Engage Library
Take a moment to think about your worst job ever. The one you struggled to get out of bed to go to. The one you gleefully left at the end of your shift or the start of your weekend. What job design factors contributed to your dissatisfaction? Was the work boring or repetitive?…
July 2014
Intrepid Australian volunteer and traveler Louise Rogers writes:
Don’t you love travelling? The preparation…the journey…the reflections…the recollections…and ah!...the experiences to be had?
I’ve had an amazing journey over the past 25 years, working in the voluntary sector in…
July 2014
A central issue in the volunteer field has long been the lack of true support for volunteers (and of our professional roles) by organization executives. Oh, there’s been lots of lip service with lavish praise along the lines of “volunteers are the heart of our services.” But…
July 2014
Three British volunteers founded The National Trust in the UK 1895. In 2013, the Trust celebrated the involvement of over 70,000 volunteers in this conservation charity, one that protects historic places and green spaces while opening them up forever, for everyone. In terms of…
July 2014
The BBC News Web site reports that the worldwide prison population stands at around nine million, with the U.S., China, and Russia ranked as the three countries with the most prisoners. Together, these three nations imprison half of all the world’s prisoners, with the U.S.…
July 2014
In this issue's Training Designs, author Terry Straub discusses ways to include and engage volunteers in conversations that build stronger communities. At the heart of Straub’s discussion are a variety of facilitation tools from “The Art of Hosting and Harvesting Conversations…
July 2014
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…
July 2014
Organizations use many different approaches to attract and retain volunteers. For instance, one attempt at a macro level is required high school service, which aims in part to inspire large numbers of students to continue with volunteering into their adult lives by having them…
July 2014
Over the last 10 years, a number of formerly thriving national Volunteer Centres in English-speaking countries have faltered, forced to find avenues of new funding or to merge with other organisations. But what about the fates of local and regional Volunteer Centres? How have…
April 2014
Cees M. van den Bos, a pioneer in the volunteering field in the Netherlands, recently discovered that there was very little academic research on the subject of volunteering infrastructure. So he set out to investigate the establishment, development, and functioning of local…
April 2014
Not long ago, three Volunteer Centres in neighboring communities near the Waterloo-Wellington area of Ontario, Canada were all trying to provide top-quality training and professional development for their member organizations. After noticing that many topics of interest were the…
April 2014
What does a successful and relevant Volunteer Center look like? In a time when many question the viable future of Volunteer Centers, what common traits and best practices do thriving Volunteer Centers share?
In this edition of Along the Web, authors Arnie Wickens and Erick C.…
April 2014
Most Volunteer Centers have no independent purpose apart from the volunteer community they serve. So it would seem vital for a Volunteer Center to develop strong, mutually-supportive relationships with any organization committed to engaging or deploying volunteers of any kind.…
April 2014
This quarter’s Research to Practice contributes to the theme of Volunteer Centers. Reviewer Laurie Mook looks at a study of the direct and secondary impacts of the HandsOn Network and its affiliated member organizations: Measuring the Impact of HandsOn Network: An Evaluation of…
April 2014
This much is clear: Volunteer Centres are vital to build and sustain local and regional volunteer ecosystems. Often seen as the “one-stop” help for individuals looking to get involved in the community, Volunteer Centres are not only remarkable at surviving funding and policy…
April 2014
It’s not very likely that the barrista serving your morning latte, the receptionist checking you into your vacation hotel, or the bank manager deciding whether to approve your home renovation loan are thinking about volunteering as they go about their daily work. But their…
January 2014
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…
January 2014
The Training Designs feature of e-Volunteerism is based on the recognition that orientation, induction, and training are critical to the success of each volunteer and to the entire volunteer involvement effort. Great training starts volunteers on the path to positive service…
January 2014
Connecting with colleagues in volunteer management is essential for the profession and for each of us as individuals. No one argues this point. But are we as a field effectively networking and collaborating with the tools available to us today?
Despite enormous technological…
January 2014
The Volunteer Program Assessment (VPA) provides consulting services to nonprofit volunteer programs across the United States and Canada. VPA consultants are graduate students and faculty from five universities who volunteer their time to work one-on-one with leaders of…
January 2014