Engage Library

In 1904, a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Coulter was seeing more and more boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. From this beginning (as described on…

People are the competitive advantage of the voluntary sector. And yet we seem to concentrate very little time on how to work with this amazing resource. This Training Design presents a workshop that introduces five important tools to help organizations fully engage specifically…

Surveys in different countries show that people often choose to volunteer in the sport and recreation field.  During 2006, Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) commissioned research to look at how to motivate and recruit more volunteers, and successive SPARC studies show how…

Much of volunteering happens outside of formal agencies and what we call “volunteer programs.”  Think of the thousands of all-volunteer associations, civic and service clubs, faith communities, professional societies and other groups with none or only a few paid staff – but each…

Homeless Connect is an initiative of the Brisbane City Council (Australia) to put over 300 homeless persons in contact with various service providers from housing, medical and legal organizations. This comprehensive one-day effort, staged in City Hall, also links service…

As e-Volunteerism enters its eighth year, it is clear that one of the original aims of this online journal project hasn’t been met: Namely, to get people in our field to interact more online.  Most of our online readers don’t make use of the interactive publishing features that…

They packed nearly 500 boxed meals, including sandwiches and homemade cookies. And when teenagers with autism spectrum disorders got together last summer to prepare meals for needy families, they proved that volunteering is for everyone. This e-Volunteerism feature article tells…

Gwen Fujie calls it “martial arts ideas for the mind and mouth.”  In this article, Fujie explains why “Tongue Fu!” leads to cooperative communication and more peaceful relationships, both essential elements to success in volunteering. Based on author Sam Horn’s popular book by…

This edition of Along the Web continues to explore some of the newer and more interesting topics on volunteerism available via the Web.  We cover a very wide range of research projects and manuals from a variety of countries, reflecting the high level of interest now focused on…