SITE

By Larry Ullian

I used to volunteer at the Cancer Community center in South Portland. I co-facilitated a support group once a month. It was both exhilarating and enervating. Some of the participants were long-time survivors; others weren’t. Some continued on as survivors; others didn’t.

What was common to all of the participants, despite their emotional ups and downs, their anger and their hope, their acceptance and their despair – was their equanimity: an “evenness of mind under stress” according to Merriam-Webster. Despite each participant’s own problems, they each listened to the other’s news – both the good and the bad and offered support, examples, and a strong emotional “ray” that someone else might call love. You could feel it in the room; an intensity, an envelope of caring, an urgency of compassion that I have rarely felt anywhere else.

You can imagine that even on a monthly basis, that sort of experience is emotionally exhausting and needs a place to go. When I first started there the co-facilitators would “de-brief” with a staff member who recognized that there was a need to review, process, and learn from whatever successes or failures we had during the course of the group. That stopped when the staff person left. I didn’t think that would bother me but it did. I began to resent the lack of support I had gotten used to getting. Eventually both of us left because we felt burned out and less responsive and less patient with the groups we were supposed to be facilitating. Maybe I’d still be there if there was someone still there as a mentor, a counselor, a guide, or just a listener.

All of this is to say, that this is not the reason, that this is my last blog. I’m finding that my job, all soft money supported, requires more and more of my attention. Even the relatively easy blog schedule appears to be more than I can do. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do when a volunteer wants to move on. That’s one advantage of volunteering – you can create your own experiences of helping.

Larry Ullian is the Director of Program Development at USM’s Muskie School of Public Service and a featured blogger.

By Anne Schink

We have devoted a lot of blog time talking about ways to engage and keep volunteers. I’d like to talk about ways to expand the way you think about using volunteers. Many corporations and businesses are engaged in finding ways to increase their local community impact. In this economic climate where they may not have a lot of money to spread around the community, they may well have employees at all levels who would love to work with your organization to share their professional skills. Using pro bono volunteers requires you to have a very open mind about how to use them and a clear plan of what you would really like to accomplish.

It goes without saying that this relationship between your local business and your organization will be much more productive if you have already established a relationship before you go to them with your hand out.

It requires you to have had conversations within your own organization with the Executive Director, senior management, and perhaps the Board of Directors to explore creative ways to engage highly skilled volunteers to meet your own needs.

Dream big. Create a wish list among all your departments of all the things that you’d love to do/have that aren’t in the budget or on anyone’s work plan.

Let’s see….. How about new office furniture? Or a new space plan from an architectural firm? A consultant to facilitate a strategic plan? A computer techie to network all your computers? Marketing materials for your next big event from a graphic design firm? Training on computer programs from an organization that provides regular training to its employees? An audit from an accounting firm? An employee handbook from a law firm specializing in employment law? A business plan from a company that supports your mission? Build your own list!

Unemployed professionals may be very willing to work with you on well-defined projects in order to build their portfolio, to keep fresh with their professional skills, or to try something different within their area of expertise.

While all this abundance may seem like manna from heaven, you need to be prepared with clear expectations, boundaries for work between highly skilled volunteers and existing staff, and lines of reporting to either you or whoever else is responsible for these volunteers.

If you’ve been reluctant to step up to the leadership plate in your organization, this may be the perfect time for you to suggest to your ED or senior management team that they develop a “pie in the sky” list of things they would love to have or projects they would love to have completed. It could be a fun exercise and an opportunity to open up the ways in which your organization uses volunteers.

Anne Schink is a Consultant in Volunteer Management and a featured blogger.

By Len Kaye

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has just announced a grant to the state of Maine to establish the Senior Environmental Leadership Corps. This grant was awarded by the U.S. EPA’s Aging Initiative as a “2009 Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging: Training and Demonstration” project.

The Senior Environmental Leadership Corps will provide leadership and civic engagement training with a special focus on environmental stewardship and smart growth planning to adults 50 years of age and older throughout Maine. Between 150 and 200 individuals will be nominated as delegates by municipal, county and state governments; and senior education, volunteer, and social service organizations to represent their geographic regions in an intensive skills building and leadership development summit focused on forward-thinking environmental planning that will improve environmental and health outcomes for citizens of all ages. The summit is projected to be held in Northport, Maine at Point Lookout in late August of 2009. Delegates will be encouraged to take the skills and knowledge they gain from the summit and implement action plans in their own communities that focus on employing smart and green growth principles in future planning and program development. Administered through the University of Maine’s Center on Aging and monitored by an expert advisory board, project staff will provide on-going delegate support and technical resources and showcase the accomplishments of delegates through a variety of approaches.

This exciding project will engage an extensive network of state wide professional and community individuals and groups as well as nationally recognized smart growth experts. The University of Maine Center on Aging will perform the administrative coordinating function. Advisory committee members will provide technical assistance, project guidance, and program evaluation oversight. Project partners and advisors include: the Development, Community, and Environment Division of the U.S. EPA, the Maine Development Foundation, the New England Environmental Finance Center (a collaboration between EPA Region 1 and the Muskie School of Public Service), the Maine Municipal Association, the Maine Association of Senior Corp Programs, the Bernard Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (18 Senior Colleges with over 5000 members), the Maine Community Action Association, the Maine Commission for Community Service, the Maine Community Foundation, the Maine State Planning Office, the City of Bangor, Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging, WBRC Architects and Engineers, GrowSmart Maine, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNS) 5 Retired and Senior Volunteer Programs (RSVP) (over 2000 members) in the state of Maine.

More information will be available shortly as this project gets underway. If you are interested in learning more about the Maine Senior Environmental Leadership Corps please e-mail project staff at SELC@mainecenteronaging.org.

Lenard W. Kaye, D.S.W., Ph.D. is the Director of UMaine Center on Aging and a guest blogger.

By Bob Moore

Just a few years ago, there were companies – including Augusta where our offices are located – who used to supply “loaned executives” for periods of up to 6 months to even a year for efforts like downtown and economic development. Timberland, an outdoor clothing company located in Stratham, NH still gives staffers 40 paid hours of volunteer time each year. Though these tough economic times might limit that level of support from most companies, many for-profit businesses still generously support – and encourage – their employees to take part in projects like service work at local camps, schools and other community venues. Given the state of the economy, are there any benefits still for businesses to provide Employee Volunteer Programs? You bet!
Benefits to the Employee
• Improved performance – job satisfaction, attitude and morale all increase
• Encourages teamwork, promotes leadership and skill development
• Improves communication between employees, supervisors, and across departments
Benefits to the Company
Helps to build or increase:
• Brand awareness
• Customer trust and loyalty
• Corporate image and reputation
• Employee retention, productivity and loyalty
Benefits to the Community
• Provides skilled and talented volunteers to help meet the needs of the community
• Cost savings for community-service organizations in recruiting and direct labor
• Help bring community needs into focus

Don’t just take it from me – here’s some data supporting the info above:

“Research shows that companies that help employees volunteer with nonprofit organizations could have a leg up with recruiting Generation Y (18-26 year-old) talent. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (62%) in the 2007 Volunteer IMPACT survey by Deloitte & Touche USA said they would prefer to work for companies that give them opportunities to contribute their talents to nonprofit organizations.” (Deloitte & Touche USA LLP (Deloitte & Touche USA), 2007)

“64% of executives surveyed say that corporate citizenship produces a tangible contribution to the company bottom line. Among executives at large companies, 84% see direct bottom-line benefits.”
and
“An Employee Volunteer Program (EVP) is effective in developing employees, improving public perception of the company, and enhancing business operations. Administrators further believe an EVP is a sensible, efficient method of achieving general HR objectives for recruiting, retaining, and developing employees.” (Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and Business Civic Leadership Center, 2005

Not all companies may be able to be like Timberland, but EMP’s at any level can definitely improve one’s bottom line!

Bob Moore is Executive Director of Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed and a featured blogger.

By Penny Kern

There’s an interesting article on energizeinc.com about the new bill waiting for President Obama’s signature. It has been named for Senator Edward Kennedy and, according to the article, a pet project of the President’s. Here’s a brief quote from the article.

“The bill covers a lot of territory. It dramatically expands AmeriCorps; authorizes additional “Corps” for health, education, and veterans; and creates a “Volunteer Generation Fund” to help “nonprofit organizations recruit and manage more volunteers” (whatever that really means). It’s too early to know how it will all filter down to the local level, but it’s worth reading some of the diverse points of view praising and cautioning about the impact of this Act.”

There are links to various comments and posts in reaction to this bill. Drop into http://www.energizeinc.com/news.html and check it out.

This site also has some great information for volunteer managers and volunteers so I suggest you bookmark it once you are there.

Penny Kern is an experienced manager of volunteers and a featured blogger.

By Chris Wolf

We all hit challenges within our programs, and sometimes it’s hard to remember why we do what we do. But, then we hear the incredible stories about how the service of our volunteers has indeed made a huge difference in the lives of those they are serving, but also on the lives of the member. When I ask my volunteers to report on their accomplishments, I am not just looking for the number of volunteers recruited, or the number of hours volunteers served. What interests me most is how the experience has helped to shape the lives of those giving and receiving the volunteer service.

I ask my volunteers to share stories and reflections in their reports. These stories and reflections remind me why I am doing what I am doing. I want to share two reflections from my volunteers upon the end of their service just as a reminder that we are indeed making a difference in communities and in the lives of our volunteers.

“I drove down the hill and to the ferry terminal for the last time tonight. From here you can see bits of everything: some of Swan’s Island, the Sisters, Harbor Island, Cadillac Mountain, and the whole of the sky. It’s still and quiet and one of my favorite spots to be when the sun has just set. I sat with the engine running, listening to some woman sing beautifully, and then I turned everything off and though of how it is to be in love with a place, to be so acutely aware of the elation and heartache that goes along with being infatuated with where you live. I feel, at this point, that my time on the island, both these past two years and in the foreseeable future, is like a torrid love affair, something thrilling and jarring both. And right now, we are on a break from each other. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to start seeing other people and other places. There are no hard feelings. I’ll go my way and it will stay right here like it has for hundreds of years. And if, or more likely when, I decide o return, even for a little while, it will accept me graciously. Small things will change and the children I knew so well will have grown in innumerable ways and the smell might not be how I remember it. But I imagine I will know I’m home again and I’ll be relieved by the things that didn’t change and I’ll be reminded of this incredible opportunity I had and I know I’ll feel nothing but grateful.” - Scott Sell, Frenchboro Fellow, reflecting on the two years of his fellowship

“I never volunteered much in high school or college. I wasn’t especially active in any of the (many) communities I lived in, and while I think I’ve always had a pretty strong social ethic, for some reason I just didn’t act much on it. I’ve been trying to figure out why this changed on Matinicus. I’ve never been a part of a community where I wanted to give back so much, and I think it can only be because the community has given me so much. In a place this small, you can really see the impact- positive or otherwise- of every person’s action. I think this is true in larger settings too, but the effect isn’t quite as obvious all the time.

I can’t remember when exactly it was, but I do remember the exact feeling I had when someone first referred to Matinicus as my home. At some point last year, when I had been off island for a couple of weeks visiting friends and family, I returned to the island and ran into my neighbor, Eva Murray. Eva greeted me with a ‘Welcome Home!’ and a quick wave. We both stopped briefly, and she said, ‘well, I guess this is home, right?’ and I said yeah, it sure is. The memory of the moment still makes me happy.” - Anne Bardaglio, Matinicus Fellow, reflecting on the two years of her fellowship

Chris Wolff is Community Development Director at the Island Institute and a featured blogger.