Monthly Archives: April 2011

Six cool things for Friday

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Some cool things for Friday:

  1. Did you miss the live webinar yesterday on Using Social Media to Support, Involve and Recruit Volunteers? Then enjoy this recording of the event (slides and audio). And continue the questions and discussion at the TechSoup Online Discussion Forum re: Volunteers and Technology.
  2. Japan crisis showcases social media’s muscle – not the usual social-media-can-do-anything article; it stresses the human expertise that is needed to make it worthwhile in a crisis.
  3. Press Release: Virtual Volunteering – Google Earth’s 3D Geo-Modeling Community Lends a Helping Hand. Great example of online volunteering / virtual volunteering!
  4. News video and article: Upgrade Your Life: Amazing free software – so rare that the mainstream media talks about the excellent, robust tech tools out there that are free and/or open source and will provide people, nonprofits and governments the resources they need for word processing, spread sheets, accounting, database management, presentations and more. Since January 2008, I have used FOSS software for my office software needs (word-processing, slide show/presentation development, spreadsheets, simple databases), as well as for email, for browsing the web, for creating graphics, for altering graphics and photos, for design of various printed publications, to develop material for and manage my web sites, and on and on. I blog about this frequently.
  5. “Nonprofits and grant makers alike should begin to factor the perpetual cost of upkeep into the amount they set to raise before they break ground. Consider it insurance on your purchase.” Really enjoyed this article or blog or whatever about the importance of thinking about facility upkeep in nonprofit budgeting. Save it and include it in your budget proposal for donors who might sniff about funding non-program/administrative costs.
  6. Three years in, the effort known as the Global Network Initiative, a code of conduct intended to protect online free speech and privacy in restrictive countries, has failed to attract any corporate members beyond the original three — Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Who hasn’t signed? Facebook and Twitter, among others. Here’s more in the New York Times.

What you say vs. what you do re: volunteers

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You say volunteers are more than just free labor at your organization… but your annual report talks only about how much money volunteers saved (by showing how many hours they contributed and what this would have been in paid staff time otherwise).

You say you want committed volunteers that exude quality… but then you don’t respond to their emails or phone calls promptly, if at all.

You say you don’t have time to do this or that… but balk at the idea of allowing volunteers to take on any of those tasks.

You say you want steadfast, fully-invested volunteers… but you respond to every idea they have with, “At this time, we can’t address that/allow you to do that” or “We’re forming a committee to look into that – it’s employee only, however. Check back with me in six months.”

You say you want to engage more professionals as volunteers… but you don’t/won’t create volunteering opportunities in which those professionals might be interested.

You say you want your volunteers to represent the diversity of your community, or to reach under-represented groups… but you are unwilling to change your recruitment methods to reach different groups. “But this is how we’ve always done it!” or “I don’t have time to input every volunteering assignment into VolunteerMatch.”

You say you want volunteers to participate in decision-making… but you don’t invite volunteers to planning meetings, and don’t offer possible strategies up for discussion at volunteer meetings or on your online community.

You acknowledge that the best way to keep volunteers long-term is to create lots of short-term, “quick win” opportunities that keep them hooked… but you don’t create these short-term assignments regularly to attract new volunteers.

You want everyone at your organization to involve and value volunteers… but, as volunteer manager, you don’t push to work with staff regularly to help them create volunteer opportunities that support their work, or, as executive director, you don’t ask staff members to include their involvement of volunteers in their annual performance plan.

You say you want to be as valued at your organization the fundraising manager… but you don’t regularly, precisely show to all employees and the board how volunteers are as essential to the organization as financial donors.

You say you are a modern organization… but you still think of volunteers in terms of real volunteers and online volunteers.

One organization inspired this blog in particular, but to be honest, I’ve seen all of the above at dozens and dozens of organizations. You could substitute the word member for volunteer and it would read the same.

Now you be honest. Have I described your organization? Is what you say about volunteers at your organization matched by what you DO?

Innovation, Security Haiti, & the Humanitarian Response Index

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Four resources regarding work in aid, development, and humanitarian response that caught my attention recently:

(1)

As of January 2011, at least 45 evaluations are known to have been done of various aspects of the international response to the Haiti earthquake. ALNAP’s latest report provides a mapping and analysis of these evaluations, to help support the ongoing efforts by agencies working in Haiti. ALNAP has worked with the OECD-DAC Evaluation Network, the UN Evaluation Group to produce this paper and this blog represents some of the key findings that may be of interest to ALNAP members.

(2)

ALNAP recently facilitatied a workshop on Supporting Innovation in Humanitarian Organisations. A blog about the workshop is here, along with an excellent comment that says, among other things: “I have seen a number of organisations not engaging their field staff so as to findout if their innovative ideas will apply on the ground.” What are your thoughts about how humanitarian organizations do or don’t encourage/cultivate innovation? Join the discussion. 

(3)

OCHA’s has released its latest report: To Stay and Deliver: Good practice for humanitarians in complex security environments

Former U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland comments in the preface of the report, “The last 10 years represent one of the worst decades ever in terms of attacks on humanitarian workers and lack of humanitarian access. When people in need are deprived of assistance because relief workers are attacked or blocked, we are not faced with a political or diplomatic ‘problem’ – we are faced with an outrage and a criminal act under international and national laws.”

The report also includes a chapter on the opinions of national staff, working for International NGOs, which often remains a forgotten aspect of this debate. This article from Reuters Alertnet discusses some of the issues raised by this chapter.

(4)

The 2010 Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) has been released by DARA, “an independent organization committed to improving the quality and effectiveness of aid for vulnerable populations suffering from conflict, disasters and climate change.” The HRI aims to identify and promote good donor practice and contribute to greater transparency, accountability and impact in humanitarian action.

Among other things, the HRI 2010 report raises concerns about the politicisation of aid, where donor governments are undermining neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian assistance in order to meet political, economic or security interests. In Somalia, for example, some humanitarian workers were worried that anti-terrorism legislation of some donors like the US would mean they would be criminally liable for any aid delivered in areas controlled by the Al-Shabaab group. “Humanitarian workers – including representatives from donors own aid agencies – are being placed in an awkward position, where other parts of government are pushing them to implement programmes that go against good practices and quality standards. In some crises this is causing significant stress for people trying to do their best in already difficult situations,” sayssays Philip Tamminga, Head of the HRI initiative.

Read the People in Aid commentary about the latest HRI here.

Download the HRI report here.

Microvolunteer Idea: Review a Nonprofit

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There is something you can do right now, right this moment, to help increase the awareness about a nonprofit organization you have volunteered with, or been a part of: write a review of such at Yelp.com.

Links from other web sites increase awareness about a nonprofit, and can increase traffic to the nonprofits web site. This higher online profile may lead to more volunteers and more financial support. In addition, nonprofits can use such comments from clients, volunteers, donors and others in funding proposals, internal reports, memos, even brochures and web sites. Your comments may help justify a grant or donation, the continuation of a program, or a request for additional staff.

Here’s an example: a review I wrote for Knowbility in Austin, Texas.

Be honest, and note in your review your relationship with the organization (if you were a volunteer, say so!). After you submit your review, post about it to your social networking sites: your Facebook profile, your MySpace profile, your Twitter feed, your blog, etc. Heck, use old-fashioned email and let people in your address book know about your review as well!

If you have a negative comment about a nonprofit, be fair and share it with the nonprofit first, directly, and give them a chance to respond. Don’t use Yelp or any other review web site to write a negative comment you haven’t already discussed with a nonprofit, and think very carefully about what point you want to make in posting a negative comment.

And nonprofits, if you are worried about people posting criticism of your organization, learn how to handle online criticism – your response can lead to an even better reputation!

Free Manuals on Preparation for Disaster Recovery

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In light of recent events in Japan, someone posted information about this publication on one of the many online groups I’m a part of: a free disaster recovery manual, How to Help Your Community Recover from Disaster: A Manual for Planning and Action available free for download.

[ July 2017 update: the aforementioned links to this resource have been corrected. It was originally published in 2010 at http://www.scra27.org/resources/disasterresources/scra_manual_final5810pdf ]

Chapters cover the steps required to understand the potential effects of disaster, organize the community, assess its needs, make an action plan, choose a strategy or strategies for intervention, reach out to various constituencies, track results, and share lessons learned. This is a USA-focused manual, but it’s easily adapted to a variety of settings.

The 104-page text, published in 2010, is grounded in psychological principles closely linked to disaster recovery. It was created by the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) Task Force on Disaster, Community Readiness, and Recovery Department of Psychology, “a diverse group of researchers, evaluators, and community practitioners.”

One of the sections I like best is Part VI on “Types of Communities and Outreach to Diverse Groups,” which talks about non-obvious communities-within-communities – those who may not be reached by the usual community communication channels. Too often, this type of manual never discusses hard-to-reach individuals and communities within a neighborhood, town or city, like immigrants, people with low-literacy, religious minorities, people who have isolated themselves from neighbors and even the government, and others. Some of these groups are more visible than others, and in thinking about how to address community needs after a disaster, you have to know who makes up your “community.” Unlike many other how-to manuals regarding community work, this manual bluntly discusses the necessity to assess and discuss levels of mistrust among various individuals and groups, to recognize and understand differing cultural beliefs and practices, the necessity to “build authentic human relationships” with a variety of community representatives, and disaster planning for people with disabilities.

(I once asked a fellow aid worker in Afghanistan how our agency was working to reach various under-represented groups in our rural organizing and capacity-building governance work, including women. He replied, “It’s not our job to try to reach those groups. We’re only obligated to work with official leadership. To do otherwise is to not be culturally-respectful.” That comment still burns me.)

A criticism of the document: it mentions spontaneous volunteers, but doesn’t talk about what to do with them or how to respond to them. In disaster situations, the last thing you want are unaffiliated, untrained volunteers handling chainsaws, interacting with or transporting children or other vulnerable people affected by disaster, and engaging in other activities that could, at least, lead to misunderstandings and missteps and, at worst, lead to harm. See this blog on dealing with spontaneous online volunteers, who often overwhelm nonprofit and government offices after a disaster.

People in Aid also has a fantastic primer for organizations who want to develop their own emergency resources for sudden on-set disaster response.

[ July 2017 update: People in Aid is no more! And its wonderful disaster management wiki is gone as well. Luckily, you can still find it by cutting and pasting this URL into archive.org: http://www.peopleinaid.org/interactive/Wikis/MPE/Home ]

Ofcourse, the best preparation for disaster is getting people into disaster-response training programs now, such as through the American Red Cross.

Also see Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters – my own resource which has been rather popular recently (this is a monetized page on my site, so I’ll be donating the money I’ve raised beyond my monthly goal for April to a Japan-focused charity).

Setting criteria for quality volunteering abroad programs

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The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) and Planeterra, a non-profit foundation dedicated to sustainable community development and environmental conservation through travel, are collaborating to develop a set of criteria that will help international voluntourism providers plan and manage their programs in a responsible and sustainable manner.

The research project will incorporate a global survey program to be undertaken in May 2011 and stakeholder meeting, which will be held Sept. 19-21 during the upcoming Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference organized by TIES in Hilton Head Island, SC. TIES will produce the final draft for expert committee review and publication in early 2012.

If your organization places volunteers in developing countries, you should contact the project organizers immediately and get involved in this initiative. If you have ever served in such a program, you should contact this initiative as well. Let your voice be heard!

Also see:

  • A listing of the more-than-30 member organizations of the International Volunteers Program Association (IVPA) that is a good place to find reputable volunteer-for-a-fee programs.
  • For people in the United Kingdom, there’s the Year Out Group, an association of gap-year-abroad organizations that meet certain standards in order to be a member. The Year Out Group does not however organize or arrange year out programs, but it’s a good place to find reputable programs.
  • Reality Check: Volunteering Abroad: a detailed resource for those who dream of volunteering abroad. Provides a great deal of detail on what you need to do to make a great candidate for the PeaceCorps, VSO, UN Volunteers, etc.
  • The realities of voluntourism: use with caution: Voluntourism is really awful and really good. I’m totally against it and I support it. Confused yet? This opinion piece is my attempt to explain why voluntourism sometimes works and why, very often, it’s dreadful.
  • Vetting Organizations in Other Countries, for those who are negotiating directly with an organization in another country.
  • Hosting International Volunteers: More and more local organizations in developing countries are turning to local expertise, rather than international volunteers, to support their efforts. However, the need for international volunteers remains, and will for many, many years to come. This resource provides tips for local organization in a developing countries interested in gaining to international volunteers.
  • transire benefaciendo: “to travel along while doing good.” Advice for those wanting to make their travel more than sight-seeing and shopping.

Groups for “young professionals” exclude me

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I love networking. I love meeting people, hearing about the work of others, telling others about my work, finding ways to work together, learning things I didn’t know, sharing my knowledge, being challenged, challenging others, and on and on. Especially if red wine or beer is involved.

But, apparently, a lot of professional networking groups do not want me: I’m too old.

Consider a group here in Portland, Oregon, for example: it’s for young and emerging nonprofit and public sector professionals in the area. Or another group in Detroit, described as mobilizing young professionals to get the energy up at nonprofits and to bring new ideas to fundraising and outreach.

I find this again and again all over the USA: groups focused on technology, on nonprofits, on some aspect of nonprofit work (the environment, the arts, children, etc.) that say, explicitly, “this group is for young professionals who….” Because, you know, what the heck does someone over 40 know about the Internet? Or innovation? Apparently, we don’t try new things, we’re not risk takers, we’re not daring, blah blah blah.

The descriptions on the web sites and online communities of these organizations make it clear I am not wanted. It’s not just that I’m hurt to be left out of such groups and excluded from the networking and learning I so enjoy; I also think it’s sad that these groups isolate themselves from knowledge, skills and a diversity of viewpoints that group members might find particularly valuable, regardless of age. These “young professional” groups also contribute to the stereotype that people over 60, or over 50, or over 40 — take your pick on which group you want to stereotype — don’t have fresh ideas, aren’t tech savvy, aren’t innovative, do not like to learn and have nothing to offer.

I hear a lot about how traditional volunteering leaves out people under 35. I’ve been hearing about that since I was 30, actually. And I do see it in many organizations, hence my work over the last 15 years trying to get organizations that engage volunteers to create a diversity of volunteering opportunities that will appeal to a diversity of volunteers. I get that some groups have left out “young professionals,” and that these groups are trying to address that. But the solution is not to create an exclusionary group where no one but “young” professionals are welcomed.

Is your web site for everyone, or just the elite?

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For three days the last week of March, I was in a place that had very slow Internet access: a senior citizens home. No, I’m not a senior citizen yet, but my grandmother is, and I was staying with her while visiting family back in Kentucky.

I was profoundly disappointed to find so many, many of your web sites that were not accessible with a slow Internet connection.

People don’t visit web sites for flashy graphics or award-winning designs. They visit web sites – particularly those for nonprofits, NGOs, schools, state offices and other mission-based organizations — to:

  • get directions to your organization
  • find out where to park once they are there
  • see what hours you are open
  • read more about your upcoming programs, events or activities
  • find out how your organization involves volunteers and if volunteering is something that might interest them
  • see how your organization spends donations
  • see how your organization might help them, a family member, a neighbor, a friend, etc.
  • see if you have any jobs available
  • read about your accomplishments
  • and to retrieve various other information.

Do you want everyone to be able to access this information, or just those with the best Internet access?

Not everyone has broadband. Not everyone has a fast Internet connection. If your web site isn’t as accessible as it can possibly be, you are leaving out potential donors, clients, volunteers and others. And maybe that’s okay with you – maybe you are focused only on the elites of the Internet.

But if you do want to be a resource for everyone, then it’s high time you find out just how quickly your web site loads on a slow Internet connection. Ask your volunteers for help in finding people to test your site. To not do so is to say to many, many people, “We don’t want you as a donor, a client or a volunteer.” Do you really want to do that?

Discuss: using social media with volunteers

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On Thursday, April 14 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time USA (2 p.m. East Coast Time), TechSoup is hosting a free webinar to discuss ways to use social media to find, communicate with and build community among volunteers. Happening during National Volunteer Appreciation Week in the USA, its for nonprofits, schools, libraries, and any mission-based organizations are interested in exploring how social media and other technologies might be used to strengthen their current volunteer program.

The presentation will be by Erin Barnhart and me, Jayne Cravens.

We’ll focus on examples of different ways different organizations have used Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms to support current volunteers and recruit new volunteers. We’ll talk about ways to introduce or expand an organization’s use of such tools. And we’ll also review some cautions about using these tools with volunteers.

We want this to be a highly practical workshop, and we want the learning to continue long after the webinar is over. So reply to this message on the TechSoup community forum with your questions, concerns and examples regarding using social media tools to find, communication with and build community among volunteers!

And please publicize this workshop and this discussion thread to your own networks! And please RSVP and attend on April 14!

Accounting software event followup

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TechSoup hosted a terrific online event regarding accounting software on March 30 – the free event allowed users to text a panel of accounting software experts and get answers to some burning questions. More than 100 people attended online!

The discussions continue here – this resource also links to all the various TechSoup resources for accounting software.

If you have burning questions about accounting software for your nonprofit, NGO or other mission-based not-for-profit organization — or any other kind of tech issue for such — ask it over on the TechSoup discussion forum. TechSoup’s community forum is free and fabulous!

This online event was organized entirely online, with staff and volunteers all remote from each other, for the most part. Behind the scenes, it was an excellent example of how to pull off a terrific, low-cost online event, and I was thrilled to be a part of helping to organize it!

Greetings from several thousand miles over the USA, on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Portland. One final note: GO BIG BLUE!! (I’ve been in Kentucky for the last two days – I’m infused with team spirit for Saturday).