Engage Library

In Part 2 of Ethics, co-section Editor Erin R. Spink continues to explore how to build an Ethical Volunteering Policy in the workplace. After writing in Part 1 about the considerations and questions that surface when creating such a policy, Spink now presents draft samples and…

In 1985, Volunteer Engagement expert and Engage co-founder Susan J. Ellis published an article in the Journal of Voluntary Action Research (later republished in Energize in 2015) about the state of research on volunteerism and Volunteer Management. Entitled “Research on…

Volunteering can mean many things to different audiences – acts of kindness, scheduled shifts, mentoring, fundraising. But there is one category of public service that often stands alone: disaster relief. Some disasters give us warning, others happen so quickly that our ability…

Across sectors — from education to healthcare, community services to environmental action —volunteers are often engaged in roles defined by convenience rather than impact. This Voices  article by Isabella Oliver calls for a fundamental shift in how organizations approach…

Struggling with conversations around volunteer retention at your organization? Is retention a talking point you have not been asked to dive into? Is it one you avoid? Or perhaps retention is something you have not previously considered for your volunteer roles? To many Leaders…

Laurence Bolotin, an experienced Volunteer Engagement Leader with a background in higher education, nonprofit leadership and board development, is absolutely convinced: “Generation Z is ready to serve and they can change the world. But they’re doing it differently.” Born between…

In this Points of View, co-editors Erin R. Spink and Rob Jackson conduct a video debate on a topic that they readily admit they need input to resolve: Are National Volunteer Weeks fit for purpose? Indeed, what are they for? What have they achieved? And frankly, are they even…

Why is it especially important to keep community-centered in times of uncertainty? How do our identities as Leaders of Volunteers shape our view of volunteerism? Is it still possible to be innovative when the ground feels like it's unsteady underneath us? Cristina Johnson, a…

Many organizations that engage volunteers also work with paid staff. This mixed workforce can be a huge benefit, but it can be difficult to schedule these two groups’ hours in a way that allows organizations to optimize efficiency and ensure adequate coverage of all roles and…

If you were training to become a train driver, would you learn how to start the train and travel along the tracks without learning anything about how to stop? Of course you wouldn’t. So, why would we start a volunteering journey and continue that journey without any…

What if Volunteer Management software providers had a crystal ball? What would they see and hope for in the next decade? And, looking back, what visions did they have for software today, and how have those expectations been realized or not? In this Ahead of the Curve, author Sam…

Ruth Leonard gets right to the point: “I never intentionally planned to become a Volunteer Involvement professional. I wonder how many of us do?” In this Engage feature, Leonard continues this issue’s feature focus on why and how people choose life-long careers in Volunteer…

In November 2024, Sue Kobar retired after 44 years of working in the volunteer sector in both paid and unpaid leadership roles around the globe. In this poignant, first-person account, Kobar highlights many of the key lessons she learned along the way, and describes the…

What if every volunteer-involving organization had, as part of its mission, a mandate to involve community members as volunteers – a mandate that is fundamentally tied to why the organization exists and not simply how it achieves its goals? In fact, should volunteer-involving…

Although they live 1,000 miles from each other, good friends Laura Rundell and Meridian Swift have for many years always made time for long-distance chats. With a glass of wine or a cup of coffee in hand, they’ll catch up, first with family news before venturing seamlessly into…

When it comes to volunteerism in America, the good news is that it’s alive and well. Recent data from AmeriCorps and the U.S. Census Bureau shows a significant rebound in volunteerism in the last year, with 28.3 percent of Americans engaged in formal volunteering, up from a low…

In this two-part series, Ethics co-section editor Erin R. Spink explores how to build an Ethical Volunteering Policy in the workplace. In Part 1, Spink shares conversations, considerations and questions to reflect on as she explores the importance of such a policy and why to…

Several recent studies examine volunteering trends from a variety of countries, using the latest available data. What do these studies reveal about volunteer participation and the factors that contribute to current trends in global volunteering? This Research to Practice takes a…

"Ahead of the Curve" doesn't begin to describe this April 2001 article about virtual training, and Engage is delighted to revisit this prescient feature by our founder, Susan J. Ellis. In "Workshops the Wired Way," Ellis describes how to develop and deliver virtual training (…

The COVID-19 pandemic proved a watershed moment for Volunteer Engagement the world over. For many, it marked the end of a time where volunteers were plentiful, funding readily available and program stability an almost certainty. COVID meant that many organisations had to…