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by Noble Smith

From a resounding and growing plea of Maine’s overworked and budget-stressed state agencies, there is an echoing cry that sounds like – help! It was a whisper just a few years ago, but today and forecasting for tomorrow, this echoing sound is reverberating though the halls of many state agency buildings.

From this budgetary point of view, Maine’s state agencies have no choice in order to stretch shrinking public dollars but to increase dramatically their volunteer management skills. They must get themselves ready for the potentially large influx of highly qualified volunteers waiting to be enlisted, assigned, managed and awarded!

From an internal management of volunteers, some of Maine’s state agencies need to “borrow” from the private non-profit sector many of their proven techniques, strategies and attitudes that guarantee a high degree of readiness and success! In essence state agencies that do not directly oversee volunteers must incorporate the established traits of high quality volunteer program operations as an integral part of their contract selection and award process.

Not that the private sector has all the answers or possesses the only techniques that “work” with volunteers, but a working partnership between the public and private sectors can be mutually beneficial and help solve ever-increasing and pressing needs of the public sector.

Given the huge and almost immediate impact of the highly qualified retirees emanating from the “baby-boomer” generation, this nation and, particularly, Maine, stands to strengthen its leadership role in the utilization of volunteers. But that success will not come without changes in attitude, without refinements and adjustments in current operations and without some risk-taking by state employees individually and state agencies as a whole.

However, one of the quintessential principles of strong volunteer training and management is largely missing from most of the state agency strategic plans of action. For example, job descriptions for the multiplicity of volunteer needs have yet to be written, let alone that the required volunteer management skills are still absent in many instances!

For some state agencies, unfortunately, there are mutterings that volunteer involvement is more of a pain than a panacea for success or even survival! Some feel, and in some few cases, perhaps rightfully so, that the increase of volunteers undermines the effectiveness of agencies’ paid employees! In addition, such statements as “we have not got enough time to write job descriptions and manage these individuals” do not represent, in this author’s mind, a realistic and common sense way of entering a future with less budgetary resources to meet minimum priorities and objectives.

The need for clearly articulated responsibilities for volunteer management in the public sector is of paramount importance as is strong leadership, leadership that recognizes that volunteer skills and involvement are not slave labor or other types of low-skilled job assignments. Rather, the lifetime experiences of this new breed of baby boomer volunteer brings added strength and professionalism to the widely diverse needs of many divisions of State government.

The public sector must assume a larger and more active role of volunteer ownership if the ultimate goal is to enhance and strengthen the overall mission of an agency.
As a relatively new Commissioner of the Maine Commission on Community Service (MCCS) but having been involved with placing and working with volunteers in both sectors for nearly half a century, I am very much aware of the enormous challenges that confront both the volunteer and the organization/agency.

MCCS is in the business of servicing all aspects of volunteer involvement. It has been one of Maine’s leading forces in the identification, enlistment, training and management of existing and new volunteers throughout the State since 1994. Again, working in partnerships with a multiplicity of public and private sector entities, MCCS continues its leadership role not only to broaden volunteer involvement, but also to provide an even higher degree of professionalism for both users and givers.

Maine, proportionally to its population, has one of the highest national percentages of individuals retiring to or retiring in the state. In discussion with numerous groups of retirees over the past few years, two responses stand out when asked about their involvement in volunteer endeavors:

• “no one has asked us”;
• “there are many organizations and state agencies who want volunteers, but many of them have no idea of how to effectively use, train and manage us”.

The volunteer challenges ahead are daunting, the budgetary implications enormous, the impact for fulfilling mission and priorities ever present, while the potential people task force is, in essence, readily available IF we manage it effectively and in a business-like manner. Sensitivity to volunteer skills and lifetime experiences coupled with the necessary applied management skills by leadership and employees at all levels are quintessential for success.

Noble Smith is President of Noble Smith Associates, a 28-year old development, fund raising management and marketing company.

by Larry Ullian

Recently I helped implement a program for VISTA and AmeriCorps volunteers. The workshop’s purpose was to help the volunteers prepare for the next occupational phase of their lives. They were supposed to practice selection interviewing in scenarios where they were to act as both interviewers in one scenario and as the applicant in another. One of the volunteers was a young woman (they were ALL young from my advancing perspective!) who had been assigned to a hospital where she was supposed to be functioning as the volunteer coordinator. When I asked her if she had gotten any orientation or training for the position, she replied no she hadn’t; she was learning as she went along. Many of us know this method…it’s the immersion technique where you jump in and see if you can stay afloat and maybe even get to the shores of at least, minimal competence.

This is no criticism of the young woman who was bright and committed to doing her best. Instead, I’m writing about a profession that thinks so little of itself that it could actually assume that a young and inexperienced person could actually understand the complexity of the organization’s structure, culture, and history, not to mention the interpersonal complexity of recruiting and supervising mostly older volunteers.

Is volunteer management so marginalized that anyone can do it just by walking in off the street? No educational or experiential preparation at all? How does this square with the effort to professionalize a field that’s going to become increasingly important as more and more boomers choose to volunteer at non-profit organizations (NPOs) who are just beginning to realize that they will need volunteers as their budgets are threatened by increased competition for fewer and fewer dollars? How, on the one hand, can we expect to revise and strengthen the standards of volunteer management if anyone can do it just by being appointed or assigned or asked to fill the position?

Among other things, maybe by a public education campaign to sensitize and educate the public and the NPOs to the need for educated, experienced volunteer managers who are crucial to their desire to achieving success on behalf of the vulnerable populations they serve.

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

by Julie D. Mulkern

Most of us can say easily that without the support of our peers and the professional organizations to which we belong, we would not be nearly as successful with our programs. This is largely because we are part of a uniquely non-competitive field. The volunteer management world is a well of resource-sharing.

Professional organizations allow for a congregation of intelligent, like-minded professionals that are immersed in the inner workings of their industry to gather and provide participants with access to a variety of opinions and ideas. The Volunteer Maine site is a perfect 21st century example!

Currently, I am a member of the Maine Society of Directors of Healthcare Volunteer Services (MSDHVS). Membership in this group has been invaluable to my growth as a volunteer manager. This group represents volunteer directors in healthcare organizations all across Maine and boasts literally hundreds of years of experience in volunteer management. This diverse constituency provides a wealth of information for new or seasoned volunteer managers.

Membership in a professional organization exposes you to new opportunities and people that could help you now and in the future. You’re developing a network in which you’re meeting like-minded people from other organizations that face similar challenges and who may be able to provide insights into solutions that have worked for them.

In the process you are reaping the benefits of: increased credibility, broadened knowledge, potential career opportunities, and last but certainly not least, lifelong friendships.

Julie D. Mulkern is the Manager of Volunteer Resources & Development at Spring Harbor Hospital, an inpatient psychiatric hospital in Westbrook, Maine.

We’re pleased to be adding two new Featured Bloggers to the Volunteer Maine blog, Julie D. Mulkern and Noble Smith.

Click here to learn more about Julie and here to learn more about Noble.

by Anne Schink

Once upon a time I received an award for service I had completed. My boss, my sisters, and my daughter all joined me for a lovely luncheon with a gathering of my peers. The host said a few words about my nomination and presented me with a beautiful sculpture of the organization’s logo. I was given the opportunity to make some brief remarks to the assembled guests.

As we were leaving, one of my sisters said, “Wasn’t it nice to have your friends and family around you at the lunch.”

My boss said, “Wasn’t it nice to have your work recognized?”

My daughter said, “Wasn’t it nice they let you talk about your accomplishments in reaching your goals?”

My very quiet sister then said, “Wasn’t that a beautiful sculpture they gave you? I’ve been thinking where I would put it. I think I’d put it right above the fireplace where everyone can see it!”

We all laughed about the fact that we each reacted differently to this ‘recognition’ event.

At this time of year when volunteer recognition events are commonly held, it is important to remember that the factors that motivate volunteers also affect what form of recognition has personal meaning for each volunteer.

In the traditional volunteer literature, motivation commonly takes three forms: achievement, affiliation, and power. Those who are motivated by achievement enjoy challenges that require excellence or improved performance. Those who are motivated by affiliation enjoy the social aspects of work, being part of a team, and seek out relationships with others. Those who are motivated by power desire to have an impact on others and to bring about change.

So when you plan an event, try to take into account what motivates volunteers in the ways you recognize them. Some love a social event, some love a ‘token’, some love being in the spotlight and some just want to know they’ve made a difference.

Anne Schink is a Program Officer at the Maine Commission for Community Service.

The AmeriCorps website. Great resource for overall information and stories.

The Corps Network is the voice of the nation’s 113 Service and Conservation Corps.

NCCC member blog with photos.

Do you have any fun AmeriCorps links to share?

Guest Post by Kala

There is a moment in life when most individuals realize that they ache for something bigger than themselves. This is a realization that poverty and hardship takes place in the very country that we reside in.

We struggle to rebel against opposing beliefs; we battle against personal and political oppressors, but little is resolved. Though we battle, like many before us, against that which we disagree with, we know that we love our land. We are proud. We cannot give up or give in.

The lucky find that resolution can come with service, not out of resentment. The fortunate find that productivity and strength, in comparison to hatred and hostility, lends a healing hand. The timely understand that there is a solution; a task that one person can take on now.

One plus one soon becomes many and we begin to create a country that has just a little less hate and a little less sorrow. We are the lucky; the fortunate; the timely. We are AmeriCorps.

“…A vision softly creeping left its seed while I was sleeping and the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains…” ~Paul Simon

Kala is an AmeriCorps VISTA member who began serving in Maine in January 2008. Her work has had measurable positive impact on hundreds of agencies and organizations in Maine since that time.

Guest Post by Dorothy Grannell

As a supervisor of AmeriCorps VISTA projects in 3 different states over 20 years, working with 14 different individuals in 4 separate programs, I have had a unique opportunity to see what AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA projects do in building communities. VISTA is different from the general AmeriCorps program in that its members are building infrastructure rather than doing direct service- although sometimes they have to do some direct service in order to build the infrastructure. What does building infrastructure mean? How can it be beautiful?

If you have ever built a house or seen a building being built you know that long before walls and roofs go up, there is a lot of messy, time consuming work that takes place. Think of a seven story building. First there has to be the idea that it is a good thing to build this building, that there is a need for it and that it will be used and useful. Then there has to be funding to support the project. Then there is the planning. What else? Well, soil testing, wet lands discovery, core drilling to see if there is bed rock to support the weight, and finally the actual design has to be developed with all of its considerations. Is this going to be a “green building”? who will the contractors be? This is the kind of work that is done when the community organization writes its AmeriCorps VISTA Grant. Once the grant is accepted, the rest of the hard, unseen and often unglamorous work starts. This is the point in time where the AmeriCorps VISTA members come in. In a sense they are the ones who - if they were building the building - would be digging the foundation, pouring the footings, laying the septic and water lines, putting in the underground wiring and geo-thermal heat pumps and finally building the foundation.

The part of the building that gets noticed is its design , its outward appearance, inner functionality and decoration. It may take years to build the building. But the evaluation of the building comes many years after it has been put into service and after it has weathered storms. An AmeriCorps VISTA project works that way too. The beauty is that the programs last and serve the public and make the community stronger.

The project that I am currently coordinating, the VolunteerMaine VISTA project, is a three to five year grant that is designed to promote the use of the VolunteerMaine web site (in all of its facets and this blog page is one of those facets), develop “Volunteer Centers without Walls,” promote best practices in volunteer management and provide training to achieve those best practices, and to manage volunteer response in times of emergency and disaster. Many of the things that these AmeriCorps VISTA members will do will never be seen by the general public and we won’t know if we have built a sustainable product for at least five years. The members move ahead however, without any assurances that their work will make a difference, and do their very best.

If my experience with AmeriCorps VISTA tells me anything, it is that the work will make a difference and that volunteers and non-profit organizations in Maine will have a better experience because of the work of these members. In ten years they will be able to look back and see how Maine is better prepared to respond in emergencies, has well prepared managers of volunteers and a growing base of actively engaged community volunteers. They will also bring strong organizational and partnership development skills to the communities where they land and be actively engaged in their communities.

In Maine, the infrastructure that AmeriCorps VISTA members are building across the state is making Maine a better place to live. This AmeriCorps Week gives us all a chance to say thank you to those who have done this hard work for us. If you see someone with an AmeriCorps Logo on a shirt or you see it on an application for a job or a volunteer position take the time to say “thank you” for serving Maine and our nation. The 14 individuals I have had the opportunity to work with over the years are some of the finest people I know and I am blessed and privileged to have been in their company. We may also want to write to our legislators and urge continuing support of AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA programs. Let them know that these programs are among the best of federally funded programs that there are. They may not be sexy but they have lasting beauty.

Dorothy Grannell coordinates the Volunteer Maine VISTA project.

Volunteer Maine’s AmeriCorps week page spotlights the great work that AmeriCorps members are doing here in Maine. Check out some stories from AmeriCorps members, send an e-card to that special AmeriCorps member in your life, and find out more about service opportunities in Maine and beyond.

Also check out Carolanne Dube’s recent editorial on the impact of AmeriCorps.

by Christy Monroe

Since we’re celebrating AmeriCorps Week on the Volunteer Maine Blog today let’s have a better look into what this program is all about.

First, since our focus has turned towards outcomes based measurements, let’s run some numbers:

• 542,000: Number of people who have served as AmeriCorps members since 1994.
• 705 Million: Total number of hours served by AmeriCorps members.
• $1.43 Billion: Total amount of Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards earned by AmeriCorps members.
• 1.7 Million: Number of community volunteers managed or mobilized by AmeriCorps members in 2007.
• 4,100: Number of nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations that AmeriCorps members served with last year.
• $5 Billion: Amount of AmeriCorps funds invested in nonprofit, community, educational and faith-based community groups since 1994.

WOW! So, you might ask, “What exactly do AmeriCorps members do?”

Well, funny you should ask…they do a wide range of things. They recruit, train, and supervise community volunteers, tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, run after-school programs, help communities respond to disasters, and build the capacity of nonprofit groups to become self-sustaining, among many other activities.

In a nutshell, AmeriCorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service which provides opportunities for 75,000 Americans to give back each year. It’s often coined as “the domestic Peace Corps” and consists of three main programs: AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

If you know an AmeriCorps member, give them a high-five for a job well done. If you are serving as an AmeriCorps member, pat yourself on the back. And if you’re interested in becoming an AmeriCorps member visit the AmeriCorps website. (Then give yourself thumbs up for your interest in national service.)

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