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Volunteer of the Month | |
 Keith Drzal
Keith Drzal is a recently retired Actuary. After finding himself with far more free time, he turned to volunteering as a way to stay engaged in the community and stay mentally active. After dabbling in traditional volunteer roles he finally found the perfect opportunity utilizing his Excel and Access skills through The Volunteer Center's skills-based volunteering program SAVE.
Keith has helped both The Volunteer Center and Women in Need Growing Stronger (WINGS) save time and effort by creating customized databases to help centralize and manage large amounts of information. He says it isn't uncommon for nonprofits to have massive amounts of data and no way to manage it. This complicated maze of information can spell trouble for anyone involved in producing important reports and other documents, and can result in hours of lost staff time. In today's economic climate, where many nonprofits are losing funding and reducing staff hours, every minute matters.
"When they say 'wow I didn't know you could do that,' or 'it makes my life so much easier,' that's what I do it for," he said.
Thank you Keith, for all your hard work and dedication.
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| SBV RESOURCES | |
To learn more about
skills-based volunteering, please follow the links below to access case studies, news articles, best practices, tips, templates and more
A skills-based volunteering overview
SBV Case Studies covering a range of skilled volunteer examples
The largest nonprofit consulting firm in the country whose mission is to lead, mobilize and engage professionals in pro bono service that drives social change
Established in 2008 by the Taproot Foundation, the Pro Bono Action Tank is leading the effort to increase access to high-quality pro bono services for public benefit organizations working to address our society's social, environmental and economic issues
Global Trends in
Skills-based Volunteering Report
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Dear SBV advocates:
The most recent "Volunteering in America" report underscores the significance of establishing and maintaining effective volunteer management programs. Those that invest in this effort will be better equipped to overcome the continuing economic and structure challenges we face due to lack of funding and increasing demands. It will become more important going forward that volunteer management programs include a skills-based component. The Volunteer Center is here for you. We know, first hand, that running volunteer programs and providing resources for effective volunteer management is not free, but it is absolutely essential to our social service and education networks. We are clearly demonstrating that with the help of highly skilled volunteers, organizations can leverage community support, build organizational capacity, become more collaborative, find efficiencies to save money and staff time and develop longer term strategies to be much less dependent on government funds.
Watch for a free lunch and learn session this July for Executive Directors, Boards and local leaders to learn more about the benefits of skills-based volunteering and how our SAVE program can help.
Sincerely,
Chris Smith
Associate Executive Director
The Volunteer Center of NW Suburban Chiacago |
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SAVE NEWS
Skilled Volunteers Work to SAVE Used Book Sale
A team of SAVE pro bono consultants from the Executive Network Group of Greater Chicago, Inc. (ENG) is hitting the books and developing a strategic plan to help Little City Foundation increase profitability of their annual used book sale. The sale, originally hosted by Brandeis University, is the largest of its kind in the Midwest. It attracts thousands of customers annually to the Skokie area and features hundreds of thousands of books. All proceeds benefit adult and children with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities at Little City Foundation. Unfortunately, the used book sale's days may be limited, as the high cost and low profitability of the event since Little City took it over in 2007 make it unsustainable for the organization.
"Right now, geographically, logistically, physically, it's too big of a task for our small planning team to do," said Kathryn Nelson, Volunteer Manager at Little City.
In hopes to save this 40+ year tradition, Little City turned to The Volunteer Center's SAVE program for skilled volunteer help. The ENG volunteer team is working on developing a business plan that will provide the organization with strategic, logistical, financial, marketing, and branding recommendations that will help maintain the sale in the future. It's a challenging process, Cynthia Anderson, a professional Project Manager from ENG who leads the volunteer team said, but it's one that she thinks will ultimately have a positive impact on the community.
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TVC Says Goodbye and Welcomes New Americorps VISTA's to the team
The Volunteer Center would like to welcome two new Americorps VISTA's, Joseph Evans and Tiffany Lewis to the team. We are very excited to have these two highly skilled professionals on board to help with capacity building projects for the next year.
Joseph Evans was brought on as a new technology VISTA. He has a bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and has spent the last five years working as an IT consultant for Accenture. His IT background will help TVC advance and maintain their internal network structure, update their website and document internal IT procedures for succession planning and risk management purposes.
Tiffany Lewis is a former elementary school teacher from Iowa. She has a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and has taken MBA business courses at the University of Iowa. Tiffany decided to leave her teaching job and become a VISTA to take on a role that will combine her education background and business experiences. She will be an intricate part in helping TVC integrate the SAVE program into schools and nonprofit organizations with educational programs that support at-risk students.
Also, a special thank you goes out to VISTA's Christin Coster and Karla Micheli for all their hard work over the last year. You will be missed!
Christin Coster and Karla Micheli show off their VISTA -peace signs  | Christin Coster worked off-site at Women In Need Growing Stronger (WINGS). Over the last year, Christin completed a variety of projects including: instituting new tracking procedures for evaluating program services, organizing public awareness and fundraising events and researching new funding opportunities. Christin will be moving to Egypt in August and is in the process of applying for the Peace Corps. Karla Micheli spent the last year as a Program and Marketing Coordinator at TVC. She was a key contributor in the development of the new skills-based volunteer program SAVE. The program was presented at the State Conference on Volunteering in May and will be presented at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in June. Karla plans to continue her career in the nonprofit sector with a focus on international public administration. |
Ask an SBV
Tips and Resources from Professionals
Social Networking
Christopher Brinckerhoff, program manager for Nonprofit Magic at Allegra Marketing, offers tips on how to better utilize social networking tools at your organization.
Nonprofits are discovering connections between their challenges and the trend toward broader utilization of social networking tools. Here are three practical tips nonprofit communicators can follow to get better results with social networking tools.
Define a realistic goal
I learned a lot about social networking tools from Beth Kanter when I covered the Making Media Connections conference in 2009. But one of the most important things I remember Kanter saying was about how nonprofit organizations, and all organizations for that matter, should define attainable goals based on realistic expectations while considering how each of the various tools is likely to perform. In other words, give yourself a goal and work your way around that goal until you achieve it.
Pick the best tools
Social Media Channels Spectrum |
Many nonprofits I'm connected with utilize social media tools to some extent, but having a constructive conversation about which ones to use and why, is a worthwhile step overlooked all too often. By thoughtfully choosing which tools make the most sense, you'll be in a position to focus on them and build relationships over time.
Participate and be consistent
Like emails, interactions on social networking tools have their own style and etiquette. I've noticed that communicators at nonprofits and other organizations sometimes misuse the tools by only posting and participating when there is a clear benefit to their organizations.
Here's a guide I found that talks about some other etiquette issues that come up when participating in social networking communities.
Whichever social networking tools you choose to achieve your organization's goals, your participation in these communities needs to be consistent in order to yield the best results. Read More
 Christopher Brinckerhoff is a freelance writer in the Chicago metropolitan region, and program manager for Nonprofit Magic at Allegra Marketing, Print & Mail in Palatine. He has written about education, community development, the arts, business and technology. His blog, Hot Potato, the little stories that filled you up, was established in 2008. |
Trainings
TVC's 2010-2011 Workshop Schedule Now Available
Executive and Life Coach, Jerry Pinney teaches Stress Management Workshop  | The Volunteer Center's Professional Development Workshop Schedule is out for 2010-2011, including a wide range of new trainings that help today's non-profit professionals do more with less. Be sure to check out these new workshops, including: "Engaging Skilled Volunteers," the "Advanced Volunteer Management Training Series," "Planning Special Events," and many more. TVC will also be hosting a series of lunch and learns throughout the year, featuring experts in a variety of fields that answer questions and give advice in an informal setting. Information on upcoming trainings and the full workshop schedule are now available online.
In addition to attending all lunch and learns for free, TVC member agencies can attend 2 complimentary workshops per year and receive 50% off any additional workshops. AmeriCorps members also receive the member rate of 50% off.
Have a new idea for a workshop or lunch and learn? Feel free to Suggest a Topic anytime throughout the year, and TVC will try to accommodate as many requests as possible. |
Case Study
2010 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey  The 2010 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey was commissioned to understand the value corporate America places on skilled volunteerism and whether businesses expect volunteerism to be effective in helping meet social goals. In addition, the survey explored the ways in which the results of volunteer time are tracked and measured.
According to the 2010 Survey, corporate America is very confident that skilled volunteerism can help achieve significant social results in their communities. In fact, the top 3 corporate priorities when determining volunteer activities are to help nonprofits: 1) serve more clients/beneficiaries 2) function more effectively 3) alleviate social issue(s). While companies are highly confident in the potential impact of corporate volunteerism they often do not take a business approach to their volunteer programs, causing a lack of measurement and accountability. According to Michelle Nunn, Chief Executive Officer, Points of Light & Hands On Network, "Deloitte's Volunteer IMPACT Survey is great news in terms of the potential for volunteerism. But what we cannot lose sight of is that with high expectations must come a process to achieve them; our collective social goals will probably not be realized until the business and nonprofit communities communicate more consistently, and hold each other accountable for results. There is still more work to be done, but we are making great strides."
The 2010 survey is a continuation of Deloitte's 2009 Volunteer IMPACT Survey, which focused on the barriers that are preventing corporations from contributing and nonprofits from seeking skills-based and pro bono support. This is the seventh annual survey in Deloitte's Volunteer IMPACT research series intended to help advance the efforts of corporate community involvement. 2010 Executive Summary: Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey |
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The Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago (TVC) is devoted to improving lives by developing, advancing and promoting community volunteer initiatives. Since its inception in 1969, the agency has supported volunteer programs through its partnerships with more than 150 social service agencies, schools and businesses.
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Karla Micheli
Editor, The SAVE Report The Volunteer Center of NW Suburban Chicago |
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