Canada

Is an attitude shift in order as we consider the value and individuality of Volunteers?

While intentionally spelling Volunteer with a capital “V,” Marlene Beitz poses this question and raises many others in Voices, asking readers to think about the conscious and subconscious ways we regard the Volunteers who are often called the “heart and soul” of our organizations.

From her personal viewpoint as a Volunteer as well as a Coordinator of Volunteers, Beitz opens a window into Volunteer experiences and ponders the sometimes surprising (and disappointing) effects of common Volunteer management approaches. But in a positive shift, Beitz explains that organizatons can more fully meet objectives if they break down ingrained expectations of Volunteers as a group, and build up a renewed sense of engagement and partnership with Volunteers as valued individuals.

There has been quite a bit of research on volunteer satisfaction, but not so much on volunteer manager satisfaction. How satisfied are volunteer managers with their jobs?  Do their working conditions differ from those of managers of paid staff? What are the implications for nonprofit organizations and human resources departments? In this issue, reviewer Laurie Mook looks  at a study of 314 volunteer managers, conducted by a group of Canadian researchers who analyzed job-related and organizational factors such as co-worker respect, supervisor support, closeness to volunteers, and the nature of the work as an expression of personal values. Their final model, Mook explains, predicted job satisfaction for both short-term and long-term volunteer managers. 

The volunteer base has changed over time. It has moved from volunteers with long-term commitments to welcoming the diversity of youth, families, baby boomers and employer-supported volunteers – and required us all to adapt our volunteer management practices.  In this Research to Practice, Laurie Mook presents "Bridging the Gap," a new research study out of Canada that describes the many volunteer changes of the last decade or more. Mook's review highlights some important ideas from this research study that you can put into practice today.

In the spring of 2001, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) contracted the services of an external consulting firm to conduct a review of its volunteer program. The research had two key purposes. The first was to explore how CBS might improve both the involvement, and the management, of volunteer resources. The second was to summarize current and anticipated issues and trends in volunteerism and volunteer program management both in North America in general, and in other large Canadian health sector organizations. This article reports on the results of this review.

If you watched the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, you no doubt recall the “blue jackets” – the 25,000 passionate, talented and dedicated members of the Olympic volunteer team who worked at every event and venue leading up to, during and following the Games. In this e-Volunteerism feature, Olympic volunteer Olga Pazukha takes us behind the scenes at the Olympics in Vancouver and describes what it’s like to volunteer at one of the largest and most-watched events in the world. Pazukha shares her enthusiasm about her volunteer experiences and also casts a critical eye on what can be learned from the things that needed improvement.

On behalf of Osteoporosis Canada, volunteerism consultant Suzanne Lawson recently convened a telephone conference call that included Linda Graff, Marilyn MacKenzie, Susan J. Ellis and representatives of Osteoporosis Canada. These accomplished volunteer management experts proceeded to discuss how multi-level organizations are adapting to current trends in volunteer engagement and how the local level of "action" can best be structured. The call was recorded. This Keyboard Roundtable offers a lively exchange of that conversation, which covered such questions as:

• How are local chapters (or whatever people call them these days) succeeding or failing to bring new volunteers to a national cause?
• Do chapters tend to support established volunteers in their work - but not newcomers?
• Are there any new models for connecting volunteers at the local level to the activities of the organization - doing the work with engaged volunteers "around" a chapter structure or "instead" of it?
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In the spring of 2001, e-Volunteerism published a feature story about online training efforts called “Workshops the Wired Way.” Now, in our periodic feature series called “Whatever Happened To . . .”, e-Volunteerism revisits modern technology training and how it is used for volunteers. What was a pioneering effort eight years ago is now a fully-accepted training practice, complete with self-study Web modules, Web sites, e-newsletters and online research reports and resources. Once again, we talk about this important development with online training innovators Vicki Trottier, Project Manager, Community Literacy of Ontario, and Joanne Kaattari, Co-Executive Director, Community Literacy of Ontario.

Many organizations now look specifically at the ways volunteers connect with them and how they can create new opportunities to involve volunteers of any age. This feature story explores a relatively new way to create more pathways to volunteering – “flexible volunteering.”   Flexible volunteering offers individuals a variety of different and relatively simple ways to contribute their services. Janica Fisher of Humanity In Practice (H!P) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, explains why flexible volunteering is the secret to engaging more volunteers, and how it can be used to create meaningful ways to support an agency at the convenience of the volunteers.