It’s been a big week here at VolunteerMatch! On Tuesday we announced that VolunteerMatch will be merging with Idealist. As many of you know I’ve been with the organization for a pretty long time – I started in May of 2007 – and I’ve seen the organization change and evolve quite a bit. I’ve seen our platform modernize, I’ve watched colleagues and organization leaders come and go, and no matter what changed I believed wholeheartedly in the mission of VolunteerMatch and the work I was doing.

For the past year or so I’ve been working with an organization to help them launch their first volunteer role, as applications are rolling in and we’re planning for our first orientation next month. I've been thinking about nonprofit management tools in general and volunteer management technology specifically.

Right now there are some really cool things happening with research in the volunteer engagement space. With new research coming out I wanted to give you a run down and share some things I’m excited about.

One of my favorite Hot Takes is the idea that being really clear and honest about what a volunteer role entails, including specific tasks, skills needed, and time commitment, will pay off by screening out more volunteers who are not the right fit early on.

This time of year, there’s a lot of talk about annual giving and donating dollars to support the causes you care about, but —like we’ve done in the past— we’re collaborating with U.S. Bank to promote giving time through volunteering.

I was excited to see one of you mentioned fair compensation for leaders of volunteers, and how we don’t ask for what we need or deserve, but instead worry about being underpaid and under appreciated. It’s such an important topic!

Earlier this year, I shared one of my Hot Takes – an opinion or idea that is meant to be thought provoking. My Hot Take was about the value of a volunteer hour and how I don’t think we talk enough about how all volunteer hours are not equally valuable.

If you’re looking to make the most of your VolunteerMatch account, you should check out our Pro Membership. We’re changing up some things and adding new tools and benefits. We’ll be sharing more over the Summer, but we’re excited to share this update now. 

VolunteerMatch is committed to always offering a free Standard Membership and we’ll be updating those tools as well. But, if you want to invest in your online recruitment we’re now offering more to help you find the volunteers you need!

Over the last couple of months I’ve been having some interesting conversations about the line between volunteers and paid staff. And, since it’s the start of a new year I thought it might be a good time to brush off those volunteer position descriptions and do a little risk management!