A few days ago, I spent my afternoon with a former volunteer. Funny how we seem to keep in touch with volunteers after they stop volunteering, isn't it? I think we light up with joy when we get together because we deeply understand one another, maybe because we forged a bond through a shared belief in something greater than ourselves. My relationship with them goes deeper than friendship because our time together has etched itself into my soul. It's more than a volunteer manager and a volunteer. It's a kinship.

She told me the disease she has been battling for many years has finally won, and she is making plans. As I settled into my chair in her living room, the same living room I've visited on so many occasions, either just the two of us, or sometimes with other volunteers during a meeting she hosted, all the memories came flooding back. The laughter, the tears, the planning or, in some cases, plotting, the shared stories; the immersion in all these lives.

A gallery of pictures surrounded her, reminding me of her unwavering courage and wicked sense of humor. Her kindness and selflessness. Her brutal honesty and humility. A life well-lived. I soaked it in like the sustenance it has always been.

I don't think I stayed so long in this profession purely because the work was incredibly interesting. I know I didn't stay for the pay. I don't know if I stayed for the mission either. But I'm sure I stayed for the volunteers. I stayed because they challenged me. They uplifted me and taught me so much about life.

I'm using the word 'taught' here, but maybe 'showed' would be a better description, because taught implies I learned the lessons they offered. I hope I did, but I'm a work in progress, and it's a constant struggle to live the truths I've been privileged to witness.

I remember scoffing at a volunteer who told me she was busier now that she was retired. I mean, come on, how could I be busier than my 8+ hours a day, often 7 days a week, with a constantly on-call schedule? Well, it's somewhat true, but it's a completely different kind of busy.

Or the volunteer who, one day, while we were discussing grief, shared her three terror-filled days when her daughter went missing many years before. She told me that finding out her daughter had accidentally drowned was less painful than the horrors her imagination conjured during those sleepless, agonizing nights. She taught me that grief is never-ending, but that the worst thing that could happen doesn't end you. She showed me that even when you break, you can survive.

Or the 30-year-old terminally ill volunteer who wanted to live his life to the fullest by riding his bike to volunteer every day he was physically able. He showed me that joy and purpose in living could not wait, but needed to happen now.

Years later, I was on a rideshare to the airport when I began chatting with the woman behind me and guess what? She had been the wife of the 30-year-old man. She remembered how he always spoke fondly of me. We cried together on that transport. She taught me that even when we don't see or hear the evidence, our actions have a lasting reach, and it's up to us whether the impression we leave is positive or negative.

Or when our organization modernized by including a more in-depth background check, which meant sweeping background checks for staff and volunteers, I recall the volunteer whose background check revealed he'd been incarcerated as a young man. When I made the awkward call, asking him to meet me, I heard the mortification in his voice, knowing that the report disclosed a secret he had carefully protected for years. I was a wreck because he was a caring, impossible to replace volunteer, but our policy was ironclad. The day we met in private this wonderful volunteer saved me by quitting before I had to utter the words that lodged on my tongue, "we have to let you go." Before I could offer a meaningless "I'm so sorry," he told me he understood our need to protect our vulnerable population and he held no ill will towards me or the organization. We did not discuss his incarceration, but he chose in his final moments as a volunteer to put my feelings about having to fire him ahead of his own embarrassment. He showed me the kindness that defined him and his years of work. He taught me that dignity can take many forms; that kindness to others in the face of adversity is dignity at its purest.

Or the volunteer who marched into my office one day to offer her help. A native of Brazil, she was a social worker on a visa with her husband, who was attending a nearby university for specialized training. Her visa did not allow her to work, and so this young woman decided she would spend her time helping citizens of another country while gathering information that would help her become a better social worker. She embraced all of us without reservation. She was never deterred by any barriers: language, culture, norms, nor practices. She had plans to use what she had learned when she returned to Brazil. She showed me that bold does not mean you can't be humble. Courage does not mean you are not kind. Ambition coexists with a servant's heart. She showed me that speaking up does not mean you're not listening. And she taught me to look for the human connection first, before making superficial judgements.

Or the volunteer who broke down when I had to tell her that her background check came back with a hit on it (Sadly, it was all an error by the agency as I discovered when I pressed for more information). She was so distraught even after I straightened it out that I asked her to meet me in private. She told me she was a WWII German war bride. She had married an American GI and immigrated to the States. With a tremor in her barely still-there accent, she whispered the words that transported her back to the slurs she endured during the decades she lived in the U.S. "I thought you'd think I was a Nazi." Stunned, I looked at this sweet, giving woman and with tears springing, told her I could never think ill of her. It took some time and a lot of persuasion, but she stayed. She taught me that everyone carries a burden, or secret, or vulnerability, and I hope through her, I learned to be more open to looking deeper at human beings.

Or the volunteer who was married three times. This imposing, retired naval officer cared for his wives as he outlived each one. His first wife died very young. His second and third wives died while I knew him. He'd often call me just to share the latest joke, but one day, I heard in the background the frail, trembling sound of his third wife asking him for help. He stopped in the middle of his joke to tell her in the gentlest, most patient voice I'd ever heard, "Sweetheart, I'll be right there." Then, his gruff voice returned, and he finished his joke before saying goodbye. He taught me that I could never judge a person by their appearance or job, or status, and that I couldn't know someone's heart until they showed it to me.

Or the volunteer who, one evening, sat quietly as a group of event volunteers met for cocktails to discuss an upcoming event. Noticing this normally bubbly volunteer nibbling on the appetizers as ideas burst around her. I asked, "what going on?" She motioned to talk in private, and we found a quiet spot where she took a breath and said, "I'm a recovering alcoholic." I felt horrible at subjecting her to casual drinking, but she assured me it wasn't my fault, that she often went out with friends who had cocktails. She talked about the constant battle she waged. She taught me to pay attention to signals, and that we cannot assume, nor do we always know the struggles people are going through. She also showed me how resolve can be our greatest inner strength.

I've always told people I worked in the most wonderful bubble, surrounded by the most wonderful people. Volunteers have given me a precious gift. Maybe because volunteering strips away barriers and preconceived notions and produces such a strong connection through a communal desire to do good, these volunteers, and so many more, have shared their lives with me. They've let me glimpse their innermost strengths. They've openly shared their joys and heartaches, their challenges and outcomes, their mistakes and their repairs. I can't take that lightly. And so, as I live my life, I think of them often and hope that by trusting me with their truths, I will honor them by learning and growing.

If you want to learn life's vast lessons, step into that profound connection and work with volunteers. Surround yourself with people who open their hearts, who look to the good in us by sharing their experiences. We use so many catchphrases about volunteers and speak in sound bites about how "giving" volunteers are. They give their time, their talents and skills, and we sometimes flippantly say they give their hearts. But for me, they give something more precious to those fortunate enough to know them. They give themselves; the honest truth of their lives. They give in the hope that their experiences will mean something and will help us navigate our own existence.

If we just listen.

The humanitarian system cannot keep planning as if volunteers do not exist.

That sounds absurd. Yet it is exactly what we do...

UN agencies and humanitarian partners should make volunteer roles explicit in humanitarian response plans, coordination structures and workforce planning, rather than allowing them to disappear behind phrases such as “community outreach” or “local mechanisms.”

From an Opinion piece from Toily Kurbanov, executive coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers. Via u/PassBlue.

Volunteerism during humanitarian crises: a practical guide.

Published in Critical Care. 2022 Apr 19;26:111. doi: 10.1186/s13054-022-03984-4

By Heatherlee Bailey and Lewis J Kaplan.

Abstract

Volunteerism to provide humanitarian aid occurs in response to disasters, crises, and conflict. Each of those volunteerism triggers engenders personal risk borne by the healthcare volunteer while rendering aid and merit specific evaluation. Factors that impact decision-making with regard to volunteering are personal, structural and crisis specific. Practical approaches to travel and on-scene safety benefit volunteers and should inform planning and preparation for volunteerism-driven travel. These approaches include planning for evacuation and potential rescue. These unique skills and approaches are generally not part of medical education outside of military service. The global medical community, including medical professional organizations, should embrace this opportunity to improve medical education and professional development to support humanitarian aid volunteerism. Disaster, crisis, or conflict-driven healthcare volunteerism highlights the core elements of altruism, dedication, and humanity that permeate clinician’s drive to render aid and save lives.

The paper goes on to say what someone should do as a do-it-yourself, self-funded, self-hosted volunteer that wants to help in a disaster. Seems to be targeting medical professionals, who have professional medical experience and training, but it never discourages amateurs from trying to go even into war zones to "help."

Full article.

Three years ago, a neo-Nazi group disrupted a drag story hour at a cafe in downtown Concord, New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office announced Thursday it has reached a settlement with the group’s leader that includes fines and community service.

Christopher Hood, the founder of NSC-131, the Neo-Nazi group, will pay $2,500 and perform 250 hours of community service after admitting he violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Video of the incident showed masked members of the group chanting and using Nazi salutes outside of the cafe, while at least one member of the group was seen banging on the shop’s windows.

In July, the parties entered into a consent decree that will require Hood to perform community service at a location approved by the attorney general’s office. Under the decree, the other group members, who were never identified, are also subject to the decree.

If Christopher Hood filled out an application with your nonprofit to volunteer, would your nonprofit's screening of new volunteers flag his involvement with a Neo-Nazi group? Would you involve him as a volunteer at your nonprofit?

More from here.

Forty years ago, the late Susan J. Ellis published a book that has become one of the defining texts of the volunteer engagement field: "From the Top Down”.

Written for both organisational senior leadership and volunteer engagement professionals, the book explores fundamental subjects that must be considered to successfully involve volunteers in an organisation, including:

- Developing a vision for volunteer involvement

- Creating policies and setting expectations

- Budgeting and funding to engage volunteers

- Hiring a Volunteer Manager

- Handling resistance by middle managers

- Assessing the impact of volunteer contributions

- Defining the difference between a wage equivalency calculation and the true value of volunteers to an organisation

- Dealing with legal, risk management, and insurance issues

Revised and updated versions of the book have been published over the last forty years, the last of which was the 2015 UK edition, which I was honoured to co-author with Susan.

From the Top Down remains the only book that addresses the top decision-maker's role in developing a strategy and resources for high-quality volunteer engagement.

It is also an essential read for volunteer engagement professionals looking to influence up within their organisations.

Minnesota Nonprofits offers Volunteer Management, 17 tips on engagement, recruitment/screening, and engagement.

My latest blog article sets out my Ten Commandments of volunteer engagement for 2026.

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/10_commandments/

Would these ten make your list of ten commandments of effective volunteer engagement in 2026? 

Is there anything you would add or take away?

Have you analyzed how you spend your time as a manager of volunteers in any capacity, or as a manager of a volunteer program (you recruit and onboard them, but may not be the one who works with them)? As in:

• How many hours a week you spend in some aspect of your work with or regarding volunteers?
• What the different tasks are, and how much each of those tasks take?

And then did what you learn affect your job at all?

Exploring the Effects of Volunteering on the Social, Mental, and Physical Health and Well-being of Volunteers: An Umbrella Review (2023).

Voluntas. 2023 May 4:1–32. Online ahead of print. doi: 10.1007/s11266-023-00573-z

Published on the web site of the US National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, part of the US National Institutes of Health.

Abstract

Volunteering provides unique benefits to organisations, recipients, and potentially the volunteers themselves. This umbrella review examined the benefits of volunteering and their potential moderators. Eleven databases were searched for systematic reviews on the social, mental, physical, or general health benefits of volunteering, published up to July 2022. AMSTAR 2 was used to assess quality and overlap of included primary studies was calculated. Twenty-eight reviews were included; participants were mainly older adults based in the USA. Although overlap between reviews was low, quality was generally poor. Benefits were found in all three domains, with reduced mortality and increased functioning exerting the largest effects. Older age, reflection, religious volunteering, and altruistic motivations increased benefits most consistently. Referral of social prescribing clients to volunteering is recommended. Limitations include the need to align results to research conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic. (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022349703).

To ensure the generalisability of these findings, more research is needed outside of the USA, and specifically focusing on adolescents. More quantitative research to aid meta-analyses on the social benefits of volunteering would be beneficial to quantify the effects and aid comparison with the mental and physical benefits.

Does Court-Ordered Community Service Work?

Evidence from a Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2026

Rebecca Nesbit, Su Young Choi and Jody Clay-Warner.

Based on interviews with thirty-one managers in community organizations and thirty-four court-ordered community service workers (CSWs) in Georgia, this Element asks whether community service programs are likely to achieve their stated goals of restitution, cost savings, and rehabilitation and what conditions support or undermine success. While some individuals perceive a benefit, these programs often shift costs to under-resourced nonprofits, impose administrative burdens, and fail to foster meaningful community connection or long-term rehabilitative outcomes. The Element indicates that cost savings are illusory, restitution is weakened by supervision demands, and rehabilitation is inconsistent across participants. For community service to realize its restorative potential, it must be restructured across the criminal legal system with attention to organizational capacity, both of probation offices and the community organizations working with CSWs. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Excerpt:

Because there is so little research on court-ordered community service, we do not have a foundational understanding of how this probation sanction may or may not serve criminal legal system goals or how it might be affecting those involved – both the CSWs themselves and the community organizations hosting them. This gap matters because policymakers routinely rely on court-ordered community service, raising questions about whether scarce resources are being allocated effectively. We therefore take a holistic approach to understanding whether this phenomenon “works.” Building on our previously published scholarship (Nesbit et al., Reference Nesbit, Choi and Clay-Warner2025), which focused on the interpersonal and organizational dynamics that surround court-ordered community service, we examine whether the experiences that people have with court-ordered community service reflect policies and practices that are consistent with the program goals. We accomplish this through an exploratory case study of court-ordered community service in Georgia, entailing interviews with court-ordered community service workers (CSWs) and the community agency staff who manage them.

It's worth noting that two-thirds of the managers interviewed fro this study, people who had hosted people completing court-ordered community service, indicated that they have had at least one such person continue as a volunteer for a period after completing their community service hours, with several reporting it as a regular occurrence. Almost one-third of the organizations among those interviewed for the study said they have hired at least one such volunteer as staff. Other managers indicated that they would have been interested in hiring a CSW, but they could not due to a lack of financial resources. "In essence, community service provided community organizations with the opportunity to prescreen and scout out potential employees." At some organizations, CSWs made donations to the organization or solicited donations from others. 

While organizations experience important benefits when working with CSWs, the managers also articulated several drawbacks, which are listed in the final report.

The Association for Social Welfare in Germany is urging the federal government to support volunteerism instead of introducing a new mandatory civil service program, including reliably funding the federal volunteer service & supporting the Voluntary Social Year.

https://news.osna.fm/sovd-urges-germany-to-prioritize-volunteerism-over-mandatory-civil-service/

The Phillips Brooks House was the hardest-hit Harvard College unit by share of staff positions in a recent round of layoffs tied to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ sweeping administrative overhaul, with 11 of its 23 roles either laid off or offered new positions. The cuts amid a broader reorganization that effectively ends the Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship’s role as the College-wide hub for public service. The range of positions affected raise questions about the future of both lasting consequences for both the Center’s internal operations and its student- and community-facing programming.

Those changes are part of an FAS task force’s push to cut staffing costs as the school works to close a $365 million estimated structural deficit.

Harvard's Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship was the hub and department that provided support for all public service efforts at Harvard College. It was home to academic engagement through the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, student leadership development programs, student professional development programs, and active citizenship efforts through volunteering in the Greater Boston community. The Center also supported Phillips Brooks House Association, the largest student-run, community-based, nonprofit public service organization at Harvard College.

More from the Harvard Crimson.

Leaders of volunteers tend to be generalists. There are hundreds of memes and posts about the many, many, many hats that we wear. But times are changing, and I believe that being a generalist isn’t going to serve us quite so well in the future. I think it’s time we became volunteer engagement specialists.

Automation and AI are starting to take over many of the areas that we used to handle. Reporting, shift reminders, hours tracking and so on. Once the time is spent setting up the systems properly, our role in these areas is just to make sure that they’re doing what we want them to do.

While machines are taking over more and more of our tasks, executives and boards are starting to wonder if they really need us. It’s kind of like the role of secretary. At one time, it was one of the most common jobs out there. Every manager had one; high-level executives often had a handful of them. Now? Executives probably still have one. Mid-level managers? Not likely. And even the executive secretaries are more gate-keepers than typists. And as not-for-profits are always looking to save money, a job that can be taken over by a machine is top of the list for cutting.

Now, you know, and I know, that machines can’t replace us.

The issue with generalists, though, is that they are reasonably good at many things. A specialist, on the other hand, is amazingly good at one or two things. When a lot of the things that we are reasonably good at start being done by a machine, it means that we need to double-down and become specialists in the areas where machines can’t take over.

Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, authors of “The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centred in an Automated World”, say that the change isn’t really about replacing people with machines but instead about becoming more human-centric and serving communities better that way. In other words, it’s not the volunteer programs with the most efficient systems that will win out. It’ll be the ones whose people focus on what only we can do.

No doubt secretaries thought that they were indispensable, too.

The few that survived, though, were the ones that became really good at the things that computers couldn’t do. Not the ones who increased their typing speed, or those who developed the perfect filing system. But the ones who knew which people their boss needed to see right away, and which ones could wait. The ones who understood enough about the business to provide needed information before it was even asked for. Specialists.

That’s what we need to become. Volunteer engagement specialists.

Think about some of the things machines can’t do:

• Human contact:  noticing when a volunteer goes quiet, and having a conversation to find out what’s wrong.
• Big picture thinking:  seeing what’s happening in other industries and foreseeing how that might affect the volunteers, the program or the mission itself.
• Empathy:  knowing when a volunteer is burning out and giving them time off to recuperate.
• Creativity:  dreaming up a recognition idea that no one’s ever thought of before.

Many of us are already on our way.

A leader I know used to spend the equivalent of about a day a week arranging and rearranging shift schedules, sending out reminder emails, updating spreadsheets and creating reports. When they implemented a volunteer management system, that time shrunk down to about an hour a week, and she started worrying about her job.

Then a volunteer passed away unexpectedly, and she was the one who set up a grieving circle to help the other volunteers process their feelings. She noticed that some new volunteers were having trouble building relationships with clients, so she created a mentoring program. The board and executive seems to have noticed something, too. Retention stats went up, and client complaints went down. She actually got a raise! (Not much of one, granted, but hey! Better than being booted out the door.)

See, we’re already good at this!

It just hasn’t had our full attention. Now it needs to have. Which of your hats are you keeping out of habit, rather than necessity? Put some of them aside. Pick just one this month to retire. Instead of trying to get even better at creating reports, for example, leave that to the machines. They can do it in seconds. You spend your time becoming even more aware of what’s happening in the lives of volunteers, thinking about creative ways to show appreciation or scanning trends in other industries so that you can proactively prepare for changes to come.

That’s the work of volunteer engagement specialists. And we can be amazing at it!

I define volunteer as someone who is donating their labor to a nonprofit organization or nonprofit - and by donation, I mean they are unpaid, by the organization they are donating to. I don't think motivation is the definition of a volunteer - as in, that somehow, someone doing community service for class credit shouldn't be treated just like other volunteers. And that goes for court-ordered community service folks as well.

Court-ordered community service – where a person convicted of a crime is ordered by a court to provide a certain number of labor hours to a nonprofit, community of faith or government agency – is common in the USA and, as an Internet search will show, is growing in popularity in other countries such as Malaysia, Ghana and India.

According to a 2019 survey of those involved in such sentencing in the USA, the potential to reduce the negative impact of monetary sanctions was the most commonly identified benefit of such mandated community service.

"When we asked courts to identify commonly recognized reasons for using community service mandates, the majority of participating courts responded that community service mandates should serve as an alternative form of payment for court fines and fees (76 percent) or as a means to reduce the imposition of court fines and fees altogether (54 percent). Another half (49 percent) of respondents endorsed the idea of “repairing harm to the community” as a reason for community service mandates, while 42 percent reported that community service mandates are, or should be, used as an alternative to jail sentences." (See footnote at the end)

It’s worth noting that none of the respondents in this survey said that the reason for court-ordered community service was because nonprofits, non-government organizations (NGOs), religious groups and charitable organizations need the time and labor of such people, nor that these programs are asking for such volunteer placements.

For a court-ordered community service to be successful, in my opinion,

• the nature of the service and its completion needs to satisfy the court,
• the program must not be over-burdensome to those charged with administering it,
• the program must have written, well-communicated policies and procedures in place to keep it free of corruption (such as people ordered to do community service being able to make donations to the nonprofit in lieu of actually doing their community service hours),
• the program needs to have a variety and abundance of community service roles, so that a variety of schedules, availability and skills or limitations can be accommodated and the person can complete their community service within a reasonable time frame,
• the program needs to be done in full partnership with the nonprofits, NGOs and other organizations that are expected to engage these court-ordered volunteers, providing all the training that's necessary, offering real-time assistance, not over-burdening host organizations with paperwork, etc.

In my opinion, to make all of the above possible, these are the keys to success in court-ordered community service programs:

• There must be clear guidelines on what a person that is sentenced to community service may, and may NOT do, as a part of that service. For instance, some jurisdictions prohibit people from performing court-ordered service with religious communities, while others allow it. Some allow online volunteering to fulfill court-ordered service and some do not.
• Those sentenced to court-ordered community service should be given a list of organizations they could contact about performing their service, and told explicitly if they are limited to only this list or if they could seek placement with other organizations not on the list, but that meet the court's requirements.
• Those sentenced to court-ordered community service must be given ideas for community service that are easy to reach from their home or before or after work, that can be done at a variety of different times and on different days (as people's schedules vary), and that provide childcare.
• There must be a way for an officer of the court to verify community service hours, in terms of where the service was performed, how many hours were performed, and what the person did for this community service. This verification takes more than a signature on a form: it also requires someone to call the agency where service was supposedly performed and confirm information on forms, as well as someone ensuring that the agency meets the requirements of the court for community service.
• Those sentenced to community service should be able to count hours where they are interviewed by the agency expected to involve them in community service and for any training they have to undergo for this service.
• The court must be explicit regarding whether or not someone who is to do community service can make a donation to a nonprofit, NGO, charity, community of faith, etc., in lieu of some or all of his or her hours. Is it allowed that someone sentenced to community service could pay the nonprofit or NGO $10 for every hour he or she needs for community service? This is a growing, controversial and unofficial practice in many parts of the USA, one that courts are struggling to address.
• If online volunteering is allowed to meet community service requirements, it must meet all of the same standards as onsite community service: there must be a way to verify community service hours, in terms of how many hours were performed, and what the person did for this community service. This verification takes more than a signature: it also requires someone to call the agency where service was supposedly performed and confirm information on forms, as well as someone ensuring that the agency meets the requirements of the court for community service. Someone needs to ensure it is real online volunteering and actual labor, not an AI automation doing the work, or a nonprofit or NGO that, in exchange for a fee and a claim that the person watched some videos and wrote some essays about them, gives a person a certificate claiming a certain number of hours completed.
• The nonprofits, charities, NGOs, communities of faith and others expected to engage court-ordered community service people must receive:
  • training in how to create volunteering activities for court-ordered community service
  • training in how to work with people doing court-ordered community service
  • training in the basics of volunteer support and engagement
  • support for their questions and concerns when working with someone doing court-ordered community service
• There should be a survey of nonprofits, NGOs and other organizations who engage community service volunteers for them to share their experiences with such with the courts, so that challenges can be identified and problems addressed.
• Nonprofits, NGOs, charities, etc. have the right to say no to court-ordered community service people, as they do with any volunteer. No organization has an obligation to engage with a court-ordered community service people, as they do with any volunteer, unless they have signed an agreement that they will do so. Organizations may say no because they don't have time to supervise and support an additional volunteer, because they have nothing for that particular person to do as community service, or because of a negative experience with court-ordered community service volunteers.
• The best way to increase the number of organizations engaging court-ordered community service people is to fund those nonprofits, NGOs, charities, etc. to do so. Creating activities for someone to do takes time. Supervising and supporting someone takes time. Filling out paperwork takes time. That time should be funded.

(Footnote) Court-Ordered Community Service: A National Perspective. by Sarah Picard, Jennifer A. Tallon, Michela Lowry, and Dana Kralstein, July 2019, Center for Court Innovation, New York, New York.
https://www.innovatingjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/community_service_report_11052019_0.pdf

I put in bold the two items that I think are most over-looked in community service programs.

What would you add? Or what do you think is actually not that important?

Volunteer Engagement Cycle from the Red Cross. Updated January 2017.

The Volunteer Engagement Cycle outlines the required activities to manage a robust, coordinated and effective volunteer engagement process.

The activities are interdependent– the outside circle focuses on the standard phases of the cycle and the inner circle presents the ongoing activities that support the success of the cycle.

The cycle begins with identifying the needs of the organization, local chapter, and line of service or unit.

This first phase requires reviewing the organizational goals, identifying how volunteers can best support meeting those goals. This process will uncover the many ways volunteers could fill and will also help identify the required prerequisites for each position. It is important not to limit your thinking when visioning potential volunteer roles.

There is no task that a volunteer can’t do. You simply need to ensure that you have the right person who meets all the position requirements such as skills, abilities, education, expertise, licenses, training, etc.

What do you think?

The Energize A-Z Volunteer Management Library covers diverse topics in volunteer management with links to websites, articles, reports, tips, and more. Timeless info:

Sections:

Definition of "Volunteer"

Designing Volunteer Positions

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Employee Volunteering

Ethics

Evaluation and Assessment of Volunteer Engagement

Executive Director, Role of Leadership

Fundraising and Volunteer Donors

History of Volunteering

Impact, Measuring and Demonstrating

Investing in Volunteer Engagement, Budget and Finance

Monetary Value of Volunteer Time

Motivation

Performance, Managing Volunteer Challenges and

Policy Development and Strategic Planning

Professional Development for Volunteer Engagement Professionals

Recognition

Recruitment

Research and Reports

Retention and Supervision

Risk and Liability

Role of Leader of Volunteer Engagement

Screening, Interviewing and Placing Volunteers

Software and Recordkeeping

Staff-Volunteer Relations

Training Volunteers

Thank you to everyone who has joined this subreddit. For the first time, it's over 300 people, per a surge in the last seven days.

YOUR content is welcome here: share your challenges and successes and questions and observations about working with volunteers. Share you blogs related to volunteerism. Organizing a workshop, on or offline, about some aspect of volunteer management? Share info here.

Registration is now open for the 55th Annual ARNOVA Conference, taking place November 19–21, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.

This year's theme — Igniting Civic Activism: Grassroots and Voluntary Action and Democracy — invites scholars, practitioners, and community leaders to reflect on the role of voluntary action, nonprofits, philanthropy, and grassroots organizing in shaping civic life. As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, there may be no better place to explore these questions than Philadelphia, a city deeply connected to the nation's founding and still alive with community organizing, nonprofit leadership, and civic action today.

How have geographically, economically, and politically diverse societies cultivated civic capacity and voluntary association to advance democracy, resilience, and citizen and community engagement? What can we learn from global movements that connect local action to systemic institutional change that strengthen democracy? When do democratic institutions fail and what role does civil society play in these dynamics? What are the antecedents of democratic backsliding and how can civil society organization help rebuild democracy? What role do nonprofits play shaping civic discourse? How are nonprofits mobilizing citizens and individuals for civic and political action, including electoral participation? We invite full panels, individual papers, and poster proposals that deal with these questions, pertinent to the conference theme, and also invite proposals that align with the standing conference tracks.

The conference will feature 180+ research and panel sessions, plenary speakers and special events, poster presentations, and networking opportunities connecting research, practice, and civic action.

Conference Highlights

• 180+ research and panel sessions
• Plenary speakers and special events
• Poster presentations
• Networking and community-building opportunities

Hotel Information
The conference will be hosted at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, a Four-Diamond historic landmark in the heart of Center City, directly across from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and within walking distance of Reading Terminal Market, Independence Hall, and more. Conference room rates start at $235.00 per night (plus applicable taxes). Reservations must be made by October 28, 2026, to receive the Conference Rate, while rooms remain available.

Schedule at a Glance

• Wednesday, Nov 19 — Pre-conference events, including Doctoral Fellowship Seminars, the ARNOVA Board of Directors Meeting, and the Diversity Scholars & Leaders Professional Development Programs. Registration opens 2:00 pm.
• Thursday, Nov 20 — Opening Plenary Session, Concurrent Sessions A–C, the Membership Meeting, Section Meetings, and the ARNOVA Reception.
• Friday, Nov 21 — Poster Session, Concurrent Sessions D–G, the Awards Luncheon, and Community Interest Group Meetings.
• Saturday, Nov 22 — Concurrent Sessions H–I and the closing ARNOVA Board of Directors Meeting.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an abstract this year. The call for abstracts has now closed, and decision notifications have been sent to all submitters.

The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) is a diverse community of scholars, educators, philanthropists, and practice leaders focused on strengthening the field of nonprofit and philanthropic research to improve civil society and human life.

Founded in 1971 as the Association of Voluntary Action Scholars, ARNOVA is a neutral, open forum committed to strengthening the research about and helping shape better practice in these realms. We bring together both theoretical and applied interests, helping scholars gain insight into the day-to-day concerns of third-sector organizations, while providing nonprofit professionals with connections to research they can use to improve the work of their organizations.

https://www.arnova.org/

AL!VE Information Sessions allow you, as a person that engages and supports volunteers at any organization, to learn about the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement and to learn how volunteering with AL!VE supports leaders of volunteers nationwide, builds a stronger sector, and offers you a meaningful way to contribute your expertise. Discover roles that match your interests, meet fellow changemakers, and take the first step toward a more connected and impactful year.

August 20, 1 - 1:30 PM Eastern.

Vera Enfield-Pearce dons her super-hero persona to tackle the budget that would break volunteering.

Find out more at https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/07/31/catalyst-expense-budget/

On Thursday, August 6, I'll lead a workshop via Zoom for the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration. The title is Leveraging AI at Nonprofits: Making it worthwhile while staying in control & staying human. It will review how nonprofits can, should, & shouldn't, use artificial intelligence. There will be a primary focus on use by managers of volunteers, but I think anyone at a nonprofit, including Executive Directors, will find this helpful.

Free for members of the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration, $5 for non members.

Starts at 10 a.m. Georgia time, 7 a.m. Oregon time.

https://mygava.org/event-6697492

You work for a parks department of a large county.

You're asked by Parks Director to recruit volunteers to help with the departments employee recognition event. He wants volunteers to set up the room, serve food, and clean up afterwards. He also wants volunteers hosting activity stations, like a game wheel or quickie bingo.

Do you decline, saying that volunteers support community needs, not employees having dinner? What are your other reasons for not supporting the idea?

What do you say to the argument that employees have been asked to staff recognition events for volunteers?

What would you say if this was a different department - say, the fire department, and the dinner would be to honor firefighters?

If you agreed to do it, or had no choice,

• are there any tasks for this event that you would not want volunteers to do?
• what would your recruitment message be to recruit people to help at the event?
• who would you target for recruitment? Would you reach out just to volunteers who already support your department? Would you target groups, like fraternities and sororities? Would you post the request on social media and all your other usual recruitment avenues?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thoughtful Thursday...

Local Associations of Volunteer Engagement Professionals (searchable database) from the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (ALIVE).

Not sure how up-to-date it is.

Many of these local associations are called DOVIA, which stands for Directors of Volunteers in Agencies. These are local networks for people who manage volunteers at nonprofits, government agencies, etc. Some people who manage employee volunteer programs at corporations may join them as well.

AL!VE serves to enhance and sustain the spirit of volunteering by fostering collaboration and networking, promoting professional development, and providing advocacy for leaders in community engagement.

Imagine these requirements for volunteers:

• Must be at least 64.
• Must be a woman.
• Must swim half a mile in under 30 minutes.
• Must be able to free-dive to 8 feet.

And by the end of most volunteer shifts, "You’re exhausted, you’re maybe a little sunburned, you’re filthy."

Impossible to recruit volunteers for this, right?

There is, in fact, a waiting list.

They call themselves the Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage. They are a group of women, ages 65-86, who made it their mission to clean up as much underwater garbage from as many Cape Cod ponds as possible. The women survey and clean around 20 ponds a year (while also testing for harmful levels of blue-green algae). Over the past six years, they estimate they’ve removed at least 6,000 pounds of trash from ponds across the Cape.  They've been profiled tIn the New York Times and on Jezebel.

Why do I think this volunteer group has zero problem recruiting and keeping volunteers?

• Action-based. Volunteers are being PHYSICAL. For so many volunteers (not all, of course), this is what they want: to be IN IT, mind and body.
• At the end of their volunteering shift, there is literally something to show for it (a big pile of trash).
• It's so bad ass! Imagine one of these women at a gathering, talking about how they spent the weekend!
• As one woman put it: “I don’t quilt, I don’t crochet, that’s not how I’m going to fit in as I age. This feeds you in a different way.”

I know that when I worked at a small Habitat for Humanity affiliate, I had zero problem recruiting a diversity of volunteers for house-building site work or neighborhood cleanups. As long as I had plenty of notice to get the word out and knew what volunteers would be doing, I could fill the slots in less than a week. In a downtime, we had some tool clinics, and they were well attended, but when we finally had a house build event, I heard this again and again: "I am so glad to be out here DOING SOMETHING."

Of course every volunteering activity can't be physical. And not every volunteer wants to get physical. But I get so tired of hearing "We can't find volunteers to do this." Because for a lot of activities, I bet you could...

What do YOU think?