Guest post by Lesley J. Vos

Even the most devoted volunteers experience a lack of inspiration and motivation from time to time.

As a volunteer leader, it’s you who can change this. You can encourage your volunteers, engage and motivate them to grow, and become a source of inspiration!

The Color of Care, from executive producer Oprah Winfrey, takes a hard look at the origins and ongoing disparities of embedded racism in our healthcare system. This timely documentary interweaves history, data and testimony from those who lost loved ones to COVID-19 and frontline medical workers in overwhelmed hospitals.

Last month we held our first ever Webinar Design Session: Solving the Retention Problem. I want to thank everyone who attended and participated — it was a really dynamic conversation! You can learn more about the question that started all of this, some of the existing challenges with retention, and my thoughts here. 

Our theme for National Volunteer Week 2022 is Let's Grow Something Together.  We want to thank all of our supporters— from volunteers to nonprofits, donors and funders to corporate folks stepping up to the social impact plate.  Each and every one of you have been part of our 24 year journey, which recently met a milestone of reaching 17 Million volunteer connections!  YOU are a part of all that good.

In April 2020 in an act of sheer desperation, I googled “San Jose Volunteering COVID-19.” I had been living in isolation in my house a full thirty days—thirty days—likely the longest I’d been in one place since I was 3 years old. I felt cut-off from my work team, which was scattering to the wind as COVID-19 raged in their hometowns around the world. 

Hi Jennifer-

I just listened to your excellent webinar, “The New Volunteer Managers Toolkit.” I am a retiring psychologist and have decided I’d like to focus some of my time and energy on volunteer retention. I’m not yet sure how to narrow the field, but I learned so much from your webinar and you sounded so receptive and encouraging, so I thought maybe I’d start by contacting you.

Michele Wiesner is the Director of Capacity Building at Hire Heroes USA, a national nonprofit empowering U.S. military members, veterans and spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce. Her work focuses on supporting service delivery through partners and stakeholders to increase organizational reach, effectiveness and efficiency.

Over 10 years after completing my two years of Service with AmeriCorps I find myself in the unique position of again serving with AmeriCorps, just in a different capacity. At VolunteerMatch, we have partnered with California Volunteers and AmeriCorps to leverage the VolunteerMatch network and team to recruit members and spread awareness.

To celebrate AmeriCorps week, I’d love to share how serving as an AmeriCorps member has impacted my life (long story short, it completely changed the trajectory of my career and how I see the world).

Guest Contributor: Josh Fryday, California Chief Service Officer within the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.

The Kindhearted Cities Index recognizes the incredible work of volunteers, nonprofits, service members, and community leaders who have embodied the spirit of kindness to give back to communities across the country. Through the Kindhearted Cities index, we can better understand what it is that drives action, change, and impact—and show others how to make a difference. We are beyond thrilled to see six California cities recognized for their efforts, the most of any state.