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2009 Weekly Volunteer Management News

28 June: The National Conference on Volunteering and Service attracted a record 4,500 attendees to San Francisco last week, due in part to the last-minute news that First Lady Michelle Obama would speak at the opening session, June 22nd.  That opening was quite a spectacular event for both the star-studded lineup of speakers and the announcements of new initiatives.

Few could remember a more celebrity-packed roster.  Joining the First Lady were Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger and his wife Maria Shriver (a long-time proponent of volunteering in her own right, whose father served as the first director of the Peace Corps), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, political commentator Ariana Huffington, Jon Bon Jovi (who both spoke about his charitable work and sang three songs with his band), actor Matthew McConaughey and various leaders of the Points of Light Institute and the Corporation for National and Community Service.  There was clearly a wow factor!

Here are the highlights of announcements made:

• Ms. Obama delivered the President's announcement of the Summer of Service – now  named the United We Serve summer service initiative – which launched that same day.  As the White House press release explains it:

  United We Serve is an extended call to service by President Obama challenging all Americans to help lay a new foundation for growth in this country by engaging in sustained, meaningful community service. The United We Serve summer service initiative begins June 22nd and runs through the National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11th.

  Therefore, we also learned for the first time that September 11th would rise in status as a major day of service.  Further, the new Serve.gov Web site was immediately branded with the United We Serve campaign.

• Jon Bon Jovi and Matthew McConaughey represented the Entertainment Industry Foundation, announcing a new multi-year project:

…to help make service and volunteerism a national priority…[EIF] will launch an unprecedented campaign beginning October 19th. As a center piece, broadcast networks will use America's favorite TV shows and personalities to shine a spotlight on the power of service.  

So mark your calendars for the week of October 19th, when a both news programs and fictional tv shows will find a way to incorporate volunteer news and themes.

• On the second day of the conference, the Corporation for National and Community Service announced “a collaborative initiative with Microsoft Corporation's U.S. Partners in Learning to design and establish a new national, student-driven virtual helpdesk for K-12 teachers and non-profits.”

Over the next three years, Microsoft and CNCS will create a program which aligns a student service opportunity with President Obama's United We Serve initiative. It will focus on giving students real-world learning experiences as they support non-profits and teachers who are using technology in the classroom.

• At the closing session of the conference, Michelle Nunn, president of the Points of Light Institute, announced a new collaboration with the University of Phoenix to create online volunteer management training, although it is unclear as to whether that will be training for agency volunteer program managers or for volunteers who take on a leadership role in HandsOn Network-type projects.

The Conference has ended. Everyone has gone home with a degree of excitement and the realization that now the work begins.

Addendum, July 2nd:  A summary of conference highlights has just been released, providing more details about the initiatives above and still others.

21 June: Energize is delighted to announce the launch of our new Book Blog -- http://www.energizeinc.com/blog -- where we plan to discuss all sorts of things about volunteer management books and other writing.  The Book Blog is written and moderated by our Bookstore Manager (who also happens to be a leader of volunteers outside of our office).  She explains:

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.

Planned content includes:

• Interviews with volunteerism authors – and a chance for readers to ask questions.  Note:  Steve McCurley is the guest next week.
• Recommending books to help cope with current trends and things in the news.
• Identifying written materials that have helped you become a better leader of volunteers, even if directed at a much wider audience than volunteer management practitioners.
• A growing “blog roll” of links to other blogs of relevance to our site visitors.

Over time we will add features suggest by colleagues.  So bookmark or sign up for the RSS feed (http://www.energizeinc.com/blog/feed/) of the Energize Book Blog and contribute your comments to add to our field’s knowledge.

14 June: The Obama Administration has continued to emphasize its “Call to Service” and many are finding ways to be there when citizens answer the call (and to capture some of the funding they expect from the Serve America Act).

It is becoming difficult to keep up with the Wild West situation of newcomers jumping online with services they claim will be “the” answer to connecting Americans to volunteer opportunities.  Even though established sites such as VolunteerMatch, Idealist, 1-800-volunteer, and other online registries continue their work, the new kids on the block are getting attention. 

Serve.gov, managed by the Corporation for National and Community Service, launched about a month ago, claiming its purpose to be “a new portal for you and all Americans to find your own ways to serve in your own communities.”  In reality, it is bounces queries from its site to Network for Good, which is what is called a “Web aggregator,” in turn searching the existing databases of – surprise! – VolunteerMatch, Idealist, etc.  Serve.gov does also include links to other Federal service opportunities, including the military and foreign service.  But – and this is the interesting thing – agencies are given a form through which they can bypass the existing registries and post new service opportunities directly through Serve.gov.  With no vetting or monitoring.  This has led to serious concerns.

This week another new service has been launched, this time managed by Google and backed by the creator of Craigslist.  The Web site, All for Good, explains itself as “an open source product recently developed by a coalition of companies, foundations and non-profit organizations which helps people find and share volunteering opportunities.”  Once again, it’s an aggregator, using the same existing databases as Network for Good and, again, it also allows people to post new opportunities directly (although it looks as if they are asking for more validation).  All for Good will soon be run by an organization called Our Good Works, as yet unincorporated or registered.

It does look as if All for Good adds the twist of encouraging individuals to connect their plans to volunteer with their Facebook and other social networking accounts, in the hope that they will encourage others to join them.  Now this is a new direction that bears watching.

It is very possible that all these sites might be great and helpful.  But there is also the chance that they will each steal thunder from one another and simply leave people confused.  Besides, generating more and more interest in volunteering (a good thing, of course) must be met by a parallel determination of organizations to be ready to welcome those time donors.  And it’s hard to find anyone advocating for that goal.

Maybe every agency needs to recruit a volunteer simply to stay on top of all the new online services for volunteering?

7 June: American colleagues can now join AL!VE – the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement – the first national professional association with potential viability since the dissolution of the Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA) in early 2006.  Visit AL!VE’s completely updated Web site at www.volunteeralive.org to learn more about the association’s board, purpose, benefits, initiatives, and how to join.  AL!VE will launch officially at the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service, June 22-24, in San Francisco. 
This new body will use its collective voice to advocate for professionalism in volunteer engagement and will offer a network for those in the field to share experiences, best practices and knowledge, while furthering their professional development.

With a one-year grant for $100,000 from the National Volunteer Resource Management Initiative’s Volunteer Impact Fund, the founding board of AL!VE met for the first time in late February 2009 in Denver to start on it’s mission of enhancing and sustaining the spirit of volunteerism in America by fostering collaboration and networking, promoting professional development, and providing advocacy for leaders in community engagement.  

The AL!VE board, selected by an independent nominating and board development committee, and elected by former members of COVAA (the Congress of Volunteer Administrators Associations), is made up of 15 professionals in the volunteer management field, chosen for their leadership and geographic diversity.

For those coming to San Francisco for the conference, AL!VE will host exhibit booth #236 throughout the event.  It will also offer a panel discussion on Wednesday, June 24 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This session, entitled Volunteer Management Career Development and Networking Opportunities (workshop 1174), will explain more about AL!VE and what volunteer managers can gain by the increasing professionalization of the field of volunteer management.

Membership in AL!VE is open to individual practitioners in the field, or those interested in volunteer engagement. Annual Individual Memberships are $50 per year.  Group Memberships are also available, as well as Introductory Memberships for newcomers to volunteer management. (Yes, Susan has joined and urges everyone to support this much-needed new association.)
The AL!VE association board invites leaders in the field to apply for committee opportunities. All volunteer managers are encouraged to get involved and contribute to this new association as AL!VE moves into its next stage of growth and development.
For more information, contact:  info@volunteeralive.org

30 May: If you are unaware of the new White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, you aren’t alone. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports:

The new White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was created without much fanfare. In fact, even though it has been operating for several months, it has never been formally unveiled.

But the office, set up to promote creative and effective ways to tackle social problems, is slowly starting to emerge as a public entity. The White House briefly outlined its goals in a statement last month to announce that the president was proposing $50-million in his 2010 budget for a social-innovation fund. And after months of working behind the scenes, White House officials have started to speak publicly about the office’s plans.

Sonal Shah, formerly the head of Google's philanthropic arm, has been appointed to lead the office, which is expected to work with nonprofits and community organizations to encourage "social entrepreneurship." She was also as a member of Obama's transition team, helping to develop technology policy.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, under which the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation falls, told The Chronicle  that they will give priority to working with the Corporation for National and Community Service to set up the social-innovation fund.

The money, which was authorized by the national-service law enacted in April, will help nonprofit groups expand successful programs, or set up promising new ones, with a heavy emphasis on measuring results. The projects will require matching money from private sources or local governments.

While the White House is looking for “new ideas” and “new models,” Ms. Barnes said that traditional charities should not feel excluded by the talk of innovation. “Innovation isn’t necessarily about new or old in terms of new groups or old groups,” she said. “It’s about impact and effectiveness.”

There is not yet a Web site for the Office, but news items are picking up about its launch.  There was a White House press release in early May.  NPR ran a radio segment on the Office on Morning Edition, May 28, posted online.  There’s even been an interesting opinion piece critical of the effort because it focuses only on nonprofits and not on for-profit social entrepreneurs.

Stay tuned!

24 May: Whenever we hear about corporate employee volunteer programs, it seems that the spotlight is on very large multi-national, Fortune 500 companies.  Yet medium-sized and even small business employers are the backbone of all communities.  Who is encouraging and helping SMEs, as they are called, to engage in community service?  An excellent resource is offered by Volunteering England (VE, www.volunteering.org.uk) with its special section on smaller businesses.

In this area of VE’s always-useful Web site you will find a variety of tools, including a video and a PDF “making the case” to small businesses about the benefits of volunteering to them. There are several very interesting SME case studies, a number involving businesses with 30 or fewer employees.

The “what you can do” section is, of course, England-specific.  But the ideas are universal and anyone seeking to encourage more involvement by smaller businesses will find practical tips applicable anywhere.

17 May: Coming of Age (http://comingofage.org/) is Greater Philadelphia’s initiative to promote the civic engagement, lifelong learning and community leadership of people 50 years of age and older.  It was created by Temple University’s Center for Intergenerational Learning .  Coming of Age is a thriving service in the major urban area it covers, with an informative Web site, many free resources, a weekly e-blast, and special events.

Last year, The Atlantic Philanthropies gave a 3-year grant of $1,800,000 to the Center for Intergenerational Learning “to expand opportunities for older adult civic engagement by positioning Coming of Age for national replication and outreach to culturally diverse populations.” 

This week, the new Coming of Age: Delaware has launched its new Web site: de.comingofage.org.   It features civic engagement news from a Delaware perspective, a message board, video from WHYY-TV's Wider Horizons program, and helpful resources.

Agencies should inquire about publicizing their volunteer opportunities for Baby Boomers at both sites.

10 May: United Nations Volunteers (UNV, www.unv.org) has been producing quality materials and innovative projects since it broadened its mandate in 2001 when it coordinated the UN’s International Year of the Volunteer.  One of its highly effective services is simply called Online Volunteering (www.onlinevolunteering.org), which connects organizations working for sustainable human development with people who wish to volunteer over the Internet to strengthen the impact of their development work.

The May newsletter has just been released, which provides the opportunity to draw attention to this program for several reasons:

• Online Volunteering is demonstrating daily, with global participants, the true power of service via the Internet.  And their site offers many fascinating stories about real volunteering.  They even have the “UNV Online Volunteering service” group on YouTube.
• Organizations that are engaged in development work are welcome to use the service to post opportunities and recruit volunteers to fill them.  The site provides all the criteria and instructions needed to do this.
• Anyone can search the database and offer to volunteer.
• Jayne Cravens ran this program for a number of years and her excellent advice is offered throughout the site, with many tips and suggestions applicable to all types of virtual volunteering programs.

3 May: With the slogan, “An Act of Good Helps Create a Lifetime of Great,” ActofGood.org (http://actofgood.org) has begun serving the Chicago area as “an Internet-based social platform designed to connect people with the causes they care about.”

As explained in an article in PNN Online:

From Internet novices to the savviest users, and donors and volunteers alike, everyone can further their philanthropic activities through the click of a mouse on this social media-based platform…

A main feature unique to ActofGood.org is the elaborate event calendar system. ActofGood's regional calendar will help keep you up-to-date on the latest philanthropic events in the Chicagoland area. Organizations can view when other causes are hosting events, preventing overlapping dates for upcoming functions. In addition, each cause has its own event calendar on its homepage to promote and generate awareness about the cause-related activities to its members. Acting as your own assistant, the personal calendar reminds you of upcoming meetings and events to attend. From Gmail and Outlook to Yahoo, Entourage and iCal, your ActofGood calendars sync up to your everyday life.

To understand how the free service works, go to ActofGood’s quick-tour page.  Run your mouse over each of the four areas described and see slides of how the site looks in operation.

Clearly the founders intend to broaden the geographic reach of ActofGood over time, but those in the Chicago area can experiment with it now.

26 Apr: Last week President Obama signed the Kennedy Serve America Act into law (officially Public Law 111-13). But while most are still waiting to learn what the impact of the new legislation will be, New York City has already taken action. It has launched NYC Service (www.nycservice.org) – a comprehensive and far-reaching plan for civic engagement.

In her blog for the New York Nonprofit Press , Alexandra Collier says:

The plan does not disappoint, and if it is implemented correctly, it will be a tremendous resource to the city’s nonprofit community. It is an ambitious plan with five measurable goals including: helping more New Yorkers connect to service opportunities more easily; creating or elevating volunteer opportunities that address the City’s most urgent needs; and supporting nonprofit and public agencies to use more volunteers and to do so more effectively and strategically.

The impact of NYC Service will be felt throughout the city. Starting in the fall, all NYC public schools will be required to incorporate service and service-learning in their curriculums, and both the Summer Youth Employment Program and the City’s internship programs will include service components. The City has also launched a NYC Service website which will provide an easy and efficient way for New Yorkers to find service opportunities in their communities.

For nonprofit and public agencies (it’s noteworthy that this effort specifically includes units of government), the plan includes several capacity-building initiatives – some genuinely innovative – including:

• Creating the new position of “Chief Service Officer” to be part of the Mayor’s office.
• A new “Go Pass” volunteer screening program providing centralized, city-funded background checks and screening to prospective volunteers. At no or low charge!
• A new NYC Civic Corps will provide full-time capacity-building volunteers to nonprofit organizations to help build, manage and sustain strong volunteer programs. Alexandra says:

  The program looks a lot like Americorps*VISTA but is focused entirely on capacity-building for volunteer programs. Through a partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service, NYC Civic Corps will provide stipends and educational awards to New Yorkers who want to commit to a year of service.

• A project to get more New Yorker’s involved with nonprofit board service and provide a corps of professional volunteers to assist nonprofits with budgeting, accounting, IT, legal services and other business functions.
  

NYC Service is not a knee-jerk response to the current attention being paid to volunteers. Download the 60-page report, titled “NYC Service: A Blueprint to Increase Civic Engagement,” which outlines the vision and strategies thoughtfully developed by a long list of contributing agencies. Keep an eye on this.

19 Apr: Since 2004, Deloitte, LLP (http://www.deloitte.com/), the accounting and consulting firm, has conducted and published the results of an annual Volunteer IMPACT Survey on some aspect of volunteerism. The 2009 study findings have just been released with this press headline: “Pro Bono as Currency: Deloitte Survey Finds Nonprofits and Corporations Missing Opportunity to Offset Decline in Giving Dollars.”

The study has found that more than 9 in 10 nonprofits are in greater need of skilled volunteers, while both corporations and nonprofits cite barriers to giving and getting support. The press release further reports:

"The current economic crisis and the new administration's national call for service underscores the need for corporations and nonprofits alike to broaden their definition of corporate giving," said Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer, Deloitte LLP. "Nonprofits and corporations are encouraged to think of pro bono and skill-based volunteerism as a valuable form of currency. It is an opportunity to more fully maximize corporate assets, especially when demand for nonprofit services are on the rise and corporate giving is on the decline."

Overwhelmingly, corporate grant makers (77 percent) and nonprofits (75 percent) place a high value on employee skills. Further, 95 percent of nonprofits agree they are in greater need of pro bono or skilled volunteer support. However, these statements are inconsistent with corporations' efforts to contribute skilled volunteers and nonprofits' efforts to seek them. Approximately one-third (35 percent) of nonprofits do not have the appropriate infrastructure needed to successfully deploy volunteers. Further, nearly one quarter (24 percent) of nonprofits surveyed have no one in charge of volunteer management or have someone in charge with less than three years of experience (23 percent). Similarly, more than one-in-four (26 percent) corporations have no one to oversee an employee volunteer program. Moreover, 17 percent of corporations have no employee volunteer program at all.

"At a time when cash is tighter for everyone, it’s critical for both companies and nonprofits to think creatively about how to capitalize on the growing market for pro bono services," said Evan Hochberg, national community involvement leader at Deloitte. "We’ve found this type of skilled volunteerism must be managed on both ends in order to maximize its effectiveness for the nonprofits as well as the donor."

Ironically, the study itself is not yet posted to the site, but the press release and other information can be found here, where the study will eventually also appear. Meanwhile, check out Deloitte’s 6-page PDF overview of “Skills-Based Volunteerism .”

12 Apr: This week, it’s Energize that’s making news! For 10 years we’ve been culling stories in the volunteer world to select one news item each week to feature here, as part of our commitment to linking colleagues to resources in our field. With the growing popularity of RSS feeds, we decided that it’s time for us to provide one ourselves. So we are announcing the Energize Volunteer Management News and Hot Topic Feed, now available for your use. Sign up today. It’s free.

This feed will alert you to each week’s news item and will notify you of the new Hot Topic each month. You’ll see a line or two in your RSS reader to help you decide if you’re interested in learning more, with a link directly to the spot on our Web site where you can continue reading. We expect to add other features and communication mechanisms over time (maybe even Twitter – stay tuned!).

Totally confused because you don’t know what an RSS feed is? Or you aren’t sure how to add our feed into your reader? We’ve provided an explanation and instructions.

Also note that Susan is audio recording her Hot Topic each month (you can listen on your computer by clicking the button at the top of each Hot Topic page) and we are also podcasting it. This means you can “subscribe” to have it downloaded each month to your portable listening device, such as an iPod. See instructions here.

Join us in this most recent technological advance and let us know how else we might help you stay connected

5 Apr: If you are part of the volunteer world in the United States, chances are that you know Congress has been busy focusing on “service” as well as the economy. The “Serve America Act – H.R. 1388,” renamed last week to honor Senator Edward Kennedy (D, MA), moved swiftly through both the House and Senate with bi-partisan support. It is awaiting President Obama’s signature and then it will become law.

If you have not seen the contents of the bill, here is the official site to obtain it:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1388: There is also an excellent, easy-to-read summary at the Web site of the House Committee on Education and Labor.

The bill covers a lot of territory. It dramatically expands AmeriCorps; authorizes additional “Corps” for health, education, and veterans; and creates a “Volunteer Generation Fund” to help “nonprofit organizations recruit and manage more volunteers” (whatever that really means). It’s too early to know how it will all filter down to the local level, but it’s worth reading some of the diverse points of view praising and cautioning about the impact of this Act.

• The official press release from the Corporation for National and Community Service, on March 31st
• The White House Blog for March 27th, titled “A Special Moment for Service,”noting that this bill is “close to the President’s heart.”
• Senator Kennedy’s on-the-record comments about the bill
• A contrary view from the American Enterprise Institute, “The High Cost of Volunteering” by Alan W. Dowd
• Fox News, in character, had this to say in mid-March, “House Passes Volunteerism Bill Critics Call Pricey, Forced Service”

As always, anything that can engender such disparate views must be doing something right! Stay tuned.

29 Mar: Cesar E. Chavez was a Latino farm worker and labor leader who advocated for worker and civil rights, and was a crusader for nonviolent social change. The Cesar Chavez Foundation (www.chavezfoundation.org) was created in his memory to further the causes that he championed. One of their programs is the Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning, focused on youth.

For 2009, the Chavez Day (generally celebrated between March 31 and April 4) has launched a Si Se Puede®, Yes We Can! Campaign. It’s described online in a letter from Linda Chavez: 

We would like to invite you to join tens of thousands of people across the country in the Cesar Chavez Campaign by stepping up for social justice in your community. Chavez Day, a holiday in eight states (AZ, CA, CO, MI, NM, TX, UT, WI) and dozens of cities and counties throughout the nation, marks the kick off for the Chavez Campaign providing an opportunity for all students to honor the legacy of Cesar Chavez by getting involved in their communities.

As natural and man-made catastrophes like the economy, the high school dropout, and environmental degradation continue to impact our communities, it is critical now more than ever for young people to become actively involved in bringing about social justice, peace, and environmental sustainability. What better way to continue Cesar’s legacy than to empower young people to address social justice issues in their own communities.

The site offers a variety of materials about Chavez himself, curriculum recommendations for teachers and youth groups, and toolkits and other resources with ideas for how to celebrate the Day of Service and Learning.

22 Mar: The Volunteer Engagement and Leadership Program (VELP) at Portland State University provides four-week online training courses in all aspects of managing volunteers—Recruiting, Training, Leadership, Communication, Evaluation, and Recognition. Courses can be taken for credit or for a professional development certificate.  This is the next evolution of the program that Nancy Macduff created for another university.

This fully online educational series is designed to build a volunteer program to standards of excellence and provide professional development to those who work with volunteers. The program delivers cutting-edge information to current professionals, potential volunteer managers, and anyone who works with volunteers, on how to successfully engage and lead volunteers. The course content is applicable to organizations in a variety of settings anywhere in the world.

The Volunteer Engagement and Leadership Program is a program of Portland State University's Institute for Nonprofit Management /Public Administration Division of the Hatfield School of Government and School of Extended Studies. Taught by experts in the field, including Nancy Macduff, VELP is an eight-credit program consisting of 8 fully online courses. Courses may be taken “a la carte” or in a series leading to the certificate of completion. Completion of the series can also be applied to the Certificate in Volunteer Program Management offered by the Institute for Nonprofit Management (this Certificate program is a combination of on-line and in-person courses).

Spring quarter enrollment is now available at http://www.extended.pdx.edu/degrcomp/programs/v_engagement.php.

Course credit and CEU options are available. Please contact the Institute for Nonprofit Management for more details: INPM@pdx.edu  or (503) 725-8221.

15 Mar: Global Youth Service Day (GYSD, http://gysd.org/) focuses the world’s attention on what young people are contributing every single day. It is held during a weekend every April in over 100 countries in every region of the world, organized by Youth Service America, with the National Youth Leadership Council, the Global Youth Action Network, and with thousands of partners in the U.S. and across the world.  For 2009, the dates are April 24-26. 

During Global Youth Service Day, millions of youth around the world organize community service projects to address the needs of their local communities through service, to be recognized for their contributions, and to be a part of a global youth service movement.  The GYSD site offers tips for selecting and running projects, as well as highlighting hundreds of registered activities.

The organizers want projects to register officially as part of GYSD:

Registering your service project(s), enables Youth Service America to highlight your project through the Global Youth Service Day media campaign, and share your efforts with other GYSD volunteers. Thousands of local partners and organizers just like you are planning projects that address important community needs.
Even if you have just begun to plan your project, go ahead and register, so that we can begin to share these materials with you. You can always contact us to update your project if the details change.

Americans and Canadians can register at http://gysd.org/howtopost.  People in other countries can register through Taking It Global, http://tigweb.org/partners/gysd/.

There are various grants available to give seed money to youth projects.  Youth Service America explains these on their site – and you can sign up for a free newsletter that will keep you informed about grant availabilities and deadlines, as well as events such as GYSD and Semester of Service.  Note that the deadline for applying for the Dollars for Change Grant is April 30.

8 Mar: Idealist.org and Reddit.com have announced a free “social news” service for nonprofits:  IdealistNews (http://www.idealistnews.com).

The service highlights what participants think is timely and important news of remarkable things happening in the nonprofit world - both the work of nonprofit organizations around the world and reports of things that affect nonprofits for good or ill. Postings are made by anyone who joins the free service and users of the site then “vote” on the relevance of submissions.  The collaborating organizations explain it this way:

What makes these services interesting and useful is that they're great at bringing fresh and relevant news to people's attention. News often appears at a social news site faster than through traditional media outlets. IdealistNews.com is also people powered; there's no editor deciding which stories move up or down. Only choices by registered users influence which stories will be at the top of the list at any moment.

A tutorial on how to use idealistNews.com has been posted at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RLnJiZnSq4.

This is a very new project and will gain value only as more people become involved.  So
Idealist.org and Reddit.com will love it if you register, post, vote, spread the word and help to build a community of readers and providers of news about nonprofits.

1 Mar: The 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service, co-convened by Points of Light Institute/HandsOn Network (POLI/HON) and the Corporation for National and Community Service, will take place on June 22–24 in San Francisco, CA. The annual event provides opportunities to learn, connect and be inspired. This year's theme is "Civic. Energy. Generation."

POLI/HON has just announced the availability of scholarships for the event:

We encourage and invite all eligible potential conference attendees to apply for a registration scholarship. Scholarships will cover the registration fee only; there will be additional expenses including travel, hotel accommodations and food. It is important that the applicant and organization determine if they can cover the additional conference expenses prior to applying for a scholarship. We kindly ask that organizations apply for assistance only after they have exhausted all avenues of local fundraising.  Upon receipt of your application, the Host Committee will review.  Selections will be made based on greatest need.

We are asking all applicants to apply online here. If you are not able to apply online, please contact us for application alternative formats.  Please submit the completed application by April 6, 2009.  You will be notified of the status of your application on or before April 15, 2009.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Kelly Hinson at 404-979-2946 or mailto:conferencescholarships@HandsOnNetwork.org. 

For more information on the National Conference on Volunteering and Service and for program details, visit www.volunteeringandservice.org.

22 Feb: On February 18th, it was announced that the European Commission, on instruction of President Barroso, has started preparing the “European Year of Volunteering 2011.”

This announcement follows an intensive two-and-a-half-year campaign led by an alliance of nineteen European networks active in volunteering and coordinated by the European Volunteer Centre (CEV, www.cev.be).  In its press release, CEV says:

We are delighted to see that the European Commission has taken up a civil society initiative. We believe that the decision to work towards 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering brings the Commission closer to the people of Europe and to their real concerns. It has responded to the voice of its citizens:  over 100 million Europeans contribute to society as volunteers, putting into practice shared values of solidarity, social cohesion and active citizenship.

Since volunteers contribute to so many EU policies, we welcome this move to acknowledge, celebrate and promote their engagement. We want the European Year of Volunteering 2011 to make an impact at every level and we are ready to support the Commission in its efforts to organise and deliver a meaningful and successful Year.

A number of European bodies, the Committee of the Regions, and the European Parliament (with a Written Declaration adopted by 454 MEPs in 2008) have already declared their support for this Year.

Read more details about the effort Towards a European Year of Volunteering - Steps of the Campaign (available in a range of languages).

15 Feb: In an article titled, “National network of volunteer weather observers snowballs,” USA Today focuses attention on one of the lesser-known but important volunteer roles helping the National Weather Service. 

Volunteer weather watchers have long been measuring rain, snow and hail each day, then recording the amounts in an online database.  In fact, the National Weather Service cooperative observer program started in 1890 and has 11,000 volunteers.   Twelve years ago the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University started the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS, www.cocorahs.org) in response to the Fort Collins flood.  This new group has expanded rapidly with over 12,000+ observers in thirty-nine states.

Henry Reges, the project's national coordinator, also of Colorado State University, says volunteers include "anyone who can devote five minutes a day to take a rain-gauge measurement and post the info online." Volunteers also must purchase a rain gauge, which costs about $25.  Reges says the volunteers act as a "farm team" for the more established The weather service also sponsors the CoCoRaHS program.  Volunteers not only measure excessive rainfall but "provide vital information in monitoring drought conditions," says Texas assistant state coordinator Bill Runyon of Martindale, Texas. "We provide a lot of useful information about precipitation for the scientific community."

So why do so many people think volunteers only stuff envelopes?

8 Feb: “During the present economic downturn, an investment in volunteerism can be an economic stimulus to move our country forward.”  That’s the theme of an op-ed article disseminated by Ruth MacKenzie, president of Volunteer Canada (http://volunteer.ca).  Republished in many Canadian newspapers, MacKenzie’s essay points out how important the voluntary sector and volunteers are to the Canadian economy “and is a bigger contributor to the GDP than Canada’s entire manufacturing industry.”

With a forecast for economic recession, our civil society and service organizations will be increasingly called upon to support the needs of people in communities across this country. Paradoxically, in tough economic times, the common reaction for governments and corporations is to reduce local community investment and to solely consider the role of the corporate sector as a source of economic stimulus. But real leadership should step outside of this box, and consider an investment in the voluntary sector as an added instrument of this stimulus with real returns.

Now, more than ever, the federal government needs to recognize volunteerism as part of the social and economic infrastructure of this country. To do so requires shedding the common perception that volunteerism just happens, when in fact promoting, recruiting, training, engaging and recognizing the efforts of volunteers requires support and expertise that is often unrecognized or overlooked and definitely under-resourced. An investment in volunteerism will ensure that the efforts and skills of Canada’s volunteers will be invested right back into our communities.

 Read the entire article here.

1 Feb: Each year, for the last five years, thousands of people have helped identify the best young leaders in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada by nominating them to be a Build-A-Bear Workshop® Huggable Hero®.   Huggable Heroes have been recognized for a range of good deeds – everything from helping children in underdeveloped countries, raising funds and awareness for medical conditions and medical research, to empowering kids to make a difference, helping animals, and beyond.

Twelve winners will be awarded a $7,500 educational scholarship and $2,500 in the form of a donation to the 501(c)(3) charity of his/her choice. The 2009 search for these dedicated young people – ages seven to 18 – continues through February 27th.  People may download an entry form or nominate a candidate online by visiting www.buildabear.com/huggableheroes or they may pick one up at a participating Build-A-Bear Workshop store.  

More information about the project and past winners is also on the Web site.  There’s also an area called “Nikki’s Toolkit:  Kids Make a Beary Big Difference” where youngsters can learn how to organize a fundraising project.

25 Jan: The Foundation Center, the well-respected central resource for learning about funding sources in the US, has responded to the rapid downward spiral of the economy by devoting an area of their Web site to “Focus on the Economic Crisis” at  http://foundationcenter.org/focus/economy/.

Here they are collecting a wide range of current articles, blogs, reports, and other commentary to give a snapshot of what is going on in philanthropy.  They offer:

• Something called “MapShots,” which displays the distribution of the most recent support by US foundations to aid those affected by the downturn.
• Headlines and snippets from Philanthropy News Digest
• Research advisories
• Commentary from a range of experts
• Videos, blogs, and podcasts on different aspects of the emergency

While volunteerism is not the focus of this site, the trends and issues discussed are directly relevant to the environment in which we all must operate.

18 Jan: To promote the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday as a day of volunteer service, Alan Khazei, founder and CEO of Be the Change, was the guest on the January 14th episode of “The Colbert Report.”  For those who have never seen this show, it is a political satire, notorious for skewering its subjects with pointed, smart, hilarious commentary.  Stephen Colbert, the star, assumes the persona of an ultra-conservative sceptic (though the points made are largely liberal). 

Anyone going on this show knows in advance that he or she, and their topic, will be challenged by Colbert’s rapid fire barbs, so it takes some courage to appear.  Khazei dealt with the bombardment of comments good naturedly, and even held his own once in a while.  But the gist of the six minute interview was, as the official Web site described it:  “Alan Khazei explains to Stephen why anybody would do something for someone else and not get paid for it.” 

The entire interview is available online at: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/215964/january-14-2009/alan-khazei.   Everyone in volunteerism should view it and pay attention to how Colbert frames his mock attack (and remember that all humor has a kernel of truth) – he expresses many of the thoughts that the public has when they hear about the “need for volunteers.”  And he notes the irony of transforming a day in honor of an African American who fought the lingering legacy of slavery into a day of no-pay work.   Whether you laugh or get angry, consider that this show is watched by millions, many of whom may have been introduced for the first time to this day of service through this interview.

11 Jan: A very useful site, no matter where you are located, is “Volunteer Genie” in the UK – http://www.volunteergenie.org.uk.It’s a project of the Voluntary Action Media Unit (VAMU), which investigates the relationship between charities and the media.
 
Volunteer Genie aims to help site visitors “use the power of the media to recruit volunteers.”  On the site you can:

• Find out what motivates people to volunteer
• Discover which media campaigns catch people's attention
• Free guides to help you devise your own media strategy
• Get top tips on working with journalists and reporters
• Find out how to engage volunteers in the new media world
• Prove that your volunteer recruitment campaign worked

You can also download Clever Communications - a free book from VAMU for charities who want to know more about working with the media. It's packed with articles by journalists and charity insiders.

4 Jan: Happy new year!  The highlight this week is newsletters rather than a particular news item.  The Internet has provided opportunities for any point of view to be disseminated at almost no cost, and volunteerism has reaped the benefits.  There are monthly and even weekly electronic communiqués focusing on special volunteer issues, many of which are worth attention even if you work in a different type of setting.  And all are free.

Here are a few of the best:

• Blue Avocado, http://www.blueavocado.org/, which has consistently offered intriguing and even entertaining articles since its inception last year.  Edited by Jan Masaoka and incorporating the previously-popular Board Café missive, test it out by reading “And Now for Something Different About Nonprofits and the Economy 1/1/09.”
• PTO Today newsletter for volunteers leading parent-teacher groups, http://www.ptotoday.com/articles-insight, always has fascinating tips.  This link also lets you read archive highlights.
• Church Volunteer Central’s Tuesday’s Tip (weekly) and The Inside Track (monthly), http://www.churchvolunteercentral.com/NewMemberBlast/AddAddress.asp,bite-sized articles on all aspects of volunteer leadership with great applicability to secular settings as well.  For example, see this article on “The Parent-Volunteer Relationship” for youth-serving volunteers.
• The VolunTouristTM newsletter, http://www.voluntourism.org/newsletter.html
• Nonprofit Tools You Can Use, from Fieldstone Alliance, http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/client/signupNEW.cfm

We maintain listings of such resources at http://www.energizeinc.com/prof/magswebspec.html.  Please tell us if you know of other great electronic newsletters we should add to the list by sending the details to info@energizeinc.com.

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