History

Founded in 1901, the Junior League rapidly became the most influential women’s organization in the United States. Today there are also chapters in Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Its mission statement puts volunteering and women front and center:

The Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. (AJLI) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.

Local Junior Leagues made many significant contributions to their communities, but also developed an elitist public image of wealth, social standing, and exclusion. The list of famous women who were members of the League is very long. When the feminist movement affected every women’s organization, the Junior League found itself challenged to retain its position while changing with the times.

This Voices from the Past story explores the history of the Junior League and how it evolved in the face of modern life, still keeping its mission rooted in the power of volunteers.

In 1984, a very important article about funding volunteer efforts was published in the Spring issue of Voluntary Action Leadership: “The No-Apologies Budget: How to Justify the Financial Support a Volunteer Program Deserves.” Written by Neil Karn, then director of the Virginia Division of Volunteerism, this article was the first strong argument for truly adequate funding of volunteer efforts. Thirty years after it was first published, e-Volunteerism is pleased to re-introduce this seminal article, which remains as powerful today as it was in 1984. The budget line items might look a bit different now, but Karn’s points still resonate in advocating for the support and tools volunteers continue to need in 2014.

During the 1960s, interest surged across the United States for the engagement of community volunteers on behalf of juvenile and adult offenders in the courts and corrections systems. What was then the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare funded a range of initiatives and studies to support this movement. This Voices from the Past article quotes from various official reports that detail the results of this volunteer involvement and recommend future actions. Many of the points raised in the 1960s remain relevant and e-Volunteerism wants to help them stay in circulation. Granted, much has changed involving this topic over the past 50 years, but other things have very much stayed the same. 

In the summer of 1982, the magazine Voluntary Action Leadership published “As I See It,” an opinion piece by Dadie Perlov, then executive director of the National Council on Jewish Women. It was based on a presentation made at the Symposium on Women, Work and the Family, sponsored by the Association of Junior Leagues. Thirty years ago, women who had been stay-at-home moms and community volunteers were transitioning into full-time paid jobs - a challenge for voluntary associations of women as well as families and employers.

This Voices article, reprinted with permission, feels both historical and strangely modern. It focuses particularly on the all-volunteer membership/service association, but raises important questions for any organization involving members of either gender. Three decades later, have we answered Perlov's questions? Or do we still grapple with them? At the end of this reprinted article, readers will enjoy an unexpected Epilogue: Perlov's response to the article she wrote over 30 years ago.

Steve McCurley, co-founder and publishing editor of e-Volunteerism, is retiring as of June 2012. We will truly miss him. In this send-off article, e-Volunteerism invited his colleagues and friends to give Steve a stylish exit as he embarks on new adventures. We requested that everyone focus on the things Steve has said, in writing or in presentations, that resonate for each of us. Words have always been the heart of his contributions to the volunteer field, so it seems fitting for us to highlight the words we think of as “McCurleyisms.”  

In April 1973, the Saturday Review published a special business supplement, “Can the Businessman Meet Our Social Needs?” In this series of essays, noted business authority Peter F. Drucker and then New York City deputy mayor Edward K. Hamilton debated the pros and cons of this question. Though “corporate social responsibility” was a relatively new concept at the time, the issue of balancing responsibility among businesses, the nonprofit sector and government remains fresh 40 years later. This Voices article looks at the history of business philanthropy in the late 20^th century, rediscovering examples of workplace volunteering that have faded from sight.

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later known as the March of Dimes) was founded by Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 and immediately engaged thousands of volunteers in a two-decade struggle against the dreaded disease of polio. And it was successful, ultimately having to face the question: What happens to the energy and devotion of volunteers when their job has been accomplished?

In his 1957 book, The Volunteers, Columbia University researcher David L. Sills examined the phenomenon of the March of Dimes, particularly its devoted corps of volunteers, and raised issues still pertinent today.