Guest Contributor: Joanna Tanger

For many people, working remotely has become a way of life. The pandemic changed how we work, with 57% of those currently working remotely stating that they had rarely or never worked from home prior to 2020. While the increase in working remotely originated from safety concerns during the pandemic, today’s workers cite a preference for remote work as their driving influence rather than health concerns.

“Magical moments happen daily at the farm” Haley Levesque, Program Coordinator.

On a repurposed dairy farm in Ridgebury Connecticut, "magical moments" are a regular occurrence. The farm is home to Ridgebury Riders, a nonprofit organization changing the lives of individuals, primarily children, with special needs through hippotherapy, which is occupational, speech, or physical therapy done on horseback.

Haley Levesque, Program Coordinator and Trainer, manages Ridgebury Riders' highly successful volunteer hippotherapy program. Here is what sets them apart!

Team-building is a great reason to organize volunteer events at your business. Employees who volunteer together have the opportunity to form closer bonds. And, at larger companies, a corporate volunteer event might be an employee’s first interaction with a co-worker from a different team or department.

This is the time of year when volunteer coordinators are hoping for a miracle. End-of-year budgets are tight, staff may be burnt out –all while community needs mount during the holidays.  

As a nonprofit organization, you’re well aware of the important role volunteers play in furthering your mission. They fill in the gaps where your staff can’t, helping you achieve more than your organization can on its own. Additionally, volunteers lift some of the weight of completing monumental tasks off your shoulders, helping you avoid burnout and reach more of those in need.

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.