Infrastructure
Emerging Trends and Issues in Volunteerism and Volunteer Program Management
In the spring of 2001, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) contracted the services of an external consulting firm to conduct a review of its volunteer program. The research had two key purposes. The first was to explore how CBS might improve both the involvement, and the management, of volunteer resources. The second was to summarize current and anticipated issues and trends in volunteerism and volunteer program management both in North America in general, and in other large Canadian health sector organizations. This article reports on the results of this review.
Volunteer Centers: Changing Rationale and Roles
Volunteer centers exist around the world, although they rarely connect with each other across national borders. In Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, the concept of a “volunteer bureau” – the most common original name – first gained traction to mobilize home front activities during World War II. In Japan, volunteer centers were (and to some extent still are) literally organizers of local community services. Newer in mainland Europe, volunteer centers evolved from the push towards civil society in formerly communist countries. Volunteer centers in the U.S. are transforming into “HandsOn Action Centers,” while centers everywhere are trying on new identities in a world of Internet access to volunteer opportunities.
As volunteer centers continue to evolve, it seems like a good time to understand why and how they began. In this Voices from the Past, we reflect on their historical significance and consider where they might be going next.
The Dynamics of Multi-Level Organizations
On behalf of Osteoporosis Canada, volunteerism consultant Suzanne Lawson recently convened a telephone conference call that included Linda Graff, Marilyn MacKenzie, Susan J. Ellis and representatives of Osteoporosis Canada. These accomplished volunteer management experts proceeded to discuss how multi-level organizations are adapting to current trends in volunteer engagement and how the local level of "action" can best be structured. The call was recorded. This Keyboard Roundtable offers a lively exchange of that conversation, which covered such questions as:
- How are local chapters (or whatever people call them these days) succeeding or failing to bring new volunteers to a national cause?
- Do chapters tend to support established volunteers in their work - but not newcomers?
- Are there any new models for connecting volunteers at the local level to the activities of the organization - doing the work with engaged volunteers "around" a chapter structure or "instead" of it?
Clearing Hurdles on the Volunteer Obstacle Course
In this Points of View, the authors won’t argue for a return to the old and casual systems for volunteer involvement. After all, this is a different world with different problems – with criminal record checks serving as a perfect example of something that volunteer managers learned the hard way need to be done, as imperfect as they currently function. But a goal of volunteer resource managers should still be to extend a welcome to prospective volunteers, making the process go as well as it can in today’s more complex environment. This Points of View presents some ideas that will help more people clear the hurdles of the volunteer process and help them actually cross the finish line as accepted volunteers.
Making Sense of Volunteering: A Literature Review
2005 in the UK was the Year of the Volunteer, with a programme of events designed to increase the profile of volunteering. To build on its legacy, the England Volunteering Development Council, a high-level representative mechanism of volunteering, established The Commission for the Future of Volunteering to develop a long-term vision for volunteering in England. To inform this, a literature review was undertaken which aimed to look at what is going on in the world of volunteering, particularly examining societal changes and the impact these may have on volunteering.
The resulting report by Colin Rochester was published in December 2006 and is the focus of this Research to Practice review.
Collaboration and Partnership: Using a Process to Facilitate Success
The potential for partnership exists for every organization. Partnerships can be formed within the nonprofit sector as well as with for-profits and government. We can share space, equipment, staff and volunteers, training, experience, events, revenue – the list is endless. It is said that communities have the social capitol required to be self-sustaining. The challenge lies in mapping who can contribute what to meet the needs. This is the basis for forming a successful partnership.
In this article, Deb Anderson provides some of the fundamentals for creating and maintaining collaborations of all sorts.
Creating a Viable National Association for Leaders of Volunteers
The recent demise of the Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA), affecting mainly Americans, has surfaced many issues around both the “profession” of volunteer management and the design of a possible association that would serve the needs of managers of volunteer programs.
In this Points of View, Steve and Susan first talk about the structural elements of any professional association, as related to the volunteer field, and then give their totally personal notions of what such an association should be for our colleagues in the US. For purposes of comparison we’ll talk about AVA, but we’ll also look at how other professional associations in volunteerism have chosen to operate. And everything we say is pertinent to colleagues anywhere in the world.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Four Models of Involving Volunteers in Small Voluntary Organisations
Research-to-Practice Editor Steven Howlett re-visits a paper by Colin Rochester published in Voluntary Action, the journal of the Institute for Volunteering Research in 1999, about the management implications for volunteer coordination based on the organisational setting in which it takes place. Rochester observed that organisational context will impact upon how volunteering is managed, but this context is not very well addressed in the research literature and, as a result, best practice writing often gives minimal advice about how practice can vary from organisation to organisation.
The paper argues that there have been two implicit assumptions in the literature which may explain why the organisational context of volunteering has received less attention. The first is that what is being measured and described as volunteering is seen to be essentially the same activity regardless of where it happens. Second is the tendency to view volunteering as part of the non-profit sector, where it is seen as primarily unpaid workers contributing to the goals of the organisation; the result of this is a dominance management language emphasising the ‘workplace model’ of management.
Note: Thanks to the generous permission of the Institute for Volunteering Research, the full text of the original study is provided as a PDF accompanying this review.