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Guest Post by Trudy Hamilton

Spring has finally arrived, all at once, it seems. Often, when professionals think about volunteerism, gardening themes will come to mind…plant the seed, cultivate, and your volunteer program will grow and flourish. Usually, this seems to be associated with an annual garden…plant your seeds, feed and care for them, and you’ll have a vibrant, productive result. Unfortunately, you need to repeat each year to obtain the same result.

What if you are tired of annuals? You’d like something that offers more commitment that will last longer and produce greater returns. You want an orchard! You want volunteers who are committed to your organization, which can produce great results with stability.

How do orchardists maintain vibrant, productive, sustainable crops? Tools and maintenance, fertilization, a long-term commitment of resources. Orchardists trim the deadwood, keep on top of new methods and technology.

The same methods can be applied to a sustainable volunteer program. Yes, you start out the same way as with an annual garden. Plant your seedlings (volunteers), and give them lots of care, and room to grow and flourish. The difference is how they will take off on their own, and require less of the initial work required, over time.

By taking care of their tools, maintaining them, and updating them as necessary, an orchardist does several things - prevents the spread of disease, keeps his operation efficient, stays on top of new technology, and demonstrates the value of the resources committed. By taking care of your tools (professional development, best practices, networking, staff and volunteer training, marketing, recruitment, and retention plans) you’ll develop a program that is attractive to both volunteers and your organization, while demonstrating and articulating its value.

When it comes to fertilizing your program, there are several different aspects to look at. The first one is staff. If your agency is new to Volunteer Management (even though they may have had volunteer participation for years), go slowly. Your colleagues will need the basics of volunteer management, from a professional point of view. How does your volunteer program fit with the mission of your organization? Can you get top management involved in creating a vision statement for your program? Staff may also be resistant to using volunteers in ways that are different from what they’ve done in the past. They may have had poor experiences with volunteers in the past, and think it is easier to do it themselves. That said, is it better for your agency to have a staff member do the work of 10 people, or get the staff member to train 10 volunteers to do the tasks?

The next aspect to look at would be the volunteer. Fertilizing them is more than gifts and recognition. It is proper orientation to your agency, proper training and resources to do the tasks they are volunteering to do. Staff may mention that they don’t know how to train a volunteer. Ask them what kind of training they received when they began their job, and let them know the volunteers need the same training.

As for trimming the deadwood, it allows new growth, stops the tree from expending energy on something that is unproductive, making for a much healthier orchard. The same can apply to your program. How often have you heard comments about a volunteer who wants to be associated with your organization, in a volunteer capacity, but is no longer productive? How much of your resources (energy) goes into keeping this person on board, even though there is no return? Of course, it can seem painful at first, but if clear expectations are brought forward, with evaluation on a regular basis, everyone will soon understand what is expected.

For the commitment of resources, an orchardist is committing a portion of his land. A funny thing about a commitment like that…land is a finite resource. They aren’t making any more of it. For the orchardist, this commitment may very well become a 20 or 30 year commitment, with no return for the first 4 or 5 years. If you are committing your resources to a well-developed Volunteer Management Program, you may not see an immediate return, either. It is a return that occurs over time, but the results of attracting the best volunteers, having best practices and policies in place, will make it easier for you to have the time and resources to continue to expand your program.

These are my thoughts, what are yours? How are you growing your orchard?

Trudy Hamilton is a Volunteer Manager at SeniorsPlus.

The 20th Annual Governor’s Service Awards were presented today in Augusta. Click here to see a full list of award winners.

by Jodi Freedman

My husband once worked for a company where every new employee had to spend a week in every department (he loved driving the forklift!) in order to truly understand the company. I think that this approach really makes sense. How could I really tell volunteers about the positions I was asking them to fill if I had never done the job? Of course, in order for me to go in after hours, that meant that my kids got to come along for the ride! At the time, my sons were aged 8 and 6 and my daughter was 3.

This was their first introduction into formal volunteering and I am not sure who enjoyed it more: the residents of the nursing home, my children or me! It is so amazing to watch your kids turn into little angels and think about other people! Don’t get me wrong; there was definitely some complaining on the way to and from volunteering! It wasn’t like the movies, where lovely music plays and everyone eagerly jumps at the chance to go play Bingo or serve meals or do art with the “old people”. (My kids’ words, not mine. Please don’t take offense!) As time went by, even my normally shy 8 year old was comfortably cutting up food for people and the younger two were pushing people to activities in their wheelchairs! It was a truly wonderful experience for all of us and an important lesson about the importance of getting people involved at a young age.

An article in Compassionate Kids states that this gives children an opportunity to learn about giving back and the importance of doing so. That was how I felt about the experience and what it did for my children. It showed my children some of my values and how volunteering supports these values. I also think that children who volunteer will be more likely to become adults who volunteer.

Obviously, not all organizations are able to accomodate children. I wouldn’t want to call a helpline and have the volunteer telling me to hang on while she helps her kids out! However, I urge all of you to look for ways to incorporate families into the volunteer opportunities at your organization. It is a truly amazing experience. And for all of you who volunteer yourselves, consider bringing your children along when it is appropriate. They just may shock you!

For other info. on volunteering with children, I enjoyed this article.

Jodi Freedman is a Major Gifts Specialist at the Maine Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Guest Post by Michael Wilson

There’s a movement for civic engagement in higher education. University presidents, deans, and professors are committing to more responsive relationships between their campuses and surrounding communities. These leaders aim to mobilize their colleges and universities to serve outside of their walls and, in serving, to deepen and ground the learning of their students and the quality of their scholarship. Given this climate, you’re likely to find a warm response to interest in partnership. And it’s worth it. Let me tell you briefly what your organization stands to gain from partnering with higher education, and how you might get started if you’re interested. Note—to learn more about the movement for civic engagement in higher education, see Campus Compact or the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.

When you partner with higher education you gain disproportionately good access to twenty-somethings. Those of you working with youth know that teens look up to folks in their twenties naturally, because of the proximity between their respective energies, interests, and experience. Twenty-somethings are powerful voices, then, in youths’ direction in life, including their college aspirations. However, these folks are famously hard to access. As you may know, 17.7 percent of people in their early twenties volunteer, in contrast to the 30.3 percent who volunteer among 35 to 54 year olds (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Volunteering in the United States, 2007, United States Department of Labor, January 23, 2008). If Maine reflects national statistics, then chances are you’re hard pressed to recruit people my age as volunteers in any places other than college campuses, which are actively creating structures for mobilizing their students to engage meaningfully with the towns and cities around them.

College students will often come to you associated with a course that can offer something unique to your organization, as well. For example, Ed Laine of Bowdoin College led his Geology 267 students in original research on behalf of the Friends of Casco Bay. The students analyzed a 12-year data set using a technical graphing program; their work served as a pilot project for new research by the FOCB. Here at USM, English Professor Lorraine Carrol teaches literacy theory by placing her students as language tutors with organizations around Greater Portland. The students learn theory; the first- and second- generation refugees or immigrants they tutor learn the language from people with fresh insight on how to teach it. This pedagogy, called service-learning, is a cornerstone the movement for civic engagement in higher education.

Additional doors open when your organization collaborates with a college or university’s students and faculty. Faculty members sometimes locate their scholarship in community. David Scobey, an American Historian and professor at Bates College, writes on the social history of Lewiston’s mills—how did cabaret singer Maurice Chevalier come to croon for a city’s mill worker’s, after all? His research doesn’t hover lonely in the ivory tower, but contributes to the exhibits at the local community history museum, Museum L-A, instead. Grants are also available from select institutions in the state. Official affiliation is always an option, too, with the potential to lend credibility to your work.

To initiate partnership with higher education, your first step is to find a college or university you might like to work with. For a complete list of institutions in Maine (and their websites), click here, and for a map, click here. Narrow down the list geographically, first, and then by relevance: tease out an institution’s scope according to its mission statement and list of programs offered (available online).

Next, imagine where collaboration might take you. Consider your organization’s mission and how it resonates with each institution you have in mind. Identify concrete ways in which your organization might benefit from partnership, from student volunteers to research assistance, as above. Take the institution’s perspective, too: consider how students might learn and grow serving at your organization, whether affiliated with a course or not. Also consider what it might mean for the institution to be affiliated with your organization. And also, get specific. Consider what level of commitment you need from students and what support you expect them to receive from their college or university; and consider what support you will offer students in turn. Our office uses a worksheet to tease out these questions, attached. Finally, before you call, be sure to ask around at your organization for old relationships with the college or university. It’s useful to know about previous contacts and potential political pitfalls.

Unless you have a very good previous contact, I recommend you begin your inquiry with the campus’s hub for civic engagement. Doing so, you shouldn’t have to worry about political pitfalls: such hubs are typically responsible for matching campus programs with community partners, so that you don’t have to learn the whole institution. For a directory of civic engagement contacts, call Maine Campus Compact at (207) 786-8217. Note that the scope of these hubs varies widely between institutions. Some administrations dedicate comprehensive centers to civic engagement; others staff an office; and others assign the responsibility to an interested faculty or staff member.

Michael Wilson is an AmeriCorps VISTA member at the University of Southern Maine’s Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement.

Guest Post by Ann Swain

I think if those of us who manage volunteers were asked to describe our view of the perfect volunteer, most of us would have a pretty definite idea what that volunteer would look like and how they would present themselves. I was always told that first impressions are often the only impression we get a chance to make. When I was quite young, I remember my dad would say “you don’t always get a chance to explain yourself. Make sure that what people see is the message you want people to receive from you.” Not everyone, however, had someone like my dad to coach and guide them throughout life’s journey. Sometimes, that first encounter we have of a prospective volunteer might be the very moment in someone’s life that changes them in a way we or they could never imagine. First impressions are not always accurate.

I’ll never forget the day John walked into our office. Actually, he shuffled, head held down looking at his tattered boots with somewhat of a coat draped over loose fitting overalls. The knitted cap on his head had holes and was badly in need of a good washing, as was the rest of his clothing. You might imagine John had not been near a bath or shower for some time as the room filled with the smell of oil from a motor that didn’t work; dirt from the garden long ago forgotten, but mostly from neglect.

John’s wife of 52 years had died several months earlier. She always took care of their needs like grocery shopping, paying the bills and even bringing in the money to pay for it all. Now that she was gone, no one knew how John was getting on. He had worked in his younger days fixing old motors of various types and other odd jobs. Since his wife died, no one had seen him in the grocery store or even at the post office to collect his monthly social security check. John never spoke to anyone except for a grunt or grumble. But there he was, standing in our volunteer program office wanting to talk to someone about becoming a volunteer. It was actually a volunteer from another program who told John about our volunteer program, which was designed for one-to-one friendly visits and assistance. The other program volunteer had seen John visiting his wife in the hospital and was concerned about what might happen to him when his wife was gone.

John had been told that our program helped people stay in their own homes by helping them with errands, getting them to doctor appointments and enjoying friendly visits. The Program Manager told John he had to be 60 years old to apply to the program and must attend monthly trainings with other volunteers. After talking a bit, it was clear John fit the criteria. However, the Program Manager wasn’t sure how John would work out. He needed to clean up and stay that way; he needed to be able to talk to people and function on his own. The Program Manager talked to John about these concerns and he said he would like to try. They set a time for John to return to the Program office and they would plan a visit to see his first client.

John returned to the office at the appointed date and time, cleaned up with freshly washed clothes and a little bit of a grin on his face. The Program Manager had found some folks for John to visit several times a week within his own community. It wasn’t long before John could be seen smiling his way through the grocery store doing his own shopping, chatting with people he’d known for years but never really talked to. The homebound folks he visited enjoyed John and all the stories they shared. The community enjoyed watching John change from a man who wanted to hide in the shadows to someone who enjoyed the company of others, self assured and independent. Not only was John helping others maintain their independence, John himself had acquired an independence he had never known. If it hadn’t been for another volunteer and the Program Manager seeing through that first impression, John may never have known about the volunteering and may never have known the independence he was able to enjoy.

The day John walked into the office in his disheveled state, it would have been easy for the Program Manager to chat for a minute and turn him away. It would have been easy to decide this man was not nor could be a person suited for volunteering. But the Program Manager took the time not only to talk to John and look past his appearance, but also to give him direction for participation as a volunteer with very specific guidance on what he needed to do in order to become a volunteer with the program.

Managers of volunteer programs don’t always get to know the whole story when a potential volunteer walks through the door. It cannot truly be predetermined what a volunteer experience will do for someone. No doubt John’s experience changed his life, even for a brief time. John was able to volunteer for 13 months before he died. No one in his community knew he had been battling cancer. But everyone knew that the last 13 months of his life, he experienced a fulfillment he had never known. Thankfully, first impressions don’t always count

Ann Swain is the Director of the Senior Companion Program at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

by Penny Kern

Jodi’s post on THE WORST PATIENT really highlighted what some of us have been saying for awhile. The world of VOLUNTEERING and recruiting of volunteers has changed. Not totally because of the baby boomers but changed nevertheless.

In her article, she used herself as an example of a manager of volunteer’s worst nightmare. And, she very well may be but it’s my opinion that she is just a typical potential volunteer of today. We’ve blamed it on the attitudes of the baby boomers and gen Xer’s but truly, age has nothing to do with it, I think.

Today’s volunteers have more on their plates than they can deal with. Pressure is on to excel at the job or lose your job. Be the most perfect parent that ever walked the Earth or be punished forever for turning out a “bad” kid. Then, on top of all that, your house has to be perfect, your marriage or relationships have to be perfect, and you have to be the star of the community through community service. That’s a LOT. More than anyone in all the last generations put together, I think. Brain overload!!!!

Managers of volunteers need to start seeing the real picture and change their way of working or there won’t be enough people in the world to fill the positions out there, don’t you think? The key words in my mind are FLEXIBILITY and PLANNING.

 What is the mission of your organization and what jobs need to be done to meet that mission?

 How can you make these jobs flexible enough to meet the needs of the volunteers and still get the mission accomplished? Or can you? Do you need to have two different position descriptions for two different types of volunteers? There are still volunteers out there who like the second and fourth Mondays of every month from 3PM - 5PM.

Also, and this is just my humble opinion, I think position descriptions have to allow for the new volunteers. Volunteers like mentors, counselors, recruiters, Girl Scout leaders, etc., who work with stressful situations, should have start and end dates built into their contract when they are given an orientation. When I recruited Girl Scout leaders, their position description specifically stated it was a one-year appointment renewable by both parties. This gave me an out if things suddenly deteriorated and it gave the person a chance to leave and still save face knowing they did a great job while they were able to contribute.

Are we trying to pound volunteers into shapes that look like the volunteers in our grandparents’ time or are we trying to make volunteer opportunities available to ALL who would like to help make our mission successful?

I found this great quote from Peter Drucker - “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”

Are you beating your head against a wall trying to do something that shouldn’t be done?

Penny Kern is a retired volunteer manager from Aroostook County.

by Margaret Puckett

National Volunteer Week is less than two weeks away, and for those of us who hold our annual volunteer recognition event during that week, the big push is on to get everything done. The late arrival of National Volunteer Week meant we had some extra time to get everything done this year – but where did the time go?

Time– or more appropriately the lack thereof — is the perpetual cycle of the volunteer manager. When I first started working at St. Joseph Hospital, I had a PLAN. I figured the first year I would spend trying to figure out what needed to be done and learning how to get it done. The second year I would concentrate on defining the annual cycles of tasks and events. By the third year I would have gained enough experience to develop action plans for all my functions and events. Year four was for revising and fine tuning systems. By year five every function and event would be clearly defined and organized. Tasks would be easily spread out throughout the year to avoid any need for crisis management. Feeling overwhelmed by it all would be a distant memory.

It’s been almost six years now. The sense of always needing to explain to people that “this is a busy time of year for me,” seems to have settled into a year round pattern — a perpetual state of being that has never gone away. I’ve come to the conclusion that the “busy time of year” for a volunteer manager is really all year. Perpetual commotion, it would appear, is an occupational hazard.

The truth of the matter is, the more you get accomplished, the more you want to accomplish. But high energy jobs like ours can take their toll on us and our programs. Get more done! Do everything faster, better, and for less! Be innovative and try new things! The horses on the merry-go-round start going faster and faster — and we face the very real possibility that the whole kit and caboodle will begin to spin out of control.

So how do we get back in control and, hopefully, regain not only our energy but possibly our sanity as well? First, we need to accept the fact that as much as we would like to, we can’t do everything. I’m not saying abandon all those great plans, I’m just saying that sometimes we have be able to give ourselves permission to let some things go. Just doing these two simple things can make an enormous difference in our effectiveness as volunteer managers and in the effectiveness of our volunteer programs.

So what’s next you ask? Ah… Summer — with those wonderfully lazy days– is fast approaching … along with our annual summer Junior Volunteer Programs. And it’s off to the races we go …again.

Margaret Puckett is Volunteer Services Coordinator at Saint Joseph Hospital in Bangor, Maine.

by Bob Moore

Do you know the difference between volunteers and employees. Yes – employees get paid and volunteers do not – but there’s a lot more to it than that.
The Fair Labor Standards Act defines volunteers as “individuals who provide services without any expectation of compensation, and without any coercion or intimidation.” Like most laws, “gray areas” exist within this definition as well. What if a volunteer receives a small payment or something of value in exchange for volunteering? Does this make the volunteer an employee even if he or she didn’t expect to be paid? What about a volunteer who receives college credit for their work? What about the AmeriCorps program, where Corps members receive a stipend?
“Indirect” compensation – free parking, meals in the cafeteria (hospitals anyone?) – are types of benefits that the government does not count as “compensation” if it is provided more for the convenience of the non-profit than as payment for the volunteer. However, other types of indirect compensation – like free babysitting or fitness club membership at the local Boys/Girls Club or YMCA – has a real dollar value and might be considered more like compensation than as convenience.
Clear? As mud? What other questions can you ask that might help determine the difference between volunteer work and compensated work? Is the worker motivated by personal motives? – Is the work being done typically associated with volunteer work? – Is the work full-time? – How much control does the non-profit have over the volunteer? – Is the work schedule primarily arranged by the volunteer for their convenience or is the schedule more likely to be arranged by the organization to better meet their needs? If you compensate or reimburse your volunteers, you might want to dig deeper.
One thing all non-profits should be aware of: The U.S. Department of Labor takes the position that employees may not volunteer to do things for their employer that is the same as or similar to their normal job.
This post is by no means all-inclusive. It may even pose you with more questions than you had before reading it! I’ve been in this “business” for a while – as both a volunteer and managing a non-profit – and I can assure you that I’m not always clear. If you have personal experiences that you can share or additional information that you’ve gained over the year, please “blog-on” and share. Thanks for reading.

Bob Moore is Executive Director of the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed in Augusta, Maine.

by Christy Monroe

Happy Friday! Although we’ve never made a formal announcement, Friday is our “resource roundup” day on the Volunteer Maine blog. From upcoming events and trainings to suggested resources for Maine’s managers of volunteers, Fridays are filled to the brim with a coffee-break’s worth of useful information.

Many of our readers are seasoned volunteer administrators with years of best practices under their belts (good for you and we hope that you’ll share some of your knowledge using the comment tool). Yet others are struggling with their new responsibilities of managing volunteers and are searching through layers of information for the keys to success (we’re here for you and encourage you to ask the tough questions by using the comment tool).

Today we’d like to introduce one of our latest ventures in providing you with the baseline of information that EVERY manager of volunteers needs to know. We call them Need to Know Basics. These brief documents are boiled down versions on various topics in Volunteer Management. They are the least you need to know, not to be confused with the multitude of supporting information and advanced concepts in the field.

What for example are the commonly recognized best practices in volunteer management? And how do I know that my organization runs a quality volunteer program? These topics are covered in the Need to Know Basics of Volunteer Management Best Practices -a must-have collection which contains the Essential Elements of Volunteer Resources Management including:

• A Best Practices Checklist to guide your organizations in determining the quality of volunteer programs
• Information about how to put those practices into place in your organization
• A Bibliography with written resources and a list of valuable websites where you can find the most up-to-date info about managing volunteers

Not to worry, we won’t stop there! This is just a sneak peek of what is to come–a series of one-page Need to Know Basics on topics like Managing Psychological Contracts, Situational Leadership, Cultural Competency, and Group Dynamics are coming your way.

We’re ready to tailor more topics to your needs, novice to expert! Just leave a comment and let us know what new challenges lie ahead for you. We’ll do our best to craft key resources that you can consume in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee (or tea).

Investing the time to learn and grow as a Manager of Volunteers doesn’t have to cost a lot, and seeing your well managed volunteers make a difference in your community is, well …priceless.

Christy Monroe is the Training VISTA at the Maine Commission for Community Service.

by Larry Ullian

A Profession is an occupation whose core element is work based on the mastery of a complex body of knowledge and skills. It is a vocation in which knowledge of some department of science or learning or the practice of an art founded upon it is used in the service of others. Its members are governed by codes of ethics and profess a commitment to competence, integrity, and morality, altruism, and the promotion of the public good within their domain. These commitments form the basis of a social contract between a profession and society, which in return, grants the profession a monopoly over the use of its knowledge base, the right to considerable autonomy in practice, and the privilege of self-regulation. Professions and their members are accountable to those served and to society. (Cruess, Johnston, & Cruess 2004)

The Volunteer Management Competencies are a set of skills, knowledge, traits, and guidelines that provide a foundation for the practice of volunteer management. Possessing, acquiring, or advancing through the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and characteristics that make up the volunteer management competencies are the basis for becoming a more skilled practitioner. Possessing, acquiring, or advancing through the values, ethical standards, and principles of volunteer management are the basis for becoming a more professional practitioner.

According to the Florida Bar, lawyer professionalism includes (1) a commitment to serve others, (2) being dedicated to the proper use of one’s knowledge to promote a fair and just result, (3) endeavoring always to enhance one’s knowledge and skills, (4) ensuring that concern for the desired result does not subvert fairness, honesty, respect, and courtesy for others with whom one comes into contact…, (5)contributing one’s skill, knowledge, and influence…to further the profession’s commitment to serving others and to promoting the public good, (6) educating the public about the capabilities and limits of the profession, and (7) accepting responsibility for one’s own professional conduct as well as others in the profession…(Rizzardi 2005).

In effect, the core elements of professionalism are: (a) character, (b) competence, (c) commitment, and (d) courtesy in client advocacy and community service where,

(1) Character equals moral traits and behaviors like integrity, morality, altruism, and service on behalf of the public good. It also includes adherence to the ethical standards of the profession, which primarily describe a set of core inter-connected values, which for volunteer management includes citizenship and philanthropy, respect, responsibility, compassion and generosity, justice and fairness, and trustworthiness (CCVA).

(2) Competence is mastery over a unique and exclusive set of knowledge and skills that society allows you to use with its members through licensure or certification and ongoing professional development. Competence is what the client, consumer, or volunteer expects from a professional volunteer manager. It means they have confidence in your knowledge, skills, and probably most importantly, your integrity.

(3) Commitment is a belief in serving others. It’s also a belief in, or the internalization of the profession’s philosophy and values. It represents the desire to serve the public good and advocate for the profession’s role in facilitating civic engagement, societal improvement, and individual and collective rights.

(4) Courtesy in client advocacy and community service is that the achievement of an individual or collective goal does not occur at the expense of fairness, honesty, respect, and courtesy for others with whom you collaborate or supervise. Integral to respect and dignity is the practice of educating consumers, clients, customers or volunteers as a way to facilitate informed choice, communication with experts, and personal or professional growth.

What’s the big deal about professionalism in volunteer management? Well, for one thing, the wave of the future in volunteerism will be older volunteers – especially the baby boomers. This is a generation of people who valued credentials and other symbols of accomplishment and competence. If you want them to volunteer for your non-profit, it would be good for them to know that you have achieved some measure of competence in a unique field through the receipt of a certificate or enrollment in a series of professional development courses.

Secondly, a professional volunteer manager raises the standards of the volunteer management sector. This means that eventually, there will be a critical mass of professional or certified volunteer managers who will want to be recognized for their professional accomplishments not only financially, but by having a place at the “strategic planning table.”

Thirdly, the more professional volunteer managers there are, the more communities of practice and other peer networks get established. Why is this so wonderful? Peer learning by sharing problems, issues, and solutions is the best way to learn and take advantage of each other’s experience. Moreover, an organized group of volunteer managers can have a more significant influence on volunteer policy development, policy implementation, and practice.

Fourthly, increased levels of professionalism lead to an increased interest in figuring out which methods work best and which don’t, and why. This can lead to research and evaluation, which can be shared with peers through various publications. This can facilitate the movement of the profession of volunteer management toward the hallowed halls of academe and its credit-bearing courses and programs focused on volunteerism.

Finally, professionalism in volunteer management provides a reassurance to clients, consumers, customers, and other professionals that you can be counted on for competence, integrity, dedication to a common good, and responsibility for your own decisions and actions.

Professionalism is not just another piece of paper you put in a frame.

Larry Ullian is Director of Program Development at USM’s Muskie School of Public Service.