Volume XII, Issue 4, July 2012
Emphasizing the Personal and Professional Benefits of Service: Encouraging Volunteers to Ask, "What’s in It for Me?"
As practitioners in the field of volunteer engagement, we all know the extraordinary impact volunteers have on creating real change in diverse communities. We are also familiar with the multitude of altruistic motivations that inspire individuals to step up and lend a hand. At the same time, we... Read more
Employee Volunteering – What Companies Want and How Nonprofits Can Give It to Them
More and more, companies want to engage their communities through employee volunteering programs. For most businesses, this means calling a nonprofit and scheduling an activity. The nonprofits that can readily design and host successful employee volunteering events will find themselves critical and... Read more
Volunteer Management and The Art of Letting Small Bad Things Happen
How can an organization and its volunteers get more done for the people and the communities they serve? In this article, Graham Allcott, the former CEO of Student Volunteering England and the author of the new book called How to be a Productivity Ninja, combines his love of volunteering with his... Read more
Keeping the Plural in Points of View
Points of View is moving into new territory. For the past 12 years, I have written this quarterly essay with Steve McCurley, who recently retired. But I have no desire to change the title of this feature to “Point” of View. The plural "Points" has always mattered. So we will do some experimenting... Read more
Peeking Around the Bookshelves: Volunteers and Library Services
In 2004 and again in 2010, Along the Web explored the topic of volunteers in arts, heritage and culture. In this issue, we revisit that sector to look at volunteers’ input that relates specifically to public library services. Whether funded by governments, philanthropists, donors or private... Read more
Learning Technology Platforms: The Next Step in Training Volunteers
Take a tour of some of the technology tools currently being used in learning design and delivery. In this issue, Sue Jones introduces a range of new learning platforms and explores the potential for organisations to further develop and enhance the ways they train volunteers. Jones also... Read more
How to Create a Buzz in Volunteer Management
During 2011, a small group of volunteer managers in the UK responded to an invitation to be part of a project that would ultimately allow them to develop new skills, extend their networks and create a team of ‘Volunteer Management Champions.’ The goal was to help create a ‘buzz’ about the volunteer... Read more
How To Measure the Direct Impact of Volunteer Service: What Money Cannot Buy
In this issue, author Laurie Mook looks at an interesting case study of the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House as an example of how to measure the direct impact of volunteer service on the organization, clients and volunteers themselves. The research – conducted by Debbie Haski-Leventhal (Australia... Read more