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Recognition Idea
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Sundaes on Wednesday
For volunteer appreciation week this year I am planning an ice cream sundae party at a local ice
cream parlor. The invitation will say: "Sundaes on Wednesday... You are
important to us every day of the week!" It will be a "drop by" function
and I'll be there to treat them to an ice cream sundae! - Submitted by Becky SwindellShare Your Recognition Idea
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Volunteerism Quote |
"There are two kinds of gratitude: the sudden kind we feel for what we receive; the larger kind we feel for what we give." - Edward Arlington RobinsonShare Your Quote
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Energize Volunteer Management Update June 2010
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June Hot Topic Reimagining
Service: Is Corporate HR Management What We See?
The "Reimagining Service"
initiative in the United States is moving
forward. While the well-intentioned national figures involved are trying
to do something meaningful, it is painfully obvious that none are aware of the
profession of volunteer management. Instead, the report and a new "HR
Action Team" are pushing the concept that corporate human resources
professionals are the key to building the capacity of nonprofits to engage
volunteers. Really?
Read this Month's Hot Topic You
can subscribe to the Hot Topic as a podcast or
RSS text feed - or listen to the audio online.
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Find
Us at the Conference in New York City
Energize, Inc. has been a
consistent annual exhibitor at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. Unfortunately, this year there will be
no vendor exhibit area at the event. But Energize will be on site -
and, even though it may be a little tougher this year, we're looking forward
to meeting you in person! Here
are some definite and possible ideas in the works:
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For those of you attending the pre-conference Advanced Volunteer Management Institute (AVMI), Susan Ellis is on the faculty and
will have books available for sale there.
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At the conference, look in your participant bag for
a free "mini-poster" declaring Volunteers:
The Power to Change the World - our gift to you and an introduction to our free, info-packed Energize Web site for newcomers to the field.
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Susan is presenting one session at the main
conference, on Wednesday morning, June 30th, and will have some books there, too.
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Are you an early bird? Then meet us on the mornings of Tuesday, June 29th and Wednesday, June 30th at 7:00 a.m. for
"Books and Bagels." Susan will lead a
discussion among featured authors Betty Stallings, Rick Lynch and Steve
McCurley, on the topic: How to Educate
Your Executive.
Finally, we'll have a display
pod near the workshop rooms at the Hilton where we can place notices of special
times and places to meet with you. If you want to learn about Everyone Ready� while you're
on site, or purchase our books, check out the "pod" for details. We wish we could announce the meeting schedule
now, but know that our clients are so smart and determined, we will find each
other, despite the obstacles! We may even try using real-time Twitter to connect on site, and there are always cell phones. See you
there!
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Free
Download! Strategic
Volunteer Engagement: A Guide for Nonprofit and Public Sector
Leaders
What
do executive directors and leaders in public sector organizations
really think about volunteers? That was the question that propelled
The Volunteer Champions Initiative, a collaborative research project
funded by The Volunteer Impact Fund with
assistance from the OneStar Foundation and conducted by Sarah
Jane Rehnborg, Ph.D. from the University of Texas' RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service.
The
research study report, Strategic Volunteer Engagement: A Guide for Nonprofit and Public Sector Leaders,
offers a framework and guidance for executive directors interested in
engaging volunteers to reach strategic goals in their organizations.
In 40 concise pages, this e-book explains common organizational myths
about volunteer engagement, a step-by-step guide to planning for
volunteer involvement, and an overview of management considerations
based on the type and nature of volunteer engagement.
Rehnborg
drew on the experience of research collaborators Susan J. Ellis of
Energize Inc., Betty Stallings of Building Better Skills, Jane Justis
of the Leighty Foundation, and Jackie Norris (retired) of Metro
Volunteers in Denver in conceiving the project, and then ran focus
groups of executive directors in Austin, Texas and Denver, Colorado.
These sessions found that organization leaders are not so much "negative" about volunteers as they are exceptionally busy
individuals juggling multiple responsibilities with insufficient
information about volunteer engagement. Strategic
Volunteer Engagement captures concerns raised
by these leaders and provides a framework for thinking about
volunteer involvement.
During
the summer of 2010, you may download this e-Book at no
charge in exchange for answering 10 brief
questions about your work with volunteers by going to
www.serviceleader.org.
While you're on the ServiceLeader website, check out other
resources for managers and instructors - it's the home of the
original virtual volunteering research conducted by Jayne Cravens in
the 1990s.
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Susan's Tip of the Month: Grab
Bag of Tasks
If
you're like me, whenever a volunteer comes up to you and says, "I
have some extra time today (or this week), so what else could I do?"
- every idea for what needs to be done suddenly drops out of your
head! It's frustrating because we all want to direct volunteer
time and skills towards work that's truly meaningful.
Here's
an idea. Train yourself (and others) to write
down work assignments as you think of them at
any time. These can be the sublime to the mundane, from
developing a five-year plan to cleaning out the supply closet. Not "busy work," but things that genuinely would be of use but aren't
at the top of anyone's current to-do list. In between the plan and
the closet might be things like:
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Check
that reading materials in the client waiting room are current, in
good shape, and offer variety.
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Take
important instruction sheets and photocopy them at 125% so that the
enlarged type can be read more easily by someone who is vision
impaired.
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Find
a great children's story about volunteering that could be read on
a visit to a school.
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Go
through the photographs of the last event and pick the best three to
post online.
- Handwrite
thank-you notes to the officers of the community groups that helped
with a special event.
- Talk
to a new volunteer about how her or his first month is going.
- Interview
a unit supervisor about what else the right volunteers might do in
that work area.
You
might also break down a big project into small bites. For example,
if you're coming up to a big celebration and are creating
centerpieces, figure out how long it might take to sit down and do
one decoration only - or if people can come and go from the work
area, as time and interest allows.
Put
each idea on a separate slip of paper and number it. Then jot down
some quick instructions (or which staff member to see to do this
piece of work) and file the papers by number, matching the slips.
Separate
the slips into tasks that can be completed in 1 hour, 3 hours, and a
day or more. Then put them into three bowls or boxes, with the
timeframe marked on the outside.
The
next time someone offers to do something extra, let them pick a slip
at random. If they don't like it, they can pick again, but at
least you'll know that everything in the bowls is a real task.
Sure some of the things will be clerical or physical, but when
volunteers offer you an extra hour or two, they want to do something
useful and will understand if it is a smaller or less sophisticated
task than their usual assignment.
Note
that the grab bag tasks could also be used if someone brings along a
friend or teenaged child for the day. It's also a way to respond
to a staff member with a special request that you can't fill
immediately. Tell the person it will become a grab-bagger item (and
maybe you'll put it on yellow paper so it can jump out visually!).
You can even keep an electronic list of short activities that can be done virtually or off-site and do something similar by e-mail, if you have volunteers who work remotely.
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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 [email protected]
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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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