Utilizing High School Volunteers

Many high schools require community service. By simply calling up the student development office, any non-profit organization can talk with a local school about student volunteers. The challenge is using the students effectively.
When it comes to high school students, a non-profit organization is very low on the priority list. Students often have homework, sports, activities, […]

Volunteers Stop Stuffing Envelopes

Time magazine has a very important article on volunteerism for the baby boomers. Here’s a clip:
“The newest crop of potential volunteers–baby boomers–is the most educated and driven in history, with a volunteer rate among the highest. But many boomers plan to keep working even as they start doing community service. So their time will remain […]

Plan Ahead or Last Minute Volunteers

Volunteers tend to prefer being scheduled in one of two ways. Though some will want to be marked down on the calendar for weeks or months ahead of time, others will want to find out the week of or even the day before.
Planners
Planners typically are the volunteers who can do the marathon. They are able […]

Volunteers: Chaos or Order

Another crucial part of matching a volunteer with a particular task is determining how much structure he/she prefers.
Some volunteers need to be focused and mostly stationary, working on one task for a long period of time. They want to know exactly what they are supposed to do and wish to accomplish it. They thrive […]

Sprint or Marathon Volunteers

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in a class with Joe Myers has to do with two kinds of people. Once you understand this simple truth about most people, the applications are limitless.
Sprinters
Some people like to sprint. They want to be busy in short spurts. Don’t ask them to sign up to do […]

Investing in Volunteers

Coffee, water, cookies, muffins crackers, and cheese. These are the typical refreshments that I offer volunteers.
Purchasing such products is not a big expense. It takes a few minutes to serve them. The message is what counts.
A seasoned volunteer and staff member took special notice of how we treat our volunteers and let me […]

Lacking Nothing: Preparing for Volunteers

The season is about to drive into full-swing and I’m rather busy preparing for the volunteers. The chief task I have right now is to prepare a training time and a type of manual for the volunteers.
I am convinced that one of the best ways to care for volunteers is by preparing for volunteers. When […]

Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 23-29)

Volunteer Appreciation week is coming up and if you don’t yet have a plan to recognize your volunteers, time is running out. I have been giving it a lot of thought and have really wrestled with the appropriate way to recognize volunteers.
After talking with a few other volunteer coordinators, I have decided that it is […]

Drawing the Line with Volunteers

From time to time I am forced to deal with the limits of my volunteer core. This is typically due to either the changing needs of the organization or the changing skill sets of the volunteers. It is my experience that organizations tend to overestimate what volunteers can do. Large projects that should be put […]

Volunteers at Work in Southern VT

As Reported by the Rutland Herald:
Volunteers harvest timber for recreation center

March 19, 2006
By Johanna Sorrentino Staff Writer
[…]

Volunteer Tip: On Vacation

Vermont is the kind of state that experiences a sudden influx of senior citizens in the warm, summer months, and then quickly clears out after the leaves hit the ground. Every non-profit organization in the Green Mountain state would do well to keep this trend in mind. The winter volunteer base of every organizaiton will […]

Volunteers and Change

Change is perhaps one of the thorniest issues to navigate with volunteers. Since they are not employees, they typically do not have a say or an inside look at what’s happening in the organization. But since they do “work” for you, they are not as removed as the general public or those who receive your […]

Volunteer Tip: “We”

It is a very good sign when a volunteer uses the word “we.” It denotes ownership and identification. The volunteer is no longer slaving for some impersonal organization. It’s a personal matter, and he/she feels involved in the organization.
How to move from “you” to “we” can be a difficult transition. If volunteers do not feel […]

Volunteer Tip: Delegation

While every good manager in a company should know a little about delegation, it is a crucial skill when working with volunteers. It is not common that volunteers are the ones driving a project. They typically are performing tasks that are part of the whole, but they are not the ones pushing the big picture […]