Articles by CharityChannel Members
CharityChannel members who have years of experience in their field may apply to join a Contributor's Panel. Once accepted to a panel by the panel's editor, the member will work with the editor to determine article topics and to prepare an article that is ready for publication. With tens of thousands of colleagues in the CharityChannel professional community, this is a key opportunity to give back to your profession by sharing your hard-won expertise and wisdom.
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Engagement 2.0: Cultivating Volunteer Relationships Online Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, May 06, 2009 (4 years 8 days ago)
We have been hearing a lot of buzz in the media about the impact of Web 2.0 on nonprofits. Many nonprofits are starting to incorporate social networking and social media into the work they do. However, we have also found that many nonprofit leaders feel overwhelmed and confused by this new trend and are having trouble imagining how it will enhance the work that they do. It can seem like a large and chaotic wilderness; it is difficult to find the path to incorporating the social web into their work.
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The Individual Volunteer Plan: Developing Top Volunteer Talent Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerSaturday, February 02, 2008 (5 years 102 days ago)
Volunteer recognition and retention are inextricably intertwined if you approach both strategically. Traditional recognition events (banquets) and rewards (pins, certificates) are not likely to retain the best and brightest talent -- people who could add tremendous value as volunteers anywhere. It is not enough to update your events or rewards, though there is often value in doing so. You must actively cultivate top performers.
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Measuring Volunteer Program Results Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, October 31, 2007 (5 years 196 days ago)
If you share our drive to strengthen non-profit organizations, you probably also share a sense that your organization’s volunteers and staff members are “doing good work.” But how do you know the differences your programs, services, and volunteers make? How do you prove it to current and potential donors and volunteers? They want to know what their time, effort, and money changes. How can you use this information to tell the whole story about the impact of volunteer engagement to your stakeholders?
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Capacity Building Part 2: Creating a Tipping Point for Change Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, July 18, 2007 (5 years 301 days ago)
In my travels around the country working with nonprofit organizations on creating a culture of volunteer engagement, where do we start? This may seem like a basic question but it comes from a deep concern about how to make sustainable change within organizations. We are all too familiar with the big initiative roll out. They are snazzy and capture our attention for the moment, but in the end are rarely sustainable.
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Capacity Building Part 1: Building Nonprofit Organizational Capacity through Civic Engagement Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, March 14, 2007 (6 years 62 days ago)
It is time to reinvent volunteer management by transforming the work that volunteers do into a civic engagement enterprise. The emphasis of volunteer engagement in the latter half of the twentieth century was on the management of volunteers. These programs were built on two important premises: 1) volunteers can and should be professionally managed, and 2) there are volunteers willing to “work” in these programs, doing the jobs that were identified as needed. This was an effective strategy for volunteer engagement when the majority of volunteers were from the “greatest generation,” volunteers who were adults during WWII. However, now that the “greatest generation” volunteers are leaving the volunteer marketplace due to declining health and death, will this kind of volunteer management work with the Boomer generation and beyond?
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Taking Stock: The Key to Improved Board Performance Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerThursday, September 21, 2006 (6 years 236 days ago)
Nonprofit boards of directors have many responsibilities, and it is easy to become so focused on critical needs and issues that other key elements of board performance receive little, sometimes no, attention. Many boards are made up of members with limited board experience. These members are not only learning about the organization, but also trying to understand just what their roles and responsibilities are to the organization they serve. A board self-assessment gives members of a board an opportunity to step back and consider what their responsibilities are and how well they are meeting these responsibilities, and helps to chart a plan for improved governance performance. Information from a thorough board assessment can help nonprofit boards by:
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Why Should Boards Care About Volunteer Engagement? Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerThursday, September 07, 2006 (6 years 250 days ago)
In the 25 years that I have worked as both a volunteer manager and organizational development consultant in nonprofit organizations, I learned that buy-in from the board of directors is essential in how volunteer programs survive and thrive. Conversely....
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Why Should Boards Care About Volunteer Engagement? Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerThursday, September 07, 2006 (6 years 250 days ago)
In the 25 years that I have worked as both a volunteer manager and organizational development consultant in nonprofit organizations, I learned that buy-in from the board of directors is essential in how volunteer programs survive and thrive. Conversely....
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Board Members Are Volunteers Too Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerThursday, August 04, 2005 (7 years 284 days ago)
Imagine volunteering for an activity where you have unlimited responsibility, no supervision, no training, little recognition, a possible life sentence and no position description.
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Board Members Are Volunteers Too Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerThursday, August 04, 2005 (7 years 284 days ago)
Imagine volunteering for an activity where you have unlimited responsibility, no supervision, no training, little recognition, a possible life sentence and no position description.
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The Results of Volunteer Program Revitalization Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, August 04, 2004 (8 years 284 days ago)
After 13 years, the Volunteer Program at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans Louisiana was showing its age. Volunteers were aging in place, with the average age being 60. Staff and volunteers felt stressed by limited financial resources, stagnation in creativity, and burdens of increased education and visitor responsibilities. It was time for change and renewal. The Director of Education and Volunteers hired Jill Friedman Fixler, a volunteer engagement consultant, to create the reengineering project in order to revitalize the Volunteer Program.
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Is It Time To Reengineer Your Volunteer Program? Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, March 03, 2004 (9 years 73 days ago)
Your recruitment is going relatively well. Your volunteer workforce is stable. You rely heavily on your volunteer leadership and wonder what you would do without them. There are new initiatives in your organization and you are part of the planning process. But when you look at what it will take to fill these volunteer assignments, it dawns on you that you will have to double your volunteer workforce, that your volunteers are aging in place and that your recruitment efforts are not as effective as they once were. You wonder what will happen in the future when current volunteer leadership retires or when you are asked to increase the volunteer workforce beyond current capability.
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Volunteer Valuation, Not Evaluation Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, March 12, 2003 (10 years 65 days ago)
The literature on volunteer management strongly recommends annual performance evaluations for volunteers. These appraisals provide documentation on performance and are used in coaching and counseling. Yet, do such performance evaluations work for volunteers, and are they motivated by such feedback?
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Strategies For An Interview Overhaul Contributed by:
Jill Friedman FixlerWednesday, January 22, 2003 (10 years 114 days ago)
Have you ever encountered the poor performer, the difficult volunteer, the underachiever or the volunteer who disappears rather than tell you what they need? If you have had your share of these performance issues, then the problem may be your interviewing technique and placement decisions.
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