New to the field?

If you are just starting out as a leader of volunteers, welcome to the field!  It’s great that you found the Energize site and – if you’re willing to spend some time browsing here – we can help connect you to a wide range of resources, online and off.

Get an Overview of the Field
While you will be interested in most of the subjects in our Online Library, you might first go to “Role of the Director of Volunteers,” where you’ll find a wide range of free guidebooks, articles, and even Web sites with training modules for the newcomer.

Build Your Library
You can start reading some of the key books in volunteer management, which we’ve clustered together for you in a section called “Starter Set”: https://www.energizeinc.com/store/To-Sta.  You’ll find several excellent overviews of what it takes to start and run a volunteer program, plus several classic books on the most-requested topics. 

Attend Training
If you want to be taught by others, we provide a calendar of training events, conferences, and academic courses on volunteer management. 

Talk to Colleagues Locally
Also look at our Directory for the Profession.  Here you can search for nearby professional associations of other volunteer program managers, as well as for resource agencies such as volunteer centers in your location.