Canada

This edition of Research to Practice looks again at research into volunteering by older people. Globally it seems we are witnessing an increased desire to get older people involved in voluntary and community organizations. This may be for a number of reasons − from recognition of the intrinsic worth of involvement in democratic societies to recognition of health benefits gained from participation and the goal of balancing work and care in aging populations. The result, however, is that older people’s involvement is a popular area for study.

The term ‘engagement’ has gained appeal in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors to explain and understand relationship management with paid and voluntary staff. Yet little to no research has been done that focuses specifically on a volunteer’s engagement and how that might differ from a paid employee’s. This feature story will deconstruct the concept of engagement and suggest variables which need to be acknowledged in studying this concept and how it applies to volunteers. Looking to the future, we’ll also explore how to move forward to increase engagement capacity within the volunteer management profession.

People are the competitive advantage of the voluntary sector. And yet we seem to concentrate very little time on how to work with this amazing resource. This Training Design presents a workshop that introduces five important tools to help organizations fully engage specifically skilled volunteers.

In this quarter's issue, Harrison discusses her "logic model of decision making," designed to guide managers of volunteer resources through the steps and choices associated with managing virtual volunteering. This interview is a follow-up to Harrison’s interview in the last quarter of e-Volunteerism, where she discussed the misconceptions about virtual volunteering. 

After more than a decade of promoting virtual volunteering or online service as an important new development (which it is) for the volunteer field, it's time to step back and look at what is really happening as organizations put the theory into practice.  Yvonne D. Harrison, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University, has done some innovative research on virtual volunteering, particularly in Canada.  She also wrote her PhD dissertation on the subject and is devoted to helping practitioners understand the theoretical foundation of their work. In this interview with e-Volunteerism, Yvonne tackles misconceptions about virtual volunteering by sharing her research on such issues as how much is going on, who actually engages in it and how they engage, the appropriateness of virtual assignments and management implications, among other points.

There are over 10,000 registered volunteers in the emergency management field in the province of British Columbia (BC) in Canada, working in Emergency Social Services, Search and Rescue, and Amateur Radio Communications.  During the summer of 2003, with many fires burning in the same time period, not only were trained volunteers utilized to help with the responses, convergent volunteers came out in great numbers to assist in the communities affected by interface fires.

“Convergent volunteers” are volunteers, with no previous affiliation, that just show up at the door of a facility or an organization and offer help during a disaster (what the US refers to as “spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers”). These volunteers are typically screened, given on-the-spot orientation, and tasked to assist wherever they are needed. Many of the convergent volunteers from the 2003 forest fires became converted volunteers for various emergency management groups after the fires.

This article examines what motivates people to volunteer in emergencies and how such involvement can be fostered at other times.

The potential for partnership exists for every organization. Partnerships can be formed within the nonprofit sector as well as with for-profits and government. We can share space, equipment, staff and volunteers, training, experience, events, revenue – the list is endless. It is said that communities have the social capitol required to be self-sustaining. The challenge lies in mapping who can contribute what to meet the needs. This is the basis for forming a successful partnership.

In this article, Deb Anderson provides some of the fundamentals for creating and maintaining collaborations of all sorts.

What/who do you call senior leaders where you are?  Perhaps you use director, CEO, executive director, director of volunteers, board president and, for me, add bishops, archbishops, chairs of provincial or national committees, doctors (the great senior leaders in most voluntary health organizations, etc.). 

Now, count the levels between you and the senior persons you want to connect with…your direct boss, your boss’s boss, the “big cheese,” the prestigious chair of a key committee. 

Now choose the one to focus on that you most want to influence.  Get that person and his or her job firmly in your mind.  Picture his or her office if you’ve seen it.  Got it??

So, let’s begin to strategize together.  And strategize you must if you wish to truly influence these leaders.

Suzanne Lawson takes you on an exploration of why a volunteer program manager would want to influence senior leaders at all—and then offers some practical ideas for doing so.  This article is adapted from a speech Suzanne presented to the Toronto Association of Volunteer Administrators.

This Research to Practice reviews a report on recruiting and retaining volunteers to work with AIDS service organisations. The study findings were developed through a survey of volunteers plus interviews and focus groups with managers of volunteers. The study examined  the experiences, perceptions and realities of work in this area. The researchers then tackled the challenges they found and came up with a raft of recommendations. The review of this report examines the research, its conclusions and the recommendations.

This article examines a research report done at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada by Evelina J. Rog, S. Mark Pancer, and Mark C. Baetz: “Corporate Volunteer Programs: Maximising Employee Motivation and Minimizing Barriers to Program Participation.” The research was done on the Ford Motor Company’s employee volunteer programme and is based on in-depth interviews with over 100 staff. It outlines six key points to increase employee volunteering. The Research-to-Practice article highlights where the findings resonate with other volunteering research, but also notes some areas where convincing companies to have an employee volunteering programme might encounter barriers not addressed in this research.