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Energize November 2011 Susan J. Ellis |
Part-time Volunteer Management Means Equally Limited Volunteer Involvement, It is hardly news that the majority of people who lead volunteer involvement are expected to do so part-time. |
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 July 2010 Susan J. Ellis |
The Correlation between Time Donors and Money Donors All research shows that people who volunteer tend to give more money to charity than people who do not. This often-quoted finding only tells part of the philanthropy story. |
Energize May 2013 Susan J. Ellis |
Strategic Volunteer Management: Expanding Your Organization's Brain The problem in volunteer management is not that our organizations are without strategies of various sorts; it's that volunteers are not naturally integrated into those strategies even as an operational tactic. |
Energize January 2012 Susan J. Ellis |
What Would the Perfect Volunteer Involving Organization Look Like? Here is what I think an organization would look like if it practiced everything we preach about creative, welcoming, and effective volunteer management, led by a skilled director of volunteer involvement. |
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 December 2014 Susan J. Ellis |
What Did You and Volunteers Do Well this Year? 2014 is rapidly coming to an end. Before you consider making any resolutions for the new year, use December as an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months. |
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 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 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 June 2012 Susan J. Ellis |
Why Do We Love Volunteer Satisfaction Surveys? How did we arrive at this particular method of assessing success with volunteers? Do such surveys reveal anything meaningful about the value of volunteer contributions? |
Energize February 2013 Susan J. Ellis |
The Treasure Trove of Knowledge Philanthropists This month our colleagues at Vantage Point in Vancouver, BC, Canada are releasing a new book, The Abundant Not-for-Profit by Colleen Kelly and Lynda Gerty. Inspirational and practical, the book argues for a transformation in thinking about volunteers. |
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 December 2012 Susan J. Ellis |
End-of-Year Reports Can Illuminate Volunteer Achievements The invisibility of volunteers in many agency reports is matched only by the presentation of generally useless information about volunteers in other reports. |
Energize March 2009 Susan J. Ellis |
The Difference between Needing and Wanting Volunteers A few measures of true willingness to find the full range of resources to help meet your organization's mission and serve the most people in the best ways. |
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 July 2013 Susan J. Ellis |
Breaking through the Glass Ceiling for Volunteers Fully capable people may already be serving in your existing volunteer corps and ready to be promoted to a higher level of volunteering for the organization (only if they want to). |
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? |
AFP eWire July 31, 2006 |
Online Volunteering: Factors for Success A new study examines the potential benefits of cultivating online volunteers and the necessary infrastructure and capacity organizations need to effectively employ these volunteers. |
AFP eWire August 16, 2011 |
Orienting and Training Volunteers for Success All volunteers should go through orientation to the organization and at least some training for their roles as 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 November 2005 Susan J. Ellis |
Strength in Numbers: Engaging Volunteers as Partners in Program Development There is a specific form of volunteer involvement that has great potential as a tool for internal advocacy: activating a visible team of volunteer representatives. |
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. |
AFP eWire March 1, 2004 |
Many Nonprofits Using Volunteers Ineffectively A joint study by the UPS Foundation, the Corporation for National and Community Service and the USA Freedom Corps has revealed that 80 percent of nonprofits rely on volunteers for critical activities, but admit they do not have the resources or knowledge to manage them as they might like. |
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 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 June 2006 Susan J. Ellis |
Wouldn't It Be Nice to Really Know.... Trends in volunteering are reported largely based on observation and anecdotes rather than on hard data. |
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 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 April 2012 Susan J. Ellis |
Common Sense and Volunteer Involvement I am very interested in what you have to share as your examples of lack of common sense when it comes to decisions affecting volunteers. |
Energize November 2004 Susan J. Ellis |
Interns: The "Acceptable" Volunteers? All too often interns are elevated above mere volunteers unjustifiably and/or the "internship program" is separated administratively from the volunteer resources office, to the detriment of both groups. |
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 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 July 2009 Susan J. Ellis |
The Drive towards "Highly-skilled" and "Pro Bono" Volunteering Skilled or skills-based volunteering is the practice of using work-related knowledge and expertise in a volunteer opportunity |
AFP eWire January 25, 2011 Brydon M. DeWitt |
The Power of the Volunteer Working with volunteers is not easy. With the right support, however, volunteers can do more than any number of staff can do -- it's just a matter of harnessing their potential. |
Energize November 2014 Susan J. Ellis |
Pulling the Rug Out from Under Volunteer Involvement: Sudden Staff Changes How are major changes communicated to volunteers in your organization? Is there a plan in place for continuity should you leave your job, whether by choice or not? |
Energize February 2006 Susan J. Ellis |
The Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Obstacles to Progress As advocates for volunteer engagement, we need to approach specialized counselors as equal team members, remembering that we, too, have expertise to offer. |
Energize Susan J. Ellis |
Volunteers and the Quest for Innovation Are we inventing bigger and better Band-Aids for the symptoms rather than eliminating the root causes of seemingly intractable problems? |
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 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 February 2008 Susan J. Ellis |
The Power of Difference For best success, look for volunteers that offer a different skill set than the paid staff. |
Energize June 2005 Susan J. Ellis |
Mobile Volunteers - `Tis the Season In the past, one simply wished vacationing volunteers a good time and hoped they'd return in a few months. But if the person is going to have access to a computer and the Internet while away, consider a virtual assignment. |
Energize February 2009 Susan J. Ellis |
"A New Era of Responsibility": An Open Letter to President Obama A call for the President to remember the professional field of volunteer resource management during his presidency. |
Energize February 2010 Susan J. Ellis |
Both Receiving and Giving Conspicuous by their absence, particularly in human service agencies, are volunteers with a direct, personal connection to the work of the organization |
Energize |
Common Sense and Volunteer Involvement - Responses Readers respond to a recent article about the management of volunteers. |
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 January 2006 Susan J. Ellis |
The Implications of History Volunteering lessons gleaned from the newest edition of By the People: A History of Americans as Volunteers. |
Energize May 2010 Susan J. Ellis |
The Self-Directed Volunteer The author discusses what is meant by the "self-directed" volunteer and what this means for philanthropic organizations. |
Energize January 2010 Susan J. Ellis |
Differentiating Volunteering and Working for Pay The distinctions between the two groups are vital because we need both for different reasons. |