Well…it turns out the  “heated feelings” in volunteer management circles about Reimagining Service may be cooling down.  My post on July 30 Reimagining Service: What’s All the Fuss, shared some frustrations I’ve been hearing in the field.   But in a July 15 post on Jayne Craven’s Blog, she expressed “STUNNED surprise” at receiving an e-mail from the folks at Reimagining Service with a very different message than their initial report [Reimagining Service Report, 2009]. After more research, the focus on Corporate Human Resource Management as the “solution” shifted to support for creating “Service Enterprises” (defined as:  a nonprofit or for-profit organization that fundamentally leverages volunteers and their skills to successfully deliver on the social mission of the organization).  Giving strong volunteer organizations a fancy new name is nice, but what’s more encouraging is the following:

Recognizing that volunteer management and infrastructure require financial resources, the Reimagining Service Funding Action Team has created a resource guide with two objectives: 1) to help nonprofits make the case for funding to support volunteer management; and 2) to share information with funders on the value and need for providing this type of financial support to nonprofits… the Funding Action Team is also pursuing other strategies to direct more funding to volunteer management and infrastructure support.

 That is music to volunteer management professional’s ears!  The folks at Reimagining Service seem to be listening.  The volunteer management profession may actually have a powerful new partner moving forward. 

 Check out the resources and research on the Reimagining Service site and let them know what you think, because feedback on the usefulness of the resources is welcome and encouraged.  While I know you’ll all head straight to the Guide on Volunteer Management Funding (a common request I get from volunteer managers), make sure to also look at the Nonprofit Service Enterprise Diagnostic Tool and the Nonprofit Service Enterprise Research Summary, which informed the development of the diagnostic tool.  Designed to help assess whether yours is a Nonprofit Service Enterprise, the tool is also intended to be a “first step” in helping funders, nonprofit leaders, board members and staff understand the basics of what’s needed to be a strong volunteer organization. 

Can this approach help move our profession from relative obscurity to a key organizational strategy?  I’m definitely hopeful, and I definitely think we shouldn’t let this opportunity pass us by.  What do you think?