Our feature articles are sourced from practitioners around the globe and seek to encourage new thinking, highlight innovative practice and stimulate debate in the world of effective volunteer engagement.
Engage Library
Feature Articles
The Volunteer Program Assessment (VPA) provides consulting services to nonprofit volunteer programs across the United States and Canada. VPA consultants are graduate students and faculty from five universities who volunteer their time to work one-on-one with leaders of…
January 2014
Ask care providers of chronically sick children or adults how they are coping, and Kathryn Berry Carter bets that they will say they are tired, stressed, and worn out. During her tenure as the Volunteer Services director of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Berry Carter has…
January 2014
Do we take ourselves too seriously? Volunteering plays a critical role in so many organizations, in so many countries across the world. And these days, being in the volunteer management business isn't easy. It’s no surprise that many of us are stressed. What we need, says John…
January 2014
Do church volunteers ever experience conflict? Of course they do. Conflict is unavoidable and, when handled in a healthy way, can even result in benefits. Identifying strategies for building unity and minimizing unhealthy conflict among church volunteers are crucial steps in a…
October 2013
For nearly a decade, Susan J. Ellis, the publishing editor of e-Volunteerism, has been encouraging (read: nagging) Andy Fryar, the journal’s manuscript developer, to write about an innovative volunteer program that he oversees in Adelaide, South Australia. After nearly 10 years…
October 2013
The production of and trade in celebrity is now a commercial strategy for all types of media organizations, resulting in a significant expansion in celebrity content across all platforms. Charitable events and activities are no exception, with one crucial difference to their…
October 2013
Do you have a fresh concept for building your volunteer program, and you wonder if anyone has ever tried it before? Or perhaps you need someone with formal skills in scientific methods to help you design a plan for implementation? When you need answers to both of these issues,…
July 2013
Most organizations have a strategic plan, a fund development plan, a marketing plan and an IT plan. Why is it that so few have a volunteerism plan? Recognized as the oldest voluntary health organization in the United States, the American Lung Association began a three-year…
July 2013
Australia has seen its share of natural disasters – most notably bushfires and floods – and the surge of spontaneous volunteering each emergency produces. While recent attempts to register volunteers in advance of a disaster are useful, too few are actually activated during an…
April 2013
After more than a decade in the classroom, Sarah Jane Rehnborg has taught volunteer management on the graduate level to students from public affairs, business management, social work, communications, fine arts and other areas of specialization. Along the way, Rehnborg discovered…
April 2013
Culture, politics and religion are often hot topics debated by pundits on the evening news and in major newspapers across America. These topics are also increasingly discussed within community and charity organizations seeking ways to encourage diversity within their volunteer…
April 2013
Sarah Jane Rehnborg has more than a decade in the classroom – teaching volunteer management on the graduate level to students from public affairs, business management, social work, communications, fine arts and other areas of specialization. Along the way, Rehnborg found some…
January 2013
Always looking to share innovative ideas with our readers, this issue highlights a new American initiative called Voolla, which calls itself “the new way to give…turning volunteer skills into money for charities.” In this feature story Q&A, Stephanie Downs, founder and “…
January 2013
Volunteer-involving organizations – whether nonprofits, government agencies or all-volunteer associations – regularly search for new philosophies and technologies to maximize volunteerism and advance the organization’s purpose. However, implementing the use of personality…
January 2013
Due to the nature of volunteering, this sector of society is not often associated with conflict. However, like the wider community, conflict within volunteer-involving organisations can be a persistent problem. Although most volunteers enjoy positive and fulfilling experiences…
October 2012
Want to incorporate writing techniques used by professionals to inspire, motivate and recruit volunteers? Want to know what works in prompting a reader to move from the armchair to the work site? Of course you do – because you already know that you can make or break your program…
October 2012
It was one of those moments in time that starts a movement – a movement to increase the recognition and support given to Managers of Volunteers. In this feature article, author Claire Teal of Volunteering New Zealand explains how the movement got started at a 2009 National…
October 2012
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…
July 2012