Posted 02Jan24
A reader responsed to a response posted January 2nd. We have posted
it with the original response.
Posted 02Jan16
Submitted by Nicole Stedman, Graduate Student, University of Florida,
Florida, United States
As a Doctoral student at the University of Florida studying Volunteer
Leadership Development, I would agree that there are so many issues
at hand for Volunteer Leaders. Unfortunately, much of the academic
research on Volunteerism, either in the form of Dissertations or Master's
Research, is not published and not easily found. I think that a forum
for graduate students to submit writings on Volunteerism would be
a great way to harness this "lost" information.
Response from Susan:
You are so right! In fact, several of us are talking about developing
a repository of graduate theses on volunteerism subjects, ideally
to be housed physically in a central archive at a university plus
with an online component. We will keep everyone posted this.
02Jan15
Submitted by Donna Schumacher, Director of Volunteers, Virtua Health
System, New Jersey, USA
I can only whole heartedly agree. A good example of our own national
group not working together was the unfortunate need to cancel the
conference due to events of September 11th. As a result, those of
us who planned to become certified were left out in the cold because
of the national organization not giving authority to local groups
to proctor and offer this test. Even the National Emergency Medical
Technician group allow state (and local) organizations to administer
a test that certifies people to save lives!!! If we do not respect
ourselves and see ALL as professional, how can we ever expect our
own organizations to respect us or our volunteers?
02Jan10
Submitted by Katrina Purcell, Volunteer Co-ordinator Lanarkshire Primary
Care NHS Trust, Lanarkshire, Scotland
One thing that is always comforting is that the issues surrounding
volunteers managers are the same world-wide. We all spend our time
feeling guilty about actually being precious about spending time on
our own proffessional development and organisation when we could be
devoting our time to our volunteers or volunteer programmes. 2001
was the year, for me personally when I realised that I was part of
a group and not just an individual practioner and my own development
would make me a better practitioner. Hopefully in 2002, I can encourage
others to be just as "selfish."
02Jan09
Submitted by Anne Hislop, Training Officer, Volunteer Development
Scotland, Stirling, Scotland
In many areas in Scotland, Volunteer Managers Forums have been set
up to enable Volunteer Managers to meet regularly to discuss common
issues, sometimes with an invited speaker and/or to share their own
skills and experience. Those involved find this a useful way to recharge
batteries at busy times.
02Jan08
Submitted by Ada Nanning, Volunteer Resources, Calgary, Alberta
We can become complacent, after all the extra efforts volunteer managers
put into IYV... I would like to take it a little easier in 2002. The
demands I placed on myself and the demands of the agency, community
heightend the work load. There is only so much that volunteer managers
can do... I hope that I can focus my efforts in 2002 to address issues
that will make a difference. It's a balancing act... to know how much
to give towards your agency needs and how much for the greater good
.
02Jan07
Submitted by Laurie Eytel, Volunteer Manager, Fairfax County Dept.
of Family Services, VA, USA
You brought up some good points. I think, as with so many other areas,
it is a matter of setting up unification as a priority. Of course,
the problem is finding the TIME. I know I am currently working on
a variety of new initiatives within my program areas. I WANT to become
more involved at a national level, but it can be difficult, when issues
close at home cry out for attention.
That being said, I will make a real effort to be more involved. One
way is a round table meeting of volunteer managers some of us are
starting up this year, hopefully with monthly meetings. I also wonder
why, if one is a member of a branch of AVA (in my case NVAVA), why
separate dues are also necessary to be a member of AVA. In other organizations
I've been involved with, paying branch dues covers membership in the
larger umbrella organization. Perhaps AVA should look at this and
work out one payment "plan", it might alleviate some of the fragmentation
you discuss. Just some thoughts...
Response to above response
about NAVA:
Posted 02Jan24
Submitted by Susan Herbert, Communications Committee, NVAVA, Fairfax,
VA USA
I am responding to the question from Laurie Eytel about affiliation,
etc. but it may be useful to others. While NVAVA uses the same acronym
as AVA, it is not an affiliate of AVA. It was at one time, when rganizations
were members of AVA instead of individuals.
Until about 3 years ago, AVA did not have one member, one vote. It
was a "unique" system -- more on that if you want background. Three
years ago, that changed. AVA was trying to reach out to local associations
of volunteer administrators, (sometimes using the AVA acronym in their
names, others called DOVIAs). AVA changed its dues structure. Rather
than just an organizational membership, AVA lowered its overall dues,
but to "use" the affiliate relationship, the independent groups needed
to have a percentage of their members be AVA national/int'l members.
The number of individual AVA members of the local had to be 50% --
for NVAVA that meant that at least 40 of our then 80 members had to
be AVA members and we just! didn't have the numbers)
For many in NVAVA, and in other DOVIAs, that was too high a cost
to pay... NVAVA's local dues are almost as high as AVA dues - many
NVAVA members didn't see the value of being members of both, even
if it did mean a discount on the AVA dues ( $10) It was a difficult
decision for NVAVA and its board and I know that the decision has
impacted other DOVIAs. For many, it was a bigger investment than many
local members could afford. I doubt that in a group our size (100+)
we will ever roust the numbers required to get "affiliated."
The bottom line is that it costs money to run organizations, whether
our local group or at the national level... NVAVA doesn't have staff,
etc yet our dues are the same as a national organization with paid
staff, headquarters, etc. In our profession, many individuals are
on limited budgets and just can't swing the dues for both -- they
stay involved locally because that is where they see immediate results...
it is harder t! o do on the national level (though I firmly believe
that it also boils down to the fact that many people just don't invest
in themselves... my opinion, not NVAVAs.
