The Effective Use of Volunteers: Best Practices for the Public Sector

Brudney posits a relationship between the best practices and the benefits realized from volunteer involvement. A volunteer program in the public sector is sponsored by a government agency and, thus, occurs in an organizational context; remuneration is not provided for volunteers\u27 contributions, but reimbursement for their expenses is permitted; the time is given freely, yet volunteers may certainly benefit as well, and the work fulfills ongoing responsibilities of the host agency

One step ahead: the experience at Sabancı University in enhanching student responsibility towards society:

This paper is about a discussion on educating citizenship and social responsibilities at universities through a real life example from Turkey. The recent literature on corporate social responsibility is searching for new ways of education. This paper summarizes one of these new innovative programs, Civic Involvement Projects (CIPs) developed at Sabanci University. The paper starts with a summary of educational issues in the corporate social responsibility literature, including examples of methods and tools used at universities across the world. This overview might help us to see the uniqueness of the CIP experience. The paper concludes with suggestions to universities that are developing or planning to develop their own social responsibility programs. The main question will be to find the ways in reaching major goal of education for social responsibility to assist in understanding, values, and action skills that will help students to work with others to improve the quality and sustainability of their natural and social environments. There is more than one solution in achieving this goal; hence this paper will show just one of these potential solutions based on a real life experience. The methodology of the paper will be a literature review and a case study

Volunteering Reinvented: Human Capital Solutions for the Nonprofit Sector

To grow and adapt in today's continuously changing society, a nonprofit organization must recognize the value and contribution of both its paid staff and volunteers. Simply recruiting large numbers of volunteers, however, does not necessarily translate into success for the nonprofit sector or the community at large. Successful results are achieved when an organization is able to support, mobilize, and manage its volunteer resources for the greatest possible impact on a problem or need.In a competitive environment where resources are often scarce, nonprofit executives and boards of directors have become more strategic about how they leverage the various resources at their disposal:money, space, inkind donations, equipment, technology, and employees. Unfortunately, however, one of the most powerful and plentiful resources of all -- volunteers -- continues to receive short shrift from nonprofit leadership. This paper is intended to educate nonprofit executives about volunteering as a key human resource strategy, illustrate that volunteering is not just nice but necessary, and demonstrate the value volunteers bring to an organization that strategically plans for how to use them both to support infrastructure and to deliver programs and services

Making the Most of Volunteers

No one doubts the potential value of volunteers; the tougher issue is getting the most out of them. Unfortunately, volunteers are both scarce and much-needed in the human service field. This report summarizes P/PV's work over the years with organizations that use volunteers. The analysis discovered that three functions -- screening, training and ongoing management -- are key to maximizing volunteer value and minimizing damage. The report also links those functions quantitatively to the impact that programs achieved, and estimates their cost

Transforming Philanthropic Transactions

Evaluates the approach and effectiveness of SVP's first five years working to inspire philanthropy and volunteerism and build organizational capacity among nonprofits. Describes SVP's model that fuses donor education and capacity building activities

Laws and Policies Affecting Volunteerism Since 2001

This Research Report represents an attempt to synthesize lessons learned over the last eight years in order to promote best practices and analyze obstacles and impediments that continue to block the development of volunteerism law and policy

Extending working life in Belgium. CEPS Working Document No. 386, 22 November 2013

This report aims at understanding how persons aged 50 years and older are and can be integrated into the working society in Belgium. We are interested in how people in this age group can be induced to engage in various forms of employment and lifelong learning. Based on secondary literature, descriptive databases as well as interviews with experts and focus groups, we find that the discussion on active ageing in Belgium is well advanced with numerous contributions by academics, stakeholders, social partners, the public administration and interest groups. The wish to retire at 60 is widely shared, but at the same time the majority of Belgium’s elderly are able and would be willing to work under specific conditions. Therefore, we recommend that Belgium should invest in more flexible systems including a revision of the tax scheme, such as the part-time retirement system proposed by the insurance company Delta Lloyd. An equally relevant recommendation would be to ensure that public employment agencies, employers and agencies that provide training encourage all workers to work and learn regardless of their age

Using Volunteers in Naturalization Workshops

Volunteers are a critical component of efficient naturalization service delivery, especially in group processing workshops, which the New Americans Campaign (NAC) promotes. This toolkit provides recommendations for organizations on how to recruit, train, retain, and effectively use volunteers at group processing workshops

State of the World's Volunteerism Report: Universal Values for Global Well-being

The focus of this report is on the universal values that motivate people the world over to volunteer for the common good and on the impact of volunteer action on societies and individuals. The authors advocate the power of volunteering to promote cooperation, encourage participation and contribute to the well-being of individuals and of society as a whole

Foundations for the Future: Emerging Trends in Foundation Philanthropy

Paper presented at the Forum on Philanthropy, Public Policy and the Economy, January 19-20, 2000.Foundations are currently experiencing an unprecedented period of change. Historically, change in the foundation sector has been created from within or in response to legislative and regulatory changes. At the cusp of the 21st century, however, foundations face a barrage of simultaneous external forces that are redefining the world in which philanthropy operates. Never before in the history of the philanthropic sector has so much change taken place, at such a rapid pace, outside of the control of the foundations themselves. This paper presents the societal trends that are affecting philanthropy, analyzes the impact they are having on foundation programs and operations, and discusses ways that foundations might reinvent themselves to capitalize on the unique opportunities present in today's environment