Volunteer Nation

Do you celebrate your successes, large and small?  Most people don’t. We tend to minimize or negate our wins and quickly move on to the next thing.  It can be very easy to only focus on problems, challenges, and goals, but sharing wins with your team reminds both staff and volunteers of all the reasons your organization exists, and all the good your team is accomplishing together every day in big...

A lot has changed in the last two years, and there are likely a lot of reasons why volunteers have not yet returned to your organization. Questions of safety, fear about getting back out there after so much time has passed, doubts about skill and the continued ability to contribute…it can feel like a lot to unpack and attempt to resolve.   However, there are some simple actions you can take to eng...

Online volunteering has some unique challenges, especially in the areas of community and retention. However, those opportunities can provide great satisfaction and purpose if you approach them the right way. Tobi takes a look at current trends for online volunteer opportunities and gives you 10 tips to make your job posts more effective, productive, and attractive to potential recruits.    Full sh...

Originally used by businesses to improve customer service, journey mapping can also be applied to improving the volunteer experience of onboarding, training, and serving within your organization.     Journey mapping is a way of becoming a more purposeful architect of the volunteer experience. The process starts by identifying the key steps in your process and when you are most likely to lose volun...

As effective as email is for communication, it lacks the immediacy and relational feel that instant messaging can give. Email inboxes have a way of accumulating inbound messages, and important information can sometimes get lost in the digital clutter. In this week’s episode, Tobi shares how her team at VolunteerPro has been implementing tools like Slack for a couple of years, why they are an impro...

After 30+ years working with nonprofit organizations and more than a decade of nonprofit consulting, Tobi Johnson knows a thing or two about the sector.    It hasn’t always been an easy road, and in this week’s podcast, Tobi shares her wisdom and some hard-won lessons from along the way with these top 12 nonprofit leadership tips.    Full show notes: 017-My Top 12 Nonprofit Leadership Tips Learned...

In this week’s podcast, Tobi chats with Joan Garry, founder of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab, on the topic of nonprofit boards.   This unique subset of service-minded leaders is often overlooked when discussing volunteers. Tobi and Joan take a closer look at the specific needs of this group and share some action steps to diversify and strategically fill your own nonprofit board with the right peopl...

Take a moment to think about your current online volunteer postings. Do those postings share the inspiring mission of your organization? Do they include photos of happy volunteers in action, and share why the posted opportunity is needed and important?   Or do your posts simply list the shift, the day, and the duties, hoping that somebody out there just really wants to come work for free? When you...

We are definitely at a crossroads in the volunteer management sector. The last two years have taught us that some of our established ways of thinking, recruiting, and serving as volunteers are no longer sustainable for the future growth and health of volunteerism. Faced with this realization, and recognizing the opportunity such a transitional moment presented to change course, five organizations...

The pros of volunteer word-of-mouth are pretty obvious. It’s free, and your volunteers are doing the work of spreading the word and recruiting their friends to your cause.   But…have you considered how it might affect the diversity of your team?    People tend to spend time with others of similar interests and at the same stage in life. So volunteers naturally recruit more volunteers that are like...

This week Tobi is getting real with some stories from her early days of volunteer training and some of the things she wishes she’d known back then. From the days of forgetting an extra lightbulb for the overhead projector to now, Tobi’s sharing her nine biggest early mistakes so you don’t have to make them, too.     From forgetting to focus volunteer training on...you know, the volunteers, to auto...

While diversity, equity, and inclusion are familiar terms in weekly meetings and corporate goal setting, the reality is much more complex. It takes intention and effort to do them well, and it is incredibly easy to get them wrong.   Well-meaning initiatives for inclusive volunteering can backfire when organizations are not truly prepared to welcome differences, receive contributions from new voice...

Service learning can be one of those hard-to-define concepts in volunteer management, and it definitely has its own set of challenges and benefits. In this episode, Tobi welcomes guest Brian Halderman for a deep dive into what service learning is and how it can benefit your organization.  Tobi and Brian discuss the history of service learning along with the changing face (and names) of this field...

Do your coworkers understand and celebrate the value of volunteers within your organization? If the recurring questions we receive here at VolunteerPro are any indication, the answer may be “not yet.”  We often see comments in the Volunteer Insiders (our free Facebook group) and in our VolunteerPro Premium Membership community that are tinged with a little bit of frustration.  Leaders of volunteer...

It is a common occurrence in sports: an athlete who seems to constantly struggle on one team gets traded and suddenly becomes a high-scoring star player. People are surprised by the perceived turnaround of the athlete but in reality, it is evidence of the importance in finding the right team to maximize your knowledge, skill, and talent. That’s what this week’s episode is all about. More specifica...

This week we’re talking about “community capital,” the incredible unique value that every volunteer brings to the organizations in which they choose to serve.    It’s easy to see volunteers as simply an extra pair of helping hands, but they are so much more! Each volunteer carries within them a lifetime of experience, education, personal and socioeconomic background, and relationships. These all c...

This week we’re talking about how to show appreciation for your team with a 4-Part Power Thank You letter for volunteers. When we talk about volunteer appreciation, so often we think of banquets, branded gifts, or fancy plaques. However, appreciation doesn’t have to cost a dime, and we shouldn’t wait until an annual banquet to celebrate our volunteers and their service to our programs. You can sho...

Think of your nonprofit website like a party and imagine yourself as a newcomer.  Is the party you just entered so chaotic, confusing, and disorganized that you don’t know where to go or what to do?   Or is it so quiet and empty that the only thing you want to do is leave?  Or perhaps, is it a place where you feel welcomed, know exactly what to do, and were introduced to others?  This is how your...

In this episode, we’re ditching the spreadsheets and talking about how the right volunteer management software can actually expand your organization’s reach, add value, and maybe even attract new volunteers.  This week’s guest is Tony Goodrow of Better Impact. With years of experience and a wealth of knowledge, Tony shares nine good reasons to replace your manual scheduling and data tracking with...

Welcome back to Volunteer Nation!  This week we’re talking about how to recruit volunteers to your organization by build a following first .   In this episode, you'll learn specific volunteer recruitment tips on how to grow and engage with your community. You’ll hear some surprising stats on today’s social media engagement rates (they’re probably not what you thought!) that can help you use y...

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about the scarcity mindset, how it blocks your potential, and how it can affect your volunteer program.   At nonprofits, a scarcity mindset can pervade how budgets, resources, and staffing are approached. It blocks an organization’s ability to grow volunteer involvement and scale its impact. It can affect our self-care and can result in burnout and turnover.  ...

Welcome to Volunteer Nation!  I’m your host Tobi Johnson and after over 25 years working in nonprofits, public sector agencies, and grassroots campaigns there’s one thing I’ve learned – you can’t go it alone. If you truly want to bring about BIG change for the better, you need a strong, dedicated community in your corner. But it isn’t always easy, is it?  That’s why I created this podcast. Each we...