InnoVate Blog

Advanced Volunteer Engagement and You -- Tools and Conference Opportunities

Beth Steinhorn — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:27:04 +0000

Leadership development is not limited to just the volunteers whom we engage. As professionals, it’s important to take time to develop ourselves as leaders and professionals. Attending conferences, networking with colleagues in your local area as well as nationally, and keeping up with research and new trends through blogs and journals are all critically important ways to stay current on the latest developments in the field and to learn from a “community of practice.” Taking the time to reflect on your own professional goals, strengths, and opportunities for skills development is an important step when prioritizing how to move forward in your own professional development plans, especially in times when travel budgets are tight.

New Tools from JFFixler Group and Repair the World

Beth Steinhorn — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:44:00 +0000

Tags:

volunteers

Congregations

Tool Kits

Repair the World

Volunteers are critical to congregational life: from helping plan and facilitate events and services, to leading committees and teams, to coming together as a community to help others in need. JFFixler Group is pleased to have recently updated our four-part series, The Engaged Congregation Guides, designed to provide synagogues with a step-by-step process of creating and maintaining a culture of volunteer engagement.

How Meetings can Engage Volunteers Rather than Enrage Volunteers

Beth Steinhorn — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:03:24 +0000

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There are all kinds of great meetings—you know, “meeting new people” and “meeting goals” —but traditional meetings have a bad rap these days. Likely because meetings so often are ineffective or inefficient. Today’s volunteers have little patience for meetings that are poorly run. The irony is that, while today’s volunteers are not interested in wasting time in meetings, they are seeking ways to connect with and be part of high-functioning teams. Teams, of course, generally require meetings of some sort. So, the challenge for organizations is to nurture a productive, effective team culture through well-run meetings that engage rather than enrage volunteers.

What do parents, Utah residents, residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Boomers and Generation X have in common?

Beth Steinhorn — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:26:10 +0000

According to the recently released report Volunteering In America, parents of children living at home, the state of Utah, the city of Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Boomers and Generation X lead the way when it comes to volunteering. Each year, the Corporation for National and Community Service publishes a report on volunteering across the nation. Just a few weeks ago, the Volunteering in America report on 2011 was released and includes copious information about how Americans are stepping up to make a difference in their neighborhoods, communities, and the world through personal service – and doing so at record rates.

Measuring How we Measure Up! The State of Evaluation

Beth Steinhorn — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:41:40 +0000

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How does your organization evaluate programs or measure results? A new study released by Innovation Network, Inc. sheds light on how nonprofits across the country “measure up” in terms of evaluation. More than likely, your organization is among the 90% of organizations that do conduct some sort of evaluation—whether by developing a logic model or other evaluation plan before the program (as do 65-76% of organizations), collecting data during the program (as do 60% of organizations), or analyzing the data after the program (as do 63% of nonprofits). If you do not conduct evaluation, then you are not alone. Whether you are in the 90% of nonprofits that do evaluate or the 10% that don’t, it’s important to understand how to make the most out of evaluation, including how to overcome the perceived barriers to conducting valuable evaluation.

In the Wake of the Storm

Beth Steinhorn — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:22:36 +0000

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No matter where we live or whether we have friends and family on the East Coast, we are all touched by the devastation and widespread impact of Superstorm Sandy. I live and work in Colorado, yet I have unexpectedly taken on the role of communications hub for my East Coast relatives, many of whom live in the hardest hit counties in New Jersey and Long Island and still have no power. While intermittent cell service prevented them from reaching each other, they have been able to get messages to me through phone or Facebook.

From Us & Them to We

Beth Steinhorn — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 04:16:20 +0000

Tags:

marketing

relationship

volunteer engagement

From “Us & Them” to “We”: What volunteer engagement can learn from emerging trends in marketing

By Beth Steinhorn

Like most of us, I had a long summer reading list – and now that the leaves are changing, it’s a good time to reflect on one of the books that got me thinking about volunteer engagement in new ways, namely a book called We: The Ideal Customer Relationship by Steve Yastrow. While the book’s focus is marketing and sales, it has many implications for volunteer engagement.

Consider Yastrow’s premise: businesses have more success if they intentionally develop “We” relationships with their customers than if they develop “Us & Them” relationships. In traditional “Us & Them” relationships, the interactions between business and customer are all about transactions, whether payment for a good or service or an inquiry and an answer. By contrast, a “We” relationship is defined by a more collaborative partnership. As Yastrow describes, “[The We] customer sees your company as unique and, therefore, not interchangeable with the competition.... You go beyond using each other to accomplish things and actually see your relationship as one in which you do things together.”

It’s hard not to see how this model applies to volunteer engagement.

Millennial Engagement: Tapping the Talents of A New Generation

Jill Friedman Fixler — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:58:23 +0000

The Millennial Impact Report 2012, published last week, is opening people’s eyes and spurring lots of conversations in our fields. The report opens with the advice, “stop trying to figure out Millennials and just include them.” This and other information in the report provide food for thought our practice and our clients. The authors proclaim that it is time to authentically engage Millennials in the work of service and giving and go on describe Millennials as wanting to give and serve—“They want involvements that engage their minds as well as their hands. In the end, they want to build authentic, personal relationships with nonprofits.”

Thoughts from a Former Volunteer Management Generalist

Jill Friedman Fixler — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:08:31 +0000

When I began my career as a volunteer engagement professional (we called it “volunteer manager” back then), I prided myself on being a generalist. I knew a little about a lot of things such as management, human resources, budgeting, program development, and program evaluation. The skill sets I learned in college and in my first jobs served me well for a long time. I could address most issues without assistance and all was right with the world. I felt confident about what I knew and how to use that knowledge in my work.

Initiating Change in the Volunteer Auxiliary Model

Jill Friedman Fixler — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:45:40 +0000

Several weeks ago I was the keynote presenter at the spring meeting of the American Hospital Association Auxiliary Leaders group. My presentation focused on evolving the auxiliary model to be more embracing of change, more diverse, and more innovative in its practice. I suggested that auxiliaries could become the focus on innovation if they embraced cross- generational work and let go of some pretty big sacred cows. While the group concurred that change is needed, they didn’t know where to start.