Recruitment

Want to elicit an “ah-ha!” moment from people who think too narrowly about what volunteering is and who does it?  The “Personal Volunteer History” worksheet provided in this Training Designs article is the core of a training exercise that will do just that. It will help:

• Demonstrate to paid staff or members of the general public that everyone has been (and probably still is) a volunteer in some way, although that label might not be applied to the activity. So it’s a great way to start an introductory workshop or course about volunteering, particularly the issue of vocabulary making much of volunteering invisible.
• Guide a screening interview – of both volunteers and employees – to gauge the candidate’s personal understanding of volunteering.
• Structure volunteer orientation sessions and even recognition events, putting the service that volunteers do for your organization into personal context.

Generally the hardest part of the exercise is getting participants to really think back on what they have done over their lives (the older the respondent, the more they need to remember!). But the worksheet’s greatest value is in the reflection and discussion it can generate, which is something e-Volunteerism readers can appreciate.

To be effective and to thrive in upcoming years, volunteer programs must learn to engage Millennials, that slice of population also referred to as “Generation Y” and generally born somewhere between the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. As this generation assumes its role in the workplace and begins to build families, it is essential that volunteer managers tap into the energy, technological expertise and passion for community involvement that Millennials have to offer.

This Training Design focuses on qualities of the Millennial generation, both inside and outside the workplace. The objective is to discuss motivations and work styles of this generation in order to enhance communication skills and encourage effective recruitment, supervision and retention of these volunteers. The authors – three AmeriCorps VISTA members assigned to the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) – developed and implemented the training for volunteer managers, Millennial individuals and other MAVA members interested in professional development in this area.

 

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.

Soroptimist International of the Americas is an international volunteer organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world. Bucking the trend of other large service clubs, Soroptimist is, in fact, asking its members to revamp the traditional club in order to grow its membership numbers. Find out how from excerpts of materials published in Soroptimist's Best for Women magazine and an interview with Executive Director, Leigh Wintz.

The Internet increasingly provides a means for nonprofits and government organizations to engage with people in their circles of influence. More and more organizations are blogging and posting YouTube videos and, more importantly, a great many organizations are asking their volunteers to blog on their behalf, to share photos of their events and to tweet about upcoming opportunities. In this way, organizations reach  volunteers in the spaces where they are already comfortable and engage them around their passions. And while working to increase the volunteers’ connection with the organization, we also spread our message to all of their friends.

This Training Design is not intended to be a how-to for online volunteer engagement. Rather, it will help participants identify opportunities to use social media in their volunteer engagement strategy. After the training session, participants will be able to develop the strategy for one or two small and simple Web2.0 initiatives. Those who started the training feeling overwhelmed or apprehensive about social media will leave feeling excited about the abundant opportunities that these technologies afford.

How does the depressed global economy translate into something positive for volunteering? In this e-Volunteerism feature, Marzia Baldassari, a member of the Volunteering Ireland Team and Coordinator of the Dublin City North Volunteer Centre, answers this question. With Ireland as her backdrop, Baldassari explains why volunteering and civic engagement are vital during times of shrinking financial resources and growing unemployment. Her description of Dublin City Volunteer Week, a recent celebration of volunteers and volunteering, shows why the old adage “every cloud has a silver lining” can be true for volunteering efforts during a harsh economic downturn.

The Internet now offers a fascinating array of tools and techniques for managing volunteers – VolunteerMatch, Facebook, blogs, Vlogs, Wikis, Twitter and many others.  In this Along the Web, we take a look at these and other cutting-edge tools.  After a quick research review on how volunteer groups use the Internet, we’ll look at all of these new online techniques. We’ll provide references that explain how to use them, along with some examples of volunteer programs that are already making the brave attempt.

When Elizabeth Ellis was Volunteer Development Manager for the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys, she managed, promoted and expanded their “Talent Match” database. This database listed the specific skills, preferred service locations, age group preferences and availability of individuals specifically recruited for this database. Both staff and adult volunteer Girl Scout leaders utilized this resource through a password-protected search to match their unique needs to volunteer interests and availability.

In this feature story, Ellis reviews the multiple benefits of creating a similar "talent" database for organizations, and explores the potential of “banking on volunteer talents” and time. She also reviews the multiple benefits of developing a similar "skills bank," and shares a model for how to make it work. Says Ellis, “Being on the front lines of volunteer recruitment, I had the opportunity to experience the growing interest of potential volunteers using this model, as well as experience first-hand the impact of this end user-friendly matching technique."