A free resource for nonprofit organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based agencies
by Jayne Cravens
  via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

Effective Volunteer Engagement:
Support for Volunteers/Management of Volunteers & Safety Considerations

• frustrate, even anger, potential and current volunteers.
• create negative public relations.
• become ineffective.

• The Value of Volunteers
  Involving volunteers because of a belief that they are cheaper than paying staff is an old-fashioned idea that's time should long-be-gone. It's an idea that makes those who are unemployed outraged, that justifies labor union objections to volunteer engagement, and enrages your very hard-working employees who don't make anywhere near the hourly rate organization's like the Independent Sector claim is the hourly value of a volunteer's time. How to talk about the value of volunteers? This resource gives you a long, long list of ideas.
  

• Resources re: labor laws and volunteering.

• Supervising online volunteers in court-ordered settings
  There are many ways to a nonprofit can supervise online volunteers to ensure the work is getting done, that the quality of the work is up-to-snuff, and that the volunteer is getting the support he or she needs, and these methods can be used to supervise online volunteers in court-ordered settings.
  

• Using video to support online volunteers/remote volunteers.
  This is a very short video on the basics of using video to work with volunteers. 
  

• Virtual Volunteering: Now, It's Essential (& still oh-so-personal). 36:17 (this was prepared for the Points of Light Foundation 2020 Conference in June). This is a How to / Introduction / 101 course in how and why to involve online volunteers.
  

• Diagnosing the causes of volunteer recruitment problems
  Before you hire a consultant, even me, to see what the problem is regarding why you don't have enough volunteers, or the kinds of volunteers you want most, you might be able to diagnosis the problem yourself - this blog is meant to help you do that. The only catch is that you MUST be honest as you answer the questions listed here. Also, answering these questions is rarely a one-person exercise; you may think you know the answer, but you need to ask other staff members, including volunteers themselves, what their answers are to these assessment questions. This is one of the most popular blogs I've ever written.

• Using Video to Support Online Volunteers/Remote Volunteers.
  Video is a great way to further support volunteers, and your computer probably already has all of the tools you need to make a video, or to engage in a live video conversation with others. Video isn't something to use only with online volunteers or remote volunteers (those providing onsite service at a different location than yours). It's also a tool you can use with new and current volunteers. In addition to an organization producing videos for volunteers, it can also work the other way around: volunteers can produce videos for organizations. This resource provides information on your options, and links to my own short video on the subject.

• Online Discussion Groups & Chat Channels for Volunteers
  How an online group via GoogleGroups, Slack, Basecamp, an email-based client, LinkedIn, What's App, Telegram, Signal or maybe even Facebook can be used to communicate with volunteers and to allow volunteers to communicate with each other. Includes examples and links to more information.

• Building a team culture among remote workers
  Coming together face-to-face, in the same room, does not automatically create team cohesion and a strong sense of team. Yet, many people think having online meetings automatically means it’s difficult for staff to have a strong sense of team. When thinking about creating a sense of team online, try to get away from that aforementioned belief. People feel a part of a team if they feel heard and included, whether online or off. And they will attend meetings and pay attention to those meetings if they feel the meeting is relevant to their work - on or offline. This resource offers ideas for live events, asynchronous events & activities that can build a sense of team among remote workers.
  

• Virtual volunteering: it's personal!
  A 6:02 video on YouTube by me about how engaging volunteers, whether online or remotely, is as personal as YOU make it.
  

• Using Whats App or Similar Direct Messaging Apps in Volunteer Support & Engagement
  Includes examples, how to get started, and evaluating if this is something you should explore.

• Using the Internet and smartphone apps to work with volunteers
  This workshop is a workshop I did years ago. It's less than an hour. It's FREE online, viewable at any time via YouTube.

• Recognizing Online Volunteers & Using the Internet to Honor ALL Volunteers
  Recognition helps volunteers stay committed to your organization, and gets the attention of potential volunteers -- and donors -- as well. Organizations need to fully recognize the efforts of remote, online volunteers, as well as those onsite, and not differentiate the value of these two forms of service. Organizations should also incorporate use of the Internet to recognize the efforts of ALL volunteers, both online and onsite. With the Internet, the Cloud, Cyberspace, whatever you want to call it, it's never been easier to show volunteers -- and the world -- that volunteers are a key part of your organization's successes. This resource provides a long list of suggestions for both honoring online volunteers and using the Internet to recognize ALL volunteers that contribute to your organization.

• Managing IT volunteers
  An online workshop I did for TechSoup. It's less than an hour. This video is FREE online, viewable at any time via YouTube.

• Make All Volunteering as Accessible as Possible
  Tips for creating an accommodating and welcoming environment for ALL volunteers, including those with disabilities.

• Online community and volunteering management
  An onsite workshop I did for TechSoup, about how the people in a online community can be (and should be) considered volunteers - people contributing time and energy to the organizations. supporting online community participants as volunteers

• Applying volunteer management principles to online community management.
  Here are the slides I used for the presentation.

• Keeping volunteers safe & keeping everyone safe with volunteers
  My very favorite resources - books and web sites - to keep volunteers safe and to keep everyone safe that works with volunteers.

• Safety in virtual volunteering
  It's so wonderful to see virtual volunteering oh-so-mainstream. But I do have a concern: many of these virtual volunteering initiatives don't seem to have thought about online safety. Too many, in my opinion, are focused on creating a really complex, feature-rich web site for volunteers to use to sign up and contribute their time and skills, but not thinking about risk management: protecting clients and volunteers. I also have this very short video about safety in engaging online volunteers.

• Considerations for ensuring safety in online service delivery by volunteers, where volunteers are interacting with members of the client and the public. Not all of these suggestions are appropriate for every volunteer engagement scheme. These suggestions are written specifically for NON tech staff - instead, for the people that manage client programs and manage volunteers, and the people that manage IT staff, so they can come to this issue from a human support, human management issue FIRST, rather than a tech issue.

• Creating a Speak-up Culture in the Workplace
  An essential component of both running a quality volunteer engagement program and ensuring safety is creating an environment where volunteers, employees, consultants and clients all feel encourged to speak out if they see anything that might be inappropriate.

• Why don't they tell? Would they at your org?
  An examination of a very high-profile sex-abuse case in a program where children were involved, and how lack of a speak-up culture discouraged people from speaking out.

• Your organization is NOT immune to sexual harassment
  A warning to nonprofits, NGOs, charities, schools, communities of faith and any organization that thinks it is somehow immune to sexual harassment.
• Lessons from onlinevolunteering.org
  Some key learnings from directing the United Nations Online Volunteering service from February 2001 to February 2005, including support materials for those using the service to host online volunteers.

• Keeping Volunteer Information Up-to-Date
  Keeping track of volunteer information is a challenge. At minimum, an organization has to keep track of volunteers' up-to-date email address and phone number. Organizations also need volunteers to report what they are doing as volunteers and how many hours they are contributing -- each day, each week or each month. Having this information for volunteers is vital to the sustainability of volunteer involvement. This page offers suggestions on how to keep volunteer information up-to-date, with the goal of getting the information your organization needs with minimal effort on your part.

• Using Whats App or Similar Direct Messaging Apps in Volunteer Support & Engagement
  Includes examples, how to get started, and evaluating if this is something you should explore.

• Survey of software tools used to track and manage volunteer information
  With Rob Jackson. Published online July 11, 2012. In March and April 2012, Rob and I drafted a survey, in English, regarding software used to manage volunteer information. The purpose of the survey was to gather some basic data that might help organizations that involve volunteers to make better-informed decisions when choosing software, and to help software designers to understand the needs of those organizations. We also wanted to get a sense of what organizations were thinking about volunteer management software. We chose wording in our messaging that we hoped would reach those who might not identify as volunteer managers, but who do recruit and/or support volunteers, such as fundraising staff, reception staff, office managers, and volunteers themselves. Here is a blog that summarizes the report.

• Volunteer Management Software
  Some of the most frequently-asked questions to me are regarding volunteer management software: what's available, how different packages compare with each other, the cost of each, the features of each, and on and on. I do not have the resources to create a comparison of the different volunteer management software. I've created this page to offer criteria to help organizations choose volunteer management software, and to help someone who might want to create a comparison of such software, as well as to offer a listing of volunteer management software I know about (but with no comment or description of the software -- just links to the producing company's web sites).

• Human rights, the digital divide & web accessibility
  4:40

• Essential/Favorite Resources Regarding Volunteer Management and Volunteerism
  There is a plethora of resources promoting volunteerism, and at long last, the number of volunteer management resources has grown significantly. But which are "the best"? This is a list of my favorite resources relating to volunteerism and volunteer management -- books and online resources from trusted, established people and organizations that I believe should be required reading of anyone who recruits and supports volunteers.
  

• Using Instant Messaging to Work With Volunteers: Benefits and Suggestions
  The advantages of using Instant Messaging (IM) with volunteers, based on feedback from various online discussion groups, from the staff experiences of the United Nations Information Technology Service, and various other resources. Here is the archived version from November 2002, and here is the updated version.

• Handheld computer technologies in community service/volunteering/advocacy
  Examples of volunteers/citizens/grass roots advocates using handheld computer / personal digital assistants (PDAs) or phone devices as part of community service / volunteering / advocacy, or examples that could be applied to volunteer settings. Also included is a section on Advocacy, and a listing of Online Software Directories for Handhelds.

• Volunteers: Essential to ICT projects in developing countries
  Why the UNITeS initiative believed that volunteers are an essential and fundamental element to the success of information and communications technology (ICT) efforts in underdeveloped communities.

• Assisting Others As An Expert Volunteer
  This article was part of the online Knowledge Base hosted by UNITeS. It is an example of the kinds of resources that were a part of the UNITeS Knowledge Base to help volunteers applying ICT in the developing world, and to help organizations who wanted to involve such volunteers.

• UNITeS Contributions to the UNESCO Multimedia Training Kit
  The UNV staff managing the UNITeS initiative was invited to prepare a module on volunteers in telecentres and community media organizations for the UNESCO Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK). I lead the creation of the module, which includes a slide show presentation, exercises, case studies and trainer notes.

• The Virtual Volunteering Project, which, when I directed it from December 1996 to January 2001, encouraged and assisted agencies in the development and success of volunteer opportunities that can be completed via home or work computers and the Internet, and helped agencies use the Internet to manage all volunteers and connect with volunteer management resources. This included the most comprehensive information available, on or offline, regarding online mentoring programs and best practices.

• Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program
  Jayne designed this program, designed the web site, and recruited, screened and trained the online volunteers who participated in this program to mentor two classes at Sanchez Elementary School in Austin, Texas, as part of the Virtual Volunteering Project. This web site, sans mentor and student information and interactive functionality, is provided to help others, particularly schools, to develop their own online mentoring programs.

• AmeriCorps for Community Engagement and Education Program (ACEE)
  VISTA School Volunteer Management Handbook
  A resource guide from 1998 for VISTAs in charge of managing school-based volunteers for Sanchez Elementary School in Austin, Texas through the ACEE program, and a good model for managing school-based volunteers anywhere.

• Community Engagement and Volunteerism Resources for Texas K-12 Schools
  Part of the Texas Education Network (TENET), this web portal is for school administrators, teachers, parent/family volunteers, and others who coordinate volunteer and community partnership activities between schools and other organizations, including businesses. It has become a nationally-recognized web site. To view the site, cut and paste http://www.serviceleader.org/old/schools/ into archive.org.

• Part of the Texas Education Network (TENET), this web portal is for school administrators, teachers, parent/family volunteers, and others who coordinate volunteer and community partnership activities between schools and other organizations, including businesses. It has become a nationally-recognized web site. To view the site, cut and paste http://www.serviceleader.org/old/schools/ into archive.org.

Also before recruitment, you also have to have foundations in place (no excuses) and you have to create roles and tasks for volunteers.

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