Special Programs

Volunteers:

The Growing Resource

June 4 , 2009
VisArts Center
Rockville, MD

As nonprofits continue facing a challenging and changing environment, resulting in decreased resources to carry out our missions, volunteer power can provide diverse skills and human resources to help nonprofits build their capacity to survive and thrive. Volunteerism is a rich pool from which nonprofits can draw some of the help they need. Volunteers, be they board members, direct service providers, interns, unpaid operational support staff, or skilled professionals can be a low cost opportunity for many organizations. However, to make volunteerism successful within your organization, the entire organization, from the top down, must be aligned to support the individuals and the work being done. Appropriate time, resources, and leadership must be dedicated to the entire endeavor. In short, your organizations must be ready to engage, employ, and empower volunteer resources.

This special session on employing the volunteer resource, is specifically designed for the executive and/or board leadership of organizations that either are not utilizing volunteers or skilled pro-bono professionals or want to make more effective use of existing volunteers in a variety of capacities. Successfully using volunteers requires deliberate effort on the part of an organization’s leadership (ED/CEO and board leaders). This session will cover the full array of volunteer and skilled pro-bono professional options of which you can take advantage; what it takes to shift your organization’s thinking and culture so that volunteerism can thrive; and what resources are out there to support the change.

Intended Audience: Organizational Leadership (Board, CEO/ED, Deputy Directors)

Schedule:

9:30 - Welcome

9:35 - Keynote – Bob Grimm

Director of Research and Policy Development at the Corporation for National and Community Service

10:15 - Small Group Discussion (Discussion with peers)

• What does leadership need to do and what challenges do you see facing in your organizations

10:35 - Break

10:50 - Discussion Panel

• Hear from several of your peers, fellow Executive Directors, who have transitioned their organizations to maximize volunteer engagement in order to effectively fulfill their missions
  • Dr. Mark Bergel – ED, A Wider Circle
  • Pam Saussy – ED, Literacy Council of Montgomery County
  • Valerie Staats – ED, International Book Bank

11:30 - Resources to Help

• Presentation of the local, state, and federal support that is available as well as specific resources you can take home.

12:00 – Networking Lunch

12:45 - Wrap-up / Thank you