Introduction to this Special Issue: Volunteer Centers

Volume XIV, Issue 3, April 2014

To the best of our knowledge, there has never been an entire issue of any publication focused exclusively on the subject of Volunteer Centers. We’re delighted to be the first. Our goal is to start conversations – to encourage serious, candid discussion of the purpose and future of Volunteer Centers or to envision what will fill the gap if Volunteer Centers are not viable in the long run. We believe there is much to say and more to ponder.

This is truly an international issue, with contributions from authors and editors in very different parts of the world. We hope readers will notice that even our spelling of 'center' and 'centre' throuhgout the issue reflects the differences in our international authors' styles.  But spelling aside, the similarities found in Volunteer Centers, as so often happens, far outweighed the differences. In general, all contributors believe that there is a future for Volunteer Centers, or at least a continuing need for what Volunteer Centers purport to do. But there is also agreement that survival will require change and adaptation. The potential has always been there for Volunteer Centers to be amazing places. Are we on the edge of that welcome future?

Volunteer Centers exist around the world. The earliest, in English-speaking countries, began during World War I and gained momentum in developed nations throughout the last century. They were introduced to an even wider range of countries through the United Nations’ International Year of Volunteers in 2001. The concept is international because there is agreement that volunteerism is bigger than each volunteer-involving organization on its own, and bigger than each individual volunteer. e-Volunteerism calls itself The Electronic Journal of the Volunteer Community – recognizing that beyond the important specific work we all do we are also part of a greater whole, a community that shares a commitment to citizen engagement of all kinds on behalf of any cause. Volunteer Centers are supposed to be in the center of that community, affected by it and having an effect on it.

Even in the best of times, few Volunteer Centers enjoy adequate funding and provide the range of services possible. Now, too many Volunteer Centers are struggling for funding, recognition, and clout. This is occurring in the midst of changes affecting everyone outside and in the volunteer community: economic crises, social upheaval, natural disasters and climate change, longer life spans, and instantaneous global communication. In this issue, you’ll read about how these and other factors have impacted Volunteer Centers, and why these centers must now respond to the changing times to stay relevant in the future.

We always want responses from our readers, but this time we are truly pulling out all the stops to generate your comments, in all sorts of formats. We’re doing special outreach to introduce the journal and this theme issue to Volunteer Centers around the world. None of us has the answer yet for how to bring about the future we want for Volunteer Centers, so we need to hear the opinions of as many colleagues as possible. To that end, we’re devoting the Voices section this quarter specifically to you. Please share your thoughts.

Thanks to all who have and will contribute.

Susan J. Ellis
Editor-in-Chief

Volume XIV, Issue 3, April 2014