FAQs about the Organizational Membership

About the Program

• Will Everyone Ready be relevant to my setting or type of organization?
• For what type of learner is Everyone Ready designed?
• How do we make this work across our entire network?
• Can I really make Everyone Ready materials available to my entire network without limits on the number of participants?

Enrollment Details

• What are the membership options for organizations?
• Can we sign up at any time of the year?
• Do we have to sign up for all three years of the 36-topic cycle?
• Do we have to pay the entire fee by day one?
• Can we get reports on the usage of the program?
• Can our staff earn continuing professional education credit through Everyone Ready?
• What are the technical requirements and support?

Special Questions

• How can we find the funding to pay for the program?
• How did Everyone Ready start and who is already enrolled?

Have a question not covered here?  Contact us

Will Everyone Ready be relevant to my setting or type of organization?

The basic principles of successful volunteer management are applicable to any type of volunteer engagement.  The resources in this program have been field-tested with organizations in various settings including social/human services, literacy, animal protection, emergency services, healthcare, and even the military!  Naturally any single Online Seminar or Self-Instruction Guide will be of great interest to some and of less interest to others but, cumulatively, the monthly cycle of materials has proven relevant to all our members so far. 

We have selected a wide range of topics with universal interest. Because we are especially concerned with learners new to the field, we present the material as an introduction or overview.  We then direct you to even more resources to delve deeper into the subject for full analysis and consideration.

We provide two important things:

• Each seminar and guide always includes a bibliography and resource guide directing you to more details on the subject, plus the Main Page of the Everyone Ready site changes monthly to recommend specific resources on the featured topic.
• Each of your organization’s learners has the opportunity to ask questions and get direct responses on every featured topic from the expert trainer who created that resource!  These exchanges allow them to focus on whatever might be a special situation in your setting. 

Most important, however, is what you do to integrate the Everyone Ready materials into your existing training and staff development. The resources we provide are meant as a catalyst for learning, validation of your ongoing efforts to educate your network, and credibility on the subject of volunteer management. Use the monthly resources to do things such as:

• Schedule conference calls to discuss how the content relates in-house.
• Show an Online Seminar or focus on a Self-Instruction Guide at a live conference or training event, following the discussion questions we always provide for you.
• Encourage each unit or office to set aside time to work with the materials as a study team.
• Add references to internal policies, handbooks, or other resources that will supplement the featured topic and offer specific details for how your organization approaches the subject.

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For what type of learner is Everyone Ready designed?

Any organization with a system-wide interest in strengthening volunteer involvement must be concerned with preparing staff (and key volunteer leaders) at all levels to be effective supervisors and liaisons with volunteers.  There are many target audiences for the Everyone Ready plan and Energize provides material for as many of these as possible.  Training may be needed for:

• Anyone in the system charged with being a coordinator of volunteers.
• Frontline supervisors of volunteers (people who hold many different jobs but work with volunteers on a day-to-day basis) at all levels.
• Affiliate or branch directors who need to know how to support volunteers and maintain the national standards.
• Middle management:  department heads, unit supervisors, and others who have volunteers within their area of work and must support the frontline people who are the supervisors of volunteers.
• Boards of directors who need to know how to govern the volunteer-related aspects of the national and local levels. (Not for generic boardsmanship topics though needed, too!)
• Staff on the national, regional, or state level who act as consultants to local people on volunteer issues (once removed, but need to be knowledgeable).
• Key volunteers who may be project leaders, committee chairs, fundraising chairs, etc.

We encourage organizations to form study teams of people from the same site (such as an affiliate or branch office), allowing key staff to consider volunteer-related material together and engage in collective planning.

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How do we make this work across our entire network?

Every organizational member must designate a single “Point Person” and an alternate to be the official liaison between its network and Energize, Inc.  We give the Point Person lots of support:

• An Account Representative – if possible, in your own country – who is available to answer questions and guide you through launching and running the program.
• A personal telephone tour and introduction to the entire program.
• An online Point Person Guide with continually updated information and ideas on how to market Everyone Ready internally.
• Marketing materials (flyers, special verbiage, etc.) ready to be distributed by you to encourage your staff to participate monthly.
• Membership in a Point Person network with all your counterparts, with regular telephone conference calls and other support.

Ultimately, however, we bring Everyone Ready to your password-protected intranet – and it’s up to you to integrate it into your organization.  We’re here to consult and help, but you know the needs of your organization and the ways to communicate with your network most effectively.

Most important to the program’s success is what you do to integrate the Everyone Ready materials into your existing training and staff development. The resources we provide are meant as a catalyst for learning, validation of your ongoing efforts to educate your network, and credibility on the subject of volunteer management.

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Can I really make Everyone Ready materials available to my entire network without limits on the number of participants?

Yes!  That’s the amazing part of our online system.  Except for Small Agency members who are limited to up to 75 learners, all Organization members can give access to all the resources of Everyone Ready to as many people as you wish – provided, of course, that they are all authorized members of your paid or volunteer staff and leadership.

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What are the membership options for organizations?

There are membership options based on the size of your organization and your budget.  All Everyone Ready featured resources are offered at each level.  The higher your level of enrollment, however, the longer your network has access to each resource and other additional benefits.

• For large and national organizations, there are three levels of membership, Basic, Enhanced and Champion.  See the Comparison Grid of benefits.
• For organizations with up to 75 potential participants, we offer a Small Agency membership. It provides the Basic level of organizational membership at a reduced price.  See Comparison Grid
• Volunteer centers, state/provincial offices and peak bodies, and associations of volunteer program managers may be eligible to participate in a special Volunteer Center pilot project (currently underway) in which your center or association centrally coordinates a group purchase arrangement.  E-mail us at for more details.

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Can we sign up at any time of the year?

Organizations may join twice a year:  in March or September. 

In your first two months of membership, participants will start with two essential topics that lay the foundation for the rest of the topics to come: 

• Month 1:  An Online Seminar, Building the Foundation of Volunteer Involvement, which introduces the principles of working successfully with volunteers.
• Month 2:  A Self-Instruction Guide on the responsibilities and tasks of the role of the volunteer program manager.

In Month 3, participants will join the ongoing cycle of 36 monthly topics  in progress for current members. 

As you plan for your March or September launch date for your organizational membership, you may want to enroll a few people as individual members immediately so that they can become familiar with the resources and "pilot test" Everyone Ready for you. A prorated amount of these fees can be applied to your organizational membership costs.

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Do we have to sign up for all three years of the 36-topic cycle?

No!  There is no obligation to enroll for more than a year at a time, although we do give you a discount for committing to two or all three years at the start.

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Do we have to pay the entire fee by day one?

No.  The usual payment schedule is 50% before activation of the program, 25% six months into the program, and the final 25% at nine months into the program.  We can also work with you to arrange a payment schedule that meets your budgeting cycle calendar.

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Can we get reports on the usage of the program?

Yes!  We provide you with a detailed, monthly report of how many people in your organization participated in a seminar, downloaded a guide, etc.

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Can our staff earn continuing professional education credit through Everyone Ready?

Everyone Ready Online Seminars and Self-Instruction Guides are eligible ways to earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) toward recertification for the Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) credential. 

For those in healthcare, "documentation of content hours" may count towards recertification under AHVRP (formerly known as ASDVS).  Other credentialing organizations may also accept Everyone Ready contact hours as credits towards continuing education requirements, so check with your credentialing organization to see if they qualify.

Each Online Seminar and Guide is worth 1.5 contact hours.  A certificate of completion is available to each learner after submitting an evaluation survey.

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What are the technical requirements and support?

Everyone Ready has been pilot tested with a wide range of hardware, software, and Internet connections.  You can log in on any type of computer, from any location. However, to view the Online Seminars optimally and to avoid lengthy download times for PDFs, it is best to have a broadband Internet connection.

We provide full online instructions for accessing all materials. We also respond quickly to questions or problems related to our site (we cannot provide technical support for issues related to hardware). We’re available Monday to Friday, 9a.m. to 5p.m. US Eastern time, by e-mail or by telephone.  We can also connect via Skype or Windows Messenger.

All of the Everyone Ready resources are created and stored on the Energize server. Your IT department has no extra work at all, beyond placing a simple line of code on your Intranet to permit your learners to link to our site.

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How can we find the funding to pay for the program?

We know that most organizations do not have funds for Everyone Ready sitting in the bank! Further, there are few services focused on volunteer engagement that require such a lump sum annual membership fee.  Please keep two important things in mind:

• The ROI (Return-On-Investment) of Everyone Ready is extraordinary.  Break the annual fee into the monthly cost, and then divide that amount by the unlimited number of participants you can involve and you’ll see that the costs are truly a few dollars a month per learner!  No other staff development options are so cost-effective.

• You do not need the entire amount on day 1.  See the FAQ about the payment schedule

It is probably legitimate to request funds from your organization’s national budget, particularly if volunteer engagement is a goal of your organization.  To help you “make the case” to get approval of your request to become a member of Everyone Ready, we’ve prepared 8 Reasons Why Investing in the Everyone Ready Plan Is Money Well Spent that you can present.

There are other creative ways to generate the funds you need to cover the costs of Everyone Ready, especially through cost-sharing with your network.  Here are a few ideas:

• Divide the costs between regions/branches/affiliates.  In most cases, the amount for each site will be less than the cost of bringing one national trainer in for one session at a conference.
  

•  Develop a proposal for a funder to support a one- to three-year capacity-building program to enhance the volunteer engagement within your organization.  There are a number of foundations that are interested in providing capacity-building grants.

•  Generate funds through an assessment/contribution from the major programs of your organization that engage volunteers.

•  Individuals or specific sites can subscribe/pay nominal fees to use some or all of the program.  American Red Cross has used this method successfully (specifically for the Online Seminars) and they have excellent participation. 

•  Obtain funding from a former board member or major donor.  Discuss the potential with your development department of identifying a former board member or major donor who may want to support this program due to his/her strong volunteer support to the organization.  The name of the donor could be associated with the program to give visibility to the gift.

Betty Stallings, one of the expert trainers in the program and co-dean of curriculum has developed a list of resources where you can do research on possible outside funders

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How did Everyone Ready start and who is already enrolled?

Everyone Ready was pilot-tested from 2005-2007 by 17 major national organizations (see below), each of which enrolled in Everyone Ready to provide the program’s resources to their full network—all their staff and leadership volunteers, located anywhere. Now, the program is open to the public, with new membership options for large national organizations, organizations with up to 75 potential participants, and for individuals, as well.

Charter Members
AARP
Alzheimer's Association
American Lung Association
American Red Cross
Canadian Blood Services
Catholic Charities USA
Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
Humane Society of the United States
National Kidney Foundation
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Wildlife Federation
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
ProLiteracy America
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
US Army Volunteer Corps
Volunteers of America
Youth For Understanding, USA

Our learners are now located in many types of communities across North America and, increasingly, in other parts of the world.  We have urban and rural members; small, single-site agencies and large national organizations; not-for-profit and government entities – and everything in between!  Our common denominator is getting work done by, with or through volunteers!