Farewell to a volunteerism pioneer
03:59, 29 October 2008
.. Posted in Volunteerism and Volunteer Management.. Link
I'm late in noting the passing of a giant in the world of volunteerism, someone I never met, but who obviously has influenced me, even if I didn't know it until now: Ivan H. Scheier, who died earlier in October at the age of 82. In 1967, he started the National Information Center on Volunteers in Courts in Boulder, Colorado, which morphed into the National Information Center on Volunteerism, and then later merged with the National Center for Voluntary Action, which, after several name changes became The National Volunteer Center, which merged into the Points of Light Foundation, which has just become Hands On Network/Points of Light Institute. Quoting Susan Ellis, "he really did start it all!"
Susan notes that Dr. Scheier was instrumental in founding the Alliance for Volunteerism in 1975, which brought together the key volunteer-related organizations in the USA. He also was devoted to the development and future of DOVIAs (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies), for which he ran a special national association for many years. He was known especially for his "Challenge Think Tanks," retreats for advanced volunteer managers that were held sporadically around North America. Mr. Scheier also wrote a number of books, and served as Editor Emeritus of e-Volunteerism: The Online Journal of the Volunteer Community.
Dr. Scheier was one of the earliest publishers of monographs and booklets on volunteer management - you can delve into this rich knowledge base by going to The Archival Collection of Ivan H. Scheier, hosted by Regis University. As you read even some of these entries, you find that the volunteer management issues Mr. Scheier addressed many years ago are still hot button issues on a variety of online discussion groups for volunteer managers.
One of my favorite things by Dr. Scheier is this proposal: "On the model of influential rating systems for movies, restaurants, etc., we could rate organizations on their support for volunteer programs. We would make these ratings widely public for volunteers (in newspapers, radio, TV, Internet, etc.) and for volunteer clearing- houses and anyone giving guidance to pools of prospective volunteers in corporations, churches, schools, etc." This was a proposal he made in 1997; the Internet makes it oh-so-easy for something like this to be set up (does anyone dare?!).
So many people think there is something "new" about volunteer management as a field of study, or that volunteerism is something that is only now being fully defined and explored for the first time. Mr. Scheier was a pioneer and produced a body of work that dates from 40 years ago, that anyone who claims to work in volunteerism needs to get-to-know.
