Tag Archives: event

Discuss: using social media with volunteers

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

International Fellowship in USA For People from Select Developing Countries-Deadline June 30

2 Replies

The 2012 Ford Motor Company International Fellowship of the 92nd Street Y is currently accepting applications from community leaders who are citizens and residents of Albania, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Haiti, India, Israel, Mongolia, Peru, Tunisia and Zambia. 20-24 emerging leaders from these regions will be selected.

Applicants must be 21 years of age or older, though younger applicants should note that candidates should have several years of leadership experience. Candidates are sought from a variety of backgrounds with the aim of creating a group of Fellows who will work well together and offer a diversity of views and experiences. Candidates should be emerging leaders addressing issues whose resolution can have a significant positive impact on their communities, on their countries, and—collectively—on the world.

Fellowship Application Deadline: June 30, 2011. For more information or to apply.

The program is designed to enhance the efforts of emerging leaders in communities throughout the world. The program includes a three week residency in New York City (May 30-June 20, 2012) and ongoing communication before and after the residency via telephone and email. Fellows are expected to complete reading, writing and group assignments prior to their residency to maximize the value of their fellowship experience and after their residency to evaluate its impact and success. Fellows participate in an intensive immersion experience designed to address the challenges of community building in today’s world. In partnership with the Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, fellows participate in classes and participatory workshops in nonprofit management, leadership, and strategic thinking.

The academic curriculum is complemented by visits to model nonprofits throughout New York City and meetings with academic, business, and government leaders. The experience is enhanced by the Fellows’ residency at the 92nd Street Y, an institution founded in 1874 that has grown to serve over 300,000 people annually. At once a school, a lecture hall, a performance space, and a community organization, the 92nd Street Y is a nonprofit organization unique in the world and vital to the cultural life of New York City. The 92nd Street Y is world’s first global Jewish community and cultural center.

CTK Foundation’s 2011 Heart & Soul Grant Award Program (contest)

1 Reply

I don’t normally post about funding contests, as I have some issues with them (oh-so-much work on the part of the nonprofit or NGO, for no return at all for most submissions), but by special request, and because of the creative nature of this particular contest that could easily be leveraged within the organization’s staff, volunteers, participants and other supporters, regardless of whether they win the contest or not, I’m making an exception:

The CTK Foundation’s 2011 Heart and Soul Grant Award Program is using a poetry contest to award more than $25,000 in grants to nonprofits, charities and voluntary organizations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. And the good news is that grants can be used to fund whatever a nonprofit wants: technology (which the foundation specializes in), volunteer management training, or another critical function that many donors are often reluctant to fund.

To enter this contest for funds, a nonprofit, charity or voluntary organization submits an original four-to-eight-line poem that reflects its mission and work. Poems may be written by staff, clients and/or volunteers and must be entirely original. The winning poem, to be selected by an international panel of independent artists and producers, will be the inspiration for a song by Bill Dillon, a recording artist who was exonerated through the work of Innocence Project of Florida.

Applicants must be registered as a nonprofit, charity, NGO or volunteer organization in the USA, Canada or the UK, have been registered as such for at least one full calendar year, and provide proof of this upon request. Applicant organizations must have an operating board of non-related directors, a list of whom must be available upon request. The board must meet on a regular basis and document the proceedings of each meeting. Applicant organizations must be able to provide, upon request, financial statements for the last year of operations. An applying organization must also agree, if it wins, to allow CTK Foundation Fund to publish their grant submission lyrics, along with information about the organization and its work in any media format elected by CTK Foundation Fund.

Applications will be accepted through March 28th, 2011. Winners will be notified by April 10th and celebrated at the Heart and Soul Grant Award Gala on April 14th in Austin, Texas. More information here.

Why not open this contest up to all of your organization’s staff, volunteers, participants and other supporters? Ask them to create a poem per this Foundation’s guidelines, and pick one to submit for this contest. Even if your organization doesn’t win, post all of the submissions about your organization to your own web site or blog.

Advanced Volunteer Management Retreat in New Zealand May 25-27, 2011

3 Replies

The 2011 Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management will be held in New Zealand for the first time, in partnership with Volunteering New Zealand. The retreat takes place May 25 to 27, 2011 in Wellington.

If you are working with volunteers in New Zealand, there’s no question that you should look into attending this conference. People working with volunteers in Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, or anywhere else in the region should also consider attending this conference. But note that this conference is not open to just anyone: this is an advanced retreat, limited to just 52 participants who have a minimum two year of ‘hands on’ experience managing volunteer programs.

Accepted attendees must agree to attend the retreat in its entirety. If you wish to attend, you fill out an online application via the web site, which will be vetted by an independent panel of managers of volunteers. In most cases, a decision will be made about a person’s attendance within 72 hours of submitting an application. The application asks questions about what you want to learn at the retreat, what specific experiences, skills or resources you have to offer others at the retreat, what would you like to gain from the retreat, etc.

I really cannot emphasize enough the advanced nature of this retreat:

This isn’t how do I recruit volunteers. This is how have you created a diverse volunteer corps? How do you reach new groups as volunteers? Here’s what I’ve tried myself.

This isn’t I don’t have enough time to use the Internet to support and involve volunteers and am tired of people telling me I should do it. This is here is what I am already doing to use the Internet to support and involve volunteers. What are you doing? What works? What doesn’t?

This isn’t what should be on my volunteer application? This is what might I be doing that’s turning great volunteers away from my organization? Do I need to change the way that I work?

This isn’t how do I say thank you to volunteers? This is how do I move volunteers into critical roles that involve decision-making at my organization?

This isn’t give me the safe, easy, quick way to deal with this volunteer management issue. This is push my boundaries, give me new ways of thinking, challenge me, scare me, inspire me!

There are discussions. There are disagreements. Tears may be shed. But there is also a lot of laughter, a lot of ah ha! moments, lots of encouragement. If you are ready for the next level of volunteer engagement, this retreat is for you.

There is nothing like this retreat in the USA, unfortunately. Which is particularly sad since I believe that organizations in the USA are doing the most innovative, exciting things regarding the involvement of volunteers in the world. But there is no conference here in the USA that captures and shares those innovative experiences; our volunteerism conferences are the usual, with corporations telling nonprofits how they should operate, celebrities talking about all the great volunteering they do, large, traditional organizations talking about experiences and resources that aren’t at all possible for small nonprofits, and everyone having the same old same old discussions. Conflict is avoided, debates discouraged.

I was honored to be the keynote speaker at this advanced retreat last year in Australia, and to then travel across the country presenting intensive workshops on trends in volunteer management, diversifying volunteer ranks, and, ofcourse, using the Internet to support and involve volunteers. Here are my blogs from that experience, which reflect the level of discussions that happen at the retreat “down under”:

Volunteer online & make web sites accessible!

Jayne Cravens / CoyoteBroad Blog

Commentary, resources & discussion re: nonprofits/ngos, communications, community engagement, volunteerism, effective humanitarian aid & development, ethics, women's empowerment & management ethics. Posts 1st & 3rd Mondays of each month..