Engage Library

In this first-person Engage feature, Sharleen Tarnate-Nguyen, the Volunteer Engagement Manager for the San Diego Humane Society, gives readers an impassioned account of her journey to implement an organization-wide philosophy shift toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)…

Research, as well as practical experience, points to the myriad benefits of volunteering. For some individuals, volunteering may provide an opportunity for learning, particularly among younger volunteers looking to build lasting skills to enhance professional and personal lives…

Many sensitive environments or volunteer programs that serve vulnerable populations have requirements of their volunteers – ranging from complying with specific laws related to licenses, training and credentials to persisting inherited norms from years of operating programs…

In this Ethics column, author and Volunteer Engagement professional Kari Astles examines the ethics of engaging staff as volunteers. This common practice raises a number of ethical considerations – namely, whether staff can or should volunteer, and if so, how and when to…

In September 2024, TAVA’s Leadership Committee made the difficult decision to shut down the unincorporated Toronto Association for Volunteer Administration (TAVA). The committee members quickly discovered that this wasn’t an isolated incident but one in a series of closures that…

In Points of View, authors Erin R. Spink and Rob Jackson look back to a 2003 Points of View column from Engage founders Steve McCurley and the late Susan J. Ellis that  posed this question: Is All Volunteering Created Equal? The authors admit that when they started…