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by Vicki Schmidt

Some of my best friends are Chief Officers in urban, fulltime “round-the-clock” staffed Fire Departments. Another coalition of friends are career firefighters in fully staffed shift-scheduled union Departments. And then there are my firefighter friends and fire instructor colleagues who, like me, rarely see the inside of a fire department crisp with professional uniforms. Our time is spent serving the always on call fire departments that make up over 85% of the fire departments in Maine. Those that are home to the ever on guard; volunteer firefighter.

Quality training for all firefighters, no matter how the Department is defined, is critical. And instructing in a rural volunteer department is especially challenging. Training props and equipment needed to ensure skills based on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) training standards and certified curriculum objectives are often hard to locate or construct. While some departments have their own in-house instructor; essential skills that ensure continued professional development, full scale Firefighter I & II program management, and the ability to strategically plan for long term department training needs, often escape the ability or means of many volunteer instructors as well as their Departments.

Volunteer departments in every corner of Maine are often served by part time instructors from Maine Fire Training & Education, (MFTE) an educational branch of Southern Maine Community College, (SMCC). MFTE and SMCC also maintain, and upon request and with support from MFTE’s Logistics Division, distribute any of sixteen specialized fire training support trailers to rural regions of Maine. In fact, during the last three months of 2009 and January of this year, MFTE field instructors provided over 15,000 NFPA certified training hours to 593 firefighters in 63 volunteer departments. Many of these classes allowed rural firefighters to obtain their national Firefighter I & II Certification, as well as credit hours towards a Fire Science degree from SMCC and Maine’s Community College System.*

While termed a band of gypsies by some, Maine’s dedicated group of mobile instructors and the equipment they can deliver is vital to many of Maine’s rural and volunteer fire departments. As our States fire training agencies plan for our future fire services training needs, we are wise to look to the lessons learned in States that currently depend on large scale training facilities. Neighboring New Hampshire and a new state-of-the-art facility in Omaha, Nebraska are currently in the process of buying mobile fire training trailers. Maine’s gypsy trailers, and their band of gypsy instructors, might just be the future. And once again, as Maine goes, goes the Nation.

* MFTE FY10 Advisory Delivery Report EMCC Bangor ME

Vicki Schmidt is a State Fire Instructor II, Maine Fire Protection Services Commission, Maine State Federation of Firefighters, Volunteer Firefighters. She is a guest blogger.

by Jen Lobley, M.ED, CVA

Having been with UMaine Cooperative Extension for almost 10 years working in the area of 4-H Youth Development, I now find myself with a new challenge. I have recently been named Statewide Extension Educator for Volunteer Development.

Cooperative Extension provides research-based information from the Land-Grant University through a variety of educational programs to local people. Cooperative Extension volunteers play a unique role among volunteer agency programs in that they can extend the reach of Cooperative Extension into every Maine community and help provide a link between the Land Grant University and the people seeking out information. Did you know that 7,987 Extension volunteers devoted more than 151,428 hours to their communities last year? These volunteers are working in a variety of areas including: youth development, horticulture, coastal and freshwater water quality monitoring, environmental work, nutrition education, senior companion programs, sustainable coastal community programs, and parenting education.

I am excited about the challenges this new position will bring as I begin to work to create a volunteer delivery system which will increase our organizational capacity to engage more volunteers. This in turn will help provide long-term program sustainability and expand Extension’s economic, social, and environmental impact on the state of Maine. In the process of getting this work underway, I have set three goals for myself:

1. Make training and resources available for Extension staff members that enable them to gain skills and confidence in building volunteer capacity. Helping staff understand the foundational components of a volunteer system and then helping them create volunteer programs that are reflective of current trends in volunteerism will make up a large part of my work. Trends such as episodic volunteerism, virtual volunteerism and catering to the Boomer generation are all areas to be aware of and consider as we design volunteer opportunities.

2. Utilize research to build effective training opportunities and educational programs in which volunteers will be educated and empowered to assume or accept service or leadership roles. I believe volunteers are the heart of Cooperative Extension. They have played a critical role in the 95 year history of Extension here in Maine and will continue to actively do so in the future. However, the volunteer of today is different than the volunteer of yesterday and this will impact how we work with them.

3. In the near future, Extension will be viewed by other organizations around Maine as a place to find research-based volunteer development trainings, opportunities, and resources that they can access and adjust to fit their individual needs. I envision Extension collaborating with the Maine Commission for Community Service and other groups to help build new partnerships and tap new community resources to expand volunteerism. Just think of the endless opportunities!

So that’s a lot to accomplish, huh? You might be wondering where on earth would she start? The real work will begin internally within Extension. Although I have a general sense of the various programs we offer, I will need to spend time learning about current volunteer engagement within our various program areas and spend time on needs assessment. I am also forming an advisory group. By having an advisory committee to provide input into determining priorities,long-range goals, policy and procedure, I believe a better volunteer system will emerge than if I were to try implementing something alone.

I know demands on our staff in terms of time are tight. As I develop training opportunities I will need to keep this in mind. I will work to develop and provide easily digestible “chunks” of information including monthly Volunteer Management Minute trainings (narrated video clips lasting five minutes or less with a few PowerPoint slides), a series of volunteer management tips that will be emailed out on a regular basis, and create an internal web page for staff members that will host a variety of or resources. (I must note that I am very fortunate to have a VISTA volunteer helping me get these projects started!)

I am proud to work for an organization that supports having a position that is focused completely on volunteer development. Our administration truly understands the value of volunteers. I will make every effort to communicate the importance of volunteers both within and outside the organization- not just to our volunteers, but to paid staff, executive committees, funders, local officials and administration. This truly is an exciting time to be working in the volunteer development profession and I look forward to the work ahead!

Jen Lobley is the Extension Educator for Volunteer Development at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and is a guest blogger.

By Josephine Cooper and Carl Lakari

Last month, we featured a blog from Project AWARE Coordinator, Carl Lakari. This month, we are featuring a letter from one of their youth volunteers, Josephine Cooper.

I want to share with you a letter from one grateful youth volunteer. Read it, find inspiration, share it with your networks … and please remember the potential that exists in our youth. Carl Lakari, Project AWARE Coordinator

Letter from Josephine Cooper, Age 15, Saco, Maine

Project AWARE is an organization that encourages young people to lead in their communities. For me it has done just that. When I joined the Project AWARE Players in 2005 it gave me a chance to use my creativity to better myself and others around me. I am given the opportunity to speak to young people and adults alike, about the importance of an alcohol and drug free lifestyle, and encourage natural highs, and making a difference.
This is my fifth year being a part of the Project AWARE Players. When I was in the sixth grade, I became the director of the Project AWARE Player Juniors. As a sixth grade student I was given the opportunity to write skits pertaining to issues that I was concerned about. Then, present them to students and adults in a creative and fun way. Throughout middle school, I continued to gain self-confidence and a feeling of leadership through the Project AWARE Players, which now serves to my benefit every day of my high school, and one-day adult life. I now provide artistic direction for the Project AWARE Players.
In the summer of 2008, an opportunity arose, which has proved one of the most influential and unexpected of my life. I attended the Project AWARE Summer Film Institute. There, I was able to use my love for film to make more of a difference than I would have ever dreamed. Another Project AWARE Players member and I created a one-minute PSA about the importance of parent role modeling. This is a topic, which affects everyone’s life, and isn’t sufficiently discussed. Several months after the PSA premiered, my partner and I were confronted with a proposition from Project AWARE, to make our PSA into a movie! After a year of planning, writing, casting, and a lot of learning, the shoot for the 30-minute film began. For a week and a half I, a high school student, got the opportunity of a professional director. I worked with a professional camera crew, and professional actors. Everything I had ever learned about leadership was put to the test. I blocked scenes, called action, and watched the magic of film come to life on the monitor.
Never before have I felt so proud. Not only did I get to direct, but I got to act as well, and prepare for the career I hope to someday pursue. I can’t think of a better experience than to be given the chance to not only wear the director’s hat, but that of a writer, producer, and actor as well. It was an exhilarating process, and amazing hands on experience. I became a leader of an entire film operation, all ultimately geared towards making a difference about an issue I feel is of great importance, while being supported by Project AWARE.
Not only have I learned a remarkable amount, and had such great opportunities from being a member of the Project AWARE Players, but I have also met some of the greatest people I could ever hope to encounter in one lifetime. Project AWARE has supplied me, since I was young, with role models. I have grown up with people to encourage me to make a difference, and follow whatever dreams I may have. Also, people to show me the importance of a drug and alcohol free life, and to teach me that there are so many wonderful things out there to spend my precious time doing, rather than wasting it with unhealthy decisions. To this day, I think back on all of the amazing people I would have never met without Project AWARE and the Players.
How many teenagers have the opportunity to speak to a room full of organization heads, and school faculty, about the issues they feel important? How many young people are given the chance to educate children about the importance of healthy choices? How many people in general learn to really be a leader, and express themselves in a creative and meaningful way? Thanks to Project AWARE, these are all things I can proudly say, I have done.

Josephine is one of many youth “volunteers” at Project AWARE .

Carl Lakari is the Project Aware Coordinator and a guest blogger.

By Margaret Mayo

If you missed part I click here.

4. What is Peace Corps service like?
In two words, Peace Corps service is eye-opening. It’s easy, in America, to ignore what goes on in developing nations and just go about your life at home. However, after living here for seven months and visiting the capital city (Accra) after being a resident for just three, it seems ridiculous that so many people in this country are living on the bare minimum, barely scraping by, while others just miles away have luxurious homes, servants and running water (imagine that!). I can’t help but think about the number of malnourished children that could be fed or sent to school with the money that gets spent on other things in Ghana (or the number of computers that could be bought for a school that has none, or how electricity could be provided to a town that has none—as many in Ghana do not).

Much of the last paragraph sounds a bit pessimistic, but I’m not trying to portray it as such. These problems can’t and won’t be solved overnight by a fairy godmother; they’re hard realities of life, and I hope that with the help of Peace Corps and other organizations, they can start to change.
Though life here is full of challenges, I am really appreciative of the opportunity to live amid another culture with a way of life vastly different from my own. I always thought I was an adaptable person, but just seven months of Peace Corps service has forced my mental and emotional stability to twist into more pretzel shapes than I could ever have imagined possible. I’ve done OK thus far and (I hope) am better off for it, and I will continue to adapt as new curveballs are thrown my way. Things that irked me at the beginning of my stay in Ghana (certain mannerisms, people who always want my phone number, the constant cacophony of animal sounds—the pervasive “barnyard,” as my Dad put it) have almost all become minor nuisances or non-issues. I also feel much more comfortable starting a conversation with a total stranger than I ever did in the U.S. This is due partly to the fact that Ghanaians quite often seek me out and start talking to me, and to the fact that I used to have to ask directions all the time. The two most important things I’ve learned here are, as I said before, patience and tolerance. I’ve learned to tolerate so many things; for example, the chronic inability of 95% of taxi drivers, bar owners and electronics shop operators to TURN THE MUSIC DOWN!

Another facet of the cultural divide has to do with respect, which is a different animal here in Ghana. You respect, without question, those who are older than you or those who hold the same or a higher position than you; not much respect is afforded to people who fall outside those categories. Teachers don’t respect students the way we would expect them to in the States. They often treat students poorly in class, yell at them, belittle them, dismiss their questions or ignore requests. Teachers tend to view students as smaller than they are—people who need to be kept in line and sometimes mistreated, if necessary. Additionally, it is not uncommon for various teachers or administrators to take students out of class in order to have them perform other tasks like fetching water or doing grounds work. If there are too few students in a classroom (which could be caused by GES delays, as happened here, or by students being sent to the fields to work), teachers will often ignore those who are present and leave them sitting untaught in their classrooms for long periods of time. I am discouraged sometimes when I see my first-years sitting in a teacherless classroom or out in the school yards hoeing or weeding when they have paid significant school fees to come here and learn.
It’s tough to see the neglected conditions of the schools every day, but it keeps reminding me that I’m here to do my best and to give the students all I’ve got for two years. I just wish the students had shown up earlier so we could get a move on!

5. What projects am I working on?
For now, I’m focusing on trying to cover as much of the first-year integrated science syllabus as I can. I have some ideas for secondary projects, including but not limited to:
• Covering graffiti on classroom walls
• Painting chalkboards with a long-lasting, nontoxic covering (as opposed to used battery acid, which is what they use now)
• Turning the cluttered, outdated chemistry lab into a usable and effective learning space
• Obtaining dust covers for the computers so they don’t get ruined during the dusty dry season
• Obtaining more computers to supplement the three currently in the school library
• Sorting through unopened boxes of books that have been donated to the school library and sat there for years
• Finding a way to get students’ fees paid so they can attend class and make use of textbooks
• Having the school provide desks instead of forcing students to lug them to campus from their homes

My ultimate goal is to see the WASSCE test scores rise. The problem is that I will be here for only two years while my first-year students will be enrolled for four. I won’t be around to see their final results when they are ready to leave high school, so I’ll have to gauge my success by their performances throughout the year on class tests and term exams. I’ll also have to check back two years after I return to the U.S. to see how my former students did.

Challenges faced by students, teachers and families in Ghana:
I’ve only been here for about seven months—not a huge amount of time—but it’s still shocking whenever I discover the holes in the educational background these kids have. For example, they do not attend history class. One Peace Corps story I heard was about an ICT (information and communication technology) volunteer teacher who was conducting an ordinary class. Through one exercise, she discovered that the students did not know what the Holocaust was; they had never been exposed to that historical information. So she changed tack and held an impromptu history lesson so that her students would be possessed of what most Americans would probably feel is absolutely necessary knowledge.

This is not to say that the students here are vastly underprepared. They do take courses in social studies. But unlike American schools, where this term generally means “history,” in Ghanaian schools it means just what it says. Social studies class here is a study of human behavior, social problems, and other related subjects; this is certainly beneficial for the students, but I thought they might also need to know a bit about what’s been happening in the world.

Students in Ghana are forced to learn completely in English by the time they reach late primary school. Though they begin English lessons early in primary school, very few of them grow up speaking English in the home. These lessons are certainly not enough to make them fluent in English, and so they are taught in what is, to them, a foreign language—their second or sometimes third language—for the rest of their school careers. This is not conducive to helping students learn to the best of their abilities, and their progress is almost always hampered.

Another thing holding kids back from learning is the country-wide lack of emphasis on education. As a schoolchild in America, I took for granted that the biggest expectation of me was that I would go to school, learn, and do my best in each class. I wasn’t saddled with many responsibilities outside of that—to help around the house is not a big deal for many American schoolchildren. But in a different culture, education and home life aren’t always so compatible. In Ghana, education is certainly valued, but that value doesn’t override the importance of many other things as it does in the U.S. Here, an average schoolchild has to worry about sustaining the family’s income, keeping the farm afloat, caring for younger children, or the time it will take to walk long distances to fetch water or firewood for cooking. Once school lets out for the day, students return to their families and must perform these duties and more, leaving minimal time for schoolwork. Those without electricity in their homes face an additional challenge, and it is not uncommon for children to miss school for reasons varying from caring for younger siblings to a lack of money for school fees (or food) to not wanting to stand during class because they have no desk.
Even walking to school can take an enormous amount of time for those children who live far from campus and don’t have bicycles. School buses are nonexistent, and while Ghana generally has very good public transportation in the form of taxis and tro-tros, these run infrequently in rural areas and the cost can be prohibitive for many families.

Even when students do make it to school, they are often taken out of class to fetch water for teachers, to perform landscaping or grounds work around the school campus, or to harvest crops; or they might just wander off. There is no system in place to ensure that students come to school or, once they have arrived, that they stay there.

School fees for second- and third-year students are GhC 50.00 (about US$30), which includes the fee for textbooks. For first-year students, the school fees themselves are GhC 65.00 and the textbooks are another GhC 44.00, totaling GhC 109.50, or about US$70. If first-years don’t pay the fees, they can’t “register”—they can’t come to school. Older students can attend without paying, but not for the entire year; and they don’t receive their textbooks if they don’t pay. To give an idea of what this amount of money means, it would take me, as a Peace Corps Volunteer with a salary comparable to other Ghanaian workers, almost half a month to save enough wages to send a child to school—without buying any other necessities, like food. And I don’t have to support a family in terms of food, clothing, electric and medical bills.

Margaret Mayo is a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Ghana and a guest blogger.

By Elizabeth Cole

My nephew is going through the why phase. You know, the phase where you can’t go more than three minutes without some existential discussion?
“Auntie Liz, Why do ants live in the dirt?”
“Because they like to.”
“Why do they like to?”
“Well… It’s always the same temperature and it’s easy to dig in.”
“Why is it easy to dig?”
“Um… Well, because it’s softer than, say, concrete.”
“Why is it softer?”

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you may remember that I wrote last a piece last month introducing the concept of coaching. So why am I opening this post with an anecdote about domestic bliss, toddler style? Well, as it turns out, my nephew is preparing for a promising future as a volunteer manager.
Supervisors of volunteers who use a coaching model ask open-ended questions, helping their volunteers to discover answers and solutions on their own. As a “coach,” you will typically help your team members to solve problems, make better decisions, learn new skills, or otherwise progress in their role. Not every question should be treated as a coaching opportunity, but with a little coaching, your volunteers’ performance will improve dramatically.

One proven approach to coaching is the GROW model. GROW is an acronym standing for Goal - Current Reality - Options - Will. The model is a simple yet powerful framework for structuring a coaching session.

1. Establish the Goal: First, with your volunteer, you must define and agree the goal or outcome to be achieved. You should help your volunteer define a goal that is specific, measurable and realistic. In doing this, it is useful to ask questions like:
“How will you know that you have achieved that goal?”
“How will you know the problem is solved?”

2. Examine Current Reality: Too often, people try to solve a problem without fully considering their starting point and miss some of the information needed to reach the most effective solution. Useful coaching questions include:
“What is happening now?”
“What is the effect the result of that?”

3. Explore the Options: Help your volunteer generate as many good options as possible. By all means, offer your own suggestions. But let your volunteer start and do most of the talking. Typical questions used to establish the options are:
“What else could you do?”
“What are the benefits and downsides of each option?”

4. Establish the Will: Your final step as coach is to get you volunteer to commit to specific action. In so doing, you will help the volunteer establish his or her will and motivation. Useful questions:
“So what will you do now, and when?”
“What could prevent you moving forward?”
“And how will you overcome it?”

A great way to practice using the model is to address your own challenges and issues. When you are stuck with something, you can use the technique to coach yourself. By practicing, you will learn how to ask the most helpful questions. Write down some stock questions as prompts for future coaching sessions.

Elizabeth Cole is a guest blogger and an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Maine Commission for Community Service.

By Anne Schink, CVA

I recently taught a class for managers of volunteers and it was interesting to see who actually showed up for the class. We had an executive director (the only paid staff) of a local land trust, an office manager of a nonprofit that was almost entirely run by an all-volunteer board, a department director of a housing complex, an event planner from a local business development organization, a brand new staff member of an animal rescue organization, and three staff members of a large youth-serving organization. I point this out only as a reminder that who we define as a manager of volunteers varies widely from organization to organization. On the up side is the fact that organizations of all types and sizes recognize the importance of volunteers in achieving the organization’s mission.

Clearly no one job description would cover this disparate group of participants. Yet many of their concerns were the same. While they all expressed the desire to increase the effectiveness of their volunteer programs, their expectations about what these people would do and what kind of people they were trying to attract was all over the map. Most of them had a mental picture in their heads about who was ‘typical’ for their organization. It took some stretching for them to see that they might have to re-think their vision if they were going to attract tomorrow’s volunteers.

In a recent Webinar I attended, the presenter said that tomorrow’s volunteers wanted the four F’s in their volunteer assignments—Flexible, Fast, Friendly, Focused. That goes for Board members, volunteers functioning as external consultants, behind the scenes administrative support, or direct service positions. No one, in any generation, is signing on for life these days. Flexible means that the position is shaped to match the volunteer’s schedule, not the other way around. Fast means a quick response to their initial inquiry and a quick turnaround in placing them. If you don’t catch them the first time they try to reach you, they will go elsewhere. Friendly means that you need to welcome them, make them feel part of your organization, and give them a meaningful role working with others. Focused means deadlines, time limits, and real measurable outcomes.

This may fly in the face of more traditional ways of creating a volunteer program, but it is a reminder that this is an ever-changing landscape. Having clearly defined job descriptions is the foundation of a sound volunteer program, but the experienced, adaptive manager of volunteers will make the changes required to build a creative program that meets a wide variety of interests and personalities.

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

By Carl Lakari

I have always thought volunteering is essentially the giving (of our energy) to help others. It’s service.
Sounds simple, but it’s not. I am challenged by years of judgments and carried perspectives – personal and cultural. “Rugged individualism”, “buck up, you can do it”, and “people should not ask for or need help”. Not true of course, but part of my personal makeup. I have to move through this to the other side of my nature. The one I am re-learning. The one that matters.

Young people are natural leaders and volunteers and they usually lack that baggage that adults (like I!) carry. And when I co-founded Project AWARE in 2003 I really had no idea that there was so much precious energy out there in our youth ready to be tapped for the greater good. Six years and many hundreds of volunteers later, I am convinced – the desire to make a difference and be of service is real and it is alive in our youth. And what great powerful service it is.

Here are a few ways Project AWARE provides support and appeal to youth volunteers:
• Initially going to existing youth networks and schools to get help soliciting young people as volunteers. Have an info gathering and make it fun and with food.
• Making the project specific, interesting, and fun with clear goals and outcomes primarily developed by the youth themselves.
• Letting young people take the lead. Providing tools and then standing back and giving them the opportunity to take charge and only supporting when necessary. The potential and the creativity of youth is phenomenal. They usually do not have enough opportunity to express it.
• Providing healthy and delicious food. Limiting sugar and no preservatives.
• By building relationships beyond the task at hand. Using games, special events, overnights, retreats and much more.
• Communicating in a variety of ways including e-mail, texting and phone and by not depending on any one method.
• Maintaining a lot of understanding for the hectic and busy schedules of young people today.
• Remembering they are young people and not adults. They are and should be a place appropriate for their age therefore different ways of relating, communicating, reminding and supporting are all necessary.
• Again, remembering to let them take the lead. If they have ownership of the project they will stick with it.

Editors Note: Next month, we will feature a letter from one of Project AWARE’s youth volunteers, Josephine Cooper. The mission of Project AWARE is to empower young people to lead.

Carl Lakari is a Coordinator at Project AWARE and a guest blogger.

By David Griswold

For what is life, but a brief search to give,
That we may love, and loving, hope to live…

It was three in morning. On the edge of sleep and a dream, I walked slowly through the darkness of the house, lit only by the green glow of clocks, and opened my computer to write down those lines.

I wasn’t sure what they meant, only that they had a meaning I didn’t want to lose.

In the morning, as I started my computer and sat down for breakfast, I pored over those lines with the loud crunch of Raisin Bran resounding in my head. For the past six months prior to this late night revelation, I had been plotting out a year long trip of service, intending to coordinate three hundred and sixty five different volunteer events in three hundred and sixty five different places across the globe. Called “project 360^5″, the hope was that a project like this would help inspire others to see and embrace the endless opportunities to give around them.

As I sat there at the table though, the early morning sunlight pouring in from the windows, it occurred to me then that a giving “project” didn’t make sense. Giving back and volunteering wasn’t something that I could “do” - something that could begin and end - but it was something that I needed to live.

If life was a search - for happiness, for meaning, for connection - then it was a search that I wanted to give back. I believed then, as I do now, that it was only in a sustained giving of myself that the purpose and joy I sought could be found.

In the half-dream of that night, I realized that I had found words for a struggle that had been churning below the surface since I had first left my job at Google in California, hoping to clarify a path and a purpose for my life. There wasn’t an answer to my questions - only a process of answering that I needed to embrace.

Since that time, my goal has been to live mindfully - to live what I think of as a life of “loving action”. To me, this means an unending openness, readiness and desire to give in every moment of every day, and an active seeking of opportunities to learn from others, in hopes of learning better what I can give back to the world.

What began as project 360^5 has today evolved into an initial step in my lifelong search to give. In September, I will be setting out across the globe, volunteering for six months in six different countries, before returning to the States and road-tripping from California to Maine, knitting together weeks of volunteer activities with family, friends and whoever else is willing to open their door.

My sense is that there are all too many people out there who want to get out and volunteer, but who just need a little push to break free from the normal routines of their lives. While the dream remains that this trip might serve as an inspiration for those I’ve never met, my hope is that it might first serve as a spark for my immediate network of friends and family, and ripple outwards from there.

This emphasis on a more personal scope is based on my own experience having seen the difficulty of mobilizing communities through broad outreach campaigns. Though these efforts often prove effective in raising awareness, and are capable of reaching a large audience in a short time, I’ve found that it takes almost always takes a personal connection - often a personal request or story - to motivate someone to make a change in their lives.

Organizing a trip like this and trying to mobilize people around it would be near impossible to do by myself. But by reaching out personally and asking for the help of friends and family, my hope is that they might embrace and extend this project, reaching out to their own networks, and thereby expanding that personalized call to action. My role then is simply to provide the dates and the impetus for organizing a week or so of service, and to suggest ideas and tools (like volunteermaine.org, idealist.org, or allforgood.org) to make this process easier.

Having a blog at the center of all this - a place to share pictures, videos and stories - then allows all those who participate and hear about the project to share in the journey as it unfolds. Each event, each potluck, each can of food donated, each mile traveled - each becomes a piece in a growing mosaic that everyone can feel a part of.

As I travel, and as the network of this trip expands, my hope is to learn from others what giving means to them, and to share stories and resources with all who are contemplating their own “answering”. I know I have not come to close to living fully the vision of love I have set out for myself, and expect that I will only discover how much more room I have to grow as I embark on this journey.

In setting forth for a year, breaking free from the normal flow of my day to day, and intentionally creating a space in my life where giving can enter my heart and mind - my hope is that I may be able to fold these principles of love and giving into my everyday action, sublimating the conscious desire to give into an unconscious and undeniable state of being.

To whatever extent it’s helpful to you, I would love to have you join in this journey, whether that is simply participating in the conversation that unfolds, or finding stops along the way where you’d like to get out and give back. You can learn and read more at asearchtogive.org, where I’ll be blogging the journey come September.

Prior to setting off in September, I’d love to hear your own stories of giving, such that I might learn from you in advance of my own journey, and that we might learn a bit from one another. At the end of the day, we’re here, we only get one now, and we’re all in this together. It all starts with the question - and from there, the answers are endless.

David Griswold is a guest blogger. Follow his journey online at asearchtogive.org.

By Elizabeth Cole

What do you think of when you hear the word coach? While your mind may have wandered to your little league experience in elementary school or your favorite sports team, coaches are not just for athletes! Volunteers are likely to encounter many situations where personal coaching would make a big difference in their performance, whether it’s improving communication, resolving conflict, or making better decisions.
Supervisors who apply a coaching model ask open-ended questions, helping volunteers to discover answers and solutions on their own. In this way, coaching respects individual capabilities and encourages self-development and personal confidence. It leads to greater reflection, awareness, and increased performance.
Though this process takes more time than just telling volunteers what to do, it is an investment that will help you uncover their full potential. Being provided with all the answers does not encourage learning or self-development. Coaching, on the other hand, teaches a process of problem-solving and analytical thinking is useful in all spheres of life.

Good coaching requires practice. When the rest our work and life moves at a blistering speed, coaching forces us to take a step back and slow down. For people used to firing off responses to questions or problems as quickly as possible, walking someone else through a problem-solving process can be hard to get used it. Additionally, it is really difficult to keep from jumping in with all the answers and solutions, especially if you feel like you know better.

As difficult as coaching can be at first, it gets easier. You will be rewarded with more thoughtful responses and a more capable volunteer-force. I will be back next month to introduce a model that will lead you step by step through the coaching process. Until next month, happy New Year and keep up the good work!

Elizabeth Cole is an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Maine Commission for Community Service and a guest blogger.

By Noble Smith

You think that you know all the earthly sins in the world, particularly those surrounding the Art of Asking, well what are the three most flagrant ones in all of philanthropy?

You are right if you immediately uttered -
“I forgot to ask the prospect for financial support“,
“I didn’t ask for a specific project, amount or need“, and
“At the last moment, I had another event to attend and did not visit the prospect personally - just sent a little hand-written note.”

In nine out of every ten solicitations that are not successful, these three items are, at least, one of the main reasons for failure and no bacon!

Many, many solicitors do do their homework, rehearse their visitation, but when confrontation is at the doorstep, the orderly and essential process enters the mental round basket.

Every seasoned and successful fund raiser knows that 90% of any fruitful solicitation is planning with only 10% being the actual face to face opportunity to encourage and motivate a “lively suspect”. Tactics, strategies, relationships and associations, partnering - these words, and many like them, are all an integral part of that planning process - leave any of them out and you become more than a charter member of “The Half-Asked Society”.

You have never heard of “The Half-Asked Society” (THAS) - a very unwelcomed introduction to you. THAS is the demon, the curmudgeon of fund raisers, the jester who warned you not to make the same mistake twice and, THAS, unfortunately, is one commodity that will assist you in applying for Chapter 11. It is the resting home for staff, Board members and volunteers who do only 10% planning and 90% fund-raising, who let panic reign over common sense and organization, and who are consistently late for their prospect appointments.

If you are not planning, you are not fund raising!

Planning is the quintessential element for elevation to that promised land of successful fund raising, whether it is for annual support, capital needs or for planned and estate giving. Everyone needs to be involved not just the CEO, CFO, and the other institutional Os - an essential degree of involvement for staff, Board members and most importantly, volunteers.

All serious potential prospects (I call them suspects) must be thoroughly convinced that the non-profit has completed its homework, has structured itself in a business-like manner and knows how to get the most out of each buck. Without that level of confidence, the organization is just building expanded membership in “The Half-Asked Society.”

So as you begin to master the art of asking and to avoid membership in THAS, thorough planning is quintessential AND matching the right suspect with the right solicitor for the right funding objective and for the right amount of support is mandatory.

Next Blog - a detailed outline of what works in the successful art of asking!

Noble Smith is a former Commissioner, President of Noble Smith Associates (Development and Marketing Consultants), and a featured blogger.