Recognition

| Share |

The Best Way to Recognize Volunteers

Submitted by Susan J Ellis
on Wed, 04/11/2012 - 19:58

National Volunteer Week is about to start in the United States and Canada, and other countries will have their own celebrations in a few months. Many organizations are in the midst of planning special events to say thank you to the many people who donated time and skills this year. What form of recognition is the most meaningful?

September 18, 2011: International News From the Field

Submitted by Susan J Ellis
on Sun, 09/18/2011 - 00:00

Punchbowl (www.punchbowl.com) is a free site for start-to-finish party planning where hosts can design personalized online invitations, get party ideas, find party favors, and more. There is an option to upgrade to get access to premium designs, however all of features are included in the free version of the site. Not only are the services offered genuinely helpful in planning an event, the site also has resources volunteers might enjoy at any time.

One feature of the site is digital greeting cards with some really unique elements. They have look and feeling of traditional paper cards with the ease and immediacy of online correspondence. The recipient gets an animated envelope, which “opens” to reveal the card. There are hundreds of free cards to choose from and then you personalize your special greeting with accents like envelope liners, custom postage and rubber stamps – and of course with a written message from you and photos if you wish. Check out the page of digital thank you

Inspiration from the Speeches of Marlene Wilson

Submitted by Tristan Dahn
on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 00:00

There is a lot of discussion in the volunteer management world about the reasons why people chose to volunteer. Trying to pinpoint these reasons can be difficult. After all, there are as many reasons as there are volunteers! But for all the thought that goes into looking at the volunteers’ motivations, it can be easy to overlook an equally crucial factor: volunteers’ inspirations. These inspirations come in many forms; a book one has read, or an event in history, but more often than not they come in the form of a person. A volunteer manager’s job is not simply to coordinate and administrate, it is to inspire those that do our work. Marlene Wilson reminds us of that through the speeches collected in her book, Visionary Leadership in Volunteer Programs.

Visionary Leadership is a collection of speeches from Marlene’s over thirty years of writing, consulting, and presenting. Since the publication of her seminal 1976 work, The Effective Management of Volunteer Programs, which was the

Volunteer Recognition During Tough Financial Times

Submitted by Lindsay Liprando
on Fri, 03/11/2011 - 00:00

National Volunteer Week in the US and Canada (April 10-16, 2011) is fast approaching. Many organizations provide recognition during this week through banquets or gifts such as lapel pins or tote bags…but what do you do when the budget’s been slashed and you can barely afford a pizza party, let alone a banquet?

As wonderful as parties and special gifts are, there are many meaningful ways to provide low-cost (or no-cost!) recognition. One great resource for ideas is Energize’s Collective Wisdom area on volunteer recognition. Another is Bill Wittich’s book, 77 Ways to Recognize Volunteers. At only $5, this e-book can fit into any budget, and it provides tips for both formal and informal recognition that you’ll use all year long. Below, you’ll find a few of my favorite tips from this book.

If you have a creative recognition idea that you’d like to share, be sure to post it in the comments! We’ll also add it to our Collective Wisdom pages.

Excerpted from 77 Ways to Recognize Volunteers

Book Review: 365 Ideas for Recruiting, Retaining, Motivating and Rewarding Your Volunteers

Submitted by Lindsay Liprando
on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 00:00

Here’s a review of yet another new book on volunteer management – 365 Ideas for Recruiting, Retaining, Motivating and Rewarding Your Volunteers. It’s so exciting to see so much being published in our field!

I think this is a great “starter book” for new leaders of volunteers. It broadly covers many of the key topics in volunteer management, while providing a unique focus on creating a culture of success and empowering volunteers. One of the best aspects of the book is the real-life stories and ideas from volunteer leaders interspersed throughout. The book doesn’t delve very deeply into risk management issues, but this topic is expertly covered by a number of other publications, such as those by Linda Graff.

I chatted with author Sunny Fader via email to learn more about her and her book. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Copyright © 2012   Energize, Inc., 5450 Wissahickon Ave., Philadelphia PA 19144, 215-438-8342, Fax: 215-438-0434