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Energize December 2004 Susan J. Ellis	Chicken or Egg: Why Are Our Professional Associations Weak? This issue, which obviously starts at the local level on up (or perhaps on the national level on down), is integrally related with the recurring question of "is volunteer management a profession?"
Energize April 2006 Susan J. Ellis	Why a New Association Should Serve the USA For a professional association of volunteer program leaders, it is incredibly difficult to be an international association - just look at the United Nations! The obstacles to success are enormous.
Energize November 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Education through Celebration on International Volunteer Managers Day It is important to let professional volunteer managers know that the spirit of volunteerism is enhanced and enabled by them -- and it is important to thank them.
Energize September 2006 Susan J. Ellis	What’s in a Name…or a Title? What's the best title for the person who is designated as the leader of volunteers?
Energize January 2007 Susan J. Ellis	Should Volunteer Program Managers Be Volunteers, Too? There's never been a better time to volunteer for a volunteer management network - and that's true in a range of countries around the world, many of whom are nurturing embryo associations right now.
Energize March 2006 Susan J. Ellis	A Call to Action on Behalf of Our Profession The Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA) has been dissolved after missing money, executive falsehoods, board mismanagement and member complacency. The good news is that there is now opportunity to create a better association.
Energize July 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Needed: A Multi-level Approach to Credentialing Volunteer Management Volunteer management has been an "emerging profession" ever since I've been in the field -- which is now 40 years.
Energize October 2012 Susan J. Ellis	Practicing What We Preach: Volunteers Helping Us, Too One of the enduring mysteries of the volunteer management field is how often those who lead volunteer efforts do not build a team of volunteers to help them in their important work.
Energize June 2010 Susan J. Ellis	Reimagining Service: Is Corporate HR Management What We See? If you see volunteer management as just HR management, then you will love Reimagining Service, which promotes the idea of applying private sector human resources practices to nonprofit organizations.
Energize May 2008 Susan J. Ellis	It's Volunteers and Money We need to see the issue of resource allocation for volunteers as integral to our work and develop the skills to "make the case" for spending money on volunteers.
Energize March 2010 Susan J. Ellis	AmeriCorps and Senior Corps Targeting Volunteer Management The most popular capacity building option among both charities and congregations with social service outreach activities is the addition of a one-year, full-time volunteer with a living stipend (like an AmeriCorps member), with responsibility for volunteer recruitment and management.
Energize December 2006 Susan J. Ellis	Together We Stand: Volunteers and Volunteer Resource Managers Connected Frontline volunteers and boardroom volunteers are more alike than different, and the principles of effective volunteer administration apply to each group.
Energize August 2005 Susan J. Ellis	Still Tilting at Windmills While there have been huge and exciting developments in volunteerism in the past 30 years, many of the challenges are still looming windmills to fight. Also, the most stimulating activities right now are occurring far outside the United States, while here it is harder to find innovators or leaders.
Energize April 2007 Susan J. Ellis	I'll Help with That, But Don't Ask me to Lead it! Have you found that it is easier to recruit a volunteer to do frontline, hands-on work than to accept a leadership position on a board of directors, advisory council, or key committee? This is becoming a universal concern, including for professional associations of volunteer program managers.
Energize March 2012 Susan J. Ellis	How Serving the Volunteer Field Has Changed after 35 Years -- Or Not? Associations and infrastructure organizations can come and go, but the real action is on the ground, in each and every action volunteers take to improve the world.
Energize November 2007 Susan J. Ellis	Boards of Directors: Governing at a Distance? What began as a legitimate concern to avoid micro-managing in favor of long-range planning has instead served to distance board members from first-hand understanding of the organizations they lead.
Energize October 2011 Susan J. Ellis	What Leaders of Volunteers Can Do To Gain Executive Attention This month, I am turning the spotlight 180 degrees to examine how leaders of volunteers contribute to the problem of not getting enough attention from higher-ups.
Energize April 2008 Susan Ellis	Volunteering is Bigger than the Nonprofit Sector The practice of volunteering for government agencies is contrasted with non-profit volunteering programs and a case is made for volunteers in government.
Energize July 2006 Susan J. Ellis	"I Don't Have Time" It's still possible to engage people in more intensive volunteer service, if we pay attention to their needs.
Energize November 2010 Susan J. Ellis	When Volunteers Resist Change Always remember that volunteers bring their own perspectives and stereotypes about volunteerism to their service. Here are some ways of thinking that reflect a lack of training or understanding.
Energize March 2006 Susan J. Ellis	A Call to Action on Behalf of Our Profession There are healthy differences of opinion circulating about what should happen next and some unavoidable confusion and uncertainty about who will/should emerge to take leadership in the wake of the Association for Volunteer Administration dissolution. Here are some comments.
Energize January 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Virtual Volunteering Revisited Some people will volunteer solely online, others will combine a virtual component with an onsite placement, and others may do their service totally hands on.
Energize February 2014 Susan J. Ellis	It's Time to Discuss the Complex Relationship of Volunteering and Money We constantly fight the attitude that "volunteers are free," but money is connected to volunteering in complex ways.
Energize April 2005 Susan J. Ellis	We Can Model True Collaboration Volunteer programs ought to be able to overcome the barriers faced by their sponsoring organizations and find ways to work together.
Energize December 2009 Susan J. Ellis	When the Ax Falls: Budget Cutting and Volunteers Can an organization turn to volunteers to fill gaps when budgets are cut and employees laid off?
Energize December 2011 Susan J. Ellis	My Personal "State of the World's Volunteering" Report On December 5th, International Volunteer Day, United Nations Volunteers is set to issue its State of the World's Volunteering Report, officially bringing to a close the 2011 International Year of Volunteers + 10.
Energize May 2006 Susan J. Ellis	Online Spying Can Improve Your Volunteer Management Skills Use the Internet to be a quiet explorer, observing carefully what other non-profit organizations are doing. Educate yourself about approaches and models that you might follow, adapt, or even avoid.
Energize Susan J. Ellis	Prospective Volunteers Are Closer than You Think Ask yourself what you have done in the last year to make sure that you are really issuing an invitation to become a volunteer to the people in greatest proximity to you.
Energize September 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Addressing Volunteerism Issues in the Blogosphere The following blogs are listed randomly with no particular hierarchy, but they are all written by authors who are willing -- in fact, determined -- to address philosophy, ethics, and the "big questions" facing the volunteer field.
Energize March 2005 Susan J. Ellis	Recruitment Maxims Volunteer recruitment does not mean wheedling, arm twisting, or asking for a favor. The best approach is that you are sharing an opportunity with prospective volunteers that you don't want them to miss!
Energize September 2009 Susan J. Ellis	Making Ongoing Volunteering Valued and Visible During the amazing and celebratory opening session of the National Conference on Volunteering and Service held this June in San Francisco, First Lady Michelle Obama and at least four of the other famous speakers proposed a future scenario for volunteering.
Energize May 2009 Paula J. Beugen	The Role of Volunteer Resources Managers in the Serve America Act: Stay Up-to-Date and Lead There is now a new law that authorizes great expansion of Federally-supported service programs, notably AmeriCorps and several new special Corps and initiatives. The Serve America Act is over 100 pages in length and funds still need to be appropriated.
Energize June 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Stop Volunteers from Being Their Own Worst Enemies Maybe we need to educate volunteers about who they are and how they fit into our organizations. If we wrongly assume that volunteers "get it," we open ourselves to potential problems of various sorts.
Energize February 2011	Real Professions Have Strong Associations - Responses A reader offers comments on the common problems and goals of volunteer management associations
Energize April 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Celebrate Collective Accomplishments, Not Volunteered Time Volunteer recognition is a powerful tool for leaders of volunteers that remains largely underutilized.
Energize August 2012 Susan J. Ellis	Let's Be Honest about Nonprofit Boards of Directors (or, Lessons to Be Learned from Penn State) The scandal at Penn State may have begun as a horrifying case of unstopped pedophilia, but ultimately it has become an example of very poor governance.
Energize October 2006 Susan J. Ellis	The Middle Management Barrier Middle managers are vital to how effective the organization's volunteer engagement will be.
Energize April 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Revisiting the Seven Deadly Sins of Directing Volunteers In the early 1980s, Energize produced a mini-poster with the dramatic title of "The Seven Deadly Sins of Directing Volunteers," which proved extremely popular. We are reappraising them for 2013.
Energize May 2007 Susan J. Ellis	Make New Friends, but Keep the Old... For volunteer organizations, it is important to find ways to revitalize the involvement of inactive members.
Energize May 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Branding National Volunteer Week: Who Wins and Who Loses? National Volunteer Week last month was its usual non-event in the United States -- despite its 40 th anniversary -- with precious little media attention. This year, however, that might well have been a good thing.
Energize August 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Identifying Who Is and Is Not a "Volunteer" Here are ten time-tested volunteer recruitment tips that still work.
Energize October 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Whom Don't We Ask to Volunteer? Consider where you recruit and what your expectations are of what applicants will look like. Don't limit your outreach and you'll be rewarded.
Energize Susan J. Ellis	Should We Cap the Number of Hours a Volunteer May Serve Each Week? New volunteers may start off gung-ho and promise many hours before they know what they will experience. So I like the practice of setting an initial limit of maximum time until the situation evolves and looks to be successful.
Energize August 1, 2007 Susan J. Ellis	The Big Merger: Many Unanswered Questions The merger between the Points of Light Foundation and Hands On Network has the potential for a positive impact on volunteerism. But, there are more questions than answers about the new entity.
Energize Susan J. Ellis	What's Ahead for 2009 in the Volunteerism Community? Here are several ways that the Obama Administration may impact volunteering in the United States, along with some of my own editorial comments.
Energize August 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Identifying Who Is and Is Not a "Volunteer" I suspect that every reader has engaged in this sort of discussion/debate/argument more than once.
Energize July 2014 Susan J. Ellis	I Really Want to Know: What's Going on Out There? Here are a few of the ideas from the past few years that I really love as concepts. Have you (or someone you know) tried any of them?
Energize April 2009 Susan J. Ellis	Confidentiality and Other Objections to Volunteers It's easy for staff in our organizations to stop any creative idea involving volunteers from going forward. They just have to raise one of the following objections:
Energize October 2007 Susan J. Ellis	The Moral Obligation of Volunteer Recruitment Promises Recruiting volunteers to contribute their time and effort to your organization puts you in the middle of an implied promise.
Energize December 2007 Susan J. Ellis	Helper Triage: Volunteer Management in Emergencies It's imperative that citizen volunteers be a subject for consideration in any emergency plan and that at least one authorized person be designated solely to be in charge of volunteer mobilization when a crisis occurs.