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Energize February 2006 Susan J. Ellis	The Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Obstacles to Progress As advocates for volunteer engagement, we need to approach specialized counselors as equal team members, remembering that we, too, have expertise to offer.
Energize October 2012 Susan J. Ellis	Practicing What We Preach: Volunteers Helping Us, Too One of the enduring mysteries of the volunteer management field is how often those who lead volunteer efforts do not build a team of volunteers to help them in their important work.
Energize November 2010 Susan J. Ellis	When Volunteers Resist Change Always remember that volunteers bring their own perspectives and stereotypes about volunteerism to their service. Here are some ways of thinking that reflect a lack of training or understanding.
Energize May 2008 Susan J. Ellis	It's Volunteers and Money We need to see the issue of resource allocation for volunteers as integral to our work and develop the skills to "make the case" for spending money on volunteers.
Energize October 2011 Susan J. Ellis	What Leaders of Volunteers Can Do To Gain Executive Attention This month, I am turning the spotlight 180 degrees to examine how leaders of volunteers contribute to the problem of not getting enough attention from higher-ups.
Energize November 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Part-time Volunteer Management Means Equally Limited Volunteer Involvement, It is hardly news that the majority of people who lead volunteer involvement are expected to do so part-time.
Energize October 2006 Susan J. Ellis	The Middle Management Barrier Middle managers are vital to how effective the organization's volunteer engagement will be.
Energize September 2012 Susan J. Ellis	"Why?" Is More Powerful than #@#%! Throughout my years in working with clients and audiences, I have found that asking someone to explain the reason for a particular statement, action, or decision almost always puts things into context and enables forward progress. So it's surprising that we do not ask "why?" more often.
Energize March 2009 Susan J. Ellis	The Difference between Needing and Wanting Volunteers A few measures of true willingness to find the full range of resources to help meet your organization's mission and serve the most people in the best ways.
Energize September 2008 Susan J. Ellis	Replacing Volunteers with Paid Staff When and how is it legitimate to place employees into roles traditionally held by volunteers? This is an emerging trend that deserves attention.
Energize June 2012 Susan J. Ellis	Why Do We Love Volunteer Satisfaction Surveys? How did we arrive at this particular method of assessing success with volunteers? Do such surveys reveal anything meaningful about the value of volunteer contributions?
Energize December 2009 Susan J. Ellis	When the Ax Falls: Budget Cutting and Volunteers Can an organization turn to volunteers to fill gaps when budgets are cut and employees laid off?
Energize April 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Revisiting the Seven Deadly Sins of Directing Volunteers In the early 1980s, Energize produced a mini-poster with the dramatic title of "The Seven Deadly Sins of Directing Volunteers," which proved extremely popular. We are reappraising them for 2013.
Energize June 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Stop Volunteers from Being Their Own Worst Enemies Maybe we need to educate volunteers about who they are and how they fit into our organizations. If we wrongly assume that volunteers "get it," we open ourselves to potential problems of various sorts.
Energize April 2012 Susan J. Ellis	Common Sense and Volunteer Involvement I am very interested in what you have to share as your examples of lack of common sense when it comes to decisions affecting volunteers.
Energize October 2007 Susan J. Ellis	The Moral Obligation of Volunteer Recruitment Promises Recruiting volunteers to contribute their time and effort to your organization puts you in the middle of an implied promise.
Energize September 2006 Susan J. Ellis	What’s in a Name…or a Title? What's the best title for the person who is designated as the leader of volunteers?
Energize November 2005 Susan J. Ellis	Strength in Numbers: Engaging Volunteers as Partners in Program Development There is a specific form of volunteer involvement that has great potential as a tool for internal advocacy: activating a visible team of volunteer representatives.
Energize December 2006 Susan J. Ellis	Together We Stand: Volunteers and Volunteer Resource Managers Connected Frontline volunteers and boardroom volunteers are more alike than different, and the principles of effective volunteer administration apply to each group.
Energize August 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Identifying Who Is and Is Not a "Volunteer" I suspect that every reader has engaged in this sort of discussion/debate/argument more than once.
Energize August 2011 Susan J. Ellis	I'll Never Understand Why Executives Still Don't Understand Here is the most succinct set of arguments for not ignoring volunteer involvement.
Energize January 2012 Susan J. Ellis	What Would the Perfect Volunteer Involving Organization Look Like? Here is what I think an organization would look like if it practiced everything we preach about creative, welcoming, and effective volunteer management, led by a skilled director of volunteer involvement.
Energize Susan J. Ellis	Should We Cap the Number of Hours a Volunteer May Serve Each Week? New volunteers may start off gung-ho and promise many hours before they know what they will experience. So I like the practice of setting an initial limit of maximum time until the situation evolves and looks to be successful.
AFP eWire July 31, 2006	Online Volunteering: Factors for Success A new study examines the potential benefits of cultivating online volunteers and the necessary infrastructure and capacity organizations need to effectively employ these volunteers.
Energize July 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Breaking through the Glass Ceiling for Volunteers Fully capable people may already be serving in your existing volunteer corps and ready to be promoted to a higher level of volunteering for the organization (only if they want to).
Energize December 2014 Susan J. Ellis	What Did You and Volunteers Do Well this Year? 2014 is rapidly coming to an end. Before you consider making any resolutions for the new year, use December as an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months.
Energize February 2012 Susan J. Ellis	Volunteering is Inherently Political What would happen if we intentionally appealed to the political motivations of prospective volunteers? Instead of recruiting mainly by expressing the needs of our organizations and clients, we might put our work into a broader community perspective.
Energize March 2010 Susan J. Ellis	AmeriCorps and Senior Corps Targeting Volunteer Management The most popular capacity building option among both charities and congregations with social service outreach activities is the addition of a one-year, full-time volunteer with a living stipend (like an AmeriCorps member), with responsibility for volunteer recruitment and management.
Energize November 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Pulling the Rug Out from Under Volunteer Involvement: Sudden Staff Changes How are major changes communicated to volunteers in your organization? Is there a plan in place for continuity should you leave your job, whether by choice or not?
Energize May 2005 Susan J. Ellis	Why Be Boring When You Can Celebrate in So Many Ways? It's your chance to enlighten, amaze, surprise, and educate everyone. Remember that only the volunteer program manager sees the full cumulative effect of volunteer involvement for the past year. Paid staff, volunteers, and administrators only see their small part of the larger picture.
Energize July 2006 Susan J. Ellis	"I Don't Have Time" It's still possible to engage people in more intensive volunteer service, if we pay attention to their needs.
AFP eWire March 1, 2004	Many Nonprofits Using Volunteers Ineffectively A joint study by the UPS Foundation, the Corporation for National and Community Service and the USA Freedom Corps has revealed that 80 percent of nonprofits rely on volunteers for critical activities, but admit they do not have the resources or knowledge to manage them as they might like.
Energize April 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Celebrate Collective Accomplishments, Not Volunteered Time Volunteer recognition is a powerful tool for leaders of volunteers that remains largely underutilized.
Energize April 2010 Susan J. Ellis	"You Get What You Pay For" Society holds contradictory attitudes about money that affect volunteering in many ways. It's worth exploring some of the most common notions.
Energize November 2004 Susan J. Ellis	Interns: The "Acceptable" Volunteers? All too often interns are elevated above mere volunteers unjustifiably and/or the "internship program" is separated administratively from the volunteer resources office, to the detriment of both groups.
Energize June 2007 Susan J. Ellis	Technology Acceleration: Grab Hold and Hang On We are never going back to pre-Web days. What does this all mean to the volunteer world right now? Well, it may be frenetic and strange, but the explosion of new technologies is an enormous opportunity. Make the most of it!
Energize June 2010 Susan J. Ellis	Reimagining Service: Is Corporate HR Management What We See? If you see volunteer management as just HR management, then you will love Reimagining Service, which promotes the idea of applying private sector human resources practices to nonprofit organizations.
Energize May 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Strategic Volunteer Management: Expanding Your Organization's Brain The problem in volunteer management is not that our organizations are without strategies of various sorts; it's that volunteers are not naturally integrated into those strategies even as an operational tactic.
Energize November 2013 Susan J. Ellis	Education through Celebration on International Volunteer Managers Day It is important to let professional volunteer managers know that the spirit of volunteerism is enhanced and enabled by them -- and it is important to thank them.
Energize January 2014 Susan J. Ellis	Virtual Volunteering Revisited Some people will volunteer solely online, others will combine a virtual component with an onsite placement, and others may do their service totally hands on.
Energize December 2012 Susan J. Ellis	End-of-Year Reports Can Illuminate Volunteer Achievements The invisibility of volunteers in many agency reports is matched only by the presentation of generally useless information about volunteers in other reports.
Energize September 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Addressing Volunteerism Issues in the Blogosphere The following blogs are listed randomly with no particular hierarchy, but they are all written by authors who are willing -- in fact, determined -- to address philosophy, ethics, and the "big questions" facing the volunteer field.
Energize Susan J. Ellis	Volunteers and the Quest for Innovation Are we inventing bigger and better Band-Aids for the symptoms rather than eliminating the root causes of seemingly intractable problems?
Energize December 2011 Susan J. Ellis	My Personal "State of the World's Volunteering" Report On December 5th, International Volunteer Day, United Nations Volunteers is set to issue its State of the World's Volunteering Report, officially bringing to a close the 2011 International Year of Volunteers + 10.
Energize July 2011 Susan J. Ellis	Needed: A Multi-level Approach to Credentialing Volunteer Management Volunteer management has been an "emerging profession" ever since I've been in the field -- which is now 40 years.
Energize September 2013 Susan J. Ellis	What Volunteer Resources Managers Can Teach Human Resources Managers Volunteer resources managers are constantly being told what we can learn from professionals in personnel or human resources. Maybe it's time we tell HR what they can learn from us.
Energize April 2008 Susan Ellis	Volunteering is Bigger than the Nonprofit Sector The practice of volunteering for government agencies is contrasted with non-profit volunteering programs and a case is made for volunteers in government.
AFP eWire May 30, 2006	New Website Registers Volunteers for Future Disasters The Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network have created a new website to help prepare for future disasters by linking charities with volunteers.
Energize January 2007 Susan J. Ellis	Should Volunteer Program Managers Be Volunteers, Too? There's never been a better time to volunteer for a volunteer management network - and that's true in a range of countries around the world, many of whom are nurturing embryo associations right now.
Energize May 2006 Susan J. Ellis	Online Spying Can Improve Your Volunteer Management Skills Use the Internet to be a quiet explorer, observing carefully what other non-profit organizations are doing. Educate yourself about approaches and models that you might follow, adapt, or even avoid.