United Way of King County in Seattle, Washington, launched an intensive volunteer management capacity-building model in partnership with Executive Service Corps of Washington. Called the Volunteer Impact Program (VIP), it was designed to help food banks and meals programs more effectively recruit, involve and retain high-value volunteers. During this nine-month program, key staff benefited from cohort-based training and peer learning, and worked with volunteer consultant teams to assess volunteer management capacity and develop action plans. They also received small grants to implement key elements of their action plans.  

This e-Volunteerism feature article offers a summary of the VIP experience. It shares the preliminary results for VIP participants, and identifies lessons learned in delivering an intensive volunteer management capacity-building program to local nonprofits