Susan shares her list of major trends in the field right now. Do you see the same things, in the same way? Differently? And, even more important, what other issues do you see surfacing for the volunteer world--both good and bad?
It has long been impossible to get senior management to attend sessions about volunteerism designed for them. No matter that the invitation promises executive-level topics or includes an elegant breakfast, they don't "get" why they should come.
Guest writer Andy Fryar from Australia observes that effective time management is the key not only to successfully blend the needs of volunteers with those of the organization, but also to avoid burning out volunteer program managers.
A major reason employees are hesitant to accept high-skill volunteers is a lack of creativity in creating assignments for these volunteers to accomplish. Traditional approaches to volunteer work design almost inevitably lead to conflict.
What is the importance of volunteering by poor people, particularly those we consider “disenfranchised”? We in volunteer leadership have to refocus our energies on involving the people we “serve” as part of their own solution.
If the whole world is changing, how can volunteerism stay the same? Of course it can’t. But are we prepared to make fundamental changes as well as cosmetic ones?
Guest writer Sarah Jane Rehnborg wonders if we sell ourselves short by not clarifying our language and by lumping all manners and forms of service within one broad and reasonably useless classification of "volunteer."
Susan admits to dissatisfaction at the repetitive format of professional conferences that have a "sameness" that is increasingly feeling dull. What other options are there for producing great learning events?
Leaders of volunteers around the globe are making conscious efforts to connect with one another and we need to foster such communication more actively. Looking ahead to the UN's International Year of Volunteers 2001, we can take advantage of this pending event to create exchanges among the leaders of volunteer efforts -- beyond IYV. [This Hot Topic remained active through August 1998 to permit more responses from global colleagues.]
We say we value professional networking, so why does it seem to be so hard to get leaders of volunteers to connect? Susan poses some nagging questions -- what do YOU think?
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