The Volunteer Impact Program (VIP) is a free 10-month program available to local nonprofit organizations through a partnership between United Way of King County and 501 Commons. Now in its third year, the program provides more than $20,000 in assessment, training and consulting services that can boost an organization’s ability to engage and manage volunteers. In an era of diminishing financial resources, volunteers are a critical resource for nonprofits.  You can help them maximize that resource as a volunteer consultant.

As a volunteer consultant you will work with nonprofit staff to assess their volunteer involvement efforts, and assist the nonprofit to develop a plan for using volunteers more effectively.

To learn more about the Volunteer Impact Program and to see how VIP has helped to strengthen local nonprofits visit: Volunteer Impact Program: Results from 2010 and 2011

Interested?  Visit Be A VIP in 2012 or contact Karen Molinari at karen@501commons.org.

That is why we celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day every year on November 5.  It is important to let those professionals know that the spirit of volunteerism is enhanced and enabled by them, and to thank them.

So mark your calendar and, whether you are an administrator, a volunteer, a community leader or someone who receives the benefit of volunteer help, make sure the people who act as leaders and catalysts of volunteer engagement get the recognition they so deserve!

 How will you thank your Volunteer Manager on the 5^th?

I have another story to tell about the success of United Way’s Day of Caring.  It’s a story about a dedicated corps of often unseen and unsung heroes working within our nonprofits to skillfully plan volunteer projects, promote volunteer service and inspire volunteers to serve.  At United Way of King County we know that volunteering rarely “just happens”.  We understand that harnessing the full potential of volunteers requires skilled, knowledgeable and professional individuals that can provide the “creative, inspirational and motivational leadership of volunteers, the management of a diverse range of people and strategic planning of volunteer service (Anita Bain, ‘Promote Volunteer Managers and You Promote Volunteers’, Charity Channel, Wednesday, June 7, 2006).  

I’d like to give a shout out to all of the volunteer coordinator/managers that helped to ensure the successful engagement of volunteers for Day of Caring.  Thanks!  We couldn’t do this without you!

If you have had the privilege of interacting with one of the many volunteer coordinators out there working tirelessly to engage volunteers with their organizations, take a moment to say “thanks for all you do”!  And mark your calendars: November 5^th is the International Volunteer Managers Day.  Let’s celebrate the volunteer coordinators/ managers who help to make our communities stronger.

The primary objective of the conference is to support and promote a powerful community of volunteer administration professionals, support best practice in the field, and enhance the vitality of the volunteer sector.

As a volunteer administrative professional, I look forward to the VAN Conference, every year!  It is the only conference in the Puget Sound region that focuses on Volunteer Program Administration.  Join VAN to explore best practice in volunteer engagement, network with your peers and spend a day focusing on professional development.

The conference will be on the Eastside again this year, at the Eastshore Unitarian Church at 17200 SE 32^nd St, Bellevue, WA  98005

You can check out presenter and session details as they become available HERE.

Registration:

• Conference + VAN 2011-2012 Annual Membership  + Lunch = $90 + processing fees (deadline June 16th)
• Conference Only + Lunch = $90 + processing fees (deadline June 16th)
• Last Minute – Conference + VAN 2011-2012 Annual Membership = $90 + processing fees (available only from June 16th-June 21^st- no lunch)

ONLINE REGISTRATION  (credit card only)

MAIL-IN REGISTRATION (check only)

Volunteer Scholarships: 

Ten $45 volunteer scholarships will be available.  Scholarship recipients must volunteer at the conference.  Scholarships will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis.  Check the VAN website for more information about scholarships at http://vannw.org/conference/

As a leader of volunteer involvement (aka volunteer manager or volunteer coordinator), I am always looking for opportunities to connect and network with my peers.  In the Greater Seattle Metropolitan area, there is no better place to network with peers than the Volunteer Administrator’s Network Northwest. 

VAN is a vibrant professional network that advocates for the profession and empowers volunteer managers.

The Volunteer Administrators Network provides opportunities for:

• Professional Development
• Networking
• Leadership
• Connections to Resources

And VAN Northwest has a new website!  Check out the newly launched VAN Northwest website at www.vannw.org.  Here is what VAN Northwest and the new website presence has to offer those who engage volunteers:

• An opportunity to get connected and stay connected with your volunteer management peers! All VAN events and news will be shared via the website/blog list. Sign-up on the VAN site for automatic blog updates – sign up TODAY!
• Community Forum and Discussions - start or join a conversation – no account needed and you can be notified anytime new comments are added.
• Career Opportunities - search for and submit volunteer management career opportunities.
• Professional Gatherings – Keep informed about and join us for lively discussion and networking!  Want VAN to come to you? Host a Professional Gathering at your organization. Email ProfessionalGatherings@vannw.org
• Annual VAN Conference - learn the when, where and who of the next Annual VAN Conference.  And, by the way, Save the Date – The 2011 VAN Conference is June 22nd!
• Be a Blog Contributor - Read an interesting volunteer management article? Share it!  Have a nifty resource? Share it! Learned a great lesson? Share it!  Be a blog contributor and keep our community connected.  Send your ideas/articles/stories/resources/tools to Connect@vannw.org

Are you a Volunteer Program Manager/ Coordinator looking to connect with your peers?  Have you or are you a current member of VAN Northwest?  VAN Northwest looks forward to connecting or reconnecting with you.  Remember to SIGN-UP online so you don’t miss a thing!

The holidays are here.  And with the holidays comes a spike in volunteering.  Families, businesses, community groups and individuals all want to engage.  The holiday season brings out the spirit of generosity and nurtures concern and compassion for others.  All share a common desire to enrich their own lives and the lives of others.  The holidays are a time of giving and receiving.  What better way to express the season than to give a gift of service.  Even those experiencing difficult times themselves, feel the call to serve.

For nonprofits and volunteer managers, the holiday season provides an opportunity to cultivate that generosity of spirit and transform it into year-round gifts of time and talent.  It can also be challenging and sometimes impossible to meet the heightened demand for volunteer opportunities over the holiday season.  I know from my experience as the volunteer manager, that the rush of good intentions over the holidays can and does overwhelm our capacity to provide meaningful opportunities for service. 

To add to the challenge, many holiday volunteers are hoping for “high touch” opportunities.  They want to connect directly with the people they are serving.  For nonprofits working with vulnerable populations, this can seem unrealistic.  Having one-time volunteers interact directly with your clients heightens risk.  How do you mitigate that risk?  How do you create an environment for direct interaction that is safe for everyone- the clients, the volunteers and the organization?  It is possible, but it takes forethought and planning.   

So how do you prepare for the Holiday rush?

• Assess your organizations current needs.  Is there work that has been on the back burner that you could have volunteers take on?  Are there tasks that can be completed in one visit?  Do any of these projects or tasks provide opportunities to engage with your clients?
• Can you create simple opportunities that introduce folks to your mission and work?
• Are you able to accommodate groups?  What are your limitations?  How large?  What kind of tasks/projects can a group take on?
• Can volunteers do food, gift or supply drives?
• Can you plug volunteers into your holiday events?

Once you’ve identified potential opportunities, take some time to plan for volunteers:

• Will they engage directly with your clientele- how will you keep people safe?
• What equipment and resources will you need?
• Do you have the space to accommodate volunteers?
• Who will supervise?
• How will you orient and train your holiday volunteers?

Once you have connected with holiday volunteers, take the opportunity to transform one-time volunteers into repeat volunteers or even long-term volunteers.  Inspire holiday volunteers to return by providing a quality volunteer experience.  Build on their passion by connecting them to your mission and demonstrating that volunteering with your organization is rewarding and doable, even beyond the holidays.

Sometimes we need to be honest and let people know that we cannot accommodate them at this time.  Let them know how vital volunteers are for our organizations year round.  Share with them the important work that volunteers do and the impact volunteers have on accomplishing the mission.  Don’t forget to ask if they would like to volunteer after the holidays.  Offer them the opportunity to learn more about your organization and your mission.  Suggest other opportunities for them to engage during the holidays, even if the opportunity is with another organization.  You can help them find meaningful opportunities in the community by directing to United Way of King County’s online volunteer listing at https://volunteer.truist.com/uwkc/org/opp/medallions/?medallion_id=806 .  Here they will find a listing of holiday, family and one-time volunteer opportunities.  Sometimes all it takes is having one good volunteer experience to create a passionate lifelong volunteer.  This is a season of opportunity.

As a volunteer manager, I have to confess, I rarely thought strategically about how we could best involve volunteers.  It’s not that I didn’t plan.  I did a lot of planning.  I developed some great opportunities for volunteers.  But, I practiced a kind of “haphazard” volunteer engagement.  I recruited for volunteer positions that had long been cemented into place, never questioning or assessing their actual impact or effectiveness.  I created and recruited for “new” positions only as the need arose or on demand (“Nikki, I need a volunteer next week to….”).  For the most part, that approach worked well.  We did engage a lot of volunteers and we got work done. 

We have all been good at mobilizing people.  I’ve certainly mobilized a lot of people over the years.  But how effective were we?  Did we leverage the skills and talents of volunteers for optimal impact?  Were we strategic? 

I think asking “why” and examining “how” we engage volunteers is more critical now than ever before.  We are all feeling the pinch of shrinking budgets and expanding demand for our services.  We are being asked to do even more with less.  As we step up the pace to meet increasing demands, and turn increasingly to volunteers to get the work done, we do need to be more intentional and strategic about how we involve them.

Set aside some time to step back, take a hard look at your volunteer involvement efforts.  Start with why and then explore how:  “how can we best involve people to accomplish the mission of our organization?”

How do you leverage the skills and talents of your volunteers for optimal impact?

Celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day on November 5^th!

Have you thanked a volunteer manager lately?  Well…November 5^th is the day to celebrate your favorite volunteer manager!  We all recognize the contribution of volunteers – they are involved in just about every aspect of service delivery in our communities.  Behind this army of volunteers lies an equally dedicated group of individuals who are responsible for the coordination, support, training, administration and recruitment of volunteers.  They are an often unrecognized group of professionals who skillfully transform individual and community passion into effective action.

So take some time out to let a volunteer manager know that the spirit of volunteerism is enhanced and enabled by them.  Whether you are an administrator, a volunteer, a community leader or someone who receives the benefit of volunteer help, make sure the people who act as leaders of volunteers and catalysts for change get the recognition they deserve!   Celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day on November 5^th!  Send your volunteer manager a note of “Thanks”!  Give ‘em a “high five”.    Take them out for coffee and conversation.

How will you celebrate your Volunteer Manager?

I want to take a moment to celebrate the staff and volunteers at 281 agencies that submitted their Day of Caring projects, planned the Day of Caring activities and worked alongside volunteers to help make the Day of Caring a HUGE SUCCESS!  Your efforts really made a difference!  And the staff at United Way of King County could not have done this without you!

 For staff at our local non-profits, Day of Caring is just one day, albeit a big one, of a year-long of caring.   Thank you for all you do!