11:25, 6 November 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
The scramble is
already underway for individuals and groups to
find volunteering opportunities for the holidays, and it will get more intense with each day as we get closer to the holidays. If you aren't starting
right now to find volunteering activities for the holidays, you probably won't find any once Thanksgiving, Christmas, or whatever holiday it is you want to spend volunteering rolls around.
Many nonprofits are already turning people away who want to volunteer during the holidays. Some soup kitchens have volunteers reserving to serve food on Thanksgiving six months or even a year in advance!
Start looking now if you want to volunteer during the holidays. In the USA, you have a plethora of online places to choose from:
Also,
think about creating your own holiday volunteering activity for yourself or your group. You could:
- arrange to do a blood donation drive with the American Red Cross at your workplace, community of faith, civic group, sports facility, or central site in your neighborhood (note that you can't arrange for them to come tomorrow; give them plenty of notice).
- arrange to do a canned food drive to benefit your nearest food pantry at your workplace, community of faith, civic group, sports facility, or central site in your neighborhood.
- arrange to have a book drive for the local library at your workplace, community of faith, civic group, sports facility, or central site in your neighborhood (however, call the library first, to make sure they accept book donations, and make sure donors understand that their books will probably be sold and the money used to benefit the library, rather than their books becoming a part of the collection)
- contact local nonprofit organizations in your area (stopping by in person is better than calling) and find out what activities you, as an individual, or the group you represent, might be able to do (paint a room? put together book shelves for an on-site library? clean up the exterior and do light yard work at a site?). Be prepared to pay for all items (paint, brushes, tools, shelves, furniture, etc.) yourself or to use your own materials -- nonprofits don't have the budget to pay for those items for your one-day, feel good holiday volunteering experience.
- contact your local chapter of the Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels and the United Way, as well as any hospice organizations or AIDS services organizations in your area, to see if they need food deliverers near or during the holidays.
- Like to sing? Get a group together to serenade volunteers serving food at the local homeless shelter, or people coming in to pick up deliveries for Meals on Wheels, or volunteers at a Habitat for Humanity site. Get permission from the associated nonprofit well in advance -- do NOT just show up. And take no for an answer -- if you are going to be in the way, or your going to delay work too much, your offer may be turned down. You can, ofcourse, also look for opportunities to sing for recipients of service (people in hospice care, people receiving meals at home, etc.) but, again, get permission from the associated nonprofit well in advance -- do NOT just show up.
Nonprofits may require you as an individual or all members of your volunteering group to go through an orientation about the organization. They may require that the names and home addresses of all volunteers be supplied to them (as they would with any volunteers). They may require volunteers to undergo criminal background checks. Don't be offended; respect the policies and procedures of nonprofit organizations regarding volunteer involvement, some of which may be required by law, just as you expect employees to adhere to policies and procedures at your workplace.
13:47, 3 November 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Susan Ellis once again hits the nail on the head, this time calling out
the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s (EIF) recent attempt to mention volunteering in all types of media. From
her blog on the subject: "Despite the announced list of over 50 television shows planning to incorporate either a public service ad or a story line about service during the week of October 19-25, the media blitz was more of a bust. The messages were all over the map in type, length, and meaning. It took conscious effort to find the teeny, tiny mentions of service and, if it was hard to catch our eyes, why think the general public was aware of anything?"
Read Susan's entire blog for November.
And here's what I wrote to a media consultant working on behalf of EIF who asked me what I thought of the effort:
There are thousands and thousands of people who want to volunteer but are consistently turned away from nonprofits, schools, fire stations, etc., because those organizations lack the funding and other resources necessary to involve volunteers effectively. This campaign -- like other volunteer promotion campaigns that are launched regularly -- will create even more people who want to volunteer but will be turned away. And, sadly, they will not have very nice things to say about volunteering, based on their own experiences.
I hope that, some day soon, you and others will sit down with volunteer managers -- those who work with volunteers -- and ask them what it is they need to be able to involve even more volunteers. It's a conversation that's long overdue.
16:48, 28 October 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Involving volunteers shouldn't be about a nonprofit or other organization having things to do and needing someone to do them -- that's OLD SCHOOL.
Involving volunteers should be about wanting to create a community of supports, about creating an avenue for community members to see first hand what your organization is doing, and reaching out to those you may not be reaching otherwise, among other MODERN reasons.
Some organizations are using volunteering to involve people with disabilities as volunteers (rather than their being mere
recipients of volunteer service).
Tarjan Center Service Inclusion Project has launched a Service Inclusion Success Story Library featuring in-depth interviews (including pictures) with volunteer programs and disability organizations that have conducted innovative, high quality, inclusive service activities, as well as with outstanding volunteers with disabilities. The interviews delve into the root causes of success. How did these programs make inclusive service a reality? What barriers did they encounter and how did they overcome them? What are the best techniques they’ve learned from their experience? All stories can be downloaded in either PDF or WORD and shared with your colleagues, volunteers, friends and family. Additional interviews and stories will be posted in the coming months.
10:08, 6 October 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Wikimedia, with its centerpiece program,
Wikipedia, is, probably, the world's largest
online volunteering endeavor, as the vast majority of its content is produced and edited by volunteers. In addition, when you do an online search on a topic, the first page that comes up in a search tool such as
Google is often
Wikipedia. And many people go straight to
Wikipedia to get a briefing about a particular topic before they look for more detailed information.
So those are three reasons that I created the
Wikipedia entry for Virtual Volunteering. But more needs to be done, and other online volunteers are needed to help! Here are
three ways you can help improve the profile of online volunteering on Wikipedia:
- The Wikipedia entry for itself never mentions online volunteering and doesn't link to the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering, even though, as I already said, Wikipedia is the world's largest online volunteering endeavor anywhere. The page is protected so that, unlike most other pages, anyone can't edit the page. So if you have a Wikipedia account, please go to the talk page for the Wikipedia entry and note that you think there should be a link from the page to the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering.
- There needs to be more links on the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering to examples of online volunteering. After the last example on the page, "managing other online volunteers", you will see three footnotes. There needs to be more footnotes, linking to even more examples. You can add links yourself (preferred, as Wikipedia doesn't like that I'm the primary contributor to the page), or, email me with the URL of the web page with examples of online volunteering, and I will add it.
- More links to the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering on Wikipedia are also needed. You can see on the page what entries already link to it, but what others should? You can add links yourself (preferred, as Wikipedia doesn't like that I'm the primary contributor to the page), or, email me with the name of the Wikipedia entry you think should link to the virtual volunteering page, and I'll add it.
This is also a great opportunity for you to become more comfortable using a
wiki and with collaborating online with others -- two skills that are very important in today's work place!
12:42, 5 October 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Last week, I issued a two part challenge regarding the question,
How easy is it to volunteer at your organization? For
part one of the challenge, I asked you to go online and
see how easy it is to find information that your organization involves volunteers, information on how to express interest in such, and information on how a person can get started volunteering with your organization (screening and training requirements and schedules, etc.).
Part two of the challenge offered advice on
how to investigate what really happens when someone calls your organization, emails your organization, or stops by your organization and says, "I want to volunteer".
These activities may lead to a very harsh reality staff may be reluctant to face:
you may find out that your organization is regularly turning away people who want to volunteer.
In reading those two blog entries, you were probably assuming that I was thinking the volunteer coordinator would undertake this investigation, but that may not be the case for all these steps; the Executive Director or an outside consultant may be that person instead. But what if that Executive Director, consultant or other person discovers that
the problem is the volunteer coordinator herself/himself? What if you discover that the volunteer coordinator is getting information in a timely manner regarding people who want to volunteer with your organization, but isn't following up quickly or properly, or isn't exhibiting an enthusiastic, encouraging attitude with potential volunteers?
If YOU are the volunteer coordinator and you have undertaken this investigation and discovered that you need to improve some of your own practices, good for you! What a great staff person you are, to identify ways to improve the quality of your work! Bring up your investigation and your action plan for improvement to your supervisor, and discuss what support you need from the organization to make these improvements happen.
If you are NOT the volunteer coordinator, however, and you have undertaken this investigation, then you are in a trickier situation. No one likes to be told they aren't doing a good job.
Before you begin your investigation, the volunteer coordinator should be fully informed of what you are going to do. Yes, that might skew some of the results, with the coordinator and maybe others trying to improve performance so that you get positive results (very natural response to being evaluated!), but many of the changes that would need to be made to improve the experience for potential volunteers won't be possible on such short notice.
Once the investigation is complete, sit down with the volunteer coordinator, one-on-one, to let that person know what you have discovered. Emphasize that your goal isn't just to say what's wrong, but to also talk about how each concern could be addressed -- and that could mean
- moving a volunteer coordinator from part-time to full time (with the appropriate salary increase),
- hiring an assistant for the coordinator,
- putting the volunteer coordinator into a volunteer management workshop, or several workshops, to help him or her improve their skills,
Let that volunteer coordinator vent as needed. Comments like "I've been really busy with current volunteers" or "I'm doing the best I can with the time and resources I have!" or "I've got another job at this organization that takes precedent over coordinating potential volunteers" are legitimate defenses. Can you really fault, say, a volunteer fire chief who is trained in fighting fighters but not in the basics of volunteer recruitment and management?
Let the volunteer coordinator address every obstacle to more effectively directing potential volunteers, and come up with a plan, together, on how each of those obstacles will be addressed, and how improvements will be tracked, Emphasize again and again that this is about improving the volunteer experience at your organization and giving the volunteer coordinator the resources he or she needs to make this improvement happen, not a blame game. And when you see an improvement, acknowledge it in ever appropriate way, including in the employee's annual performance review.
It's imperative that you check regularly to see if volunteer recruitment is improving, to make this investigation from
part one and
part two of the challenge worthwhile. The volunteer coordinator should be providing regularly reports (at least quarterly) on:
- how many people are calling, emailing or stopping by each month to inquiry about volunteering versus how many of these people filled out a volunteer application
- how many people are filling out a volunteer application versus how many are attending the first volunteer orientation/meeting
- how many people are attending the volunteer orientation/meeting versus how many actually engage in an assignment
- how many people start an assignment versus how many finish the assignment
- what volunteers say regarding why they stay, why they go, or why they never get started in the first place
What are good statistics to have? That's something your organization will have to determine. For instance, a high number of inquiries about volunteering, versus a low number of people who actually fill out the volunteer application isn't necessarily a bad thing: it could mean that your staff is doing a good job of helping inappropriate people to screen themselves out of the volunteer process, as these people realize that they wouldn't be appropriate candidates to volunteer with your organization (due to lack of enough time, for instance).
11:18, 2 October 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
The day before yesterday, I issued part one of a challenge to you regarding the question,
How easy is it to volunteer at your organization?. For part one of the challenge, I asked you to pretend to be a potential volunteer and to go online and see:
- how easy it is to find out that your organization involves volunteers,
- how to express interest in such, and
- how a person can get started volunteering with your organization (screening and training requirements and schedules, etc.)
Now, here's part 2 of the challenge:
what really happens when someone calls, emails or stops by your organization and says, "I want to volunteer!"? Maybe you know what should happen in theory, but
what's the reality?
When I've consulted with organizations -- both nonprofits and schools -- regarding this challenge, the results are always a shock: it turns out that
many volunteers are turned away, because the message from the potential candidate rarely gets forwarded to the right person, because the information given to the potential volunteer is incomplete, uninspiring or even incorrect, or because followup with the volunteer doesn't happen quickly or at all.
How to find out what's happening at your organization with potential volunteers? Here are some ideas;
- Sit down with each and every person who answers the phone and have a checklist they must go through for every person who calls, emails or stops by to express interest in volunteering (be sure to get approval from that person's supervisor before you do this). An example of the checklist could be:
- The person who talks with the potential volunteering fills out a log sheet with the candidate's name, phone number, email address and the date of their call, email or site visit. This log sheet should be reviewed regularly by the volunteer coordinator or other manager to see what has happened with each of these people in terms of communication by the organization regarding how to volunteer.
- The person who interacts with the potential volunteer on the phone, via email or in-person gives that candidate the volunteer coordinator's name, phone number and email.
- The person who interacts with the candidate directs the person to the organization's web site to download and complete an application
Just these three very simple steps -- none of which are any significant burden on the person answering the phone or the organization's email or greeting people at the front desk -- are enough for you to find out what's happening to people who inquire about volunteering with your organization: How many people inquire about volunteering versus how many people come to the first volunteer training? Is there too much time between a person's inquiry or application and when they get to come to a first meeting or get placed in an assignment? This checklist, particularly the log sheet, will tell you, as will calling people on the login sheet later to survey them about their experience.
- Have five friends or colleagues from outside your organization call or email your organization on different days, at different times, to inquire about volunteering, and afterwards, interview them about their experiences. Also look at the log-in sheet to make sure their inquiries were recorded. What are they consistently told by your organization? What are they not told but should have been? Were they logged in properly by the person they talked with? Do they walk away with a feeling of, "We really want you involved with us!" or "We're really busy and we don't know when we will get back to you"?
- Survey all people who have applied to volunteer in the last three-six months. How do their rate the experience of when they asked to volunteer? What do they remembering being told? Did they walk away from that initial inquiry with a feeling of, "We really want you involved with us!" or "We're really busy and we don't know when we will get back to you"? What do they think could be improved about the experience?
These activities may lead to a very harsh reality staff may be reluctant to face:
you may find out that your organization is regularly turning away people who want to volunteer. Talking about this with staff can be a challenge: people may become defensive about their actions, or lack their of ("I was really busy that day" or "I'm doing the best I can!").
With those answering the phone or the organization's email or greeting people at the front desk, emphasize that none of the checklist activities are any significant time burden; you may even want to do a skit to show just how quickly the activities can be undertaken. Make sure their supervisor's agree that this is an appropriate and necessary use of their time.
The harder part will be to convince staff that
everyone has a responsibility to make potential volunteers feel energized about the organization. Do you believe this yourself? If so, talk with senior management individually to get each of them on board with this idea and ask them to bring it up with their own direct reports. Also, talk about it when you meet with individual staff in formal meetings and informal settings, and present on the topic formally in staff trainings. If you
aren't convinced of this yourself... I think that's something I'll have to address in a different blog.
For trainings for staff on dealing with potential volunteers, skits can
really help. For instance, present one as a worst-case scenario, in a humorous way, of someone asking about volunteering and being turned away with lack of enthusiasm, and then present another to show how easy it is to make a potential volunteer feel excited and welcomed. These can each be just a couple of minutes. The more outrageous or extreme these skits are, the more fun they will be and the more likely that staff will remember the lessons and take them to heart.
In reading this and
the earlier blog entry about this challenge, you were probably assuming that I was thinking the volunteer coordinator would undertake all of the above investigation activities. But that may not be the case for all these steps; the Executive Director or an outside consultant may be that person instead. If you are that executive or consultant, what if you discover that the problem regarding volunteer recruitment is the volunteer coordinator herself/himself? What if you discover that the volunteer coordinator is not getting information in a timely manner regarding people who want to volunteer with your organization, or isn't exhibiting an enthusiastic, encouraging attitude with potential volunteers?
I'll address that in a blog next week....
18:31, 30 September 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Here is a challenge for organizations that involve volunteers, or want to involve volunteers:
pretend you want to volunteer. You are someone that might be interested in volunteering with your organization, or interested in volunteering regarding the cause your organization is focused on, or volunteering in your geographic area.
Go online, and see how easy it is to find out that your organization involves volunteers, how to express interest in such, and how a person can get started volunteering with your organization (screening and training requirements and schedules, etc.):
- Go to a web site, such as All For Good and Network for Good, that aggregates volunteer listings from various other web sites, like VolunteerMatch or Idealist. Search for volunteering opportunities in your geographic area, or in a mission-focus related to your organization (environment, arts, children, women, community safety, etc.). Are volunteering opportunities with your organization listed? Are they easy to find? Do they compare well with other organization's listings? If not, enter or edit your volunteering opportunities on VolunteerMatch or Idealist so that they will show up on the aggregator sites as well and get the attention of potential volunteers.
- Check your organization's web site. Is there a direct link from the home page to volunteering information? Does any reference that says "help us" or "get involved" link to only donation information, or does it also link to volunteering information? If your web site has a search function, and you type in "volunteer", what happens? Potential volunteers that don't find information quickly move on to another web site and a different organization.
- Go to Google and type in
- the name of your organization and the word volunteer.
- the name of your city and the word volunteer.
- the name of your state or city and a phrase that describes your organizations work, like help children or support the arts, and the word volunteer
Is your organization and its volunteering information in the first five listings that result from your search? If not, you need to edit your organization's web site to include all the necessary text so that the information will show up more readily.
Finding volunteering information online about your organization should be simple simple simple. You can be selective about candidates, ofcourse, requiring those who contact you to undergo training or screening. But
anyone and
everyone should be able to easily, immediately find complete information online about volunteering with your organization - NO EXCUSES!
If you want to reach even more people, have information posted on
Facebook,
MySpace,
Change.org,
Craigslist and other social networking sites as well that link to your web site information about volunteering.
Information on your web site and on volunteer web sites like
VolunteerMatch or
Idealist should include:
- what tasks volunteers undertake, or could undertake, for your organization
- all of the activities a potential volunteer must undertake to become an active volunteer (training, screening, etc., and these can vary depending on different volunteer roles, ofcourse)
- an application a candidate could download and complete at home, and then snail mail or email in to your organization
- what commitment you require volunteers to make, in terms of hours every week or month and length of service (and these can vary depending on different tasks, ofcourse)
Photos of volunteers in action, profiles of active volunteers, blogs by volunteers, and testimonials by volunteers are also helpful in getting people interested and excited about volunteering with your organization.
But what if you recruit huge numbers of potential volunteers? Are you ready for that influx? Are you ready to place people quickly so that you don't lose candidates, and even turn people off of volunteering with your organization? With that in mind, tomorrow, I'll have a second challenge for you...
14:10, 24 September 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
A group I'm assisting with online communications is frustrated with one of its volunteers, because she doesn't have an email address. Every volunteer has an email account except her. There is a computer in her home, with Internet access, used by her family, so access isn't a problem. Per her professional work, we know she's perfectly capable of using email. Her family and others have tried several times to get her to register for a
gmail or
Yahoomail address, but she refuses -- politely but firmly. And that means that all messages that are sent out to volunteers via email or
their online group have to be snail mailed to this volunteer.
Before you roll your eyes, talk about what an inconvenience she is to the group and how much more work she's creating because she refuses to drag herself into the 21st century, consider this: is she any more burdensome than that one volunteer telling you he wants you to send
micro-blogs (tweets) to his cell phone instead of email? Or the volunteers that want you to switch from
YahooGroups to
FaceBook for volunteer communications, because that's what they prefer, even though a majority of your volunteers, and you, like the current online platform?
The necessity of online communications has been a reality for me since the mid-1990s, professionally as well as personally;
for other nonprofits and those that support such, that necessity came even earlier, believe it or not. It's hard to argue that having an email address isn't an absolute requirement for volunteering in the USA in 2009, and has been for many years. But that said: because this volunteer is someone who has proven herself
essential again and again to the success of the group, and because the group would suffer if they lost her, I suggested they keep accommodating her. She gets left out of the online conversations, but she still gets event flyers and major announcements by snail mail, and invitations to meetings by phone call. In short, her worth as a volunteer seems to far outweigh the inconvenience and cost of sending her snail mail.
But THAT said, had she not been so very essential, I would have suggested that they tell her she had to get an email address or not longer be a part of the group.
The vast majority of nonprofits cannot use
every communication avenue out there to get messages out to current and potential volunteers, donors and clients, and cannot accommodate the preferred communications avenues of
every volunteer, donor or client. How do you pick which tools to use? Know the people you want to reach. What works best with them? What are they telling you? What are your surveys and observations of them telling you? Also think about the staying power of certain online tools: FaceBook is popular now, but as I
noted in my earlier blog, America Online used to be the online social networking site, and a few years ago, it seemed everyone had to have a
MySpace account. By contrast, email and web sites have shown significant staying power, so investing in their use now won't be an investment wasted in a year or two.
Can you exclude a volunteer because he or she refuses to use an online tool you deem
essential to working with volunteers? Yes, if you determine that it would be too huge of a time and/or cost burden to you and the organization to print out every email message to volunteers and send it via snail mail to just one person or a handful of people, or to reduce every message down to 140 characters and tweet it, or to duplicate every posting to your
Googlegroup to post also on a Facebook group, etc. Or, if it's
absolutely essential to a volunteer's service with your organization that he or she be available via their cell phone because of the nature of your organization's mission, you can make cell phone access a requirement. If your online group is on FaceBook, and the communications to volunteers on it is essential to their service, you can require volunteers to use Facebook. But note the word
essential that I keep using; you have to be able to prove that an online tool is
essential in order to make your case for it being a requirement to volunteer service.
Yes, that means sometimes leaving people out. But you probably do this regularly: can your organization accommodate volunteers who are only available third shift? Or does your organization require volunteers to undergo a certain number of hours of training before they can become involved? Volunteer requirements of any kind
always leave some people out, and that's okay -- provided that those requirements are valid in relation to the volunteers' tasks and the organization's resources. (for the record,
online volunteering not only leaves out people who don't have access to the Internet -- so far, it also excludes people who can't read).
And with THAT said, it's probably a good time to remind you to think about where you fall in the
Stages of Maturity in Nonprofit Organizations' Use of Online Technologies. Are you a Basic user of online tech? Intermediate? Advanced? Trail-Blazing? Have a look at where you are now, and think about where you would like to be.
15:33, 21 September 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Wikipedia, probably the world's largest online volunteering endeavor, is starting a year-long process to develop a strategic plan for the Wikimedia movement. Specifically, Wikimedia is trying to understand where it is now, where it wants to be in five years, and how Wikimedia could get there from here.
(Wikipedia is the highest profile activity of Wikimedia, but not the only one. Have a look at all the Wikimedia projects to learn more.)
Here are five ways you can participate in this endeavor:
- Join a Wikimedia task force. These task forces will explore different topics and produce a set of recommendations related to them. Apply to participate, or form your own ad-hoc groups.
- If you are an expert in one of the subjects Wikimedia is dealing with, add yourself to the Wikimedia expert database. This will allow task forces and other volunteers to reach you with questions, and you can respond when you have time.
- Publish your ideas. Write a proposal on the strategy wiki, and help organize and improve the proposals that are already there. Post ideas on your blog, on mailing lists, and on social networks. Tag those posts with #wikimedia or link to them on the strategy wiki so that others can see them.
- Host conversations about strategy. In order to develop good plans, Wikimedia needs broad participation. There is no way that the task forces can talk to everyone who has ideas about Wikimedia's future. This is where you can help: host your own conversations about strategy, in person or online, and publish the results on the strategy wiki. There are templates and tools for hosting strategy sessions on the strategy wiki.
- Talk to Wikimedia. Give feedback to the strategy team. Tell them your ideas, your hopes, your fears, your goals for the projects. Add feedback to the strategy wiki, or send an email to strategy@wikimedia.org.
If you work with volunteers, its worth your while to follow this effort; this is a great example of an organization involving volunteers -- online volunteers, even! -- in strategic planning. It's something your nonprofit organization, however large or small, may want to undertake yourself.
11:03, 18 September 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Every year, an amazing event happens in Austin, Texas:
the perfect combination of fun, food, volunteering and making a difference.
It's my
favorite volunteering event, and it breaks my heart every year when I'm not in Austin to participate!
It's called
AIR Austin, and it helps educate web developers and nonprofits about
web accessibility for people with disabilities, and helps nonprofits get beautifully-designed web sites. And the deadline for developers to participate is approaching!
Web developers: participating in this event is very much worth your while. You gain skills that are very much in demand in the workplace, and make connections with nonprofit organizations and other web developers representing a variety of Austin-area corporations. This is an event that often garners national media attention as well. This is your chance to gain skills, show off skills you have, add to your resume, network professionally, eat great food and have a great time.
That so many developers come back year after year says a lot!
It's best to
sign up as a team of at least four designers, but if you don't have a team together, contact
teenya@knowbility.org or by phone at 512-305-0311 (tell her Jayne sent you!).
Developer registration closes soon.
Don't delay!
09:37, 26 August 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
There's yet another please-go-out-and-volunteer event in the USA, this one called
Mozilla Service Week, taking place Sept. 14 - 21. Organizers are encouraging nonprofit organizations to post
short-term tech-related volunteering opportunities via
a special web site linking to Idealist. Volunteers do NOT have to wait until the service week to start signing up for assignments. During the service week, organizers will post stories and examples of these successes.
Like other please-go-out-and-volunteer event, all the publicity will probably lead to there being
far more volunteers that want to help than assignments for them to do, leading once again to many disappointed, disillusioned potential volunteers -- something we
don't need. Just as I wish there would be a
moratorium on new volunteer-matching web sites in the USA (and a culling of what's already out there),
I'd be happy if there would be no more new please-go-out-and-volunteer events -- and, instead, there were lots of let's-help-nonprofits-have-the-resources-needed-to-involve-more-volunteers events.
That said,
nonprofits should, indeed, think about leveraging this event to get some short-term tech assignments done. You do not have to be the volunteer manager at your organization to identify volunteering assignments, tech or otherwise. You do not have to be a paid staff member at an organization to identify potential volunteering assignments, tech or otherwise (though volunteers should always get approval from the organization they are helping before ever recruiting volunteers anywhere on its behalf). You could even
recruit a volunteer to help you identify tech assignments at your organization, or within an individual program.
And remember that
involving volunteers should never be just about getting work done; instead, it should be about inviting members of the community into your organization to see your work first hand and hoping they become advocates for your organization to their family and colleagues, about allowing members of the community to have personal investment in your organization's work, and about making real, meaningful connections with people who could become supporters beyond the service they provide the organization.
17:22, 20 August 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
My husband and I have moved to the Pacific Northwest in the USA, and are currently living in a suburb of the Portland, Oregon. Our goal in the next two weeks is to find a community in the Portland-Salem area that has volunteer firefighters and where we would like to live.
We have seen an ad on TV encouraging people in Oregon to volunteer as firefighters.
We have seen banners hung on fire stations asking for volunteers.
Clearly, volunteer firefighters are needed in Oregon, including in the greater Portland/Salem area.
But, sadly, the Internet has been almost useless in providing the information my husband needs to be a volunteer firefighter:
- Few fire stations have web sites.
- Those fire stations that have web sites either never mention volunteers, or are vague about their involvement of such.
- We have found just one fire station in a 70-mile radius with a web site that had detailed information about their volunteer involvement, including a listing of requirements and a downloadable form for potential volunteers.
- Although volunteer firefighters are needed, as noted by the TV commercial and banners we've seen, the web site for volunteer firefighters list just one firehouse looking for volunteers.
If fire stations truly need and want volunteer firefighters, they have to use the Internet to communicate that need -- no excuses!
Here is a very basic tutorial for nonprofits -- and fire stations! -- needing to create, or recreate, a web site.
An account on Facebook or MySpace or Blogger is NOT a substitute for a web site! And fire stations: keep in mind that some people may be deciding whether or not to move to a community depending on the volunteer firefighter community. Ask yourself: how encouraging and welcoming are you of not only potential recruits already living in the area, but those considering moving to your area?
One final note: my husband is still volunteering with
his home town fire station back in Germany; he's in charge of the web site! He just updated it this morning regarding a recent call. He enjoys being an
online volunteer with his home town station, but he would really like to do the onsite stuff too!
18:38, 18 August 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Recently on
UKVPMs, an online discussion group for volunteer managers in the United Kingdom that
I read regularly, someone posted a message about making the volunteering opportunities at his organization more accessible for people with disabilities, childcare needs etc. GREAT IDEA!
Not so great was the idea to put a symbol next to certain volunteering opportunities so that those who need certain accommodations "can easily see which opportunities they can participate in." YIKES!
I vote
yes on making assignments as accessible as possible, but
no against a volunteer manager deciding which assignments are accessible and which are not. That decision should be made by potential volunteers themselves! Potential applicants know what they can and cannot do, and each wants to search for opportunities based on their abilities, as well as his or her interests. If the volunteering assignment is very clear about requirements of the task, everyone -- with and without disabilities, with and without childcare needs, etc. -- can self-screen for it.
Instead, a volunteer manager might want to include the accessibility symbol next to a statement before the assignment listing that says, "We strive to make our volunteering opportunities accessible to the largest number of people possible. If you have accessibility requirements that you aren't sure could be accommodated in an assignment in which you are interested, please contact us, so we can work together to accommodate you in this or another assignment."
If you want to put symbols next to, say, those assignments that require working during business hours, or that require a volunteer to use his or her own car, or assignments requiring bi-lingual speakers, that's fine. But don't brand assignments based on accessibility. Instead, keep working to make
all assignments as accessible as possible.
Also see
12:57, 14 August 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
The
Volunteering in America Web site at has been completely updated with the latest research findings regarding volunteering in the USA from 2008. You can find detailed multi-year information on volunteering trends and demographics in all 50 states, U.S. regions, and several cities. A summary of the findings can be found in the 6-page PDF,
Volunteering in America Research Highlights.
Remember, however, that research regarding volunteering always has to be read with a grain of salt; everyone has a different definition of
volunteering. Many people will answer "no" in response to the question "do you volunteer?", yet they are unpaid baseball coaches, PTA board members, religious class teachers, etc. Also, some researchers don't consider unpaid political activism or service learning as volunteering, and will disregard answers regarding such. Always read the report's definition of volunteering as communicated to respondents, and look carefully at how questions were worded.
Unfortunately, these and other recent research still don't really explore online volunteering. Here are
resources relating to research on online volunteering I've compiled to date.
12:01, 23 July 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
HandsOn Network has announced the availability of
up to $1,500,000.00 in grant funding to strengthen volunteer infrastructure and increase the number of Americans engaging in quality volunteer experiences that meet critical community needs.
Hurrah! But note that
July 29, 2009 is the deadline for the Notice of Intent to Apply Form! (
complete details here)
HandsOn says, "This opportunity will support organizations’ ability to directly engage volunteers and volunteer leaders in expanded volunteer opportunities in a specified geographic area. In addition, it will build the capacity of nonprofit organizations to effectively recruit, coordinate, train and manage volunteers to address education, the environment, and the economy."
Funding will be made available to individual volunteer connector organizations, collaborative community based entities led by a volunteer connector organization, and statewide entities (i.e. State Volunteer Center Associations and State Service Commissions) that build capacity and convene volunteer connector organizations and other partners to serve communities across the country.
The VIRE grant NOFA, Notice of Intent to Apply, Application Instructions & Guidelines and Forms & Appendices are all on the Web.
Note these important dates for accessing this funding opportunity:
*
July 29, 2009 – Notice of Intent to Apply Form due
* August 4, August 12, August 17, 2009 - VIRE grant information conference calls available
* August 21, 2009 – VIRE grant Applications due
* October 16, 2009 – VIRE grant Award announcement.
* Mid-Nov. 2009 – three day grant orientation and training
All of these calls for people to volunteer CANNOT WORK if the infrastructure is not in place to support and involve volunteers! This is an important opportunity!
10:05, 7 July 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
While
Twitter may have jumped the shark, micro-blogging -- sending text messages of less than 140 characters to several cell phones and/or via the Internet to subscribers -- is probably here to stay for many people. But while microblogs (called "Tweets" on
Twitter) are a great vehicle to help organize political demonstrations in Iran (and an effective way to
spread misinformation),
how can nonprofit organizations really use microblogs -- particularly with volunteers?
Microblogging, IMO, works best for nonprofits when they think about such as short messages going to subscribers via cell phones. Yes, users can receive microblogs as emails, as updates in their
RSS readers or as updates on a particular web page, but that's the same for regular, old-school
blogging as well.
Microblogging via cell phones is what truly makes the phenomena unique, and truly sets it apart from email and blogging.
Microblogging is NOT for everyone. There, I said it. It's not appropriate for every nonprofit organization (and maybe most nonprofit organizations). It's also not something every volunteer and other supporter of a nonprofit wants to use. Rare is the situation where microblogging will be the
only way a volunteer coordinator will interact with volunteers. Don't use it as a replacement for emails, posts to
online discussion groups, regular
blogging... and face-to-face meetings and phone calls.
A lot of nonprofits I have talked with abandoned micro-blogging after just a few weeks or months, because subscribers realized they really didn't want nor need frequent updates from a nonprofit organization they support and, eventually, there weren't enough subscribers to continue the microblogging effort. A tip sheet on using Twitter for nonprofits that I came across recently said, "Limit your Tweets to 5 per day, and no more than 6!" I almost fell out of my chair. I assure you: the vast majority of volunteers do NOT want to receive messages from you that often!
Most people are overwhelmed with online and cell phone messages and are looking for ways to cut down, not increase, online noise. Yes, there are a few nonprofit groups out there who have microblog subscribers who love or who actually need to receive daily messages, or even multiple messages a day (such as the
National Wildlife Federation - although, let's see if they are still doing so in, say, three years). If that's your situation, then hurrah for you for knowing your constituents and what they really want/need from your organization. But
for the vast majority of nonprofit organizations and volunteers, microblogging multiple times a day is not appropriate, feasible or desirable.
In short,
if you are going to micro-blog, find what works best for your organization and your volunteers, and know that your experience may be hugely different than another organization.
There is also the danger of “crying wolf,” using the service so often that it loses its impact. Volunteers and other supporters should know when they subscribe to your microblogging service that you will use it for critical, time-sensitive messages only, messages that require immediate attention or action. They want messages like, "Barack Obama just walked in the front door of our office and it's live on CNN", not "Our Executive Director is flying to Seattle today for a board meeting."
Here, IMO, are what effective microblogs to volunteers look like:
"Vote on state bill to prevent Dalmatian fur coats comes up for vote tomorrow a.m. Call your state rep now! More info on our web site."
"Volunteers R gathering @ our offices to greet our executive director on her return from Afghanistan. Arrives in 1 hour. Come & cheer!"
"A volunteer had to leave our booth at county fair; we need someone to come down ASAP & fill in! Please reply if U can!"
"The annual meeting starts in one hour; we RLY hope you will be there."
"Online survey of volunteers closes in 24 hours. If you have not completed it, please do ASAP!"
"Location of meeting has been change; please be at our Main Street location tomorrow at 9."
"Online poll at CNBC re: pet ownership. Please participate & help advocate for your pets!"
"Training schedule for week has now been posted."
"Training schedule has changed. Please check our YahooGroup for complete details."
"Please reply with your GPS coordinates immediately. More info 2 follow."
Note how all of these announcements are time-sensitive, and the goal of each message is to get volunteers or other supporters to do something
immediately: going to the nonprofit's office, going to a program site, going online, making a call, forwarding the message to others, etc.
Messages sent via microblogs should still also be sent via email or posted on your
online discussion group for volunteers, with much more detail (as they won't be limited to 140 characters via those tools). If the message is THAT important to microblog, then it's worth repeating via other communications channels. Remember that not everyone is reached by just one avenue of communication!
The only way to be sure what potential subscribers to your microblog would want is to ASK THEM. Ask volunteers and others if they would be interested in receiving updates via their cell phone from your organization, and tell them what such an update might look like. Ask them what they think would be an appropriate message vs. one that should have been sent via email or posted to
an online discussion group instead. Ask them what microblogs they already receive via their cell phones and why.
Once you launch your microblogs, look at your subscription numbers frequently. Survey users three months into the experience, to ask what they like and what they don't. Ask ex-subscribers why they left. Always have data to help you refine your micro-blogging based on subscriber (and ex-subscriber) feedback. And
measure your success with online tools by real outcomes, not number of subscribers, number of messages sent, etc.
It's appropriate for some nonprofits to have more than one microblog account. Maybe your housing manager needs such to communicate with housing volunteers, while your campaign manager needs another to communicate with her activists, and the overall volunteer coordinator needs still another to communicate with
all volunteers. That's fine, however, make sure everyone who is microblogging to volunteers is coordinating efforts with each other, and that no volunteer is required to subscribe to more than one account.
The most important thing to keep in mind?
Content is still king. The online tools you use that have staying power -- and are, therefore, worth investing in -- are those that have quality, highly-desirable content. The fluffier and faddy your messages, the shorter the time whatever tool you are using will be valuable to those you are trying to reach. Be thoughtful and be strategic about whatever communication tool you use, even the flavor of the month.
09:44, 30 June 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
(this blog entry is inspired by a current discussion on
UKVPMS)
There's nothing new about web sites that allow people to apply for volunteering opportunities, and nothing new about volunteering opportunities that can be done virtually, from a volunteer's home, work, school or neighborhood tech center.
VolunteerMatch, then called Impact Online, started in 1994, and
Idealist started in 1995 -- both allowing organizations to post traditional onsite volunteering opportunities, and individuals to express interest in such. The
Virtual Volunteering Project began researching and promoting virtual volunteering / online volunteering opportunities in 1996.
Many new online tools have emerged since then, and that's great. HOWEVER, in addition to these online tools making it easier for organizations to recruit volunteers and for volunteers to find such, there is a downside:
with all these online tools, it's never been easier to disappoint large numbers of potential volunteers.
Too many organizations start using the many online tools out there to recruit volunteers, either for traditional onsite roles or for online roles, without having all the systems in place to put applicants into a screening process immediately, put accepted volunteers into tasks quickly, and provide volunteers the support they need. I've been researching online recruitment of volunteers since 1994, and I can tell you that the number one complaint I've heard again and again is from people who want to volunteer: "I signed up to help with the assignment, and the organization never got back to me/didn't get back to me for months and, by then, I wasn't available any more." That complaint gets voiced regularly in surveys, in emails, in online discussion groups, and when people hear what I do professionally and want to vent about their repeated attempts to volunteer (it's happened everywhere from dinner parties to planes to concerts and probably lines for the women's bathroom).
With online tools, it's not only never been easier to disappoint large numbers of potential volunteers;
with online tools, those disappointed people can let a lot of people know just how frustrated they are re: your organization. So it's never been more important to have all your ducks in a row: before you use any of these online tools to recruit volunteers, map out exactly how you will screen new recruits quickly, put them into assignments quickly, and provide them support in assignments. And be ready to respond to online applicants *immediately* -- a few weeks is too long!
10:35, 22 June 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Do you volunteer (contribute work/ a service pro bono/unpaid) to a nonprofit organization, non-governmental organization (NGO), grassroots organization, school, or other civil society organization (CSO)? And at some point in your volunteer service, have you used a a computer at your home, your work, or a computer cafe to complete some of your tasks?
If so, then you have been an online volunteer.
Do you research information, design web sites, databases or graphics, prepare proposals, edit documents, translate text, offer professional advice, moderate an online discussion group, manage a web site, manage a Flickr account, edit a podcast or online video, or any other activities to help an organization that supports a cause you believe in, working as a volunteer (unpaid!) from a remote site? If so, you are an
online volunteer. You are engaged in
virtual volunteering.
So, please post a photo or video of yourself at this Flickr Group, "Online Volunteers."
Please describe what you do as an online volunteer, including either the name or a description of the organization(s) you support. ALSO, please tag your photo "online volunteer."
Finally, please please forward this message to online volunteers you work with, or anyone you think might be interested.
Goal: to show the diversity of online volunteers out there.
The practice of online volunteering is more than 30 years old. I want to show just what a HUGE group of people volunteer online, and have been doing so for a long while now!
Also, a reminder: if you ever have been a volunteer (onsite or online), OR if you have worked with volunteers in *any* capacity -- side-by-side as a fellow volunteer or as a manager/primary staff contact --
I invite you to complete this survey regarding the use of online tools to support volunteers, to help me in my efforts to revise the Virtual Volunteering Guidebook.
You do not have to consider yourself an online volunteer to complete this survey! Huge thanks to everyone who has done so already.
18:01, 10 June 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
In the late 1990s, I co-wrote The
Virtual Volunteering Guidebook with Susan Ellis. It is a free manual to help organizations involve online volunteers, as well as to use online tools to support all volunteers. I am currently revising this Guidebook.
If you ever have been a volunteer, OR if you have worked with volunteers in *any* capacity -- side-by-side or as a manager/primary staff contact --
I invite you to complete this survey regarding the use of online tools to support volunteers, to help me in my efforts to revise this guidebook.
By
volunteer, I mean someone who has provided some kind of work support without pay to a nonprofit organization, community-based group (such as a school), or government initiative focused on the community (such as a city-sponsored park cleanup).
When talking about your experience, you can talk about more than one organization. But remember that most questions relate to your experience only regarding volunteering or working with volunteers.
Please note that
this survey is NOT limited to any country or region.
I plan to share the results in the next edition of the
Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. To know when the guidebook is released, please subscribe to my blog (which you are reading now) or
Tech4Impact (my email newsletter).
Thanks, and feel free to spread the word!
14:37, 26 May 2009
Post your comments using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
Like all Presidents named Bush and President Clinton before him, US President Obama is signing legislation and making speeches to increase the number of Americans that volunteer.
As noted in this editorial entitled "More volunteers won't help if nonprofits aren't ready for them," by the
Christian Science Monitor, "Managing volunteers requires considerable staff time and energy – only more precious in the face of ongoing staff cuts. Nonprofit staff members should be given tools and support to design volunteer posts that deliver results and build capacity, not serve as a distraction." It's so nice to see someone else who gets it!
But few really seem to understand the infrastructure needed for volunteers to be successful. In a response to an Oregon editorial "
Making volunteerism count," which noted that a law signed by President Obama authorizes up to $6 billion in spending over the next five years to triple the number of AmeriCorps volunteers by 2017, someone wrote on the comments section, "Why do you need $6 Billion for volunteers? I thought volunteers didn't get paid? That's what makes you a volunteer."
Sigh.
I've blogged before about the need for funding the volunteer management to make volunteering worthwhile for both volunteers and the organizations wanting to involve them. As I said back in January:
Ofcourse, as anyone who was involved in all the other Presidential promotional campaigns regarding volunteerism over the last 20 years, it's no problem to get people in the USA to turn out en masse for a just-show-up-and-feel-good experience. The challenge -- and it's a BIG challenge -- is having the infrastructure in place so that these volunteers aren't standing around waiting to do something, and so that they have such a great experience they decide to volunteer again.
So I ask again: will it be different this time?
My own resources regarding volunteer involvement here.
