I was looking back through some of the slide decks I developed when I first started creating volunteer training. They made me cringe! I suppose we all have to start somewhere, and my journey to becoming an effective instructional designer and learning facilitator has had many ups and downs along the way. The good news is, you inevitably get better. If you're [...]
New volunteers arrive at nonprofits with expectations and feelings. They negotiate conflicting emotions – surprise, anticipation, joy, fear, ambiguity, etc. – as they acclimate to their new surroundings. During this critical time in the volunteer’s lifecycle, these emotions are important to address but are often ignored, as organizations focus on communicating organizational requirements, policies and procedures versus prioritizing [...]
As we approach the end of 2017, it might be a good time to revisit your volunteer strategy and refresh it for 2018. Below are eight of our favorite resources for volunteer program development and strategic planning to get you started. Informed Volunteer Program Development These can be used to both assess where you're at now [...]
One of the most researched and validated theories of volunteer motivation is that functional motives drive the volunteers willingness to join and continue the volunteer activity. Scholars argue that certain pre-exiting needs must be met in order for volunteers to start and stay. This theory represents a major finding in the field that has been validated over [...]
It's no secret that volunteer services departments suffer from an often stunning lack of adequate resources. In fact, our Volunteer Management Progress Report survey found that about one-third (31%) of nonprofits have annual budgets of $1-$5,000 set aside for the volunteer program (not including staff salaries and benefits) and six percent (6%) have no budget at all [...]
