One of the most recognizable basics of Volunteer Engagement practice is the “3 Rs:” Recruit, Retain and Recognize. These are in most Volunteer Engagement job descriptions and Volunteer Management 101 texts and blogs, and remain a constant and ongoing topic of conversation amongst Leaders of Volunteer Engagement.
There is a long tradition in Volunteer Engagement of focusing on the things we want, the things we feel we don’t have. Whether it’s more power, resources or respect, we give an inordinate amount of our time, dialogue and effort as a profession to the things we perceive we lack. This got us wondering, as we lead up to International Volunteer Manager’s Day on November 5: “What would change if we got what we wanted?”
The United Nations General Assembly has mandated December 5th each year as “International Volunteer Day.” This day is viewed as a unique chance for volunteers and organizations to celebrate their efforts, to share their values, and to promote their work among their communities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government, and the private sector.
Armed with social media hashtags and themes, organizations around the world utilized this day in 2017 to highlight the work of their volunteers. In this Voices, writer Allyson Drinnon shares stories from individuals and their different organizations on how they used this day to recognize volunteers. What worked? What did not? Can you effectively recognize volunteers in a single day? Through Drinnon’s report, it may be possible to start planning for the 2018 International Volunteer Day event right now!
We love our volunteers—and we want them to know it. We all know it’s important to say “thank you” and to let volunteers know they’re appreciated. And although funds may be limited, we still want the recognition to be meaningful. The good news is that many volunteers prefer informal and ongoing signs of appreciation rather than a formal, public event.
If you’re looking to upgrade your volunteer recognition, this Along the Web column by Faye C. Roberts includes ideas you can use throughout the year. Some ideas will have special appeal for specific groups such as school, youth, or church-affiliated volunteers, but most are easily adapted to broader audiences. And as Roberts explains, if you want to learn the very best ways to recognize your volunteers, “Ask them.”
In last issue’s Points of View, we examined the purpose and potential of a National Volunteer Week. We argued that such national celebrations are not just about individual volunteer recognition, and we took a more strategic look at the purpose and value of such weeks.
In this continuation of our discussion on National Volunteer Week, we decided to get more practical. In this Points of View, we suggest some ideas that should help deliver a more visible celebration of volunteers during National Volunteer Week. Think smiles, name tags, and murals! Seriously!
Volunteering is generally presented very seriously – largely because many of the causes volunteers support are very serious. But not all. And even grim situations can evoke laughter, since a sense of humor is a great coping mechanism.
Humor is also a great communication tool, especially when it tells the truth about a situation. In this Voices feature, we present examples of effective humor used in recruiting, training, and recognizing volunteers. These include YouTube postings, blog and newsletter entries, and cartoons. When can you provoke a smile and also generate action?
Now that we’ve gone through April, May, and June, most countries have completed their annual national “Volunteer Week” to celebrate volunteers and volunteering. Unfortunately, despite good intentions, it usually feels like the only people who are aware of the celebration are those of us in the field – and not even all of us. Very rarely does mainstream media take notice of the event, so the general public doesn’t pay much attention either.
We think this is a continually missed opportunity. We argue, in fact, that we keep thinking small when we should think big! And so we devote this issue’s Points of View to examining the purpose and potential of a national Volunteer Week, and present an analogy from the Tony Awards, honoring New York theater productions. And in the October issue, we’ll continue to explore these themes and propose some ideas for how to deliver a more visible public celebration of volunteers.
Volunteer recognition is one of the few aspects of volunteer involvement about which we actually have quite a bit of reliable information. Mostly this is because volunteer recognition is simple to evaluate since recognition is, after all, in the eye of the receiver: “Does the volunteer feel appropriately recognized or not?” You can therefore evaluate recognition techniques through straightforward opinion studies, unlike other aspects of volunteer management that have seen far too many opinion-based surveys that reveal not much more than the ignorance of those responding to the questionnaire.
There are a number of interesting and useful studies about the most effective ways to recognize volunteers. In this issue of Research to Practice, Publishing Editor Emeritus Steve McCurley discusses one such study from Volunteer Canada.
On November 5, 2014, for the 15th consecutive year, volunteer management professionals around the world will celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day (IVMDay). This global event acknowledges the people who lead volunteers, salutes them for their essential role in creating dynamic volunteer opportunities, and works to raise the profile of the volunteer management profession. While still evolving, IVMDay is growing in visibility, with more and more celebrations taking place in many countries.
But just how did it all begin? What mechanisms have kept the show rolling for 15 years? And just what might the future hold?
Join e-Volunteerism's Andy Fryar and members of the International Volunteer Managers Day Committee as they present and review the evolution of this important annual event.