| It Used to be a typical Monday.... From the desk of a Leader in Volunteer Engagement: It used to be that a typical Monday for me was, well, predictable and not all that engaging. Consider: a morning full of emails and calls to be returned - and naturally, they included plenty of people who want to volunteer but only on their terms. You've heard it, too: Many different scheduling request for no weekends, only weekends, can't do nights, need only nights, need 10 hours by tomorrow and -- my personal favorite... From the desk of a Leader in Volunteer Engagement: It used to be that a typical Monday for me was, well, predictable and not all that engaging. Consider: a morning full of emails and calls to be returned – and naturally, they included plenty of people who want to volunteer but only on their terms. You’ve heard it, too: Many different scheduling request for no weekends, only weekends, can’t do nights, need only nights, need 10 hours by tomorrow and -- my personal favorite – “can I bring my baby with me?” I could go on. The “reasons” for wanting to volunteer vary from working off parking fines, school requirements, company is making me, need to build resume and so on. My world of assisting do gooders “making a difference” has sometimes felt like a bunch of “voluntolds” who just needed to checked “volunteering” off their to-do list. Then typical Mondays and much of what I just said went away. The economy took a dive and volunteering in America changed. The Great Recession, of course, was bad. But a seed of good came out of it. I will never forget when I got my first call for someone wanting to be a volunteer because they wanted to; they needed a reason to wake up in the morning. They needed a break from endless job hunting and needed a purpose. It shot like arm of reality of the state our nation was in. That day, my role forever changed from being a scheduler of “voluntolds” to helping rebuild a hurting community that needed a purpose. As leaders in volunteer engagement, our role is so much larger then they day-to-day flood of phone calls, emails and crazy paperwork. We are a nation on the mend. As leaders we stand together and start mending this nation through volunteerism one person at a time. What changes have the recession done to your volunteer program? Published: 03/05/13 |