International scope - mentioning several countries

In 1954, the Seventh International Conference of Social Work convened in Toronto, Canada, with the theme of “Self-Help in Social Welfare.” While self-help is an important component of effective social work, it can also be seen as a challenge to the formal social work profession. The multi-day event in Toronto presented many speakers and panels in an effort to examine self-help organizations from many different perspectives, and resulted in a 342-page book known as the Proceedings of the event. In this historical Voices, we select key points made by authorities from various countries at this conference, key points that have stood the test of time.

 

Whatever Happened To . . . is a recurring feature at e-Volunteerism that allows us to revisit past articles to see what has been happening since we first published the stories. 

In this issue, we revisit “Perspectives on Membership Development,” a story from 10 years ago about the Soroptimist International of the Americas, a global volunteer women’s organization. In 2005, the story revealed, Soroptimist International had recently faced a downward spiral in membership numbers and the closing of local clubs. Unlike other similar organizations in the same situation, Soroptimist had risen to the challenge by deciding to motivate its members to revamp tradition, discover new ways of doing things more relevant to women, and grow its membership.

In this fascinating update, Soroptimist’s Executive Director Elizabeth Lucas and Senior Director of Membership Marketing Darlene Friedman explain what Soroptimist is doing today to meet the challenges facing all volunteer and member-based organizations. The organization has created “an online community empowering offline action” called LiveYourDream.org, “a self-motivated community of people who wish to support women and girls in their quest to lead better lives, while gaining inspiration in their own lives.” We can all learn from this so-far successful approach to engaging non-members in volunteer activities (more than 50,000 people have signed up to date), and other changes Soroptimist has made to revitalize its approach to volunteerism in the 21^st century.

On November 5, 2014, for the 15th consecutive year, volunteer management professionals around the world will celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day (IVMDay). This global event acknowledges the people who lead volunteers, salutes them for their essential role in creating dynamic volunteer opportunities, and works to raise the profile of the volunteer management profession. While still evolving, IVMDay is growing in visibility, with more and more celebrations taking place in many countries.

But just how did it all begin? What mechanisms have kept the show rolling for 15 years? And just what might the future hold?

Join e-Volunteerism's Andy Fryar and members of the International Volunteer Managers Day Committee as they present and review the evolution of this important annual event.

 

Cees M. van den Bos, a pioneer in the volunteering field in the Netherlands, recently discovered that there was very little academic research on the subject of volunteering infrastructure. So he set out to investigate the establishment, development, and functioning of local volunteering infrastructure since the 1970s in these eight countries: Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States.

In this special e-Volunteerism issue devoted to Volunteer Centers, van den Bos presents his research and findings on volunteering infrastructure, and shares his conclusion that Volunteer Centers should be defined as “agencies that have the mission to support volunteers, volunteer-involving organizations, and volunteering in general.” He specifically notes that Volunteer Centers are characterized by six functions: brokerage, the marketing of volunteering, the development of good practices, the development of volunteering opportunities, and the strategic development of volunteering.

Through his important research, van den Bos provides insights and findings that he argues are “relevant for makers of volunteering policies, for people working within the volunteering infrastructure, and for countries that aspire to establish a volunteering infrastructure.” And, he concludes, the “legitimacy of volunteering infrastructure cannot be considered outside the context of the increasing political recognition of civil society and civic engagement. Political interests in the concepts of civil society and civic engagement in the eight cases investigated has caused volunteering to be rediscovered and re-evaluated.”

This much is clear: Volunteer Centres are vital to build and sustain local and regional volunteer ecosystems. Often seen as the “one-stop” help for individuals looking to get involved in the community, Volunteer Centres are not only remarkable at surviving funding and policy changes but they have also inspired the development of volunteering innovations like service-learning, community service, family volunteering, and corporate volunteering. 

But this much is clear, too: Volunteer Centres throughout the world can no longer operate as they have always done. Volunteer Centres have to be responsive to the changing times they helped bring about or they will lose their ability to create a volunteering legacy for the future. Inspired leadership and creative vision are absolutely critical elements for Volunteer Centers to move forward, with experts predicting that a high-tech, high-energy, Apple Store-style social action centre may help redefine the Volunteer Centre of the future. 

From Canada to the Netherlands to Australia, from the United States to the United Kingdom, six experts on Volunteer Centres join together in this critical and provocative Keyboard Roundtable to discuss the issues facing Volunteer Centres around the globe. These issues, the experts discovered, are quite often the same regardless of geography. 

Every article in this issue of e-Volunteerism looks at the subject of Volunteer Centers and, as always, readers can post responses to each article. But the editorial team wanted to include an area where readers could expand the conversation beyond the particular subjects presented by individual authors. Because Volunteer Centers are important to the volunteer community, we encourage you to comment on the entire Volunteer Centers theme, raise issues not already covered in the articles, and share your vision of the future of this volunteering infrastructure. Debate welcomed!

So this is a call for your voice. Through this Voices, you can submit your thoughts as text, audio, or video. Join in!

When Sarah Jane Rehnborg, Ph.D., wrote her doctoral dissertation at the University of Pittsburgh, she not only fulfilled an academic requirement but also helped document the basis of the new “Certified in Volunteer Administration” (CVA) competency-based credential for the Association of Volunteer Administration. In this issue of e-Volunteerism, we present an updated chapter from Rehnborg’s previously unpublished dissertation, “Field Test and Assessment of a Certification Program for Administrators of Volunteers.”

In this important work, Rehnborg takes readers behind the scenes of the credentialing process. She defines the key terms and extensive vocabulary used when discussing credentialing – terms like professional credentialing, licensure, certification, accreditation and diplomas. She also provides a history and rationale for certification in occupations and professions, as well as a brief overview of the ongoing objections to this practice.  Rehnborg’s work, which has been reviewed and updated for current applicability in several countries, provides important documentation of a sometimes complicated and misunderstood topic.