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Archive for 2004 June-January  (Current News)

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27June2004: The Volunteer Centre North Lanarkshire has made a breakthrough by becoming one of the first volunteering organizations in Scotland to become licensed to deliver the SQA-accredited PC Passport ( http://www.volunteernorthlanarkshire.org.uk/PCPassportOpp.htm) . PC Passport is a new national qualification offering computing learning at three levels (beginners, intermediate and advanced), with accreditation in word processing, spreadsheets, the internet, presentations and databases. This opportunity means that volunteers can gain online certification for their learning and a qualification that will be recognized throughout the UK .

Volunteers from North Lanarkshire will be the first to benefit from the Volunteer Centre’s new license through European funding to deliver PC Passport to forty unemployed volunteers from the local area, with the main target groups being 16-25 year-olds and 40-50 year-olds. The license further means that all volunteers or people interested in becoming involved in volunteering, and volunteer-engaging organizations in the local area, can benefit from the program, too.

Mary McNeil, manager of the Volunteer Centre, said:

“This is an exciting opportunity for volunteers in the local area to be able to learn computing and enhance their employability prospects….

“We hope this can provide a breakthrough for volunteers in computer learning – there are so many active people out there who want to learn computing skills but don’t quite know where to start.

“The Volunteer Centre has a computer suite in its main office in Wishaw, and volunteers who take part in PC Passport will have access to the computer suite at any time its free to be able to continue their learning in addition to scheduled sessions with facilitators.”

The Volunteer Centre will be able to deliver most of the training opportunities free of charge to volunteers and volunteer-engagers in the local area.

“The PC Passport provision will form part of the Volunteer Centre’s training centre, which includes a range of other opportunities including programmes in citizenship, personal development, volunteer-management, and a host of other programmes relevant to volunteers and volunteer-engaging organisations.”

PC Passport will also be included in a new program entitled SUBTLE (Steps Up By Talking Learning Employment) for volunteers in the local area. SUBTLE will include a range of other training opportunities for local volunteers in addition to the computer learning.

20June2004: A press release has just arrived ( http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=128-06172004) announcing that Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) is introducing two new bills on 21 June affecting the current community service requirement for people who live in public housing in the United States . The Representative, supported by several major welfare rights organizations, is seeking to amend the community services requirement of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 . The press release outlines the major points of the new bills.

The federal requirement that anyone living in public housing, and not employed, must do eight hours a week of community service was enacted into law in 1998, but enforcement of the rule was only begun this past October. Many opinions have been voiced on this controversial government initiative. Get the flavor of the debate by reading one commentary from New York City ( http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/housing/20040109/10/829) and another from Kansas City (http://thefrictioninstitute.org/cha/inservice.htm). The Financial Services Committee Democrats made formal comments on this last summer:

http://www.house.gov/banking_democrats/pr072803.html.  

The new pieces of proposed legislation have not yet been given House Bill numbers, but watch the news for more on this developing story.

And since this news story is very much about the vocabulary of “volunteering” and “community service,” see what you think about this 17 June news article in the Beacon Journal, with the headline: “ Second Volunteer Scheduled for Execution in July” (!!!): http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/8946849.htm?1c

13June2004: Last weekend, at a meeting held prior to the Points of Light Conference in Kansas City , a new “From Research to Action” report was presented to national organization representatives. This is the next stage of the 2004 Volunteer Management Capacity Study, and describes eight proposed action strategies as a “national response.” The new report can be downloaded as a PDF at

http://www.volunteerinput.org/From_Research_to_Action_June_6_2004.pdf.

The strategies were compiled by the Urban Institute after considering input from all the people who responded online. Some of the comments in the Hot Topics printed here in March and April are incorporated as well. This new document is clearly marked – in red – as:

For distribution to the field for review and reaction.

To give input, go to: http://www.volunteerinput.org/


6June2004: Following the lead of AmeriCorps in the United States , the British and Scottish governments have just announced their intentions to develop a national community service scheme for young people. On 17 May, t he Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, launched a commission to be chaired by Scottish Power's chief executive, Ian Russell, charged with drawing up plans for the program.

In its news coverage, The Guardian newspaper (http://society.guardian.co.uk/volunteering/story/0,8150,1218829,00.html   -- also read the additional articles linked at the end ) explained:

The Russell Commission was first announced by Mr. Brown in the Budget, as a measure to "encourage national community service by young people". This followed a speech in February in which he issued a "call to service" and set out in some detail a proposed national scheme in which young people would be paid a living allowance to spend a "gap year" working in the community. Mr. Brown cited the US AmeriCorps scheme as a model.

The paper notes, however, that the Commission has no members at present and is “tasked only with looking at innovative ways to increase the number of young people volunteering and producing proposals to feed into a national youth volunteering strategy.”

Just the week before, Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell, announced the creation of Project Scotland (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2004/05/SENWw833.aspx) a national full time volunteering program set to go live in Spring 2005.

The Russell Commission will be supported by an independent group of advisors from the voluntary and commercial sectors, including Project Scotland's chairwoman, Julia Ogilvy Russell, promising to take a fresh look at how best to engage young people, also announced a youth panel to act as a "sanity check" on proposals.

Community Service Volunteers (CSV), the UK 's largest volunteering and training charity, welcomed the Commission. But its Executive Director (and someone well-known to participants at AVA’s annual conference), Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, emphasized that the problem was not trying to get young people involved but securing placements for them in public services:

"We now have to focus all our efforts on developing opportunities," she said. "The anxiety levels in social services have risen so high that opportunities in children's homes, hospitals and schools are far fewer than 20 years ago.

"Volunteers are urgently needed to reduce crime, tackle homelessness, to work with refugees and asylum seekers and to protect the environment. The challenge is not recruiting young people, but opening the doors to allow them to serve."

Right on, Elisabeth!

30May2004: The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC, www.nylc.org) has begun to share the results of its ongoing Growing to Greatness (G2G): The State of Service Learning Project, the first comprehensive national study of the state of service-learning in kindergarten through 12th grade. G2G documents “the unfolding story of service-learning and provides useful information to improve implementation, inform public policy, and give a clear picture of the many ways young people contribute to society.”

Rather than perpetuate common negative stereotypes about youth, G2G advocates a change in perspective by measuring indicators of how youths are valuable to society and ought to be recognized as such.

NYLC will be issuing annual reports of its research and the first documents are now available for free electronic download or to purchase in print at the G2G area of its Web site. There is even an “Executive Summary” available.

The current report says that service-learning improves achievement levels, impacts civic skills and attitudes, and increases pro-social behaviors including acceptance of diversity, dropout prevention, connection to cultural heritage, and the development of ethics. Service in the community helps youth explore career and post-secondary options and begin to acquire the skills necessary to pursue these options.

A national survey of 2,000 kindergarten through high school principals indicates that service-learning is holding its own over the last five years in the face of budget cuts and other pressures. Nine out of 10 principals in schools that offer service-learning say it has a positive or very positive impact on students' civic engagement, personal and social development, and school-community partnership. Eight out of 10 state that service-learning has a positive or very positive impact on academic achievement, teacher satisfaction, school climate, school engagement and the community's view of youth as resources. Principals in schools with service-learning in low-income communities state higher percentages of academic achievement and school engagement.

The report is American, but has implications for student service in any country. Similarly, though focused on school-based service-learning, the information is also very pertinent to the wider issues of any volunteering by children and teenagers.

23May2004: Student community service experience and future volunteering are noticeably being mentioned in university commencement addresses across the United States . A few examples:

  • President Bush addressed the graduating class at Concordia University in Mequon, WI and, as he frequently does in these sorts of motivational speeches, stressed compassionate actions in his remarks: http://www.cuw.edu/publications/speech.htm

By the way, whatever your field, if you don't have a job yet, don't worry; it will come in good time. My advice: think about using the time while you wait, to do volunteer work that will make a difference in someone else's life. And keep on doing that, in some form, throughout your life.

Perhaps surprisingly, sometimes these ephemeral graduation speeches actually produce results! At Wellesley College in Massachusetts they now have the “ Oprah Winfrey Award for Volunteerism” to:

…provide a summer stipend for a student wishing to explore a volunteer position with a not-for-profit social service organization. The award honors the important connection between Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Commencement of the Class of 1997 and the College’s motto, "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister ." This award will enable a student each year to follow Ms. Winfrey’s example of service.
http://www.wellesley.edu/CWS/students/o.html

Now apparently that was a speech to remember!

15May2004: Michael C. Gilbert has been publishing Nonprofit Online News (http://news.gilbert.org/) for several years, keeping his subscribers aware of trends and issues in the field, as well as quirky and sometimes very personal stories to make people think.

The most recent e-mail is focused on Michael’s strong feelings about the interconnection of what is happening in Iraq and the potential response of the nonprofit sector in the United States . He begins:

A year ago I wrote an appeal to my readers, who represent an enormous breadth of leadership and vision in the nonprofit sector, to reach outside the boundaries defined by the conventional roles of their organizations to oppose the attack on Iraq by the United States Government. Hundreds of you criticized me, in many cases viciously and in full capital letters.

Many hundreds more praised me for taking a position and for speaking out on something that they themselves had been feeling. If you remained engaged with me, then I thank you either way.

He sounds an impassioned warning about “The Nonprofit Sector and the March Toward Tyranny” in a full-length article found at: http://news.gilbert.org/2004Tyranny. Whatever your political beliefs, you will find Michael’s well-articulated position provocative and deserving of discussion. His premise:

I believe the United States is on a course toward tyranny and oppression, both inside this country and internationally. I believe that the nonprofit sector is more than an artifact of the tax code and cheap postal rates; I believe that there is a moral core to the sector founded upon the civil framework that allows the sector to thrive. I am hoping and praying that starting from this moral core we can find the courage to take action and help the country change course.

Read the full article and get people talking wherever you are. Non-Americans might also consider what role nongovernmental organizations should play in times of national crisis.

9May2004: Every once in a while, a successful volunteer effort gets the recognition and financial support it deserves. British colleague Rob Jackson reports that the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) has been awarded its biggest ever Lottery grant. The £598,934 grant from the Community Fund’s Strategic Grants Programme will grow the charity’s volunteer base.

The award will be used to reorganise the management of volunteering at RNIB and employ 10 regional volunteer development managers. The new development managers will work with operational staff, helping them to recruit, train and support volunteers as well as develop new volunteering opportunities throughout the UK. Better support for existing volunteers and the creation of new volunteering roles will mean that RNIB will be able to provide services to a further 86,500 people with sight problems over the next three years.

Karen Frances, RNIB’s Head of Volunteering, said:  

Volunteers are a vital part of RNIB’s work, so we’re delighted with this award. People with sight problems are all too often among the most isolated in the country. This grant means that we will be able to reach so many more through exciting new services provided by volunteers, helping blind and partially sighted people become more independent and active.

RNIB already works with over 5,000 volunteers who help raise much-needed funds and provide a wide variety of vital services. See their informative section of the RNIB Web site at http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/
documents/Code/public_rnib001977.hcsp. Volunteer activities include recording written information onto tape, working with children on activity holidays, producing braille and large print, accompanying people with sight problems to local leisure classes and being the backbone of RNIB’s telephone support network.

RNIB also encourages the people it serves to be of service to others as volunteers. See their effort to get more disabled people to apply for public appointments:

http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents
/publicwebsite/public_ocpaintro.hcsp

Diana Brittan, Chair of the Community Fund said: "The Community Fund’s Strategic Grants Committee has acknowledged that RNIB is a leader in its field and that this project would develop sustainability through recruiting new volunteers to provide improved support to its beneficiaries."

2May2002: Inspire Your World, described as “the first consumer magazine on volunteering and philanthropy,” debuts with a splashy, upbeat look and real content. As the press release from Harrington Communications (http://www.harringtoncom.com/press.html) says:  

Inspire Your World is a publication with a purpose. In it you'll see profiles of CEOs, celebrities and everyday heroes. Magazine highlights include a financial advice column, "Ask Bill," by radio personality Bill Bresnan; a restaurant section, "At the Table," featuring top eateries in Manhattan, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and the charities they support; an "FVI" (for volunteers information) section with fun-to-read snapshots of celebrities and their causes, and information on trends, special events and breaking news on people, companies, nonprofit organizations and foundations that make a difference; and a "Companies with Heart" section that spotlights companies where volunteering and giving are part of the core culture.

The inaugural issue (April/May 2004) is selling on newsstands in the tri-state New York area, but has plans to go nationwide within a year. Subscriptions by mail can be purchased for the annual 6 issues (again, plans are to become a monthly journal).

Inspire Your World seems well-funded and geared towards the general public and also corporate employees. The first issue has 80 full-color pages and already has attracted a raft of advertisers. The articles are well-written and snappy. Most important, they are meaty and convey a great image for volunteering. See http://www.inspireyourworld.com/about.htm for the online brochure (be prepared for the musical background).

Nonprofits in the New York , New Jersey , Philadelphia/Delaware region can advertise volunteer positions in a special “Classifieds” section.

This is a publication to watch.

25April2004: YouthOne.com has launched its annual international Volunteer Webathon 2004 (www.youthone.com/webathon), a youth service project aimed to increase awareness of youth volunteerism. It is hoped that, by making pledges to volunteer, more young people will be inspired and motivated to get involved in their community. YouthOne’s press release gives further details:

Our goal is to represent the collective desire youth have to become active citizens in their community as volunteers. We will do this by having youth pledge volunteer hours online, by publishing testimonials about young volunteers, and articles about volunteer activities from around the world, connecting them to other sites with resources and information about volunteerism, and reporting on volunteer hours pledged by youth.

The total number of hours pledged during last year’s Webathon was 43,641. The pledges were sent in from 26 different countries including Algeria, Benin, Canada, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Scotland, and Zimbabwe. With the age range of the Webathon participants ranging from 11 to 44 years of age. Our goal this year is to reach and motivate a larger group of youth worldwide, and ultimately surpass last year’s total. In order to achieve this, we have provided a link to translated versions of the Volunteer Webathon webpage in the following languages: Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. 

Pledging begins April 16th, 2004 and will end on May 16th, 2004. Check the website above sometime during the month, click on the box to make a pledge, and join the many volunteers who will make a difference worldwide.

18April2004: This is National Volunteer Week in the United States and Canada (18-24 April). Many organizations have planned festivities, but it’s still not too late to do something to say thank you to volunteers.

This year’s theme in the USA is “Volunteers Inspire by Example.” See the official material at the Points of Light Foundation Web site at http://www.pointsoflight.org/nvw/nvw.cfm. Volunteer Canada is the place to go for information on celebrations throughout Canada : http://www.volunteer.ca/volcan/eng/content/nvw/celebrate.php?display=2,1,4. Everyone might find their “Volunteer Horoscopes” a fun addition to a recognition event.

Colleagues in other countries that have selected a different date for their National Volunteer Week or who celebrate International Volunteer Day on 5 December (http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/ivd/) can take this opportunity to “eavesdrop” on the North Americans and get fresh thank-you ideas to use when their time comes around.

11April2004: A recent California state labor ruling requiring anyone who does any work on a watershed restoration project to be paid is starting to backfire as the broad interpretation of “public works” evolves into a de facto ban on volunteer labor.

In the past ten days, various media outlets have begun covering this story. Two examples worth reading are:

In brief, California has attempted to classify most restoration projects as “public works,” thereby requiring the paying of competitive wages to any and all workers on a project. The law was passed back in 2001 but a recent ruling – and an attempt to levy heavy fines against one nonprofit organization – has suddenly made people aware of the implications. What started as a legitimate attempt to stop contractors from avoiding the costs of expensive labor has become a blanket restriction against any involvement of volunteers in an arena with decades of volunteer participation history.

As Ed Hunt says in his essay for the watershed restoration forum Tidepool, “Volunteer's Wages: Volunteering and Watershed Restoration Go Hand in Hand”: http://www.tidepool.org/original_content.cfm?articleid=112892

By lowering the financial threshold needed to get a restoration project underway, volunteers play a key enzymatic role. Like chemical reactions that would never get started without the presence of a certain enzyme, without volunteers, many restoration projects simply would not happen. In this way, volunteers make possible the paying jobs of watershed restoration -- jobs that can form the basis of a substantial part of the local economy.

Eliminate the volunteer component to watershed restoration work, and you might end up eliminating much of the paying work as well.

Read these three articles and consider the implications.

4April2004: It’s official. Welcome to Volunteering England, the new national volunteer development agency for England which came into operation on 1 April 2004. The agency was formed as a result of the coming together of The Consortium on Opportunities for Volunteering, The National Centre for Volunteering and Volunteer Development England.

Volunteering England works to promote volunteering as a powerful force for change, both for those who volunteer and for the wider community, applying the term volunteering to include formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation.

Learn all about the new agency at http://www.volunteering.org.uk/missions.php?id=354 and then browse the rest of this excellent Web site (based its extremely useful predecessor). Also, read the thoughtful welcome from Volunteer England’s new CEO, Christopher Spence at http://www.volunteering.org.uk/missions.php?id=356. Christopher (previously the executive director of the National Centre for Volunteering) and his staff have been working very hard behind the scenes to make this merger a reality. Congratulations to all!

28Mar2004: A new report, Youth as E-Citizens, highlights how an online youth civic culture, youth civic culture, largely unnoticed by the general public, has taken root on the Internet and is fostering Generation Y’s participation in U.S. politics and community affairs, was released on March 23, 2004 by American University’s Center for Social Media. The free 155-page report can be viewed at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/ecitizens/youthreport.pdf.

The report identifies and analyzes almost 400 websites, created for and, in some cases, by young people who engage youth in civic activities. A well-organized companion “online tour” of this new online youth civic sector at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/ecitizens/index.htm provides links to seventy-five websites that vividly embody this new digital civic landscape. The scope and diversity of the sites are well worth a look.

So much of the debate over young people and the media culture has focused on protecting youth from indecent, violent, or pornographic content,” explained the study’s principal author, Kathryn C. Montgomery, Ph.D., professor in AU’s School of Communication and co-director of the Center for Social Media . “What this study reveals is that young people also use the Internet for civic and political engagement. They go online to register to vote and to volunteer; some of them are also writing about world events, launching projects for community improvement, and learning skills for political action.”

21Mar2004: The Spring Equinox 2004 Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes & Eco-Village Project(s) is underway (now through March 30th) Baja California Sur, Mexico:

We gather to give honour to the Mother Earth and all life forms upon her, as well as to honour and give respect for all those living and departed who have given to the preservation, restoration and enhancement of nature. We gather in one of the great cathedrals of nature, Baja California Sur , Mexico and by the Sea of Cortez/Gulf of California , the most biologically diverse body of water on earth.

Organizers, expecting a turnout of 25,000 people, explained their need for many volunteers (see http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/01/1668309.php). This sort of large public event occurs somewhere in the world almost every day, focused on countless different concerns and celebrations. It is so common to see a “call for volunteers” to support mass events that few remark on it. Yet we should never take it for granted. Such volunteer coordination rarely gets connected to what we call the “profession of volunteer management,” but it’s exactly what most people experience about volunteering.

So, whether it’s spring or fall in your hemisphere, enjoy the change of seasons. And watch for sightings of hundreds of volunteers pitching in to make mass public events successful. If you see any particularly effective coordinators at work, invite them to your next DOVIA or association meeting to share their experiences!

14Mar2004: Now that the candidates seem to have been determined for the US Presidential election campaign, notice how they all approach volunteer recruitment in the same ways. Every candidate uses the word "volunteer," sings the praises of volunteers, and offers the chance to sign up online. See how similar the main candidates are:

•  George Bush: https://www.georgewbush.com/Secure/BushTeamLeaderSignUp.asp x

•  John Kerry: http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/volunteer.html

•  Ralph Nader: http://www.votenader.org/get_involved/index.php

•  Libertarian Party: http://www.lp.org/action/volunteer.html

Howard Dean, of course, led the way with his volunteer organizing. You can still learn from his approach at: http://www.deanvolunteers.com/DeanVolunteers/ .

Ever wonder what restrictions there might be on volunteer contributions to a federal election? Read about them at: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/volact.htm

By the way, Tony Blair's UK Labour Party follows the pattern, too: http://www.labour.org.uk/volunteer/

And for another perspective, look at the various membership oaths required over the years by the Communist Party of China-all including the phrase "I volunteer.": http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/y200211/16da9/118/yiqian3.htm

6Mar2004: Singapore joins the international volunteer publishing scene with the new bi-monthly journal SALT - The Magazine for Volunteers, Donors and Non-profits produced by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). Read about the magazine's January 2004 launch at: http://www.nvpc.org.sg/new_events/news_releases/salt.html .

SALT is hitting the ground running. As reported:

SALT is a bi-monthly magazine with a circulation of 10,000 and a readership of 50,000. The magazine is distributed free to CEOs, senior managers, grantmakers, philanthropists, corporate givers and active members of Singapore's considerable volunteer force.

Why the name SALT ? NVPC's Executive Director Tan Chee Koon explains in issue 1: "Salt is not only life giving, it has many other rejuvenating qualities - it acts as a preservative, as a flavouring, as a food processing agent, for purification, for de-icing roads, as a water softener, etc." Just as she perceives the remarkable contributions of volunteers!

1Mar2004: On February 19th, the Urban Institute released its new study, Volunteer Management Capacity in America's Charities and Congregations: A Briefing Report . The 34-page PDF can be downloaded at http://www.nationalservice.org/research/vol_capacity_brief.pdf . You can also read the press release, containing a summary of the key finds, at http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/about_usafc/whats_new/announcements/20040219-1_A.asp . The study was organized by the UPS Foundation, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the USA Freedom Corps and it is probably the strongest argument ever seen in the United States for the value of - in the words of the report - investment in volunteer management:

For a more detailed critique of the study, see the March Hot Topic on this site.

22Feb2004: Here's a clever strategy from the UK the 29th of February (leap year) an opportunity to promote volunteering. The Big Leap (http://www.thebigleap.org/) urges site visitors to make good use of the extra day in the 2004 diary by devoting "all or some of that extra day to a cause you care about by donating your money or time." The site has an animated leaping frog and the slogan: One small step for you, one big leap for charity.

The Big Leap is the idea of The Giving Campaign (www.givingcampaign.org.uk), a three-year initiative to increase the amount of money donated to UK charities and create a stronger culture of giving in the UK . Happily they are using leap year to target volunteering, too.

15Feb2004: The NFP Toolkit has launched a free, new "Technology Tips to Engage and Embrace Your Volunteers" monthly service. You can either read the tips on their Web site at http://www.nfptoolkit.ca/TechnologyTips.asp or you can sign up to have these sent to you directly via e-mail. Given the nature of the Internet, these monthly tips ought to be international in application.

The topic for February is:

"E veryone hates to get their picture taken but loves it when their picture is on display!" Digital photography is a great example of a new technology that can enhance a volunteer program. This month's tip describes how easy it is to create an emotional slide show as a form of volunteer appreciation.

NFP Toolkit is a Canadian-based software company that produces volunteer management programs with the stated mission " to increase volunteerism within every organization and community that implements our software."

7Feb2004: NetAid, the organization that mobilizes volunteers to join the international fight against poverty, has launched the new VolunteerGuru smself-test for potential volunteers at http://www.netaid.org/volunteer/abroad.

VolunteerGuru sm is a user-welcoming volunteering guidance counselor providing personalized tips and resources based on each individual's responses to a list of questions about skills, interests and experience. NetAid further provides insight into how others have made a difference through a variety of volunteer opportunities, including serving abroad or sharing skills virtually from home.

More News from NetAid! As of 10 February 2004 , Online Volunteering (OV) is moving to a new home with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and a new Web site, www.volunteeringonline.org . In April of 2000, NetAid and UNV launched and then co-managed NetAid Online Volunteering. Over the following three and a half years, more than 12,000 individuals applied to volunteer online. Read the joint pre s s releas e ( ß http://www.netaid.org/press/press_article_16.pt ) explaining the transfer of the OV service and visit the new site.

1Feb2004: Half of Americans - and even more young adults - say that giving time is more important than giving money, according to a new survey by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. A summary of the study ( http://www.thrivent.com/newsroom/news/
index.phtml?category=Financial&id=176&keyword_search =) was released on 13 January. One finding:

Young adults, aged 18-34, and seniors, aged 65 and older, hold decidedly different views about the importance of volunteerism. While 58 percent of young adults say giving time to a charitable cause is most important, just 28 percent of seniors agree. Conversely, 29 percent of seniors say "money" is the most important gift one can give to a charitable organization, while 23 percent of young adults and 18 percent of those aged 35-49 agree.

Despite such differences, young and old reported similar levels of volunteer activity in 2003.

The survey confirms other results found in previous studies, including that "those committed to prayer and regular attendance at religious services are most likely to report having volunteered with a non-profit organization, church or school during the past 12 months." The correlation between education and volunteering, and the importance of a belief in a charity's mission as a factor in philanthropic choices, were once again substantiated findings.

25Jan2004: New National Occupational Standards for the Recruitment and Management of Volunteers approved in the UK
Beginning in 2001, the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation (VSNTO)-supporting workforce learning and development for paid staff, volunteers, management committee members and trustees within the voluntary and community sectors in the UK - sponsored the development of a set of standards to "identify the key functions and skills involved in recruiting and managing volunteers." Developed over a 2-year period by The Management Standards Consultancy and tested throughout the voluntary sector, the Standards have now been approved by the UK's Education Act Regulatory Authorities.

Taking into account full-time or part-time volunteer managers, paid or voluntary, the standards focus on 6 key areas:

  • Developing strategies and policies that support volunteering
  • Promoting volunteering
  • Recruiting and inducting volunteers
  • Managing and developing volunteers
  • Evaluating volunteers' contributions to the organisation's goals
  • Providing support to volunteering

England's National Centre for Volunteering responded in the January issue of Volunteering magazine, where contributor Maggie Piazza provides perspective on the standards, addressing questions such as ".why do we need standards specifically for volunteer managers." and "how can you make best use of the standards?"- All enlightening reflections for volunteer managers whether in London, Singapore, Sydney or San Francisco. To read Piazza's article online, go to http://www.volunteering.org.uk/workwith/newstandards.htm.

The standards are available at:
http://www.voluntarysectorskills.org.uk/Templates/
Internal.asp?NodeID=24123&ParentNodeID=24120

More information about The Management Standards Consultancy who developed the standards can be found at their Web site: http://www.themsc.org/.

11Jan2004: Why Volunteer? A Royal National Institute of the Blind Recording
The audio recording linked below is taken from a CD that was produced by volunteers Salli Belsham and Sophie Doig for the Royal National Institute of the Blind, headquartered in London, England, in time for International Volunteer Day, 5 December 2003.  You'll hear the voices of a dozen real volunteers, explaining what they do at RNIB, why they participate (what they get from it), what they especially like, and what they'd like to tell others considering the step to apply to volunteer at RNIB.

The CD was created for several reasons:

  • To reflect on the long history of volunteers at RNIB and recognize how they have filled many diverse roles.
  • To celebrate current volunteers through the voices of representative individuals.
  • To be a tool in recruiting new volunteers.
  • To educate RNIB paid staff about the scope of volunteering and volunteers within the organisation.

Rob Jackson, RNIB Volunteering Development Manager, is sharing this innovative tool with his volunteerism colleagues in the hope of sparking their creative juices. CDs are relatively inexpensive to produce and appeal to new audiences.   During 2004, RNIB will be testing the CD in various ways, including mailing physical copies to current and prospective volunteers, using the recording in staff training sessions, and playing it at recruitment events.

First minute of audio (1 mb)
Entire Audio, 8 minutes (9 mb)
This is a copyrighted work posted here for listening only.  It may not be copied, redistributed, or excerpted without permission of RNIB. 

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4Jan2004: OneWorld seeks a small team of online volunteers to support the founding Editor of the OneWorld Topic Guide to Volunteering at <http://www.oneworld.net/article/archive/5551>. This is an opportunity for practitioners based in the developing world and familiar with civil society perspectives to contribute to one of the Internet's best known sites covering human rights and sustainable development.

The OneWorld portal consists primarily of structured collections of summaries and links to content of over 1500 global civil society partner organizations, presenting readers with diverse and balanced news and analysis. Topic Guides follow this model. The aim is to promote a good understanding of volunteering issues, from the OneWorld perspective, by searching out the best, relevant analysis by civil society in general and OneWorld partners in particular.

Each Volunteer Editor will typically take responsibility for one section of the Guide, and contribute regional perspectives to other sections. Principal tasks will be to write short introductory articles, select appropriate links to civil society content, and maintain a section of useful resource links. Editors have the option of contributing additional articles to complement this material.

Each Editor should be able to demonstrate thorough knowledge of volunteering issues in a global context, together with awareness of the principal global organizations working in the particular field. Editors will most likely be working for a civil society organization or can demonstrate close involvement with the sector. Applicants must be able to write English to a good standard, be resident in a developing country, have access to good connectivity, be familiar with surfing the net and use of email, and be prepared to observe OneWorld editorial principles and guidelines.

Volunteer applications must be submitted through UNV 's online volunteering service at NetAid before January 15th. Please answer all questions and attach your cv/resume in the section indicated. A further questionnaire will be sent to shortlisted candidates before final selection.

For more information or to apply, visit: http://www.netaid.org/groups/find_group.pt and type "OneWorld.net" in the Organization field. Click on the resulting link, then click on the appropriate assignment.

 

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