Volunteer Program Manager, Role of

In celebration of International Volunteer Managers Day on November 5^th, Energize, Inc. has designed a digital thank-you card for giving thanks to leaders of volunteers around the world.  Please download, email, print, or save this digital card and present it to any of your friends and colleagues who help engage volunteers in making a difference in nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and our communities.

One of the enduring mysteries of the volunteer management field is how often those who lead volunteer efforts do not build a team of volunteers to help them in their important work. Do you?

As I was composing this month’s Hot Topic about asking “Why?” to put things into context and enable forward progress, I received an e-mail from Hillary Roberts of Blankie Depot (she’s one of the most consistent and savvy responders to my Hot Topic).  She wanted to tell me that Bridgestar’s nonprofit job bank has “no reference to volunteer resource management or the word volunteer anywhere within the parameters of a job search.  Even ‘volunteer coordinator’ is missing.”  She suggested that this might be a great idea for an online discussion:  “How do volunteer resource managers job hunt and why haven't job banks included our profession?”

This weekend I curled up with an unusual new light-reading book.  Crystal Hickerson’s novel, The Volunteer,  is a fictional account of hospice volunteering and one of the major characters is – yes! – the manager of volunteer resources.  In fact this VRM is a handsome, divorced guy (well, this is a fantasy) to whom the young, single heroine volunteer is quite attracted.  The feeling is mutual and, without being a spoiler, the twists and turns of the story lead to many places, including sex and love.  (This may do wonders for our image as goody two-shoes!)