Energize Book Blog

My name is Lindsay, and I’m the Online Bookstore Manager here at Energize. If you’ve called or e-mailed our office, we’ve probably already met! Outside of work, I’m also a leader of volunteers in an all-volunteer service organization. Working here at Energize has exposed me to many helpful volunteer management resources, and I’m excited to use this blog to share them with you.

Why a blog? A blog is a great way to share timely information and get immediate feedback. I know all of you in the volunteer management trenches have opinions about what books are most helpful and ideas to share about what’s worked for you. Use the comments feature to share your thoughts and hear from others.

Why a blog as part of a bookstore? Because there is nowhere else for colleagues to learn more about the growing number of publications focused on volunteer engagement, nor to recommend good materials to one another. So we will try to provide that forum here. Some of our ideas for content include:

• Interviews with volunteerism authors – and a chance for readers to ask questions
• Recommending books that will help with current trends and things in the news
• Identifying written materials that have helped you become a better leader of volunteers, although the book or article was directed at a much wider audience
• And other features that YOU suggest over time!

We have some great posts planned for the coming weeks, so be sure to visit again soon, or sign up for the RSS feed (if you’re not familiar with RSS, check out this great article by Jayne Cravens). Next week, author Steve McCurley will be sharing his sage advice with a VM who’s at a loss on how to handle some problematic volunteer behavior.

P.S. – If your organization is blogging, or you have a favorite blog on volunteerism or nonprofit issues to recommend, tell us about it in the comments!