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by Michele Ober

While I was a middle school math teacher for only a few years, two principles have recently proven useful – develop your own “If I Get Hit by a Bus” book and “don’t reinvent the wheel.”

As a teacher I’d hear horror stories of new teachers reporting to school, being handed keys to the classroom and an attendance sheet, and struggling to get through their first weeks of school. During one of my many professional development days, I heard about the “If I Get Hit by a Bus” book, the guide to running your classroom from school policies and procedures to lesson plans to grading to classroom management. Regardless of any certification earned, a new teacher would indeed find a book like this helpful to get through the basics of the first few years of teaching while developing their own personal style.

When I came upon the volunteer management scene, I was certainly a novice. I had no professional training but had worked with the previous volunteer coordinator as a volunteer and knew of a few of her responsibilities. Some were written down, others not; none of which was in one central location. Over the past two years, I have learned, on my own, the various functions of volunteer management and have been trained in many others.

In 2009, I attended a 4-day Volunteer Management for the 21st Century course which incorporated the Competencies for Managers of Volunteers (Anne Schink and Larry Ullian, instructors). In this class session, I realized how important it is to organize a toolkit with best examples for the recruitment, training, retention, scheduling, evaluation, and recognition of volunteers.

While I now have a working binder which holds those examples I like best and I have a CD filled with best practices thanks to Anne and Larry, writing my “If I Get Hit by a Truss” book is still in the works. And I know I don’t have to reinvent the wheel!

While serving in AmeriCorps, I received a workbook “Developing and Managing Volunteers”, February 2006, one in FEMA’s professional development series. VolunteerMaine.org boasts a healthy resource center including the “Need to Know Basics” and the Competencies. At a recent VAMM conference, I was introduced to Jill Friedman Fixler and Sandie Eichberg’s philosophy and practice of collaborative volunteer engagement, redefining any organization’s relationship with volunteers. I also have affiliate examples available through Habitat International’s support center.

With so many resources, I feel confident by the end of the year my book will be complete or at least in working order. I look forward to increased productivity and comfort in my profession. I will also feel better knowing that the next volunteer coordinator will be better prepared when s/he is given keys to this office.

Michele Ober is the Volunteer Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity / 7 Rivers Maine. She is a guest blogger.

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 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 Patricia Kimball

Most people think I am crazy when I tell them that I love writing grants. They look at me with a sideward glance, more than a little skeptical…their look suggesting I must have a screw loose. While this might in fact be true, it is also true that I think grant writing is one of the most creative and exciting adventures upon which a nonprofit leader can embark.

My goal –through this blog – is to convince you that “love” is a word that you, too can attach to the job of grant writing. To help you move from skeptic to fellow enthusiast, I will address two important topics as they relate to grant writing: 1) The grant as a contract; and, 2) The grant as a foundation for social change.
Whenever I conduct a grant writing workshop – regardless of the experience level of the audience – I always begin by talking about the idea of a grant as a contract. Grants are not free money. Embedded in the awarding of the grant is the notion that there is an exchange; essentially, a grant constitutes a contract between an organization that has money and one that provides services. In many ways, the winning of a grant is no different than the exchange of commodities. One organization has financial resources and the other offers expert services; both want to realize their vision. When there is a match between the two organizations, a grant results. It is the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship that serves the goals of both parties.

Why is this important? Because it affects how an organization goes about identifying funders for their services, how organizations approach funders, and how they view their role in the world of solving social problems. Nonprofits are service organizations whose mission is to apply their services in support of some sort of social change. They are experts in the provision of services to solve social problems and as such, their grant application should reflect this expertise. It should contain all the elements necessary to convince the funder that their money constitutes a sound investment in realizing your shared vision.

A commonly held belief is that just because you are a nonprofit organization, you deserve and will receive grants. Of course, anyone who has submitted grants knows that success is hard fought in the grant world. This is not said to discourage would-be grant writers. Not at all. It is said to help you understand that resources should be carefully and thoughtfully applied to grant writing because you cannot count on winning every grant for which you apply.

Knowing this frees you up to realize the true benefit of grant writing, beyond the award of cash. Grant writing is really program development. The process of putting together a grant application is the same process by which you go about developing programs. What is your intended goal? How do you propose to reach it? How much will it cost? How will you measure success? Who is your audience? How do you know you will be successful? All of these questions need to be answered prior to putting together a grant proposal. Many people “write to the vision of the funder” – meaning they seek to understand what a foundation is looking for, and write a proposal to match. The process is more about getting money and less about seeking funding for a project for which you will see long term, sustainable social change.

When done right, proposals serve as the foundation for the cool and creative projects your organization intends to run. Projects that solve real problems. Projects that change lives. The process of developing your proposal is very much the process of designing projects that address our most challenging problems and thus, the benefits of putting proposals together truly outweighs the dollars you might receive. Precisely because grant writing is about building programs that have the capacity to change people’s lives! And this is truly exciting.

So, the next time you are faced with the challenge of writing a grant, take a step back and realize your true charge. I promise you will be filled with a sense of excitement. And you too may be viewed as someone with a screw loose.

Patricia Kimball works for Ideactive Solutions and is a guest blogger.

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 Heather Banester Bassett

Remember being told, throughout your high school years - “Get Involved”, “The more well rounded you are the more likely you’ll be accepted into college.” Well, this remains to be true even throughout your working years. When applying to colleges, high school students are trying to set themselves apart from “the other college applicants.” In the working world, especially today, people are finding that they are to set themselves apart from “the other job applicants.” So, what does it mean to “Get Involved” in the working world? Just like in high school, volunteerism is one way to “Get Involved.”

Maine has experienced an increase in unemployment over the past year and with this comes an increase in people competing for the same jobs. Employers have seen a dramatic increase in applicants. The competition amongst job applicants is fierce in most cases. This increase in the unemployed and increase in competition over limited jobs then leads into an increase in the period of time in which a person remains in a job search. This period in which people remain in a job search results in gaps in employment history.

I reached out to my Maine Human Resources Network and asked employers to share some thoughts on volunteerism and the role it plays with job applicants. Here is what I heard.

Although most employers understand that the current economy has caused a majority of the unemployment and a longer unemployment period for some, it does impress employers to see that people remain “Involved” during their period of unemployment. Beverly Frizzell-MacCallum, Human Resources Officer at Androscoggin Bank replied “I would view it as a positive if someone were to use that down time as a chance to get involved with volunteer work. What a great way to show that you made the proverbial lemonade!” Krista Thurlow, Branch Manager at Bonney Staffing Center in Biddeford, Maine also shared insight on filling gaps in one’s employment history on their resume, “…I am always more impressed by someone who can tell me they have been volunteering, rather than ’sitting home, or not quite sure’ what they have been doing the past 10 months (they have been out of work.)” As for setting yourself apart from the other applicants, Lisa Janelle, Vice President of Human Resources at Sebasticook Valley Hospital mentioned “…a person who volunteers over time at something they feel passionately about just speaks volumes about that individual’s character.”

Besides the extra boost volunteerism can add to your resume, the act of “Getting Involved” can help you gain relevant experience. Krista Thurlow credits her volunteerism work with a Policy Council at a nonprofit for her transition into an office environment. “From my perspective, volunteering absolutely CAN help a resume! Especially when there is a person looking to transition their skills and/or gain experience in a new field…I had experience working retail/food service, but had gone to college for business.” Because of her personal career transition success with volunteerism, Krista promotes volunteering to job seekers she councils.

Volunteerism can give you that extra kick to get you out networking. “Getting Involved” can increase your exposure to business leaders, community leaders and job opportunities that you may not have heard about otherwise. Beverly Frizzell-MacCallum mentioned “…one of the best things about volunteering is the contacts that you can make in the community. Many business people are involved in non-profits and it is a great way to make connections and learn of opportunities.” She also suggests utilizing your volunteerism contacts for references.

Managers and volunteer project leaders can play a key role in assisting job seeking volunteers. As a manager or leader of a volunteer projects, capturing a volunteer’s interest to gain additional experience is a sure sign that you will have a dedicated volunteer. Capitalize on these opportunities and engage your volunteers. It may open the door to more support in areas that you would not have thought about before. Be sure to document the experience the volunteer gained and after a job well done, be sure to offer a letter of recommendation. This reciprocal support between volunteer manager and job seeking volunteer can have a lasting impact and possibly a long-term volunteer and advocate. Your newly employed volunteer may also pave the way to new networks at their new place of employment. Isn’t that what networking is all about? Job Seeking Volunteerism – a win-win recruitment tool for volunteer projects.

What is the best way to list volunteerism on your resume? Now it’s time, as the job seeker, to set yourself apart from the other job seekers out there and show that you are a well rounded individual. There are many schools of thought when it comes to resume templates. Regardless of the template, do not list your volunteer experience with your regular paid employment history. You don’t want to mislead the reader into thinking it was a regular job. If the experience is relevant to the job you are applying for, add the experience you gained in the qualifications section if you have this as a separate listing. Add a section under your normal job history called “Relevant Experience” - list Volunteer, (title if any), Organization, City, Sate, Time Period and List out the relevant experience gained. If the volunteerism is not directly related to the position you are applying for, simply list your volunteer projects under Associations and Activities - list Volunteer, (title if any), Organization, City, Sate, Time Period. Highlight your volunteerism in your cover letter, especially if the experience is relevant and also if the volunteerism took place in between jobs.

Volunteerism - a great way to boost your resume, close employment gaps, build your network, stay connected, show that your an involved and well rounded individual, and all the while, doing a wonderful thing for someone or something else.

Heather Banester Bassett is the Marketing/PR Director for MyJobWave.com, Employment Times and HRTimes Magazine. She has been an active volunteer for career and human resource related organizations like Maine Career Development Association, Central Maine Human Resources Association, Best Places to Work In Maine and is a guest blogger. For more career related tips and articles visit www.MyJobWave.com.

By Anne B. Schink

Managers of volunteers are busy people, especially today with tight budgets and increased pressure to bring on new volunteers. In most nonprofit organizations, serving on the Board is a leadership role; consultants provide short term expertise; and traditional volunteers provide direct service or administrative support. Engaging pro bono and highly skilled volunteers requires setting aside some of these traditional assumptions.

What is a pro bono volunteer or a highly skilled volunteer?
A pro bono or highly skilled volunteer is someone who donates his/her professional level services as an “unpaid consultant” to the nonprofit organization. A pro bono volunteer is different from other volunteers in that they bring expertise to an organization on a project basis that includes clear guidelines, deadlines, and deliverables. Pro bono and skilled volunteers range along a continuum of technical expertise and experience in terms of skills, levels of commitment, and the types of projects they are interested in doing.

Pro bono and highly skilled volunteers bring experience, expertise, and perspective to the organization. They are valuable assets for creating an infrastructure. The most common areas are: human resources, marketing and branding, IT, financial management, and legal services.

Among the tools that the Corporation for National and Community Service has provided for managers of volunteers is a new Nonprofit Readiness Toolkit for Pro Bono Volunteers: How to prepare your organization for pro bono and highly skilled volunteers. Under a contract with CNCS I have had the pleasure of creating this toolkit over the past several months. The link below will take you to an online course that will help you prepare for those volunteers we have been talking about. It includes a narrative, a case study, and a checklist at the end to use to assess the readiness of your organization to receive these volunteers who are enthusiastic about putting their professional skills to work in support of your mission.

http://nationalserviceresources.org/news/non-profit-readiness-toolkit

You will need to create a user name and password, but don’t let that be a barrier to taking this course. Having that user name and password allows you to access many other valuable courses through the Resource Center that are designed to provide professional development opportunities at your own pace on your own computer.

For more on this subject, check out the next issue of the VolunteerFare newsletter. I will provide more detail about pro bono volunteering and the benefits to your organization. If you would like to learn about it in person, be sure to register for the Pro Bono Volunteering workshop at the Blaine House Conference in October.

Anne B. Schink is a volunteer management consultant and the author of the Nonprofit Readiness Toolkit.

By Rochelle Runge

With the opening of registration for the Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism it got me thinking about professional development in our field. It can be so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day that we forget about our own enrichment. One of the ways I remember is by putting a note on my calendar that pops up to remind me. I find that if it’s not on the calendar it doesn’t get done! Whatever your strategy its import to keep up on the latest in your field.

I recently went to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. Although I was very excited to go, I found myself a little stressed out before leaving, fretting about all the things I needed to get done at the office. We had a service project we were working on with the Governor for United We Serve and many other things going on! When I left I was a bit apprehensive, but after my first class I was so happy I made the effort!

I learned new things, met interesting people, and made some great connections. Most off all I felt refreshed and re-energized to do my job! It reminded me why professional development is so important! I’m excited about a similar opportunity right here in Maine, The Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism! There is more information about it below along with some other great resources- some you may recognize others you may not. Either way copy and paste them into you calendar and set aside some time to refresh and re-energize yourself!

Educational and Training Resources for Managers of Volunteers:
Certified in Volunteer Administration is the only international professional certification in the field of volunteer resources management.
Nonprofit Buzz is a great resource for anyone who leads, manages, staffs or volunteers for a non-profit organization.
Energize empowers and inspires leaders of volunteers worldwide.
People First -Total Solutions works with nonprofits to improve the efficiency, and effectiveness.
The Corporation for National for and Community Service
Competencies for Managers of Volunteers- Asses your skills!
United We Serveis a nationwide service initiative that will help meet growing social needs resulting from the economic downturn. With the knowledge that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools, President Obama is asking us to come together to help lay a new foundation for growth. United We Serve is an initial 81 days of service but will grow into a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all Americans.
Tips from the Maine Commission for Community Service on recruitment, working with different generations, writing position descriptions, and much more!
Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism-Keynote Speaker- Martin J. Cowling When: October 13, 2009
Where: University of Maine, Orono
Time: 8:30AM- 4:30PM
Early Bird Registration: $75 *Other Discounts Available.
The Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism is the State’s only professional development conference tailored exclusively to the needs and challenges of leaders like you in the state’s volunteer sector. Workshop Topics Include:
- Social Media
- Volunteer Management from Beginner to Advanced
- Building Partnerships
- Kennedy Serve America Act
- Pro Bono and Highly Skilled Volunteers

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

By Lori Jean Mantooth

What are the goals of your organization? Are you able to meet these goals with your current staff capacity? Would you like to expand your current efforts and take on new projects? Volunteer leaders can help you do that!

A volunteer leader is a volunteer who leads others in service. Volunteer leaders may plan and/or lead projects; lead others in ongoing service; organize, lead, and inspire other volunteers; or represent an organization to volunteers and the community.

The community is full of potential leaders, and by tapping into their skills, ideas, and passion, your organization can greatly expand the work it does in the community. Volunteer leadership creates a community of committed leaders who care about and understand your work. You can also increase volunteer retention by offering current volunteers greater responsibility and different opportunities.

Volunteer leaders are a key part of the HandsOn Network model of service and civic engagement. From serving as project managers on large days of service to organizing KidsCare Clubs, HandsOn volunteer leaders serve in a variety of ways.

HandsOn Action Centers use many different methods of nurturing volunteer leaders. Here are a few tips:
• Engaging them in meaningful positions.
• Get to know the volunteer leaders, why they are serving, the skills they have and the ones they want or need to develop.
• Keep them motivated and engaged through regular training, meetings, or email or other social networking tools.
• Coach and mentor the leaders and support them as they plan projects and lead others.
• Pair volunteer leaders to learn from and support each other.
• Provide training opportunities for personal and professional development.
• Host informal social gatherings at local cafes.
• Recognize their service. Consider national volunteer recognition such as the President’s Volunteer Service Award, the Daily Point of Light, or L’Oreal Women of Worth

Through a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for National and Community Service, HandsOn Network provides free online courses on leveraging volunteers. Visit http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/online-courses for these and other courses:
• Utilizing Volunteers as Project Leaders
• Engaging College Students as Volunteer Leaders
• Volunteer Management
• Project Planning
• On-site Project Management

Lori Jean Mantooth is Director of Training & Consulting Projects at HandsOn Network and a guest blogger.

Generated by Points of Light Institute, HandsOn Network equips, mobilizes and inspires people to take action that changes the world. Our Network, now the largest in the nation, is leading people from impulse to action, turning their ideas for change into real projects like building wheel chair ramps, watershed protection projects and tutoring programs – action that addresses critical issues facing our communities, our nation and our world. The Network includes over 250 affiliates—that serve in all 50 states and in nine countries. In 2007 alone, these HandsOn Action Centers helped to deliver more than 33 million hours of volunteer service valued at 1.2 billion dollars.

By Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom

Volunteering has made it into the news a lot recently for a couple of different reasons. First, the recession is increasing the ranks of the unemployed as well as increasing the demands on voluntary organizations. Second, President Obama, from campaign rhetoric, to getting his hands dirty on MLK, Jr. Day, to signing the Serve America Act has shone a light on service in the United States. What is the impact of all of these new developments on volunteer managers?

You have an opportunity to take advantage of new volunteers who can bring a wide variety of skills and backgrounds to your mission.
- Who are some of these new volunteers?
- Recently unemployed adults from a variety of sectors including marketing, finance, customer service, and more.
- Recently retired – the first surge of baby boomers taking advantage of early out programs. Many of these individuals will want to work part time or look for opportunities for paid work down the road.
-Young adults looking for resume building opportunities during this competitive job market.

These new volunteers represent the larger trend in volunteerism that was anticipated with the retirement of the baby boomers and introduction of the millennial generation into volunteering.
- They have new skills to offer and really want to bring those skills to your mission.
- They need flexible schedules and the ability to engage at different levels over time.
- They may want to take the lead on a project or work with a team of volunteers on a project for your organization.

So what should you do to prepare for and welcome these new volunteers?
- Work with the staff of your organization to identify possible roles for skilled volunteers.
- Examine current volunteer roles to see if they can be restructured for more flexibility.
- Rethink your recruitment messaging to appeal to these new volunteers and their motivations.

For more information and ideas, view the presentation from our March roundtable, “Boomer Engagement: Inviting Boomers In” by Andrea Taylor, PhD, Director of Training for the Center of Intergenerational Learning at Temple University.

To read about the trends check out these news stories:
From Ranks of Jobless, a Flood of Volunteers
CNN – “Jobless, But Working”
Supporting Local Agencies During Challenging Times
A Special Moment for Service

For helpful articles on engaging skills based volunteers:

Baby Boomers and the New Age of VolunteerismPro Bono Volunteering ResourcesOrganizational Readiness

Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom is a manager of volunteers with Volunteer Arlington and a guest blogger.