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Volunteer Management Hot Topics

All our Hot Topics are organized chronologically below. They have also been cross-referenced by subject in our Resource Library. It's never too late to join in the discussion by responding at the bottom of each Hot Topic's page!

2009

Media Blitz vs. Media Noise: What Are We Trying to Accomplish? - November - Audio
Taking the Client's Perspective in Designing Volunteer Roles - October - Audio
Making Ongoing Volunteering Valued and Visible - September - Audio
The Separation of Service-learning from Volunteering...and Does It Matter? - August - Audio
The Drive towards “Highly-skilled” and “Pro Bono” Volunteering - July - Audio
Days, Hours and Minutes of Service – Enough Is Enough - June - Audio
The Role of Volunteer Resources Managers in the Serve America Act - May - Audio
Confidentiality and Other Objections to Volunteers - April - Audio
The Difference between Needing and Wanting Volunteers - March - Audio
"A New Era of Responsibility": An Open Letter to President Obama - February - Audio
What's Ahead for 2009? - January - Audio

2008

From Organizing Charity to Building Community - December - Audio
How Will the Economic Crisis Affect Volunteering? - November - Audio
The Confusing Talk about "Service" - October - Audio
Replacing Volunteers with Paid Staff - September - Audio
The Yin and Yang of China’s Olympic Volunteers - August - Audio
Volunteers Should Not Be Second-Class Taxpayers - July - Audio
Is the Rising Cost of Gas a Crisis or an Opportunity for Volunteering? - June - Audio
It’s Volunteers and Money - May - Audio
Volunteering Is Bigger than the Nonprofit Sector - April - Audio
California Governor "Pumps Up" Volunteering- March - Audio
The Power of Difference - February - Audio
So, What Do You Do? - January - Audio

2007

Helper Triage: Volunteer Management in Emergencies - December - Audio
Boards of Directors: Governing at a Distance? - November - Audio
The Moral Obligation of Volunteer Recruitment Promises - October - Audio
Volunteering We See but Don't Recognize - September - Audio
The Big Merger: Many Unanswered Questions - August - Audio
The More We’re Different, the More We’re the Same - July - Audio
Technology Acceleration: Grab Hold and Hang On - June - Audio
Make New Friends But Keep the Old... - May - Audio
I'll help with that, but don’t ask me to lead it! - April
Marking a Special Birthday - March
Voluntourism – Pros, Cons, and Possibilities - February
Should Volunteer Program Managers Be Volunteers, Too? - January

2006

Together We Stand: Volunteers and Volunteer Resource Managers Connected - December
Encouraging Entrepreneurial Volunteering - November
The Middle Management Barrier - October
What’s in a Name…or a Title? - September
Start Early: Teaching Students about Volunteering, Not Simply Doing It - August
"I Don't Have Time" - July
Wouldn’t It Be Nice to Really Know…. June
Online Spying Can Improve Your Volunteer Management Skills - May
Why a New Association Should Serve the USA - April
A Call to Action on Behalf of Our Profession - March
The Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Obstacles to Progress - February
The Implications of History - January

2005

Charity Burnout? How to Cope with the Impact of Mother Nature in 2005 - December
Strength in Numbers: Engaging Volunteers as Partners in Program Development - November
Volunteers Just Want to Have Fun - October
The Silver Lining of Disaster - September
Still Tilting at Windmills - August
Save a Life, Win a Car! When Do Incentives to Volunteer Cross the Line? - July
Mobile Volunteers – ‘Tis the Season - June
Why Be Boring When You Can Celebrate in So Many Ways? - May
We Can Model True Collaboration - April
Recruitment Maxims - March
Why Can’t We Make Progress on Public Perceptions about Volunteering? - February
Keeping an Eye on Things in the Year Ahead - January

2004

Chicken or Egg: Why Are Our Professional Associations Weak? - December
Interns: The "Acceptable" Volunteers? - November
Watching, Helping and Learning from China - October
Workplace Volunteerism: Have We Thought this Through? - September
Applied Futurism: Putting Trends to Work Today - August
Should We Ask Volunteers to Give Money on Top of Time? - July

2003

The Need for Institutional Memory - December
Educating Other Professions about Volunteers: Starting at the Source - November
Universal Standards vs. Your Own Situation - October
Beyond Common Sense: Volunteer Management as a Specialty -September
One Step Further: Volunteer Services and Agency-wide Education - August
Turning a Gift into a Powerful Tool: The Internet’s Impact on the Volunteer Field - July
Raising Money through Volunteer Labor - June
What We See…or Don’t: Volunteers in Television, Films, and Novels - May
War and Volunteers: History Repeats Itself - Apr
Marketing Savvy – Our Field’s Blind Spot - Mar
Making an Impact When You Spend Money - Feb
The Hot Topic Is the Hot Topic - Jan

2002

United Way is Not the Way for Volunteer Centers - Dec
A Utopian View of Volunteerism Professional Organizations - Nov
The Great Divide: Leaders Who Are Paid and Leaders Who Are Volunteers - Oct
A Medal for Volunteer Service - How to Measure Success? - Sept
The Missing Link: Where are Volunteers at the National Level? - Aug
What's Hot, What's Not - July
Reacting to the Critics - June
Spring Cleaning: Take a Fresh Look at Your Volunteer Program - May
Don't Call Me a 'Senior'! - Apr
The World According to Volunteer Experience - Mar
Mixed Messages from Government: Lessons from Minnesota - Feb
Moving on from 2001 - Jan

2001

2000

1999

1998

What's the Mystery about Motivation? - Dec
The Giving of Thanks - Nov
The Limits of the "V" Word - Oct
Reinventing Conferences - Sept
Let's Commit to International Exchange - July/Aug
Turbulence at the State Level - June
Reaching Out to International Visitors - May
The Presidents' Summit One Year Later - April
Some Nagging Questions... - Mar
Give Volunteers a Voice - Feb
Let's All Resolve... - Jan

1997

Hot Topics from
Susan J. Ellis

The hot topics are written by Susan J. Ellis, a volunteerism expert and President of Energize. Through her travels and interactions throughout the world, she keeps current on the latest issues in volunteer management field. Susan's Bio

Volunteerism News

Susan also reports on currents news in the field throughout the year. Keep current on new developments by visiting the news page regularly. (You can access the latest news from the left column of the home page or in the news archive page linked above.)

Australasian Hot Topics

Find Australasian Hot Topics on our partner site, OzVPM