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Support Volunteerism in the Philippines.


Video Advocacy for Volunteerism

Here is another great example of a short video advocating for volunteerism. It’s 30 seconds in length, has a clear message, low production cost (although getting a monkey in some locations may be a little trickier than others) and has a humorous tone. This video would be highly effective for recruitment on an organization’s website. My only critique is that as a viewer if I wanted to volunteer in the Philippines, where would I go to find opportunities. I think the video missed the opportunity to advertise a website at the end of the clip.

- Ian

National Volunteer Week, April 21-27, is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It’s about demonstrating to the nation that by working together, we have the fortitude to meet our challenges and accomplishour goals. Sponsored by Points of Light, National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 and has grown exponentially each subsequent year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled throughout the week. For more information visit www.pointsoflight.org.
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National Volunteer Week, April 21-27, is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It’s about demonstrating to the nation that by working together, we have the fortitude to meet our challenges and accomplish
our goals.

Sponsored by Points of Light, National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 and has grown exponentially each subsequent year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled throughout the week. For more information visit www.pointsoflight.org.

REVISION: National Value of Volunteer Time in 2012

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Each year, Independent Sector publishes their value of volunteer time. The estimation for 2012 was $22.14 per hour. This calculation is based on the average hourly earnings of workers on private, non-farm payroll plus fringe benefits. This information is useful in calculating an estimation of the financial impact a volunteer’s service has on an organization’s mission. This is an extremely important piece of data when considering the need for volunteer administrators to demonstrate to leadership the cost / benefit of allocating funds to support program operations. 

Remember though the shortcomings of solely basing any volunteer programs’ contributions on this information alone. More information on this can be found on my 2012 post “Never Mind the Dollar Value of Volunteers”.

To Hire…or Not to Hire Your Outstanding Volunteer?

by Ian Nevarez, Volunteer Resource Manager | Consultant

The issue of whether or not an organization should hire employees from their pool of volunteers requires several considerations. At first it seems like a no brainer. Why wouldn’t an agency jump at the opportunity to recognize and promote a loyal supporter, especially if they are well qualified? It helps ensure that institutional knowledge and talent stays in-house. There is also the added bonus that the prospective supervisor would already know the volunteer’s work-ethic and skill set, lowering the risk of hiring an unproven worker. What’s not to love!

This situation though is riddled with logistical pitfalls and ethical dilemmas. 

Read More

Cause Awareness Video: VOAWW

I love this cause awareness video. It conveys a clear need in the community and provides their agency’s solution to the challenge. But think about this video in terms of its production. It’s designed to show a few silent clips that convey powerful imagery, a moving background audio soundtrack from a MLK Jr. speech and one blank screen shot with a concise written message. This video is very effective. Great job VOAWW!

- Ian

voaww:

Volunteers of America: Why we do what we do

Martin Luther King, Jr. | Day of Service

imageDr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”

Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities.

The MLK Day of Service is a part of United We Serve, the President’s national call to service initiative. It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.

Should We Cap the Number of Hours a Volunteer May Serve Each Week?

Susan Ellis recently wrote an article for Energ!ze INC discussing the question of how many hours coordinators should allow volunteers to serve. She spent time considering many angles to this question including legal issues and concerns from employees. In the end she concluded that arbitrary limits on how many hours a volunteer is allowed to serve are unproductive. She asks, “Do we worry about too much donated money?” She did recognize there are individual circumstances that may warrant such limits. In her response to comment on her article she said, “Of course each individual case should be handled according to what is best for that case – often requiring limits on both the volunteer’s schedule and the demands of the paid staff – and I do not advocate endless volunteer service”.

LINC Volunteers agrees that arbitrary limits are not necessary, and that coordinators must consider the volunteer and the service need. LINC advocates scaling up service hour commitments over time. Often volunteers come into an organization without fully understanding the responsibilities and commitments that come along with their new position. It is best to allow them to get their feet wet and then build up their service hours. 

We believe that in situations were multiple volunteers can complete the task in shorter, periodic time periods (e.g., such as staffing an after school program) it is better to have 10 volunteers serving 4 hours a week then 1 volunteer serving 40. This is simply because if one volunteer leaves in the first scenario, the program still has 9 shifts covered with 36 hours of volunteer service committed. If the one volunteer leaves in the second scenario, the program no longer has volunteer support.

Lastly, we believe that limiting hours can mitigate the risk of a disgruntled volunteer claiming that they were wrongfully classified as a volunteer and file suit for compensation for the hours they worked. If a volunteer served 4 hours per week for 52 weeks, and the agency were found liable for backpay, they would be responsible for paying minimum wage for 208 hours. That comes to $1,560. If they served 40 hours per week at 52 weeks, that numbers of hours jumps to 2,080. That translates to $15,600, an increase of $14,040 in compensation. 

There of course is no set standard that can apply to every organization, but a good place to start is to read the attached article by Susan and begin creating standards that fit your agency needs and risk tolerance.

- Ian 

A-Z Volunteer Management: Volunteer Insurance

A post that provides you with the online tools specific to volunteer management!


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CIMA is a provider of supplemental volunteer insurance. Insurance should be a component of any risk management strategy. Insurance allows nonprofit and governmental agencies to share the risk associated with our volunteer programs. Remember we can never fully transfer the risk as insurance merely reimburses us for our loses, but it can never mend a damaged reputation.

There are several types of standard insurance that most agencies already have for employees can be expanded to also cover volunteers, these include: general liability, D&O, employment practices, and workers compensation. Supplemental volunteer insurance is a way to go beyond these to cover all bases. CIMA insurance rates are as low as:

  1. $3.75 per volunteer per year to receive Accident Insurance up to $50,000
  2. $1.72 per volunteer per year to receive Volunteer Liability Insurance up to $1,000,00
  3. $6.04 per volunteer per year to receive Excess Automobile Liability Insurance up to $500,000

For more details on CIMA volunteer insurance plans visit their website athttp://www.cimaworld.com/nonprofits/. Volunteer Administrators should be mindful of all terms, limitations and exclusions of policies.