Whether you’re looking to grow your volunteer management skillset, learn how to more strategically engage volunteers at your organization, or you just want to get together with other volunteer management professionals, there are a number of great trainings and networking events coming up in the next few months!

February 9th  “Leveraging Volunteer Engagement to Accomplish Your Mission” 8:30-10:30am Cost: $25 Details and Registration

February 22^nd VAN (Volunteer Administrators Network) Professional Gathering @ Noel House in Seattle. Free

February 24^th 2012 Volunteer Manager’s Summit in Bellevue. Free

March 6th Strategic Job Design: Designing Volunteer Roles for Impact! 9:00am-1:00pm $45 Details and Registration

March 8th “Board Centered Leadership” 8:30-11:30am Cost: $40 Details and Registration

March 28^th VAN (Volunteer Administrators Network) Professional Gathering @ Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Free

April 3rd & 17th “Effective Volunteer Management 101″ 9:00am-4:30pm Cost: $170 Details and Registration

June: 2012 VAN (Volunteer Administrators Network) Conference. Exact date TBD

Monthly: #NPFace: A meetup for Seattle area nonprofits to share social media best practices. Next meetup is at The Diller Room on 1st and University downtown Seattle from 5 – 7 pm on Thursday February 23^rd Free

Have we missed anything? Email us at volunteer@uwkc.org if you have trainings or events to add to this list!

2012 Jefferson Awards for Public Service

The Jefferson Awards honors ordinary people who do extraordinary things for others. Initiated in 1972 to create a “Nobel Prize” for public service, awards are presented both nationally and locally. Five volunteers from Washington State will receive the Washington State Jefferson Award for their outstanding volunteerism. The winners will be judged by a panel of community leaders and their stories will be told on Evening Magazine the week of March 12th.

If you are a volunteer manager, or work with volunteers in any capacity, this is not only a great opportunity to recognize your exceptional volunteers, but your organization will also receive free volunteer management assessment and consultation from United Way of King County if your nominee is one of the five winners.

For more information visit www.seattlecityclub.org/jeffersonawards Nomination deadline is February 10th

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.

How would you like to be part of the largest day of volunteering in Washington State? Whether you’re looking to recruit a group of volunteers to help out at your nonprofit for a day, or you’re interested in organizing a group of colleagues to volunteer, United Way’s Day of Caring is the event for you! On Friday, September 16^th, thousands of volunteers (last year over 10,000 people participated) will spend the day at hundreds of King County nonprofits, schools, city parks, and childcare centers helping with everything from beautifying a women’s shelter to reading to kids at a local elementary school to restoring habitat for native wildlife. Group sizes range from 5 volunteers to over 100, and the organizations and projects are just as varied.

Any King County nonprofit, school, park, or childcare center can submit a project to Day of Caring until July 15^th. Volunteers can begin signing up for projects on August 2^nd. For more info, visit www.uwkc.org/doc or contact us at dayofcaring@uwkc.org

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!

When the Volunteers of America Greenwood Food Bank relocated recently, it was Rick, a food bank volunteer, who stepped in to help ensure everything went smoothly. Rick, who had noticed the food bank’s challenges with inventory and flow, happened to have extensive professional experience with process flow and logistics. He worked with staff to organize and prepare for the move, and to think through inventory flow in the new facility. “We were able to move an entire food bank almost seamlessly, and start up operations in a new facility with best client and inventory flow in mind,” says Patty Leach, Program Manager at the Greenwood Food Bank.  

Over the past few years, Volunteers of America has begun engaging skills based volunteers (SBVs) like Rick in the work of their organization, from producing training and marketing materials, to helping with special events and graphic design. For the most part, SBVs come to the food bank via word of mouth, and then end up seeing a need or challenge that they have the expertise to help with. The organization is now working to formalize the process for engaging SBVs, including creating refined volunteer position descriptions and actively recruiting skilled volunteers. “We really believe that finding the skills you need is not difficult when you are ready, have a clear idea of what you need and have the right message,” says Leach.

While it takes time and effort to create a process for effectively working with skills based volunteers, the pay off is well worth it. At Volunteers of America, they have not only benefitted from professional services that they may not have otherwise been able to afford, but they have also freed up staff time for other work in other areas. Leach also notes the benefit to the volunteers themselves, “It has given volunteers a great level of satisfaction – giving them a chance to share what they do with a cause they feel good about.”

For organizations interested in engaging SBVs, Leach says it is important to be flexible, open to new ideas, let people know what you need, “And then – be ready for them. They are, in our experience, pretty likely to show up.” One of the greatest sources of SBVs is your current volunteer pool – if you take the time to really get to know your volunteers, you may find that they have skills beyond sorting donations or removing invasive species and that they’re willing to share them with your organization. “It is easier to find and train volunteers for very basic skills,” says Leach, “But that is not how we make big leaps forward as community organizations.”

Interested in how other organizations are engaging Skills Based Volunteers? Check out this case study from Vantage Point (free to download).

Help us connect more people to the great volunteer opportunities in the community!

Every day, the United Way website has hundreds of ways to get involved, including:

reading to refugee kids in daycare

stocking up a neighborhood foodbank with local produce

helping an arts group make smarter use of Facebook

cooking the evening meal at women’s homeless shelter

restoring bird habitat along the Duwamish River

• …and more!

There’s a powerful way you can help us spread the word:

Put our Volunteer Search Widget on your website, blog, or FaceBook page!

It will literally take you thirty seconds. Choose the size widget that’s best for you, press “Get Widget” beneath it, then copy the code and paste it in your page.

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