For Volunteers Themselves

Volunteers can make the world a better place - but it behoves us to ask the question,  "Better for whom?" In this Points of View, Rob Jackson and Erin R. Spink put this question front and center by challenging leaders of volunteer engagement to look at volunteering in real life from every conceivable angle. Jackson and Spink boldly note that “volunteering is not simply a nice thing to do: volunteers are directly shaping the world with their choices and actions.” As they write:

It would be naïve to proclaim that volunteering is always objectively good. The socially acceptable view of volunteering being for the greater good isn't wrong per se, but it has never demonstrated a true understanding of the complexities and nuances of volunteering in real life. In today's world, this overly simplistic conceptualization is actually a hindrance to understanding the power of volunteers and why our role as leaders of volunteer engagement is so critical.

With a nod to e-Volunteerism’s co-founder and volunteer management expert, the late Susan J. Ellis, Rob Jackson and Erin R. Spink use this Points of View to present a provocative and much-debated topic: What really makes someone a skilled and effective volunteer engagement professional who can train colleagues to work well with volunteers? The authors review many false assumptions about volunteer engagement in the workplace, while providing this insight: “While it’s important to recognize that everyone plays a role, it’s a fallacy to think everyone in the village brings the same skills or has the same focus. . . We forget that to our own detriment.”

In other words: It takes a village to raise a child, but not everyone can be the blacksmith. Jackson and Spink challenge readers to voice their opinions about this issue and join the debate.

Two steps forward, one step back. . . In this Points of View article called "The Volunteer Engagement Cha-Cha,"  Erin R. Spink and Rob Jackson ask some questions that every volunteer engagement professional will want answered about professional associations. Namely, what is the current and future state of our various professional associations? Why should we care? And what should we do about it?

Why did the Volunteer Manager and Marketer walk into a bar together? To discuss Seth Godin's blogs of course! 

In this Points of View, Rob Jackson and Erin R. Spink consider the “wisdom of Seth” – namely, Seth Godin, a Hall of Fame marketer, author of several best-selling books, and a hugely popular daily blog writer about marketing who also happens to be one of Jackson’s and Spink’s favourite thinkers and sources of inspiration. As they dissect a few of this internationally famous marketing blog posts, Jackson and Spink identify different perspectives, thoughts,  and ideas that Volunteer Engagement professionals should consider, and explore those unexpected  pearls of wisdom gained by reading the work of thought leaders from totally different fields. Granted, not all of Godin’s blog posts can be applied to Volunteer Engagement work, but many of them highlight core truths that speak broadly to working with people, understanding them and their motivations, and striving towards simple and effective ways of working. And as Jackson and Spink remind us, these are things that all professionals can aspire to and be inspired by. 

In this Points of View, Erin R. Spink and Rob Jackson share their thoughts on the words and phrases that no longer serve the volunteer engagement profession – and, they argue, could actually hurt us. They also present and review new ways to communicate about the volunteer management field. Beyond the simplistic and basic, they argue that a committed and consistent change in the language used by leaders of volunteers could be transformative for us all.

The last few years have been challenging for non-profits. Fundraising and safeguarding scandals, accusations of excessive executive pay, concerns over political bias – the list of controversies has grown, negatively impacting the public’s trust and confidence in good causes. Solutions and responses have been proposed, most geared at educating the public and media about the modern realities of running nonprofits. But almost none of these responses and solutions have involved volunteers. Why is that? Are we failing to make the most of what should be some of our most passionate advocates?

In this Points of View, Rob Jackson and Erin R. Spink debate this issue and review how this untapped power of volunteers as advocates can be realized. It’s not rocket science, they conclude, and the benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks. 

Points of View authors Rob Jackson and Erin R. Spink were recently inspired by a Canadian article that highlighted the coming funding shortfalls due to an escalating reliance on the services non-profits offer. In this Points of View, they take a page from this article to discuss the equally concerning risk of volunteerism shortfalls. They debate the reasons behind these shortfalls while reviewing some steps we can all take to prepare for such a change.