Volunteer Plain Talk

In this episode, Corina Sadler shares her thoughts on volunteer managers' personal and professional development. Listen in as Corina talks about:

• Looking outside the box for training to skillset
• Developing a professional story
• Using social media to recruit by not recruiting
• Creating your own content
• Why professional volunteer manager organizations are vital
• Steps to creating a niche volunteer manager peer group

About Corina: 

Corina Sadler, CVA, is Volunteer Resources Supervisor for the City of Plano, Texas “Volunteers in Plano” department and she has spent 15 years in local government. Corina and her team support staff in engaging 10,000 volunteers a year. In 2019 she received a national IMPACT Award from the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE) for displaying exemplary leadership in the field. She is a committee member of Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration, e-Volunteerism, AL!VE and the Texas Volunteer Management Conference. Ms. Sadler holds a Bachelor's Degree in Gerontology and Nonprofit Management along with certificates in nonprofit marketing and governance.  

Interested in training with Corina? You can catch her September 29 with NOVAA and October 2 at the Colorado Conference on Volunteerism. Where will she be next? Connect with Corina on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinasadler/] or Instagram @CorinaInPlano to keep in touch. She hopes to see a bit of YOUR volunteer engagement story online.

In this episode, Samantha and Sydney talk about starting their own organization and share their insights on:

• making volunteering social through packing parties 
• innovative ways to procure in-kind donations
• how to use meaningful stats verses volunteer hours
• using social media effectively
• the importance of testimonials
• utilizing networking 
• using gamification to get the word out
• how students’ view of volunteering has drastically changed
• how students view leadership without “adults” in charge
• how students view social responsibility
• why creativity is critical to engaging students and the future of volunteering

Please see Balance Boxes for more information and to donate: https://www.freetorunfoundation.org/balanceboxes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balanceboxesnp/

About Samantha and Sydney:
Samantha Feinberg started Balance Boxes when she was a Sophomore at Deerfield High School (2020). She is very passionate about Balance Boxes and helping underserved children. Samantha explained that, “Sydney and I, developed this idea when the COVID-19 outbreak began. We were looking for a way to help youth in need and we had the time to brainstorm. We believed that Balance Boxes would benefit a plethora of children, both academically and socially.” Beyond Balance Boxes Samantha is involved in, Student Congress (Domestic Bills Research Captain), Human Rights Club, Model United Nations, Teens Stand Against Trafficking (Ambassador and Founder of IL chapter), The North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic Student Board (Founding Member and Event Chair), The Holocaust Teen Executive Committee-USHMM (Secretary), The IL Holocaust Memorial Museum Teen Board, Deerfield High School’s Israel Club, DECA, JUF's Voices, Learn2Be Mathematics Tutor, Deerfield High School Genocide Commemoration Planning Day Committee, and Voters of Tomorrow (Legislative Outreach Coordinator). Samantha stated, “I am so excited to see the direction Balance Boxes takes me and how it makes a difference in many lives.”
Sydney Holubow started Balance Boxes when she was a Junior at Deerfield High School (2020). She decided to become a founder of Balance Boxes because she felt a strong passion for giving back to the community. and people around her. Sydney said, “I lived in Chicago when I was younger and the wage gap is very apparent. Samantha and I strongly believe in giving children equal opportunities and we feel that Balance Boxes is a great way to give underprivileged children a great start.” Sydney Holubow is very passionate about STEM and has been on the planning committee of GirlCon Chicago for two years. GirlCon is a one-day tech conference created FOR high school girls in tech BY high school girls. Sydney is also am an advocate feminist. She started a local chapter of Girl Up at her school, uniting girls to change the world. Additionally, she does many other clubs at her school. Sydney is super excited to put her energy into Balance Boxes

Listen in as Dr. Corinne Devin, Navy officer, accomplished leader and passionate volunteer speaks about her experience volunteering overseas and gives timely tips for elevating volunteer manager leadership. In this episode, Corinne chats about:

• ·       The challenge in stepping outside our comfort zones
• ·       How volunteers can help other volunteers with real time advice
• ·       How volunteer mentors help the organization
• ·       Why listening to criticism is important
• ·       Why shifting communication styles depends on your audience
• ·       What to focus on when you can’t control circumstances
• ·       How options work when having difficult conversations
• ·       How to speak up the chain of command and advocate
• ·       The need for strength in numbers
• ·       Discovering new outreach avenues through a volunteer’s interests and passions

Corinne is an doctor, an officer, and a beauty queen. Specifically an orthodontist, Commander, and 2020 International Ms. 
Corinne says, "My father, also a dentist, inspired my love of service and teeth, and I followed his footsteps becoming a Navy officer- a heritage that goes back to the Revolutionary War and earned me a Daughters of the American Revolution college scholarship. 

While I continue my service as a Navy orthodontist based off-base, I have a passion for working with civilian kids and their moms. Whenever I can, I moonlight in private practices, using my strengths as a compassionate communicator (with a confidently feminine charm) to help improve the self-esteem of my patients, one orthodontic procedure at a time. 

I have lived in and visited over 50 countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, including my deployment with the United States Navy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to Al Asad, Iraq where I took care of the smiles of over 25,000 active duty, contractors and Iraqi security forces.

After practicing for three years as a general dentist, I was selected to attend the elite Tri-Service Orthodontics Residency Program at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. 

While in residency I competed and won the title Ms. Texas, then after graduating won Ms. United States 2012, and internationally won Ms. Galaxy 2014, Ms Earth 2018, and International Ms. 2020.  The titles allowed me the opportunity get involved with local communities, speaking at events including elementary schools where I mentored young girls and showed them that they can be and do anything- from beauty queen to Navy officer to orthodontist. I continued to balance my two passions, serving as the keynote speaker at the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Conference to over 1,000 middle school girls for the Department of Defense in Japan."

Thank you Corinne, for sharing your experiences, both as a volunteer and as an accomplished leader. If you wish to get in touch with Corinne, her contact information is:

 Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/drcorinnedevin/

Instagram: @drcorinnedevin

Youtube: Dr. Corinne Devin

Linkedin: Corinne Devin

Email: [email protected]

The organizations (for volunteering overseas) Corinne mentioned are:

Smart Traveler Enrollment Program: https://step.state.gov/step/

Cross-Cultural Solutions: https://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/

Jaylen Christie, the Director of Public Relations for Moxē, an integrated marketing agency in Orlando and former volunteer manager, chats about:

•  volunteer contingency plans
•  volunteer impact
•  volunteer ROI
•  showing impact to volunteers who don't work directly with clients
• families and groups that volunteer together
• PR for volunteer managers
• strategies for PR (R.P.I.E.)
• bland volunteer recruitment ads
• competition
• integrated convergence
• leadership

Jaylen serves on several local boards including the Orange County Friends of the Library board, the United Negro College Fund and the Public Relations Society of America. He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men and known for giving back to the community.
You can follow Jaylen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesuperflynerd/?hl=en or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaylen.christie

Volunteer vigilante? Balderdash? In this episode, Adam Janes, CVA shares his thoughts on volunteer management during the Covid 19 pandemic. Adam discusses care mongerers, changes in policies, virtual volunteer roles, how to help volunteers utilize video, and what comes next for the volunteer management sector. Adam highlights the "what we can do now" mantra, even during volunteer appreciation week. Adam also shares how he will adopt some changes going forward.
About Adam: Adam is an up and coming leader of Volunteers and a community advocate for all things volunteering. He currently leads the Volunteer Program at Christie Lake Kids, a local charity that helps at-risk youth and children. www.christielakekids.com.
Adam is currently on the Ottawa Administrators of Volunteer Resources Board as the Membership Coordinator www.oavr.ca.
He is a member of the Beyond the Bake Sale, a platform that looks to innovate and celebrate how people invest their time, talent and treasure for the causes they care about. www.btbs.ca
Adam is an up and coming writer and workshop facilitator taking on assignments at a local and provincial level.When he is not engaging volunteers, Adam is happy to be called Daddy and is married to a wonderful wife.
Find Adam at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-janes-876a9832/
and check out the awesome work at Christie Lake Kids' Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ChristieLakeKids/

In this special episode of Volunteer Plain Talk Podcast, Rob Jackson of Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd. located in the UK, and Meridian chat about coping, challenges and opportunities in uncertain times. Rob offers his thoughts and advice including:

• ·      “There’s a moment here,” for thought leadership
• ·       Connecting and venting vs. isolation
• ·       Readying our profession for what’s next
• ·       Miss Piggy’s quote 
• ·       The abundance of information volunteer managers will have to share with one another when this is over
• ·       Harnessing the community spirit and can we compare this to an alien invasion movie?
• ·       Finding comfort
• ·       The good that can come from tough times
• ·       Resources-we are not alone

You can connect with Rob by emailing him at [email protected] or by visiting his website: http://www.robjacksonconsulting.com/

There is an abundance of resources for volunteer managers on these websites:

http://www.robjacksonconsulting.com/

https://www.energizeinc.com/  

https://volpro.net/

https://volunteermanagers.org.uk/

https://www.volunteeringnz.org.nz/

https://www.coyotecommunications.com/

https://www.ncvo.org.uk/

https://www.volunteeralive.org/

https://www.mavanetwork.org/

https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/#/

https://volunteer.ca/

https://www.volunteer.ie/

https://www.volunteerscotland.net/

Bo Goliber, who heads up philanthropy at Fingerpaint, a health and wellness marketing agency, shares the keys to a successful relationship between nonprofits and corporate partners. Bo assures us that corporate partners do not want to overwhelm volunteer agencies, but instead, are looking for long-term relationships built on honesty. Bo says, “don’t be afraid,” when companies reach out for a volunteering opportunity. Authentic partnerships through volunteering can yield other benefits.

 Fingerpaint was named 2019 Agency of the Year by Med Ad News, and in 2018, it won the Heart Award from Med Ad News for its commitment to philanthropy and social causes. Additionally, it has been on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 Fastest-Growing Companies for the past seven years. Founder Ed Mitzen was honored as 2016’s Industry Person of the Year by Med Ad News.

Please view these recent articles on Fingerpaint’s philanthropy and culture:
Why volunteering is essential to employee engagement: https://www.benefitnews.com/news/why-volunteering-is-essential-to-employee-engagement

Job titles: https://www.hrtechnologist.com/articles/culture/eliminating-job-titles-examples-benefits/

Philanthropy: https://www.saratogatodaynewspaper.com/today-in-saratoga/business/item/11215-notes-from-the-chamber-of-commerce-leap-of-kindness-day-has-global-teach-in-2020

https://wnyt.com/news/saratoga-springs-making-free-coats-available-around-the-clock-in-front-of-fingerpaint-on-broadway/5235121/

Follow Fingerpaint on Twitter and Instragram: @fingerpainters

Helping to create a positive culture of volunteering in many organisations can be tough work for leaders of volunteer engagement.  How do you ensure that volunteers feel valued by everyone, from the CEO and board down to the front-line staff? How do you have an impact on strengthening the value and impact of volunteerism when you, as a leader, already feel invisible or unheard?

Tracey O’Neill, Manager of Volunteer Engagement at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia discusses the strategies she has employed to strengthen the culture and buy-in for volunteering across her large health service.  From the small-scale, easy things she did as a nervous newcomer, to the more bold and brave approaches she has harnessed in recent years as she has gained skills, knowledge, confidence, support and credibility.

Tracey is a passionate advocate for the strategic engagement of volunteers and for professionalizing volunteer management because she believes volunteers change the world, and sustainable effective volunteering happens when supported by skilled leaders of volunteer engagement. 

Listen to Tracey speak further on advocacy in volunteer leadership in this Volunteering Victoria webinar alongside volunteer engagement colleague, Ang Cuy, Active Executive Director Youth Services, YMCA Victoria and Volunteering Victoria Sector Development Manager, Sara Sterling, by registering here.  You can find links to other Volunteering Victoria webinars for leaders of volunteer engagement here.

Read Tracey’s blog, Volunteer Village, here.  Volunteer Village is a place for leaders of volunteer engagement across the globe to share our stories about the impact of volunteers, the vital nature of our roles and why our organisations, governments and communities should support and resource effective and transformative volunteer management.

Find Shawn Callahan and Mark Schenk’s podcast, Anecdotally Speaking, here, where they share business stories and talk about why it works and where you might tell it at work.  Get some great ideas for how you can grow your story bank.

Tracey can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected], or at her LinkedIn page; https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracey-o-neill-cva-57447b20/

How do you evolve your volunteer program for the volunteers of tomorrow whilst meeting the needs of your volunteers today? Sam Clift, Volunteer Resource Manager at London Transport Museum talks through achieving senior management buy-in, involving volunteers in strategy planning, getting volunteers on board with organisational change and using technology and volunteer support to make volunteering more accessible and inclusive. Sam can be contacted at [email protected] or alternatively at his LinkedIn page: http://linkedin.com/in/sam-clift-0363a821
Tips I learned from Sam:
Court senior manager buy-in by chiming with their priorities. 
Keep volunteer value continuously in view.
Technology can be embraced by volunteers.
One change can create looking at other ways to change and grow.
Use incentives to make changes more palatable.
Involve volunteers in strategic roles.
Be honest about limitations.
Elevate volunteers to mentor roles.
Find new ways to embrace inclusion.
Meet challenges head-on.

Dr. Jesse Bolinger, author of the new book, "Calling All Volunteers," shares his research into volunteering and the future of volunteer management. He adds mental health, work and education to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, calls on us to change the way we recruit volunteers and urges us to use the mental health benefits of volunteering for the good of our communities. Dr. Bolinger's latest project delves into conversations with organizational senior management so that volunteering is recognized as a key strategy for an organization's success. Dr. Bolinger can be reached at https://www.facebook.com/jesseobolinger