Guest post by Jason Miner

With National Volunteer Week approaching, and events in Boston and Texas reminding us of the importance of community, it’s become even clearer that volunteers really are the backbone of nonprofit organizations.

Volunteers help with fundraising, administrative tasks and operations, and they help spread the word about the mission of the organization. And although volunteers tend to perform such duties out of the care and concern they have for the goals set forth by the organization, there are a few key strategies that can be used to make these all-important volunteers feel recognized and appreciated:

Dylan volunteering in Boston, Mass.

This post should really be called: “How I learned more about my community and humanity once I stepped outside my college classroom.” You see, going to college in the heart of a city has an abundance of advantages, and many students are quick to take a big gulp of all the opportunities presented by the fast-paced, busy, and unique city landscape.

Updated June 29, 2016

It’s more than just another acronym for you to remember. Volunteer Time Off (VTO) policies are a quickly growing trend among businesses committed to authentic corporate social responsibility.

These companies provide a certain number of hours per year for employees to volunteer in the community – independent from the company-sponsored volunteer days and weeks of service. And just as these group programs show direct benefits for the employee, the company, and the community, businesses who institute VTO policies are finding they make a difference in a number of important ways.

Solutions by VolunteerMatch makes running an employee volunteer program easy. Learn more.

It’s a fact: Filmmakers insert products, messages and themes into their movies that influence the way we think and act. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though.

Guest post by Aileen Pablo

Most parents can’t even get them to tidy up their rooms, so what are your chances of motivating teenagers to leave their computers and work on an “impossible” mission, right?

If that’s how you view today’s youth, I suggest you quit leading them. Your perception of who you are dealing with will shape your behaviour, and treating teenagers of today like they are children is a great recipe for inaction.

Last month the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship released a joint annual report revealing that “a majority” of Americans are civically active in their communities.