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Recognition Idea
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What Does My Mentor Mean To Me?
Our members/volunteers tutor and mentor at-risk youth. For National Volunteer Week we are sponsoring an essay contest. The theme is "What Does My Mentor Mean to Me?" We
are going to post these essays on the program listserv and prizes will be
awarded for the top three essays.
Submitted
by Leslie, Special Programs Coordinator, AmeriCorps-UTA, TX
Share Your Recognition Idea |
Volunteerism Quote
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If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to
gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for
the vast and endless sea.
-Antoine de
Saint-Exupery, The Wisdom of the Sands Submitted by Georgean
C. Johnson-Coffey Share Your Quote
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Energize Volunteer Management Update
March 2009
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 March Hot Topic:
The Difference between Needing and Wanting Volunteers
Susan shares some true stories that highlight the gap
between ever-expanding needs for volunteers and resistance from
organizations who do not actually want this help. How welcoming is your
setting? Whose responsibility is it to question negative or uninformed attitudes?
Read this Month's Hot Topic
Remember you can listen to the Hot Topic as a podcast, too!
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2009
National Conference on Volunteering and Service
The 2009
National Conference on Volunteering and Service, co-convened by Points of Light
Institute/HandsOn Network (POLI/HON) and the Corporation for National and Community
Service, will take place on June 22-24 in San Francisco, CA. The annual event provides
opportunities to learn, connect and be inspired. This year's theme is
"Civic. Energy. Generation." For
more information, visit www.volunteeringandservice.org.
POLI/HON has just announced the availability
of scholarships for the event:
Scholarships will cover the
registration fee only; there will be additional expenses including travel,
hotel accommodations and food. It is important that the applicant and
organization determine if they can cover the additional conference expenses
prior to applying for a scholarship. Selections will be made based on greatest
need.
Apply online here by April 6, 2009.
You will be notified of the status of your application on or before April
15, 2009.
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Join
a Free Conference Call to Learn about
Everyone
Ready®
Wondering
whether Energize's online volunteer management training program, Everyone Ready can meet your professional development needs? Get a short "sneak peek" at how it all works
and learn how current members capitalize on using Everyone Ready in their
organizations to recruit and work with volunteers effectively.
Ask your questions
(without feeling pressured) in a live conference call with Susan. There are three
opportunities to join a call:
-
Thursday,
March 5th at 5:00 p.m. EST
- Monday,
March 9th at 2:00 p.m. EST
- Wednesday,
March 11th, at 3:00 p.m. EST
The calls
are free in North
America;
those of you located elsewhere can use Skype or other VOIP calling systems to
dial into the landline at minimal cost.
To
register, please e-mail everyoneready@energizeinc.com with your name, telephone number, and
in which of the calls you want to participate.
We will respond with instructions for phoning in.
Remember,
too that you can sign up for a $99
TRIAL MEMBERSHIP for two months, with automatic monthly credit
card payments of $49.00 thereafter (you may
cancel the monthly billing at any time after the initial $99 payment). Enroll by March 13 and you'll be in time for Susan's online seminar, "New Approaches to Recruitment," that starts on March 16th.
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Opportunity for Free or Discounted Training
from People First - Total Solutions
Australian
colleague Martin J. Cowling, president of People
First-Total Solutions, has announced a "Special 2009 Recession Busting Offer" offering
a free day of training or heavily discounted days of training to 9 volunteer centers
or associations of volunteer administrators/DOVIAs in the USA in 2009. The content and details about the day are
available on the PFTS Web site, including how to apply.
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Susan's Tip of the Month: "Extra Effort Log"
Many of you
are gearing up for the schedule of volunteer recognition events that run around
the world from April through June.
Here's an idea to add to the mix.
We tend to
recognize volunteers for their "regular" work -- whatever major assignment they
have taken on. But throughout the year
many individuals help with a wide variety of special projects or quick response
needs. These can be anything,
though common ones are:
- Decorating
or otherwise setting up for a holiday, birthday, or other festivity
- Giving a tour or sharing experiences with a visitor of importance
- Pitching in when the office had to be moved for painting or when the snow turned the parking lot into Siberia
- Substituting on short notice for the volunteer who went into labor two weeks early
- Revising the instruction checklist for the one-day volunteering event
- Participating in planning meetings to develop the new recruitment campaign
Do these
sound familiar? I'll bet they do. These -- and many more activities -- happen all
the time, and we tend to take them for granted.
We may indeed say thank you at the time (at least, we should!), but they
rarely get remembered or recorded.
Try keeping
an "Extra Effort Log" and keep track of such special assistance all year
long. Record what the paid staff and
even your executives do, too. Then, when
it comes time for annual recognition, you'll have lots more to say than the
usual. Some ideas:
- As
you call individuals up for their certificates, mention something "forgotten"
or unknown by most about the extra effort that volunteer (or staffer) did in
the last 12 months.
- Put
an extra line onto the certificate or in a note, mentioning the special
activity.
- Create
an "extra effort" display and post a montage of all the things volunteers did
above-and-beyond their ordinary duties. If you took photographs, use those, or make a slide show.
- Report on paper and/or orally about all of this. People may be aware of the work volunteers accomplish regularly, but often it's the extras that really illuminate how the organization depends on this corps of workers.
Besides,
this is the fun stuff and everyone will enjoy hearing about it!
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About Us
Energize empowers and inspires leaders of volunteers worldwide. Our specialty is creating and selecting the most relevant, innovative resources in volunteer management. We're advocates for the power of
volunteers and for the recognition of the leaders who unleash it.
Energize, Inc.
5450 Wissahickon Ave. C-13
Philadelphia PA 19144
Phone: 215-438-8342
Fax: 215-438-0434
info@energizeinc.com
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Pass It On!
Pass on this update to interested
news groups and others who work with volunteers.
Material may be re-posted or
printed without additional permission, provided credit is given to Energize,
Inc., and our Web site address is included: http://www.energizeinc.com/.
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