Author Archives: jcravens

About jcravens

Jayne Cravens is an internationally-recognized trainer, researcher and consultant. Her work is focused on communications, volunteer involvement, community engagement, and management for nonprofits, NGOs, and government initiatives. She is a pioneer regarding the research, promotion and practice of virtual volunteering, including virtual teams, microvolunteering and crowdsourcing, and she is a veteran manager of various local and international initiatives. Jayne became active online in 1993, and she created one of the first web sites focused on helping to build the capacity of nonprofits to use the Internet. She has been interviewed for and quoted in articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, as well as for reports by CNN, Deutsche Well, the BBC, and various local radio stations, TV stations and blogs. Resources from her web site, coyotecommunications.com, are frequently cited in reports and articles by a variety of organizations, online and in-print. Women's empowerment and women's full access to employment and education options remains a cross-cutting theme in all of her work. Jayne received her BA in Journalism from Western Kentucky University and her Master's degree in Development Management from Open University in the U.K. A native of Kentucky, she has worked for the United Nations, lived in Germany and Afghanistan, and visited more than 30 countries, many of them by motorcycle. She is currently based near Portland, Oregon in the USA.

Trump’s War on Volunteerism

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Volunteer engagement is essential to the democracy and the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for which my country, the USA, strives – paid staff just cannot do everything that needs to be done in this regard. Some activities are best done by volunteers – by people who aren’t being paid a wage to do certain work, who are freed from fear of being fired from a job that pays for their home, food, transportation, etc. and, therefore, able to speak more freely about what they are seeing and doing at the agency that hosts them as volunteers or in the community in which they are providing service.

But volunteer engagement does not magically happen and it is also not sustainable by mere good will and passion. Effective, sustainable volunteer engagement requires knowledge and processes.

A few months ago, I finally read By the People: A History of Americans as Volunteers, a book by my long-time colleague and friend, Susan Ellis, along with Katherine Campbell. The book does a fantastic job of showing the role of volunteers in the formation of the United States of America and so much of the best parts of our way of life, from mobilizations that lead to nonprofits like Goodwill, the YWCA and the Sierra Club – efforts often lead by women – but also of showing how volunteers have played such an important role in establishing the American character, one that relishes community-driven and do-it-yourself driven efforts to address community needs and concerns. The book provides repeated examples of how volunteers seized a social issue in the USA and amplified it and addressed it, from the abolition of slavery to the health of soldiers to the civil rights movement and so many things before and after.

But this American value is under attack by the current President of the USA, and it’s overdue for everyone who cares about volunteerism to speak out.

Here are five things that have been happening regarding volunteerism in the USA, lead the Donald Trump, that every association of nonprofit organizations and every DOVIA (directors of volunteers in agencies) and other association of managers of volunteers like the Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association (NOVAA) based in Portland, Oregon, needs to be commenting on via their outreach to members, their blogs, their social media and to the press (I think consultants regarding nonprofits, particularly regarding volunteer management, need to be speaking out about these as well):

(1)

In 2017, Donald Trump appointed Carl Higbie as chief of external affairs for the federal government’s volunteer service organization, the Corporation for National Service, to direct the public image and messaging of this agency that manages millions of Americans in volunteer services like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. Before this role, as host of the radio program “Sound of Freedom,” an Internet radio station, Higbie made comments deriding black Americans, Muslims, women, LGBT people, veterans suffering from PTSD and immigrants. Higbie resigned in January 2018 after a CNN story brought these comments to light. All of these statements were publicly available and known by HIgbie’s associates, yet he was appointed anyway.

(2)

On February 12, 2018, Donald Trump sent his official Fiscal Year 2019 Budget request to Congress. This budget proposed the elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service in FY 2019, and provided funding for an “orderly shutdown.” This budget cut would have meant the elimination of AmeriCorps, VISTA, the Conservation Corps (the modern-day CCC) and Senior Corps. Later, because of pressure from Republican colleagues and efforts by Voices for National Service, a coalition of national, state and local service programs, state service commissions and individual champions, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 that provides the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) $1,063,958,000 for FY 2018, a $33.6 million increase over FY 2017 enacted levels. Here’s more about these two different budget announcements.

That a US President even entertained the idea of eliminating AmeriCorps, VISTA the Conservation Corps and Senior Corps, let alone announced it, should have gotten everyone’s attention, but the lack of outcry from DOVIAs and organizations that promote volunteerism was shocking. Make no mistake: these institutions remain under threat. I hope someone is working to scramble volunteers to preserve the research and resources CNCS has compiled on its web site before the government deletes it.

(3)

In July 2018, at a rally for his supporters, Donald Trump mocked the Points of Light volunteerism concept introduced by President George H.W. Bush.

“You know all of the rhetoric: ‘Thousands points of light.’ What the hell was that?” Trump asked his audience. “What does that mean?”

“I know one thing: ‘Make America Great Again’ we understand. ‘Putting America First’ we understand. ‘Thousand points of light?’ I never got that one. What the hell is that? Has anyone figured that out? It was put out by a Republican.”

In his inaugural speech in January 1989, President George H.W. Bush promoted the virtues of volunteerism, saying: “I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good.” In 1990, he created the Points of Light Foundation for volunteerism in 1990. The initiative has been supported by every Democrat and Republican President since, until Donald Trump.

(4)

Breaking with his predecessors, Trump skipped doing any community service activities on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2018, spending time on his golf course instead. By contrast, when President Barack Obama was in office, the First Family paid tribute to the civil-rights legend with some form of volunteer work, whether visiting a soup kitchen or helping paint a mural at a shelter. President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush also participated in volunteering activities in association with the day.

What message is being sent by the current President in refusing to do any community service – to serve a meal to someone experiencing homelessness, to help build a house via Habitat for Humanity, to participate in a beach cleanup? No, throwing paper towels at reporters covering hurricane damage does not count as volunteering.

(5)

Donald Trump and Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, as well as governors all over the USA, want to require unemployed Medicaid members to volunteer with nonprofit organizations – or, probably, Christian churches (but not other religious houses) – in order to receive those benefits. Bevin and Trump are expecting nonprofits to involve several thousand more people as volunteers – people who are being forced into the act – but without funding all of the increased costs nonprofits are going to have to create more assignments and supervise these people.

These five points, altogether, show a very disturbing message being sent out by the current President about the value of volunteerism in the USA. 

It’s overdue for nonprofits, consultants and anyone that claims to care about the spirit of volunteerism in the USA to speak out in press releases, guest columns in newspapers, letters to the editor, blogs and social media about this disdain for volunteerism coming from the current White House. The lack of any comment on these activities is why I have not joined any of the associations trying to fill the gap left by the Association for Volunteer Administration. It’s long overdue for bold statements regarding public policy that affects volunteerism and community service by these associations. I’m tired of being out here on my own.

No nonprofit will jeopardize its 501 (c) (3) status by commenting on any five of these items, by saying that these stances and activities are disappointing at least and outrageous and deplorable at worst. Any excuse that implies such is unacceptable.

That said, kudos to the Kentucky Nonprofit Network for being outspoken on some of these activities. Your voice and your courage is needed and appreciated.

Now, what about the rest of you?

Also see:

A plea to USA nonprofits for the next four years (& beyond)

Governor Bevin & Donald Trump Are Wrong on Community Service Requirements

Requirements to volunteer are getting out of hand

Kentucky politicians think volunteers are free

How Will Trump Presidency Affect Humanitarian Aid & Development?

UN Launches High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation

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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on July 12, 2018, the launch of a High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. The Panel has a total of 20 members, representing a cross-section of expertise from governments, corporations, civil society, academia and what it calls the “technical community.” Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, have been appointed by the Secretary-General as Co-Chairs. It is supported by a small Secretariat funded by donor resources, and based in New York and Geneva, headed by Amandeep Singh Gill of India and Jovan Kurbalija of Serbia.

The Panel will hold its first in-person meeting in late September 2018 and is expected to submit its final report to the Secretary-General within nine months. The Panel will undertake a wide range of public consultations, including at least two public events and an open process inviting global inputs including through online engagement activities starting in September.  Follow on Twitter @UNSGdigicoop for updates.

The Secretary-General has asked the Panel to contribute to the broader public debate on the importance of cooperative and interdisciplinary approaches to ensure a safe and inclusive digital future for all taking into account relevant human rights norms. The Panel is expected to identify policy, research and information gaps, and make proposals to strengthen international cooperation in the digital space.

“Digital technologies make a significant contribution to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals and they cut uniquely across international boundaries,” saidGuterres. “Therefore, cooperation across domains and across borders is critical to realizing the full social and economic potential of digital technologies as well as mitigating the risks that they pose and curtailing any unintended consequences.”

This is the latest in a long line of UN initiatives focused on ICT4D and Tech4Good – initiatives looking at how various computer and Internet technologies benefit, or could benefit, individuals, communities, causes and the environment. Various United Nations offices have launched initiatives to promote the use of computers, feature phones, smart phones and various networked devices in development and humanitarian activities, to promote digital literacy and equitable access to the “information society,” and to bridge the digital divide. These UN Tech4Good initiatives are listed here. The first was the Digital Opportunities Task Force (DOT Force), established in July 2000.

Research & Case Studies Regarding Virtual Volunteering

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At long last, I’ve updated this list of Research & Case Studies Regarding Virtual Volunteering, at the Virtual Volunteering Wiki.

In association with the The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, I provide this compilation of research, evaluation reports and case studies regarding online volunteering / virtual volunteering, including studies on the various different activities that are a part of online volunteering such as online activism, online civic engagement, online mentoring, microvolunteering, remote volunteers, or crowd-sourcing, etc.  Note: these are not opinion or PR pieces – these provide hard data, case studies, etc.

Also note that sometimes articles do not call the unpaid contributors “volunteers.” There are also articles on virtual teams, which often involved paid staff; these research studies are especially applicable to virtual volunteering scenarios.

How do I compile this research? By search various keywords on GoogleScholar and Academia.edu. I wish I had more time to keep the list up-to-date but, unfortunately, I can do it only once a year or so.

17 year old successfully fundraises, learns lifetime lesson

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A colleague’s question reminded me of when I got my first grant. It was a government grant. I was 17 years old and in high school – it was the late 1980s. My best friend and I formed a theater group with friends to produce a children’s play for the community. We bought the rights to the play, cast the show, rehearsed and looked into booking the high school auditorium for an evening. Then we presented a scene one night to the arts council in my hometown in Kentucky – the council acted on behalf of the city to make grants – so we could rent costumes and pay other fees.

We got the money! I was stunned! We were “just kids”! Was this government agency REALLY going to give us money, even just a few hundred dollars? Later, I learned that the council had been blown away by how organized our group of teens were – not only asking for money, but knowing exactly how much was needed and proving we were capable of pulling of the production. They were particularly impressed because, before we went into the meeting room, another arts nonprofit, one run by adults, had walked in and said, “We need money.” No documentation, no formal proposal, no budget, no list of how the money would be used – just a demand for support.

I have never forgotten that early lesson in making a proposal for support. We had no experience doing anything like this, but my co-founder – who went on to make The Blair Witch Project – thought carefully about how to sell our idea, to make it look worth funding. I thought it was audacious and doomed to failure – and I was wrong. In fact, our production was so successful that, the next summer, my co-founder and I produced another play for community children, one we co-wrote, this time in the central park.

Since then, I have never had any hesitation in writing a funding proposal or talking to any foundation, corporation or government agency about why a nonprofit I’m working with deserves support.

The name of our company, by the way, was the Henderson Audubon Repertory Company – HARC. Our first production was The Prince Who Wouldn’t Talk. There were three wizard characters in the show – I played all of them.

Also see:

Online volunteers help children & families separated by US Government / ICE at border

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An excellent example of virtual volunteering as digital activism: in this 25 June 2018 article, Wired.com notes how librarians and other humanities academics and geeks across the USA banded together to figure out where the government had sent immigrant children snatched from their parents at the border, to help their parents find them again and, eventually, reunite these families.

Excerpts from this Wired article:

Alex Gil was IMing with his colleague Manan Ahmed when they decided they had to do something about children being separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border… Gil, a father of two, knew they could be useful. As the digital scholarship librarian at Columbia University, Gil’s job is to use technology to help people find information—skills he had put to use in times of crisis before. Gil and Ahmed, a historian at Columbia, assembled a team of what Gil calls “digital ninjas” for a “crisis researchathon.” These volunteers were professors, graduate students, researchers, and fellows from across the country with varied academic focus, but they all had two things in common: an interest in the history of colonialism, empire, and borders; and the belief that classical research methods can be used not just to understand the past but to reveal the present.

You can read the latest news about virtual volunteering, including online microvlunteering, digital activism, crowdsourcing for good and more at the Virtual Volunteering Wiki – specifically, the section on news.

The Virtual Volunteering Wiki was developed in association with The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, a book available from Energize, Inc.

Cuso International’s E-Volunteering Guide

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Cuso International is a non-profit international development organization based in Canada. Cuso places and supports highly-skilled volunteers from Canada and the USA in developing countries to support a variety of projects. It is similar to VSO in the UK, the Peace Corps in the USA, and the United Nations Volunteers program, part of UNDP.

Some years ago, Cuso International found that approximately 60% of the Cuso International volunteers who returned from their in-country placements continued to support their in-country program partners, usually NGOs, through various online activities. Cuso International established E-Connect program “to formalize and enhance this activity that is occurring already and lend further work experience credibility to the distance support provided by the volunteers.” Its E-Connect program is not limited to returning volunteers: many of its online volunteering opportunities are for any skilled person that meets the experience requirements, though most roles are limited to Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents only.

Cuso International also produced the nine-page E-Connect: Cuso International’s E-Volunteering Guide. The guide offers an overview of the kinds of online volunteering Cuso International supports and a table of task-based support ideas for online volunteering. Online volunteers involved with Cuso International complete a Scope of Work document for each placement at the beginning of the assignment. This document outlines the overall project goals, planned tasks, and deliverables associated with the volunteer assignment. “Online volunteers complete different reporting documents at varying times during their e-placement to measure their project’s impact on their program partner over time as well as to monitor their own experience throughout their journey.”

In another guide for online volunteers, Cuso International makes this important observation about virtual volunteering, one that I’ve made for many years:

E-Volunteer placements may be perceived as “easier”, or not as commitment-intensive than in-country placements as you do not have to re-locate countries, follow a routine schedule, or perform the work in-person on someone else’s time. However, online placements can be just as rigorous and involved and volunteers may have to work harder on communication, assume a greater individual responsibility, and be more proactive to have a successful e-placement.

vvbooklittleThere are lots more suggestions and specifics about virtual volunteering, including task and role development, suggestions on support and supervision of online volunteers, guidelines for evaluating virtual volunteering activities, suggestions for risk management, online safety, ensuring client confidentiality and setting boundaries for relationships in virtual volunteering, and much more in The LAST Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, available both as a traditional printed book and as a digital book. There is also a great deal of information about online volunteers working directly with clients, as well as the chapter written for online volunteers themselves. The book is by myself (Jayne Cravens) and Susan Ellis.

Also see:

The Tech Volunteering Group Urgently Needed Everywhere

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When people talk about helping seniors, they usually focus on food or transportation. That’s nice and necessary, but seniors – people 65 and over – often have great need of a different kind of critical assistance: help with computers, smartphones, printers and the Internet.

There are seniors all across the USA, and probably in other countries as well, with tablets, printers and other devices that are sitting idle because, at some point, the Internet connection broke and they don’t know how to fix the connection. Or there are viruses on the computer and they can’t figure out how to get them off. They may need the text size or color contrast on their computer or smart phone adjusted. Or need software updated, especially anti-virus software. Or need to know how to put photos from their smartphone onto a laptop or a free online space like Flickr so that if anything happens with their phone, they still have their photos.

Just like everyone else, seniors are asked to fill out forms online, to print out forms, sign them, scan them and send them back to someone, to find urgently-needed medical insurance information online, book airline tickets, complete their taxes online, and on and on. If the printer stops connecting to the Internet, or the attachment got downloaded to a device but the user can’t find it, it can mean the senior misses out on much-needed government benefits or even medical care – or even loses money.

Consider this: my neighbor is very nearly homebound – she can manage grocery shopping and doctor visits, and that’s pretty much it. She needed to send in forms to an agency that handles her retirement funds. She had the paper forms from a brochure they had mailed her via traditional postal mail. She filled out the paperwork and sent it in via traditional mail, but because she can’t figure out what’s wrong with her printer, she didn’t scan the paperwork first. The company called and said a page was missing and that she needed to send it in, but she did not have copies and her laptop is broken – she accesses the Internet only via her Smartphone, and it was too hard to navigate the company web site to find the forms. Even if she could, she could not print out the material she needed, nor scan it and submit it. Luckily, I was able to help out with printing out the material, scanning her signed paperwork and sending it via email from my own home.

But I started thinking about all the elderly people out there who need to use their computers and printers and Internet access but just cannot figure out how it all works – and also have no idea who to call for help. And often, there are no funds to pay for a home visit by a computer assistance consultant, if such exists in their area at all.

An added bonus of volunteers helping with tech issues and restoring Internet access for seniors: helping with social isolation/loneliness. Remember that Meals on Wheels isn’t just about delivering food: it’s also about delivering a smile and checking in to make sure a person is okay – and if they aren’t, volunteers call family members, appropriate services, etc. Why not a tech help volunteer group doing the same?

This type of volunteer support doesn’t have to be every day. It could be one day a month: Tech Tuesday. It could be done in association with other events at a senior center or library.

These tech volunteers could:

  • Set up and help at cybercafe in a retirement home.
  • Help seniors use computer and Internet resources provided at a public library.
  • Help new users at a cybercafe or public Internet access point to connect with information and their loved ones.
  • Help seniors with issues they may have smart phones, computers, wi fi networks and printers in their home.
  • Set up a Wii gaming system at a retirement home and train the residents on how to use Wii for fitness and to maintain mental agility.
  • Review phone and Internet bills by seniors and make sure they are getting a good deal or not being charged for services they don’t use.
  • Have workshops on how to use different apps, how to avoid online scams, etc.

(This resource can help you better understand issues elders may have regarding networked devices.)

There’s no need to create a new nonprofit to do these things: any senior-serving nonprofit in a given area could recruit and engage such volunteers. For instance, Northshore Senior Center, Bothell, Washington offers a Health and Wellness Computer Learning Lab – for a $40 flat fee, seniors can get help with laptops that are “running slow, acting weird or frozen again.” El Dorado County in east-central California offers offers similar tech help services to seniors. So does the Cambridge Senior Center in Massachusetts. Here’s a long list of computer classes for seniors offered in the Berkeley area by the University of California Berkeley’s Retirement Center.

Recruiting interested volunteers would probably be no problem, particularly if there is a college or university or large employer nearby and volunteer requirements after vetting and training are just one or two days a month. A greater challenge to such a program is the screening, training, support and supervision these volunteers would need, to ensure the safety of everyone involved and to ensure the program is working, as well as the liability insurance a senior center would have to have (if they don’t have such already).

Volunteers would need to:

  • Undergo a criminal background check. A previous conviction will not necessarily preclude a person from volunteering; it would depend on the nature of the offense, the number of years since a conviction and the references the volunteer provides as to whether or not a conviction is a deal breaker. For instance, any conviction related to theft or fraud would preclude a volunteer from participating, but a 20-year-old conviction for trespassing because someone cut across railroad tracks to get to the grocery store shouldn’t be a concern. Volunteers would need to pay for this background check themselves.
  • Be interviewed before service, to ensure they have the verbal skills and demeanor for such support volunteering.
  • Be tested before service to ensure they have the skills needed, know where to find resources online to guide them in their service, etc.
  • Go through an orientation or training, where they learn how to interact with seniors, about maintaining confidentiality, about working with people with limited eyesight or hearing, limited mobility, and diminishing memory, etc.
  • Learn how to spot signs of inappropriate behavior on the part of any volunteers, clients or staff and how to report such.
  • Meet with program supervisors – which can also be volunteers – to ensure things are going well, challenges are being addressed, etc.

A way to ensure safety if volunteers are going to elders’ home is to require volunteers to visit in pairs and for elderly clients to log all visits by a volunteer on their own and to share these periodically with the agency.

If you emphasize to volunteers that the elderly are a vulnerable population and must be kept safe they will understand the bureaucracy around their volunteering, just as volunteers with Big Brother Big Sisters or other organizations do.

Quite frankly, every senior center should be exploring this idea. They should use the text here to post their own proposal to their own web site, survey the seniors in their community about the need for such a program, create a budget for what their own version of such a program would look like, and get busy attracting funding. This is a perfect crowdfunding project!

And for evaluation once you launch? There are MBA and social work Master’s programs at universities in every state – should be quite easy to find a student or even an entire class who could evaluate your program for you after six months or a year.

Also see:

tasks for a university intern at your organization

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One of the most under-utilized resources for nonprofits is university students who want (and need) a high-responsibility work experience in association with whatever degree they are studying. There are business management, marketing, human resources management, accounting and other types of students who have the time, skills and mandate to work at a nonprofit anywhere from a month to four months, often for an entire university semester, but they struggle to find placements.

Your organization should regularly brainstorm what such an intern could do at your organization. Here are some of my ideas, which skew heavily to marketing and public relations, per my own work:

  • explore, compile and index a photo and video archive for your organization
  • develop an online archive of photos, with proper keywords and descriptions, at Flickr or another online photo archive
  • explore and compile your organization’s FAQs
  • survey participants in an event or program about their experience. This is one of my very favorite assignments for an intern, because it’s something I really need done and, often, the targets of the survey are more likely to speak freely with a university student than me (they don’t want to hurt my feelings).
  • review past surveys looking for pull quotes specifically for grant applications and marketing materials
  • explore, compile and index a paper archive of publications your organization has produced over the years
  • design a brochure, newsletter, or other publication
  • review your web site for ways it could be more accessible, and implement at least some of the recommendations (replacing all “click here” and “read more” links with descriptive links instead, adding in alt tags for photos, making sure every page has a title, etc.)
  • creating a more robust section of your web site regarding volunteering, including an online version of your volunteer application, a list of what volunteers do at your organization, your volunteer policies, etc.
  • compile and index an archive of press coverage about your organization or a particular program, since your organization launched or for just a set period
  • research and compile a list of reporters at area media outlets who have written or produced stories about a particular topic and, therefore, might be interested in writing or producing a story about your organization
  • manage an online community your organization hosts, helping with technical support, answering questions (as appropriate) and bringing urgent issues to the attention of the appropriate person  (but remember that at least one regular staff member should still be reading the group regularly and responding)
  • help at an event, such as at the registration table
  • populate Twitter lists
  • transcribe/caption your YouTube videos or podcasts
  • be your official photographer/videographer at various activities and events, and then splicing together the material into a promotional video (remind them to use copyright-free music if they decide to use music)
  • create a display for your lobby or front of office about a program, an event, a particular subject your nonprofit addresses, etc.
  • research public outdoor events in your area – dates, times, places – where your nonprofit could have an information table or booth
  • researching and compiling a list of commercial kitchens in a town or neighborhood that your organization might be able to use for an event (at senior centers, churches or other communities of faith, cultural centers, etc.), and profiling each in terms of costs, parking, access to public transit, accessibility, etc.

What I won’t put an intern in charge of is social media. This is a high-profit interactive public task that should always be managed by someone permanently at your organization. It’s too important of a role to leave to a temporary staff person, whether intern or consultant.

Whether paid or unpaid, an internship at a nonprofit or government agency, in my opinion, should have these characteristics:

  • It should give the intern an opportunity coordinate, even direct, a project, one he or she can take credit for directing or coordinating.
  • It should give the intern an opportunity to suggest, perhaps even formally design, approaches and solutions.
  • It should include the intern attending staff meetings – and that includes staff meetings outside of the department where the intern will be working.

If it’s an unpaid internship, it also needs to be 20  hours or less and be as flexible as possible, since the intern will probably have a paid job to earn income some he or she can participate in this internship. That means some tasks need to be able to be done in the evenings, on weekends, and remotely from the workplace. My thoughts on the ethics of not paying interns can be found here.

Remember that, at the end of such an internship, you need to talk with the intern about what they learned, what they accomplished, and how the internship might affect their future studies or career. Otherwise, you are ignoring the learning experience that is supposed to be at the heart of an internship.

awards for plain language

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Earlier this month, the Center for Plain Language named 14 winners at the 2018 ClearMark Awards. These awards recognize effective plain language writing and information design that help people find information, understand it, and act confidently based on what they’ve learned. As with every year, the winners include a range of communication materials, from a knee surgery decision aid to a law school’s bylaws—and a newsletter I’m quite fond of, called We ❤Health Literacy.

Here is what the Center for Plain Language says about plain language:

A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.

The definition of “plain” depends on the audience. What is plain for one audience may not be plain at all for another audience.

Our measure of plain language is behavioral: Can the people who are the audience for the material quickly and easily:

  • Find what they need
  • Understand what they find
  • Act on that understanding

Plain language is more than just short words and short sentences – although those tactics are important guidelines for clear communication. When you create material in plain language, you also organize it logically for the audience. You consider how well the layout of your pages or screens works for the audience. You anticipate their questions and needs.

When people have complimented me for my communications abilities, whether writing press releases or editing a massive United Nations report or writing a technical manual on how to use an online tool, I say thank you and, if I think they might care to know it, that it’s a dedication to plain language that makes me a good communicator.

I’m on a constant quest to improve my communications skills, and learning from plain language communicators has been better than any course I have ever taken since my journalism classes back at Western Kentucky University a million years ago. I loathe jargon, text and graphics that are more about making the author or host look important or an expert than trying to help people connect with an idea, change a mind, encourage a new way of doing something, etc.

Summer Webinars on Volunteer Engagement

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My dear colleague Erin Barnhart (Effective Altruism) is organizing summer webinars on selected Fridays regarding expanding skills in volunteer engagement, some featuring my other dear colleague, Liza Dyer, and some featuring me! The webinars are in June and July and, if interest is high, we’ll keep doing them!

These webinars are intense, fun, interactive, an hour long (never more), affordable and each focused on ONE aspect of effective volunteer engagement. We designed these topics based on what we are all hearing from people working with volunteers, in any capacity, as well as our own experiences as managers of volunteers and as volunteers ourselves.

Here’s the schedule:

Friday, June 8: Social Media + Volunteer Engagement 

Friday, June 15: Rebooting Volunteer Roles and Opportunities (Reinventing Your Volunteer Program series)

Friday, June 22: Reimagining Volunteer Recruitment (Reinventing Your Volunteer Program series)

Friday, June 29: Revising Communications and Supervision (Reinventing Your Volunteer Program series)

Friday, July 6: Revisiting Support, Recognition, and Retention (Reinventing Your Volunteer Program series)

Friday, July 13: Building Stronger Staff-Volunteer Relationships

All webinars at 11 PDT (Los Angeles time) / 2 pm EDT (New York time).

Individual webinars are $25 each, or you can buy access to all four of the webinars in the Reinventing Your Volunteer Program series for $75.

Register for any individual webinar at the links above.

Questions? Email Erin Barnhart at erin@erinlbarnhart.com