“None of us were ready for this. So I think, in many ways, for as often as everybody complains about technology and all the challenges, I think this past year could have gone very differently if we didn’t have these platforms.”  — Volunteer manager embracing technology in Ohio What a year it’s been. Instead of face-to-face connection, we spent the past year staring at little faces squished into squares on our screens. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were using more and more technology in our work and personal lives. Then, suddenly, we were all shuffled into our homes and our depen ..read more

What’s more important than engaging more corporate volunteer groups? Ensuring that their goals align with yours. It’s tempting to hastily say “yes” when employees from a reputable company inquire about volunteering. The excitement in some cases may even override one’s decision-making process when determining if this inquiry can work. I can understand all the reasons why; this is an opportunity to connect with a company’s employees on an emotional plane. If you connect and give them a great experience there’s potential they’ll come back, and if they keep coming back, maybe, just maybe you’ll be ..read more

… Read More The post How the National Air and Space Museum Took Volunteering Virtual appeared first on Twenty Hats ..read more

… Read More The post Volunteers Want to Give: How to Respectfully Cultivate Donors from Your Corps appeared first on Twenty Hats ..read more

… Read More The post How a New Era of Volunteer Programs Is Embracing Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion appeared first on Twenty Hats ..read more

Browse through the Twenty Hats archives and you’ll find plenty of actionable ideas. After eight years and 164 posts (including some awesome guest posts), the time has come to wrap up the Twenty Hats blog. Needless to say, this was a tough decision. Volunteer engagement is endlessly bloggable because our profession is about people, building community, and transforming this world for the better. There is always something new to share – a different perspective, an emerging trend, or a real-life example of a volunteer manager with a brilliant idea that deserves attention. On the other hand, I feel ..read more

Don’t drop your specialization. Just shift your focus. I’m thinking of offering a new workshop. This one would be directed towards nonprofits leaders rather than volunteer managers. It would be called “Deconstructing Engagement.” In this workshop, we would take away all of the conventional titles for nonprofit connectors – development, outreach, communications, volunteer management – and reorganize around one idea: How can we fully engage individuals in our cause, so that they want to support us in every possible way? My guess is that this workshop would lead to two inevitable conclusions, nam ..read more

Here’s what happens when a Leader of Volunteers accepts all offers of support. In August 2020, I joined many of my peers having to scramble to find a new job thanks to the pandemic. I wanted to stay in the same field, and I needed to be part of a mission I could support wholeheartedly. I became the volunteer manager at a non-profit, FACETS, that works with people struggling with homelessness and poverty. The job had been vacant for about two months (and is a team of one!). Before COVID, there had been about 200 active volunteers including intermittent help for events as well as scheduled assi ..read more

At home or at the office, you can transform a “no” decision to a “yes” by following this advice. Cicadas. It was 2020, and I was already getting nervous about the every 17-year invasion of cicadas these nasty insects, due in the Washington, DC area in 2021. I was more than nervous. I was panicked. I introduced the idea of a screen-in deck as my solution to battle the (perceived) impending cicada doom originally in 2004.  I was told no.  Without asking for additional clarifications or specifics, I accepted the answer. But, each year I counted down as we moved from 2004, and each year ..read more

Measuring volunteer impact benefits more that your program: it empowers YOU The life of a volunteer manager can feel lonely. We have a primary purpose in our organization—the subject matter expert, you might say. This purpose often means we are the only ones in charge of scheduling and coordinating volunteers. Albeit an essential role, volunteer management is frequently overlooked as the department that works to serve the needs of all the others. It can be a struggle and is eerily similar to being stuck in the middle; forced to live with one foot on each side of organizational dynamics; the go ..read more