Editor’s Note: As our amazing interns transition out of their roles at VolunteerMatch, they’re reflecting on what brought them to work with us, what they’ve accomplished, and where they’re headed. We hope you’ll be as inspired as we have been by these “ultimate volunteers!”

Why I Love VolunteerMatch

First of all, I would like to say that VolunteerMatch is awesome and the people that work here are an inspiration. Before I get into the details of where I came from, what I accomplished while I was here as the Marketing & Insights Intern, and what adventure I want to embark on next, I must share some details about my fellow colleagues. I learned so much from each one of them.

From the organization’s President to the amazing communications team and everyone in between, each of them played an important role in the joy and learning journey I experienced while I was here. Each person at VolunteerMatch is unique and has inspired me in some sort of way.

From my first day within the VolunteerMatch walls I was blown away by their kindness, generosity and how much they genuinely liked being around each other. Most of my experience in the working world wasn’t quite like this. The people that work for VolunteerMatch are authentic, highly intelligent and interesting people. How much better does it get than to work every day to connect good people with good causes and to be constantly reminded of it? I couldn’t think of the people at VolunteerMatch more highly and I truly enjoyed every single day I spent working here. And honestly, I don’t want it to end.

My History and Experience in CSR

Before VolunteerMatch I was working for another agency doing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability work in San Francisco, which was where I got my first official exposure to CSR. Before that I served as a Business Manager for a natural body products company headquartered in San Francisco, where I became an ardent promoter of safe and clean cosmetics.

And prior to that during my time at University of California, Santa Barbara I led grassroots efforts and coordinated campaigns and media coverage for the Forest Awareness and Clean Energy Solutions Campaigns with the California Public Interest Research Group. Initially I got led into CSR because of my passion for environmental awareness and my desire to make a positive impact on social causes.

At my last agency I began working intensely to help them cultivate themselves as an organization at the forefront of sustainable marketing communications. When my time there was up, I found VolunteerMatch.

As a long-time committed volunteer for many social and environmental causes and having had a working knowledge of CSR, I was intrigued to think about why volunteering isn’t something CSR professionals talk about more. I knew immediately that it is an influential piece of the CSR puzzle and I knew I wanted to help convince people of that, which is exactly what the communications team at VolunteerMatch is already doing.

Why VolunteerMatch?

From the moment I came to interview at VolunteerMatch and started talking to Casey Brennan, the Marketing and Insights Manager, I knew it was meant to be. We understood each other’s lingo, and we instantly connected. I knew the opportunity was great given her vast knowledge of CSR. Casey is a great leader and manager, she is intelligent and engaging and I truly enjoyed working with her every day. I learned something from her, even from our very first conversation.

So when I found out the next day that I got the internship from Robert Rosenthal, another extremely insightful individual, I was ecstatic. Having looked for Sustainability and CSR related positions quite intensely for the last 3 months, I was jumping for joy.

There is something about a career in Sustainability that just makes me want to run with it and never look back. I think it’s due to my undeniable passion for environmental causes and my desire to be at the forefront of emerging media, thought leadership and technologies that are better for our planet and for society. Yes, the field is in its infancy, but somehow that draws me in even more because the work is so vital in today’s world and I want to be one of the enthusiastic individuals to help see it grow.

Engaging Projects

VolunteerMatch Insights

One of the biggest and most exciting projects that I worked on while I was here was titled “VolunteerMatch Insights: CSR Data, Trends & Resources.” I took this project from a concept with the brainstorming collaboration of Casey, to a finished product containing an 83 page slide deck, a 27 page InDesign presentation and a 2 page Excel document containing citations. The resource will be used as a toolkit for staff to streamline the abundance of research studies available in the field.

The work I did on this project was in depth and extensive and I enjoyed every minute of it. I began by researching and reading every study that I could find related to CSR, volunteering and employee engagement. I weeded through what was most relevant and then pulled statistics, graphs and stories that helped to depict a total of 18 themes I created demonstrating why volunteering is a necessary part of CSR and employee engagement.

After the project was completed I also created a 1 pager that will be used at the 2012 VolunteerMatch Client Summit this week, pulling in a few of the most influential statistics from the project. Overall this work made me extremely well versed in issues of employee engagement, corporate volunteer programs and CSR industry trends. And most importantly for my fellow colleagues at VolunteerMatch, it demonstrated why their job is so awesome and so important.

Blogging and Additional Projects

While I was at VolunteerMatch I also wrote several articles for the “Volunteering is CSR” Blog. Before I came to VolunteerMatch, although I was already a Twitter user, I had never written a blog post. With the insightful help of Shari Ilsen, the Online Communications Manager, I quickly learned that the most important things about writing a blog post are knowing your audience, being concise and using hyperlinks. I also wrote webinar recaps of the Best Practice Network Webinars.

Additionally, I got to know the ins and outs of 3BL Media as a resource and uploaded numerous pieces of content from the communications team’s blog posts and my other fellow intern Cristopher Bautista.

After attending the 2012 VolunteerMatch Client Summit on May 17-18, the last project I will work on here will be to create a survey to be taken by VolunteerMatch corporate clients about their employee volunteer programs. Through that survey we will learn the details for effectiveness at each program and the best practices that are being utilized by each one.

Do I Have to Go?

Like I said before, I wish I didn’t have to leave VolunteerMatch. The people here are inspiring, and although they are intimately completing the details of their job everyday, I truly feel that each one of them wants to make the world a better place and that’s why they are here. And that to me is what it’s all about.

So where will I go next? Well, I still want to work in CSR and sustainability, just like I did when I got here. I envision my next adventure to be a lot like my work at VolunteerMatch, but with a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability because it’s my true passion.

I am looking into the following opportunities:

• An environmental NGO or nonprofit
• A company whose mission is environmentally driven or who offers environmental or sustainable products
• A company not initially centered around sustainability but who has environmental or socially conscious initiatives

If you’re reading this post and you know of an opportunity for someone who is extremely passionate about sustainability and is willing to go the extra mile every time, or you just want to chat, please contact me at (805) 452-7585, carleyklekas@gmail.com, my Linkedin profile or follow me on Twitter @theearthygal.

What

Presented by Points of Light, NCVS is annually the world’s largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. Anyone who is “ready to pave the way for a fresh approach to civic engagement” is invited, and as you can imagine this includes everyone from Americorps and Senior Corps members to Kevin Bacon.

The speaker list for the conference is impressive, and seeing these accomplished people talk in person about their work would be reason enough to go. Some highlights include former First Lady Barbara Bush, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Craig Newmark, founder of both craigslist and craigconnects.

There are simply too many sessions to pull any out here, but the NCVS site allows us to browse sessions by track, point of interest, date and more without registering first.

Why

So why do we think it’s especially important to go to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service this year? There are several critical issues impacting the nonprofit and volunteering sectors that could potentially come to a head in 2012, and being educated and connected about how we can play a part in the outcome could make all the difference. For example:

• 2012 is an election year, and not surprisingly, the economy is a key campaign issue. With each candidate feeling the pressure to cut spending, the budgets of national service agencies like the Corporation for National and Community Service will be in more danger. Additionally, funding for nonprofit programs at the federal, state and local levels will be revisited and reworked.
• Edelman just released its latest goodpurpose study, which reveals a dramatic increase in consumers’ expectations of companies to be active in social causes. This is leading to more companies investing more money and more employee time in community engagement, including volunteering.
• With over 75,000 active volunteer opportunities listed on the VolunteerMatch site, we’re seeing our highest number of listings in more than 5 years. Add to that the fact that we recently surpassed 6,000,000 volunteer referrals, and it’s clear that volunteers are becoming more and more key to nonprofit operations, and there are plenty of people out there willing to step up and help out when asked.

Can you think of other reasons why this year, especially, is important for volunteering and service? Leave your comments below and check out the National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

Members of the Tweet Drive 2011 community

It’s no secret that social good is one of the biggest trends and buzzwords in the world of social media. People are flocking to get involved with trending causes, but while many are spreading at unprecedented levels, some of these causes are missing the mark.

This is due in large part to over emphasis on social media engagement rather than real world action. The fundamentals of a social good cause and community are important regardless of the medium they use.

Ultimately, social good is all about rallying others to create social change for the better and influence our surrounding social environments – online and off.

Causes are about the people more than anything else. So, how can online social good and offline causes alike get people involved and turn their volunteers into champions in this new age of activism and communication? By sticking to the fundamentals of course…

These are three things that are present in every successful cause and community of volunteers:

1. Inspiration

Every successful cause starts with the ability to inspire others. We may have new media to get our message across, but with inspiration comes real-world action.

When building your cause or volunteer community, you have to ask yourself if your message will inspire not only your friends, but also those you have never met. Volunteers donate their time and you have to understand that commitment does not happen lightly or easily. How will you get those involved to not ask why they are doing this, but how can your goals be met?

To take action, your volunteers need to believe in the cause and feel the impact that they are making, otherwise your message will become the tree in the forest that nobody heard fall.

2. Leadership

Any great cause or campaign needs a clear leader. Inspiration is extremely important in recruiting volunteers and getting people involved, but strong leadership is essential to growing and building upon momentum. Strong leaders are there to provide direction, answer the tough questions, and carry the message to those involved.

When strong leadership is absent, a cause’s impact or message is likely to get lost after initial support. Take for example the first Kony 2012 video that went completely viral several months ago. Their follow up video only garnered 2% of the interaction they saw on the first video. That may have had something to do with controversial statistics about the campaign and vulgar behavior by the founder that was captured on TMZ.

Those developments showed how important strong leadership and trust is from top to bottom. To get volunteers active and involved, influence must complement inspiration.

3. Communication

The final step to building a volunteer community is efficient communication. As previously mentioned when talking about leadership, being able to convey your message effectively is immensely important.

Ultimately, effective communication should empower your volunteers and champions to utilize social media and spread the cause’s mission with their networks. By establishing clear and concise communication, you can turn your volunteers into brand champions with the tools they need to spread your message.

Additionally, effective communication will allow your volunteers to lead and organize their own communities and evolve your cause and mission. In the end, your focus should be to enable your volunteers to be the change that they want to see.

Whether it’s through social media or door to door visits, these fundamentals will help you build an army that is passionate around your cause. As my friend and social media expert Jay Baer says, “It’s not enough to have social, you have to be social.”

Harrison Kratz is the community manager for MBA@UNC, one of the nation’s leading online MBA programs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Harrison also sticks to his entrepreneurial roots as the founder of the global social good campaign, Tweet Drive.

Twive and Receive is another creative campaign from the folks at Razoo.com. Essentially, the campaign is a 24-hour online giving competition that teams Twitter activists and locally supporting nonprofits to fundraise and benefit their hometown.

Nonprofits must first register on TwiveAndReceive.org to represent their city. Razoo will consider requests and review for contest eligibility. If the nonprofit is approved, no other locally serving nonprofit can represent your city (only one nonprofit per city may participate). But hurry: the deadline to register is June 6!

The contest starts at 12AM Pacific Time (3AM Eastern Time) on June 14. The three nonprofits/communities that have raised the most money by the end of the 24-hour period will win a share of $30,000 in prizes, courtesy of Razoo.

If your organization is not using Razoo, this is your opportunity! At VolunteerMatch, we firmly believe that organizations need to be engaging volunteers to help raise money online. The hardest part is getting started. (And if that’s you, we definitely recommend checking out some of Razoo’s free webinars on best practices for online social fundraising.)

Organize and start your own Twive and Receive fundraiser by registering today at TwiveAndReceive.org.

Are your volunteers shouting on behalf of your cause?

Helping your volunteers become advocates is one of the best ways to spread your message to those you may not otherwise be able to reach.

We often associate “advocacy” with the idea of political campaigning and this is indeed one way volunteers can take action. As long as you keep your messages positive and nonpartisan volunteers are often willing to speak up on your behalf.

Advocacy, however, can also include recruiting new supporters, spreading a positive message about your work, and raising awareness for your cause. Here’s what volunteers need to succeed as advocates:

Education

Every volunteer needs to know what you do and why it matters. Teach them about how policy, public opinion, and funding sources affect your work.

In my community several organizations doing similar work saw a need for better volunteer education about the big-picture context of our work. We all collaborated to create a training that we offer on a regular basis. Doing this together has lightened the workload and drawn more attendees: volunteers, community members, and even colleagues.

Opportunities

Some volunteers are politically-oriented and might contact their legislators or attend a rally. Others are great writers who could craft a letter to the editor or an entry for your blog. Still others would love to connect their family and friends to your cause by hosting a house party or spreading the word on Facebook.

One organization with whom I volunteer ran a contest for their dinner servers. If they brought a friend along to their next volunteer shift they were entered into a drawing to win a dinner with clients, served by the leadership staff.

No matter how your volunteers speak on behalf of your nonprofit they need the tools to do so. Fill your website or Facebook page with videos, photos, and articles that are easy to share. Send out action alerts to those interested in the political process, letting them know when and how to speak up.

Invitations

Make your requests simple and specific. For instance, I once asked my organization’s volunteers to call our governor about a particular urgent issue. To make this less intimidating I described exactly what to do: “Call this phone number, an aide will answer, you can say something along these lines, and you’ll be done in less than two minutes.” (One note of caution: your volunteers are not the official voice of your organization. Provide clarity about when and how it is appropriate to share their connection to your nonprofit.)

To avoid overloading volunteers tailor your requests based on interests, talents, legislative district, volunteer role, occupation, or whatever else might help you reach those most likely to act. You may also have the invitations come from a variety of people in your organization.

As always, make sure to thank your volunteers for the time they are giving above and beyond their usual role. Show them how their advocacy matters!

Colleen O’Connor Toberman is the Volunteer Coordinator at Our Saviour’s Housing (a program of Our Saviour’s Community Services) where she leads volunteer engagement, community education, and political advocacy initiatives. She lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

At VolunteerMatch we learn so much from other experts in the field of volunteer engagement and management, and we want to help you stay up to date on the latest news and trends.

Check back every month for snapshots of what experts in the field are talking about. This month we are focusing on special resources to help you in your volunteer engagement work.

Learning How to Be Social

If you find yourself still secretly wondering, “what’s really the deal with this whole Twitter thing?” then Claire Diaz-Ortiz can finally put your questions to bed. Heading up social innovation at Twitter, she has a unique perspective and expertise which has spawned great resources like her manifesto “How to Be Social,” and the book “Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time” (which I highly recommend, by the way).

Stargazing

With close to two decades of experience in the nonprofit and volunteer engagement fields, Reed Dewey knows what it takes to run a successful volunteer program. His new report, co-produced by the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, is called “Volunteer Engagement Stars,” and details practical, real-life examples of how nonprofits are dynamically engaging volunteers that deliver bottom-line results.

The Decision Guide

Nonprofit software and technology tools are Idealware’s business – that is, helping you figure out how to use them most effectively is their business. With their newest release of “The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide,” they will help you answer the questions “What?” and “How?” when it comes to social media.

Talk to Each Other

Jayne Cravens has a lot of opinions about the volunteering field, and her experience helping nonprofits with everything from volunteer engagement to web development makes her someone to listen to. She also participates regularly on the TechSoup community forums, which is a great place to interact with fellow nonprofit professionals about your challenges and successes, including issues around volunteering.

Say Good-Bye to Writer’s Block

In order to engage volunteers effectively, you probably need to be coming up with some great content for your blog, newsletter, Facebook page, etc. What if your well of inspiration dries up? That’s where Kivi Leroux Miller and her monthly nonprofit writing prompts come in. Sign up and Kivi, an expert in nonprofit communications, will send you fresh ideas at the beginning of each month to get your volunteer engagement going.

Key performance indicators, often referred to as KPIs, are an essential part of any nonprofit program. When chosen and tracked correctly, they can give us an at-a-glance look at a project or program’s performance. Think of your automobile’s dashboard, with all its gauges and indicator lights. These let you know if everything is OK or if you need to take action, like adding oil or stopping for gas.

KPIs for nonprofits work the same way. Some will tell you what kind of progress you’ve made, while others will alert you when you need to make a change. The specific data you choose is up to you. However, there are some basics to keep in mind when considering your mix.

Start with Statistics

KPIs generally revolve around quantitative measures. This makes comparisons easier and more objective. Just because numbers are involved, however, the measure doesn’t have to be a complicated one. In fact, the simpler the better.

Because these numbers will be a guiding light for everyone involved, you’ll want to use formulas that are as easy for line-level volunteers to understand as they are for executives. Stick with common concepts like averages and medians, so everyone is aware of what’s going on.

Review and Report

Depending on your situation, statistics could be assessed daily, weekly or monthly. However, in most instances, you don’t want to go more than a month.

After you’ve calculated them, the most important thing is to share your numbers on a regular basis. Those you supervise will have a concrete example of how their performance contributes to your organization. Those you report to will have tangible evidence that you are doing a good job or assurance that you are working to tweak things if necessary.

Some Specifics

Now that we’ve established some general guidelines, here is a list of some simple KPIs to get you started:

Volunteers

1. Total number of volunteers
2. Total volunteer hours used
3. Average number of volunteers per event
4. Average volunteer hours per event
5. Monetary value of volunteer hours donated (assume approximately $20 hour)
6. Number of paid staff hours saved by volunteer coverage

Return on Investment

1. Monetary value of volunteer hours minus the cost to recruit and manage
2. Revenue per event (net works better than gross)
3. Average revenue earned per volunteer hour worked (net figures are best)
4. Opportunity revenue (revenue generated by a paid staff member when a volunteer covers a staff member’s non-revenue producing task)

Keep in mind that these lists are very basic and far from exhaustive. Take some time to think about it, and we’re sure you can come up with ones that are relevant to your agency.

Remember that these indicators are your organization’s dashboard, so take an occasional glance from the road to make sure you have enough gas to get to your goal.

Does your organization already have pre-established KPIs for measuring volunteers or events? If so, post a reply to tell the world what works for your agency.

Shawn Kendrick writes for VolunteerHub.com and holds an MBA from Ohio Dominican University. He has over a decade’s experience in the nonprofit and business sectors.

Greg Baldwin is rethinking the science of generosity.

Greg Baldwin, President of VolunteerMatch, is not a scientist by training. However, last week he published an article on Fast Co.Exist as part of Catchafire’s series on the future of service in America called “Rethinking the Science of Generosity.”

Why is our prez suddenly so fascinated with science? And why does it matter?

As Greg explained in his article, for a long time science has not provided much warm and fuzzy support for the practice of giving back. After all, evolution and the survival of the fittest naturally have us competing, not helping each other.

Science of Altruism…great article by prez of @volunteermatch abt why people give awe.sm/5lX0y

— Selena Schmidt (@selena_schmidt) April 25, 2012

As Greg points out, this can’t be the whole story. At VolunteerMatch we see firsthand how many individuals are ready to step up and help others as volunteers and as nonprofit staff members. So where is the science in that?

What drives altruism?Great food (actually dessert) for thought.Perhaps it just comes back to karma @Volunteermatch…lnkd.in/rcwB9H

— Meg Garlinghouse (@megarling) April 25, 2012

Alternate theories are in fact emerging as to why we give back, and over the coming year Greg will be further exploring the science behind our good deeds. After all, as he says in his article, “The question of why people give is at the heart of whether it’s even possible to convince someone to make a difference who doesn’t already want to.”

Read Greg’s full article on Fast Co.Exist, and tell us: Why do you give?

You might be asking: But why do we work with corporations in the first place?

A major part of our philosophy at VolunteerMatch is that we all must work together to solve the world’s problems – no one person, organization or sector can do it alone. In addition to providing a free place to list your volunteer opportunities, running free webinars on volunteer recruitment and management, and posting news, resources, and thought pieces on this blog, partnering with companies is another way we support your work.

Our corporate clients are an important part of the symbiotic VolunteerMatch network of nonprofits, volunteers and corporations. Generally, close to half of the volunteer referrals on VolunteerMatch come from our corporate clients.

Each year we host the Client Summit and bring this group together to share insights that will strengthen their employee engagement and corporate social responsibility efforts. We design the agenda with expert speakers and panelists to inspire our clients and energize them with more ways to engage their employee and consumer audiences in your causes.

The Client Summit is also the scene of the VolunteerMatch Corporate Volunteer Awards, when we recognize the companies who have particularly excellent employee volunteering programs.

In the end, the Client Summit is about reminding our clients of all the reasons they’re a part of the VolunteerMatch network, and the most important is, of course, you. We want to showcase the impact they’ve had on the nonprofits who use our service, and that includes our own organization.

So now we ask: how have our corporate clients impacted your work? Have you worked with any of the companies and their employees? How have they made a difference to your community?

Leave a message for our clients, and help us illustrate the change we can make when we all work together as one large community of nonprofits, companies and dedicated volunteers.

Share your message in the comments below or on Twitter using hashtag #CSRthx.

Guest post by Barry Magennis

A volunteer with Making Music Matters teaches a student "Jingle Bells" to perform at her school pageant.

Since the economic downturn four years ago, job losses and redundancies have rarely been out of the news. For those who find themselves in this position, finding new employment can be an uphill struggle, especially when some places get dozens of applicants for every vacancy.

While some continue to pursue job vacancies within their areas of expertise, others have seen it as an opportunity to re-train and find work doing something new.

Heading back to college is certainly one option, and some may find positions accompanied by on-the-job training. But one area that is often overlooked is the voluntary sector and the potential it offers those looking to boost their CVs.

Ok, so the prospect of unpaid work is not ideal, especially with household budgets being squeezed by rising inflation and government cuts. But if you can support yourself for a period while you take on voluntary work, the benefits can be many and should pay dividends when it comes to finding a new job.

Benefit 1: Learn new or improve your career skills

Whether you are looking to change careers or add new skills to your CV, voluntary work will help you to gain experience and learn new skills. These can include things like teamwork, project management and planning, communication, organization and problem solving, all important skills in the modern workplace. Many people have found they gain much needed confidence in these skills once they have honed them in a voluntary position before seeking paid employment.

Benefit 2: Try new careers without commitment

One of the biggest benefits to voluntary work is the option to try out new roles without the need to commit long term. You may want to change career direction completely or gain experience in a new role connected to the industry you were previously employed in. For instance you may want to move into the retail sector, so volunteering in a charity shop could give key experience in retail management and customer service.

Benefit 3: Voluntary work is perfect for networking

As well as giving you new found skills, voluntary work can help you build a network of contacts who could potentially give you work in the future. This may also lead to further training, internships and professional affiliations, all of which will boost your employment prospects. Some have also had the good fortune to be offered a paid role within the voluntary organisation they joined.

Benefit 4: Volunteering can help improve confidence and motivation

While it may sound corny to say it, volunteering really can help improve your sense of well being. Losing a job can be demoralising and for some there comes a fear that they may never find work again. Volunteering helps to put people back into a workplace environment, in contact with like-minded people, and give a sense of optimism for the future.

Voluntary work may not suit everyone, but what should be remembered is that organizations will always have room for additional help, be it full time or part time, short term or long.

Organizations exist across hundreds of different work sectors, meaning there is huge potential to find a role within an industry that suits you. Some organizations also operate within different sectors, for instance Oxfam jobs could see you working in a charity shop or overseas on aid projects. Or look locally for charities and agencies who need help on a voluntary basis. This could be work within a care home or hostel, animal shelter or a community based project.

Barry Magennis blogs about jobs in media, charity work and volunteering.