Wired Causes

You are browsing the archives of 2011 November.

Continuing our series on how nonprofit organizations can tap into the human capital potential, I thought it might be helpful to pull together some resources that will help nonprofits avoid common pitfalls and follow best practices when working with volunteers.

Whether you are a nonprofit just starting to use human capital or have already established internal structures to manage your volunteers, engaging them in meaningful and productive ways can be both rewarding and challenging. 

Volunteers can bring a wide range of skills and experiences to build your capacity and boost your mission-driven work.  We hope these resources will help make the work of managing volunteers a little easier and keep your volunteers happy to boot!

To get you started, we have a lot of tips and resources to share from members of the TechSoup and Net2 community.

How and where to get volunteers:

• On the Net2 Blog - We asked the Net2 community to share best practices for finding passionate volunteers and how nonprofits can use the Internet to make finding volunteers more efficient and effective. We got a lot more. Check out this amazing list of Net2 community contributed tools, tactics, and best practices. 

Webinars - Resources to help manage and retain volunteers:

• Social Media For Volunteer Managing and More -  In this webinar, Jayne Cravens from Coyote Communications and Erin Barnhart from Effective Altruism discuss tips and strategies for effectively using social media to find, communicate with, and build community among volunteers.
• Managing IT Volunteers - Jayne Cravens helps you understand how to stay in control of tech volunteering tasks so that the finished assignment meets your organization’s needs and the tech volunteer has a satisfying experience.

The HandsOn Network

An arm of the Points of Light Institute, The HandsOn Network is the largest volunteer network in the nation and includes more than 250 HandsOn Action Centers in 16 countries and a powerful network of more than 70,000 corporate, faith, and nonprofit organizations. 

We did a quick search in their Tools and Resources Library and found some great resources:

• Starting A Volunteering Program in an Organization (PDF) - This document reviews some important steps in the creation of a volunteer program.
• Take Root: Volunteer Management Guide (PDF) -  A comprehensive guide for that includes volunteer management, recruitment, retention, recognition strategies and much more.
• Volunteers as Leaders (PDF) - A step-by-step guide for non-profits to develop volunteer leaders. From developing a volunteer leader framework to recruiting, equipping and supporting leaders.
• eVOLve: technical assistance for mobilizing volunteers - Sign up for this monthly electronic technical assistance brief, where you will find tips and tools to help you inspire, equip, and mobilize volunteers in your community. Check out the eVOLve archives.
• Economic Impact Of Volunteers Calculator - Ever try putting a value on the time volunteers give to an organization? This tool can help you. It estimates the appropriate wage rate for volunteer time based on what the person does, the value of specific tasks according to market conditions as reported by the US Department of Labor.

Here are the full search results of HandsOn resources for non-profits.

Risk Management and Legal Issues

As nonprofits consider using volunteers they are often concerned about risk management and legal issues. I am no legal expert, but the Nonprofit Risk Management Center says a little prevention can go a long way. 

Here is a select list of useful (free) articles:

• Insurance for Volunteer Programs
• Keeping Volunteers Safe From Harm
• Tempting but Dangerous: Paying Volunteers ‘A Little Something’
• Myths of Volunteer Program Management: Part 1
• Myths of Volunteer Program Management: Part 2
• Myths of Volunteer Program Management: Part 3

Visit the center’s Volunteer Risk Management page or a full list of their paid resources and services.

We realize there are lot of resources on volunteer management out there. It’s almost overwhelming! We have to tried to round up the ones we thought would be most useful for nonprofits as they consider how to best manage human capital. 

If we missed anything or you’d like to share something else with the Net2 community, we encourage you to leave us a comment. 

Didn’t have time to make a video? No worries. How about using our problem formulation questionnaire to help you turn an idea for a social project into reality? 

Have you ever heard of Random Hacks of Kindness — a global community of innovators building practical open technology to make the world a better place.? The events under the brand of Random Hacks of Kindness will be happening around the globe early December. There will be a first RHoK Warsaw (Poland) edition taking place this weekend as a part of Social Hacking in Poland initiative (Polish language only). We already have a few Polish-specific projects in the line, but it would be great to add an International dimension to the hackathon.  We will pass our 10 favourite from your submissions to our friends at RHoK — your idea can be one of these! 

Doing good can be easy — share your experience and inspire others by presenting your valuable point of view. Submissions to Net2 All Stars Invitational close on Dec 4.

Giving USA has released a research spotlight that reflects on how profound demographic shifts are going to alter the fundraising landscape in the coming decades.  According to the report, it is estimated that 82 percent of the total US population increase from 2005 to 2050 will result from 67 million new immigrants and their 50 million U.S.-born children and grandchildren. 

The report recommends several important approaches to fundraising in our increasingly diverse nation:

1. Provide access to volunteering opportunities. Volunteering is a primary way in which immigrants become engaged in philanthropy. Make sure that your organization provides volunteer opportunities that are welcoming to immigrants, and reach out to immigrants so they know that these opportunities exist and feel welcome to participate.

2. Identify philanthropic projects that appeal to immigrants’ interests. Work with your immigrant supporters to create win-win opportunities that help them achieve their philanthropic vision through your organization’s programs.

3. Use social networks to build trust and engagement.  Use the importance of relationships and extended family and social groups to create a critical mass among your immigrant supporters.

4. Invite immigrants into your organization’s leadership. Show how your organization values immigrant constituencies by including them in decision-making groups, such as board committees, task forces, and staff.

5. Ask them to share their philanthropic traditions.  Engage in conversations about philanthropy, giving, and volunteering so that native-born and immigrant supporters can both benefit from a richer understanding
of each other’s heritage of philanthropy.

6. Invite them to give. Let immigrants know they are valued members of your organization by inviting them to give just as you would any other supporter.

The art of fundraising will always be about relationships.  That won’t change.  But more than ever, we have to understand those with whom we will share those relationships - because that will change!

for which the Nonprofiteer can take no credit.  Rather, thanks to her friend, Baltimore tax lawyer Stuart Levine, for laying out so clearly the problem with low-profit limited-liability companies, the latest fad in efforts to do well by doing good.  Stuart’s argument appears in response to, among other things, a recent New York Times report [...]

Note from Beth:      As I’m sprinting to towards the deadline of my next book on Measurement and Networked Nonprofits, co-authoring with the goddess of measurement, KD Paine,  I’m grateful to have some terrific guest posts like this one from Simon Mainwaring How non-profits become experts at Social Branding, Guest Post by Simon Mainwaring, Founder/Author WE [...]

Over the past few months, I’ve been blogging the results of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication study on cause engagement, which has been released in segments.  The full study is now available and featured below. 

Here are some of the most interesting findings:

1. Social media and ethnicity:  Hispanics (39%) and African Americans (30%) say they prefer to engage with and learn about causes through social media, compared to 24% of Caucasians.

2. Women are the biggest believers in championing causes:  Eight in ten American women strongly believe in the power of individuals to make a difference by supporting causes, while their male counterparts are more likely to view supporting causes as a fad.  In addition, American women are more likely than men to believe that supporting causes creates a sense of purpose and meaning in life, makes them feel good about themselves and makes them feel like part of a community.

3. Slacktivism is underrated:  Just because people are doing something easy on social media doesn’t mean that’s all they are doing. In fact, so-called slacktivists participate in more than twice as many activities as people who don’t engage in slacktivism. Plus, the activities that slacktivists choose to undertake have a higher potential to influence others.

Enjoy!

The study is based on an online survey conducted by TNS Global among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 Americans ages 18 and over. The survey was fielded November 30 to December 22, 2010, and has a margin of error of +/-2.2% at the 95% confidence level.

Do you remember www.realstories.com — a visual art and storytelling HIV prevention campaign? Are you burning to know what happened to Sleep in for the homeless project? Would you be interested in finding out what happened to the idea of the Haiti Human Rights Observatory & Helpline Initiative? Us too.

Last week we launched the NetSquared All Stars Invitational, an online event for NetSquared Alumni — people and organizations who previously submitted projects to the NetSquared Project Gallery or any NetSquared Challenge. For one more week we are looking for the videos telling a story about what happened with your brilliant initiatives. Don’t keep it to yourself! Use your camera and enter the Invitational.

Note from Beth:   Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.   As I’m sprinting to towards the deadline of my next book on Measurement and Networked Nonprofits, co-authoring with the goddess of measurement, KD Paine,  I’m grateful to have some terrific guest posts like this one. The Networked Nonprofit Response to the Concerted Attack on [...]