volunteer

Branding is all the rave in our consumer-based, emotionally-driven society. From cars to computers, clothing to food, everything in our society-- and in life for that matter-- has a ‘brand'.  You have a brand. Your organization has a brand.  So what is a brand and why is it so important in enhancing your volunteer program? In this post, we'll take a look at what branding is and how it can enhance your volunteer efforts ten-fold.

In a time when economic reports continue to bring challenging news to nonprofits, it’s rare to read about a resource that’s growing – but volunteers are a growing resource that can help your organization fulfill its strategic priorities. You can harness the abundant skills and interests of your volunteers and apply them towards your organization’s priorities, including marketing and communications.

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand, you can’t have missed the fact that Volunteerism is “in”. It’s a hot topic in the news, on the streets, and by the water coolers. And, more than ever, everyone wants a piece of it! We believe very strongly that these corporate promotions (e.g. Disney's "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day" and the American Express Member Projects) represent an unprecedented opportunity for organizations. While the “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day” campaign, for example, may bring new volunteers to your doors with a plan to simply give a day, organizations can view this as a gateway to cultivate their deeper involvement.

Choosing the right volunteer to lead your important initiative means knowing more than the candidates’ basic skills and experience; choosing the right volunteer leader means learning about the candidates’ adaptability and ways of thinking – and learning those things without adding hours  to the interview and selection process.

In a world in which organizations are increasingly required to be nimble, creative, and entrepreneurial in management and program delivery, we must engage volunteer leaders who bring those traits to our table and who can partner with us in our efforts towards mission fulfillment. To identify which potential volunteers are nimble, creative, and entrepreneurial themselves, we recommend using a more behaviorally-based interviewing style.

The past year has seen unprecedented attention and support for volunteerism and service (see blog from September 2, 2009) and, next week, there’s something else new: More than 60 TV shows will feature storylines that somehow incorporate volunteerism. According to the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), the stories during next week’s shows will spotlight the power and personal benefits of service. This initiative is unprecedented in its scope and scale; never have so many networks and shows joined together to integrate volunteerism into their storylines. If inspired by what they see on their reality shows, sitcoms, hour-long dramas, soap operas, and talk shows, TV watchers can then log onto the EIF’s newly launched website www.iParticipate.org to connect to volunteer opportunities in their own community.

What does this mean for volunteer engagement professionals and the nonprofit community?

We spend a lot of time touting the value of skilled volunteers – advocating the engagement of entrepreneurial volunteers who can take an idea from conception to implementation – and championing the capacity-building potential of high impact volunteer teams. And yet, this week I sat and marveled at a team with whom I’ve been working for the past ten months as we met to discuss how to transition a pilot project into an ongoing program offering at our local volunteer center, Metro Volunteers in Denver, CO.  The best part of the meeting? The point when this productive group was scheduling the next gathering and I was able to say, “Here’s my offer: I won’t come to that meeting.” In other words, congratulations – this program belongs to you and the most helpful thing I can do is get out of the way as you take it and run.

In recent weeks, we have spent a great deal of time sorting through the implications of the Volunteering in America report released by the Corporation for National & Community Service - only to have the newest report America's Civic Health Index: Civic Health in Hard Times released by the National Conference on Citizenship report some seemingly different statistics.... Have things changed this much in the intervening months? Are these reports in conflict? Most important, what does this mean for you and the many others whose organizations rely on volunteers for mission-fulfilling work?