SEEing Volunteer Engagement from a New Perspective
What really stands in the way of great Volunteer Engagement? Funding, leadership buy-in or something less obvious? It can feel difficult or overwhelming to answer this question in today’s fast-paced and resource-constrained workplace environments. This issue’s Research to Practice, written by guest authors Rachel Schad, Traci Lato-Smith and Paige Porter from reDirect, provides a framework for tackling this very challenge. The authors introduce SEE (Supportive Environments for Effectiveness), a research-backed framework built on decades of environmental psychology research. Using three case studies, they demonstrate how applying SEE can enable simple changes to create more informed, capable and engaged volunteers, and also give readers the blueprint to get started.
Kayla Paulson, CVA - National Trainer, Consultant & Coach (Iowa)
Mon, 08/03/2026I LOVE that you three were able to lift up two of the organizations that I have had the privilege of supporting in their volunteer engagement efforts for the last 15 years! Both WRAP and Cedar Rapids Public Library participated in my General Audience SEE Learning & Implementation Cohorts. I have had the privilege of watching their organizations grow and evolve their volunteer engagement strategy over time, having gone through Service Enterprise (an organizational change management program), attending many of my volunteer engagement trainings and conferences, and being active participants in the volunteer engagement community of practice for more than a decade. If you want to learn more about either of these organizations or their small experiments, I would love to connect!
Kayla Paulson, CVA
Consultant, Trainer & Coach for nonprofits, organizations, government entities & businesses helping them to advance volunteerism, service, and civic engagement through practical strategies and people-centered leadership.
Kayla@KaylaPaulson.com