Volume III, Issue 2, January 2003
Developing Agency Capacity to Promote and Support Family Volunteerism
In the late 1990s, the Volunteer Center of Battle Creek (Michigan) worked closely with the Points of Light Foundation (POLF) and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) to adopt and implement the POLF Family Matters program. The goal of the POLF Family Matters program was to “make family volunteering... Read more
What Are Your Volunteers Saying?
On a recent visit back to the United States, I heard very different opinions about volunteerism from two good friends. The first said that she will never volunteer again...she tells why. The second friend said she couldn't get enough of volunteering...and she tells why.
These two testimonies... Read more
Historic and Cultural Roots of Fund Raising in Italy
Fund raising in Italy is deeply rooted in antiquity. We could go as far as to maintain that it was born 2000 years ago at the age of the Roman empire. Seneca and Cicero (De Officiis) might be regarded as the first two theorists of fund raising, not to mention the golden age of the Renaissance and... Read more
Is Volunteer Management Superior to Employee Management?
Every once in a while we run into someone from Corporate America who, upon learning that we work primarily with nonprofits, proceeds to talk about how charities should be run more like businesses. We also occasionally find the Nonprofit Executive who is certain that social problems would be cured... Read more
Working with Volunteers with Disabilities
One of the truly neat things about volunteering is that is allows people to make a contribution to the world in which they live. With formal volunteering this is only true, of course, to the extent that organizations allow people to volunteer, thus recognizing that ability to contribute. This issue... Read more
Designing a Strategy for Persuasion
Good, skilled people in the field of volunteer management are often unsuccessful because they function reactively in programs where there is little or no true commitment, understanding or support for developing and sustaining a healthy, cutting-edge volunteer program. Individuals leading volunteer... Read more
Is Assigning a Financial Value to Volunteering a Good Idea?
There has recently been a flurry of publications in several countries discussing the way that organizations might present the "value" of volunteering in terms of cash equivalents. In the US, a major national nonprofit currently provides the figure of US$16.05/hour as the average dollar value of a... Read more
St. John Ambulance: 900 Years of Service
When I conducted my first workshop in England in 1992, I vividly remember discussing the topic of organizational image. I asked participants how long their organizations had been operating in the community. When one response was "since the Crusades," I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore! Even by... Read more
Investing in Volunteerism: The Impact of Service Initiatives in Selected Texas State Agencies
Sarah Jane Rehnborg, Ph.D., Catherine K. Fallon, and Benjamin J. Hinerfeld
An analysis of the volunteer service and community engagement efforts in eighteen selected Texas state agencies and commissions, with particular examination of their volunteer management practices.
Read more
Fun and Simplicity Make These Recruitment Techniques Work
Tired of trying to get your group members motivated to help build membership? The General Federation of Women's Clubs knows that you have to make membership campaigns easy, rewarding and fun. We'll profile several of their membership-building strategies such as "Membership Round-Up" and you'll see... Read more