SITE

By Trudy Hamilton

At the recent Blaine House conference, there was quite a bit of information about professional development in the volunteer management career path. Much of the information was about the exciting, new opportunities being created by leaders in the field, like Anne Schink and Larry Ullian at USM, or the work being done by the Project Invest folks.

There is much more to professional development, however, than traditional courses and credentials. Joining a network of your peers can be equally beneficial. PAVA in the Portland area usually has a variety of presentations throughout the year. One of my favorites this year was the presentation on social media, and I’m looking forward to Martin Cowling’s training in November. VAMM in the Midcoast area traditionally does an excellent one-day conference at a marvelous venue…The Maine Maritime Museum. The topics offered are as varied as the presenters, and the keynote is always interesting. DOVIA in York County has had dynamic membership and presenters over the years.

Up and coming are new networks in a wide area of the state. In the Lewiston-Auburn Area, the VISTA hosted by my agency, Michelle Mason, is working diligently to convene other volunteer resource managers in the area and help with the growth of AVA. She did a fantastic educational piece around social media, and is planning a piece on professional development for the next meeting. The Franklin Volunteer Resource Network in the Farmington area is coming back to life after a long hiatus in an effort to share resources, ideas, and needs. There is another network developing in the Bangor area, as well. If we become active in our local groups, and those groups thrive, most of the state will have opportunities for involvement.

At the national level, you might think about joining the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE). Part of their mandate is to provide trainings, regional conferences, and a voice at the national level. They are currently planning to provide a free webinar training for members, developed by Katie Campbell of CVA and Susan Ellis of Energize.Inc.

All of these networks provide professional development for volunteer managers. You get the opportunity to find out who else is doing what in your community, and everyone has the opportunity to learn about you and your agency, as well. One of the nicer pieces is realizing that although you may be the only one in your organization who does what you do, you aren’t the only one in your community. Everyone has something to offer.

In this field, you find professional development opportunities in unusual places. Make the most of them.

“Knowledge is power and knowledge shared is power multiplied.”
– Bob Noyce

Trudy Hamilton, CVA is the Manager of Volunteer Resources at SeniorsPlus and a featured blogger.

By Noble Smith

Reduced philanthropic support and demand from potential donors that non- profits operate cost-effectively, within budget and tightly managed!

It is clearly obvious and critically necessary to recognize that private sector fund-raising in a difficult economic environment is a huge challenge and this current situation will be a part of non-profit philanthropy for years to come.

In essence, fund-raising in this new age of philanthropy is changing rapidly. The traditional Arts of Asking are still valid and continue to be an integral element in the fund-raising tool box. However, the social media networks offered by on-going and exciting technological advances must be given equal attention and implementation.

There have been many peaks and valleys in the magnitude of philanthropic support over the past century with two of the most challenging times during the 30s at the time of the Great Depression and since the summer and fall of 2008 continuing right through 2009 and beyond. The vast majority of today’s economists are warning that returning to the free spending levels of the late 80s and 90s and the first years of the 21st century are forever in the past.

Tomorrow’s economic climate will have a dramatic impact on philanthropy, and the non-profit industry best grab its bootstraps and relace them tightly.

Today, the onslaught of the current economic downturn has caused many non-profits to fold or join with other organizations that have somewhat similar goals and objectives. It has also created, fortunately in my judgment, numerous opportunities for non-profit leadership - both staff and volunteers - to rethink, retool and reformat how their institutions are managed.

Diminishing support levels have forced non-profits to reexamine business and strategic plans of action, or in many cases to create them. Pencils are now constantly sharpened and programs and activities are under intense scrutiny and rightfully so.

Many non-profits, even those old and established ones, are looking at revenue projections with brazen reality. Unless programs and activities generate enough income to sustain operations, they are being mothballed, cancelled or remolded into other institutional programs and activities.

Tough as the current recession is, I view the future in extremely positive terms for those in the industry and those advising it have been forced to set hard-nosed benchmarks and view and operate their organizations as though stockholders were constantly overseeing each transaction.

Many non-profits have redefined the meaning of “creativity” when that skill relates to generating income or insuring that adequate funds are available to sustain programs and new operations. Not only is revamping a necessity during down times, but it plants the seeds for constant close monitoring of all operations ad infinitum - it is forcing more non-profits to control their destinies.

As quintessential portion of destiny control revolves directly around the opportunities that “electronic fund raising” has provided the non-profit communities. Such relatively new devices - blogs, myspace, faceboook, utube and even newer systems still on the drawing boards - will become integrated fund raising tools for almost all non-profits. These 21st century social media networks will not replace the time-tested and honored art of asking. They will, however, become indispensable fund raising tools if the non-profit wants to survive financially. The current and next generations will have no problem understanding and readily using these giving mechanisms.

As the nation rights itself financially and economically, those in the non-profit world who have used these difficult times to strengthen and restructure their operations and learn, accept and implement new and creative methods of raising private sector support will be on solid ground tomorrow.

The non-profit world is a huge business which demands that its operations, management and oversight equal those traits in private sector Fortune 500 companies.

(Next blog - The Art of Asking - still “groovie”, essential and successful!, IF…….!)

Noble Smith is a featured blogger a former Commissioner of the Maine Commission for Community Service, and President of Noble Smith Associates (Development and Marketing Consultants).

By Rochelle Runge

In partnership with VolunteerMaine.org, the Maine Commission for Community Service sponsors both this Blog and the VolunteerFare Newsletter, in and effort to provide you with news and information on the sector and relevant educational topics to help further your professional development.

Our newsletter contributors and bloggers aim to target messages that will be helpful to your work and interesting to read. In order to help us focus our energy please take a few minutes to answer this short 7 question survey on VolunteerFare and the Blog. Thank you in advance for your help!

Rochelle Runge is the Public Relations Representative for the Maine Commission for Community Service and a guest blogger.

By Jeremy Keith Hammond

The prefix ‘open’ has become applied to many new terms, particularly in online conversations. It describes an approach to design, development, organization and distribution. Open-approaches are most often considered free, though not just in price, but in liberty. Think of free speech instead of free beer. ‘Open’ has become particularly popular, not just for its effectiveness of producing results, but also because of its human-oriented, ideological fundamentals. Openness combines extreme levels of practicality and idealism as they have never been before.

Early ‘open’ appearances include open-source technologies or software such as the Linux operating systems for computers which are produced and advanced by legions of volunteer developers all over the world interested in the technology and its quality instead of by profit driven corporations. People work on it freely, distribute it freely, and change it freely, etc. all for the benefit of the general public. The same principle has been applied to the Mozilla Firefox web browser, the world’s leading browser after Internet Explorer. Programmers from every continent collaborate on this one program to produce a stable, high quality piece of software that purely benefits its users. One could view this as the democratization of technology and many consider it to be a positive step forward. The ‘open’ concept has expanded to include works of art and music, as well as college course materials such as MIT’s popular open-courseware.

This idea has started to roll over into other areas of society and many are eager to explore the potential of ‘open.’ In the world of software, we have concrete definitions of what’s free and open but as the concept is used more widely, things get a little hazier. We can narrow things down to a few principles.

Let’s look at the principles of ‘open’ that have been laid out so far and explore how they could be used in the field of volunteerism.

Principle 1: Transparency
Transparency: meaning that you can see inside it, study it or understand it. For example, open source software or an open government. In the former example, there is no secret coding hidden for proprietary sake. Also, knowledge about its contributors is readily available to those concerned and the level of contribution is used to determine value and reward. There are no secret recipes. This has a viral effect in the transmission and evolution of the software. What’s particularly important is the trust that is built. By being able to look inside the software you can easily be reassured about the nonexistence of anything malicious.

Transparency already yields similar results in volunteerism. Most nonprofit orgs are required to file IRS form 990, a public document, which sheds light on the revenue and spending practices of each nonprofit. This practice, among others, has built a huge amount of trust between nonprofits and the public. All you need to do is say the word, nonprofit and instantly the listener has made a positive judgement about the nature of the endeavor or organization. It’s also important to volunteers. The average volunteer is faced with multiple organizations and projects competing for his or her time. Trust is going to be a major factor in determining which cause they aid. A more transparent organization is going to garner more trust.

Additionally, a transparent organization is easier to improve. With more people able to view it and analyze it, it opens itself up to more constructive criticism. Ideally, those people will be volunteers in a position to make that analysis and implement positive changes.

Principle 2: Participatory
This particularly refers to more substantive contribution. We’re social beings with self-esteems that benefit from knowing we make positive differences in our world. Wikipedia is wonderful evidence of that. The wealth of knowledge contributed to this online resource is absolutely immense and it’s all conducted by thousands of people around the world entirely for free. People are excited to take ownership of something publicly beneficial. I personally have contributed articles to Wikipedia and feel very proud about it.

Offering an outlet for that desire in your organization is critical. Allowing volunteers more authority - as their contributions increase in quality - is an excellent reward system that will improve your organization, advancing its cause and greatly increase retention.

Another way an organization can follow this principle is by creating an environment open to as many volunteers and their abilities as possible. Everyone can contribute to your cause in some way - learn how to be open to new forms of contribution. Also consider the demographic. Allow beneficiaries of your organization to participate in the governance of its activities. After-all they may know better than anyone else how to be served.

Principle 3: Flexible, Malleable, Editable…
This suggests that your organization ought to be accepting of change, particularly change derived from all of its contributors and not just a small authority. Consider the case of the battle of the browsers. Despite having a stranglehold on the market (due more to its corporate connections with computer retailers than the value of its browser), Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is a lot slower in meeting the demands of consumers than its open source counterpart, Mozilla Firefox. While Internet Explorer provides updated browsers every so often, Mozilla is constantly and immediately updated by extensions produced by programmers which can easily, and sometimes automatically, be installed. These updates are user driven instead of market driven. The advantage is a better product or service.

The volunteer environment is constantly changing. The needs and motivations of volunteers shift due to numerous circumstances often times on an internal, community, national or international level. It will behoove your organization to meet those changes as soon as possible to ensure the sustainable recruitment and retention of volunteers.

For instance, we’ve seen increases in contributions from younger generations. A smart organization would harness that youthful energy to bring fresh ideas to the table. Being open to the ideas of those youth, in essence enabling them to participate and dictate those very changes may even maximize the effect.

Other open strategies and qualities to think about that are applicable to volunteerism include:

1.Providing spaces for people (volunteers) as they are and as they want to become
2.Embracing the richness and wisdom in differences or plurality
3.Acting with a light spirit, sense of fun, creativity and a perspective of opportunity
4.Applying practical and productive techniques and approaches from non-traditional domains
5. Distributing increasing control, earnings, and assets into the communities they serve

Following these principles results in a fresh, flexible, sustainable, and ethical volunteer program which benefits not only the organization, but its volunteers and constituents as well.

Jeremy Keith Hammond is on the Buoya! Steering Committee and is a guest blogger.

By Pete Phair

I am currently in the midst of a state-wide campaign to draw new volunteers into the WinterKids fold for our upcoming season. In a nutshell, we are putting some structure into the volunteer process and in many ways, I am starting from scratch. I have found this to be a remarkably good thing.

WinterKids has always utilized volunteers and we have some absolutely wonderful people who devote countless hours in support of the WinterKids mission, but up until recently, most of the protocols around volunteer recruitment, training and retention have occurred randomly, by happenstance or out of sheer desperation. And although there is probably still an element of all of that in our volunteer operations, we are slowly developing systems that remove some of the randomness, lend some definition to the happenstances and lessen the number of times I have to use the phrase, “I know this is last minute, but we are really desperate…”

With the creation of specific job descriptions, policies & procedures and a Volunteer Handbook, we now have a logical progression of intake actions that help guide all new volunteers through the process of orienting to WinterKids. A revised application allows us to proactively select volunteers for jobs that are suited to their skills rather than filling a slot with a warm body. Our database has been modified to track where our volunteers have been, what they did and how long they did it and with a brand new, board-approved, three year Strategic Plan, we are able to project our volunteer needs over the next three years and position ourselves accordingly.

We will soon launch a new web site that will simplify some of the programmatic processes our constituents require but just as importantly, it will streamline donations and volunteer pages so that those visiting our website will be able to easily navigate to where they want to go.

We have identified communities that will receive our focused attention and this has helped me to narrow the scope of where to look for individuals who are aligned with our mission, who may have winter kids of their own or simply feel a kinship with what WinterKids does. And now, when we booth at school events, health/wellness fairs and other public venues, it is a simple matter to indoctrinate potential volunteers with the material that has been developed for that purpose.

In other words, developing a support structure for our volunteer systems has resulted in many positive side effects- not the least of which is a constantly growing list of new and highly energized volunteers!

Pete Phair is a guest blogger and the Outreach Coordinator at WinterKids

By Lauren Kelly

Earlier this summer, an announcement was made that will forever change the way our nation volunteers. The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) announced that it, along with The Corporation for National and Community Service, will launch the “I Participate” campaign October 19-25. The purpose of this campaign is to spotlight the power and personal benefits of volunteering and to encourage a new era of volunteerism.

Nationally, ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC will support the campaign by airing celebrity Public Service Announcements (beginning late September) encouraging viewers to tune in the week of October 19th when more than 60 network television programs (such as 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, and CSI: New York) will feature a volunteer or service related message in their story lines.

Locally, statewide television and radio stations have pledged their support by agreeing to run VolunteerMaine.org Public Service Announcements which provides valuable publicity for volunteer efforts and opportunities throughout the state.

As the message of volunteerism receives this influx of national and local attention, it’s a natural reaction for more people to become inspired to volunteer.
So you must ask yourself…”Is my organization ready?”

These 8 strategies will help ensure you are prepared to take full advantage of this amazing publicity opportunity.
1.Define your needs for the short-term: Spend an afternoon brainstorming with staff and board members and identify things that could be done by a volunteer. Consider a variety of opportunities — some that are one-time and some that are ongoing.
2.Think big, but maybe start small: Not many nonprofits can manage a highly-skilled, long-term volunteer program right out of the gate. If you don’t currently have volunteer opportunities, consider designing and hosting a quarterly volunteer day to get the ball rolling.
3.Get everyone on board: Define your process for securing interested volunteers. Make sure everyone — from your board members to your receptionist — understands that process- i.e. who handles calls from interested volunteers?
4.Be resourceful: If you don’t have staff who can serve as volunteer coordinators, consider tapping one of your most dedicated volunteers to play this role.
5.Post your volunteer opportunities far and wide: Start by visiting VolunteerMaine.org- it’s a great resource for volunteer recruitment.
6.Invest in your volunteers: Treat them as you treat your staff. Ensure they understand your mission and that their participation contributes to meeting a need in their community.
7.Can’t take any more? Once you have reached your limit, be able to refer potential volunteers to other organizations that could use their time and energy. You are the doorway for a Mainer to make a difference!
8.Define your needs for the long-haul: Integrate volunteer engagement into your annual strategic plan. It should be given as much attention as your fundraising strategies — because volunteers are an invaluable resource.

Lauren Kelly is the Marketing VISTA at the Maine Comission for Community Service and a guest blogger.

Resources:
California Volunteers, “Simple Steps for Non-Profits to Get Ready for IParticipate” http://www.californiavolunteers.org/http://www.eifoundation.org/
http://www.iparticipate.org/,

By Anne Schink

Have you heard the moans of protest? They are probably coming from the volunteers, their supervisors, and their organizations when they are reminded of the importance of keeping accurate records of volunteer time and the time required to manage and supervise those volunteers. In fact, I have a friend who refused to participate in a formal volunteer program because he “couldn’t be bothered with all that paperwork.” He spoke with annoyance about the fact that the program had “been on his back” about tracking his hours. Hmmm, you say, that all sounds vaguely familiar.

It helps if you can create a simple and relatively painless method for volunteers to track their hours and to record them in a way that gives you the data you need to celebrate their contributions. The Board of your organization needs regular reports of these contributions to remind them of the central contribution they give to the mission of the organization.

But I am here to say that accurate record keeping is essential for grant-funded programs whose very survival depends on documenting the contributions made by volunteers. And for any other programs who use this data in their fundraising efforts. Concrete information about those substantial donations of time and expertise also help to cement the program within the organization, once the Board and leadership understand the vital contribution that volunteers make to the agency.

So the next time you groan at the prospect of tracking the hours that volunteers contribute, remember that this is an absolutely essential piece of information in evaluating the value of any project where volunteers give their time and expertise.

Anne Schink is a guest blogger and a consultant in volunteer management, training, and facilitation.

By Elizabeth Cole

Two weeks ago I replaced my grandfather’s outdated internet browser with one that was more current and theoretically easier to use. After teaching him the basics, I started to show him some of the more advanced tools that I use. I was in the middle of explaining RSS blog feeds when he started to rub his eyes, a sign of mounting frustration. “Ah, Lillibet, I just get worn out with all of this new stuff.” I tried to explain that a RSS feed is like getting newspapers delivered to your computer rather than the door. In the midst of my analogy, which I was pretty proud of, he closed the laptop and stood up. “Thanks, honey, I think that’s all the new information I can handle for today,” he said. I had tried to give my grandfather more than he was prepared to receive, leaving me feeling like a failure and him like a fool.

This got me thinking about generational learning approaches and the implication for volunteer training and orientation. When you organize training opportunities, even informal ones, it is important to remember that adults think and learn differently than young people. With more baby-boomers volunteering than any other age group, a trend that will only intensify as more move towards retirement, understanding the principles of adult education is more important than ever. Here are some hints that will make your training sessions more effective for any age group, but that are especially important for older audiences:

• Emphasize the relevance of the training: Adults will resist material forced on them or that is only vaguely described as being interesting or “good for them to know.” Try to make the training applicable to your volunteers’ daily tasks and not just another lecture they need to sit through before they can get to the “real work” of their service.
• Make it interactive: studies show that we retain only 20% of what we hear in a lecture setting, so consider incorporating discussions, practical exercises, scenarios, role-playing, and writing.
• Construct the session around discussion: Adults learn by relating new material to preexisting knowledge. By discussing their beliefs or past experiences, adults reinforce new information.
• Involve volunteers in planning and implementing training: Giving adults some control over their learning process acknowledges that they are grownups and helps keep them engaged and enthusiastic.
• Be cautious and protective of volunteers’ self esteem: Kids learn to walk by falling down, but mature learners are much less open to trial-and-error than children. Many adults will resist trying something new if it involves the risk of making an error and feeling foolish as a result.
Nonprofits cannot hope to improve their world without first improving their volunteers. Often volunteers are charged with challenging tasks that take a lot of knowledge and training to do well. Whether you are teaching your volunteers to facilitate group discussions or showing a senior how to use the internet, remembering the basics of adult education will help you equip your volunteers to serve with passion and self-confidence.

Elizabeth Cole is an AmeriCorps member with the Maine Commission for Community Service and a presenter at the 2009 Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism.

Resources: Print Resources: Ellis, S. J., & Noyes, K. H. (1990). By the people: A history of Americans as volunteers. (Rev. ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. / Furano K. et al, (1993). Big Brother/Big Sister: A study of program practices. Philadelphia, PA: Public/Private Ventures. / Herman, R.D. (Ed.). (1994). The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Morrison, E.K. (1994). Leadership skills: Developing volunteers for organizational success. Tucson, AZ: Fisher Books. /Roaf, P. A. et al, (1994). Big Brother/Big Sister: A study of volunteer recruitment and screening. Philadelphia, PA: Public/Private Ventures.

By Liz Allen, VIPS Coordinator for the Auburn Police Department

As you can imagine, volunteerism is a fairly unique concept in law enforcement. But well-trained community volunteers can help fill critical gaps in program support and provide essential technical expertise.

On behalf of the Auburn Police Department, Chief Phil Crowell and I are pleased to participate in the 2009 Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism by offering a workshop on the APD Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) Program.

The Auburn Police Department has an impressive team of volunteers who are setting a whole new standard for community outreach. The APD VIPS program has grown from just a few dedicated volunteers to a team of more than 30, who are motivated, productive and highly effective.

Chief Crowell and I will discuss how Auburn’s program has grown into the vibrant program that it is today, including the development and implementation of our:

• Citizen Patrol
• Citizens Police Academy
• Administrative Volunteers
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
• Law Enforcement Explorer Youth Program

We will also discuss our vision for the VIPS program of tomorrow. Additionally, we will share best practices for recruitment, screening, training, funding, recognition, and retention as well as the special challenges that face any law enforcement volunteer program.

Liz Allen is the VIPS Coordinator for the Auburn Police Department and a presenter at the Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism.