Blog Figures

Thank you for joining me as a reader. Readership has grown significantly through December- again. I appreciate everyone who reads- and comments.

Look forward to a big year in 2012

Feliz Navidad

Had a nice day today which started with picking my sister out of hospital today. She is boasting an edgy new haircut courtesy of Chemotherapy. Its been a hell of a year and we are thankful she is still with us for Christmas. Thank you everyone for your support.

Seeing four of my nephews and nieces was marvellous. Emily, my two year old niece would not leave my side! It was very sweet.

This is her holding my hand.

Seasons Greetings

Some sayings from across the religious spectrum for this time of year





Christmas will be celebrated Dec 25 by most of Christendom. The Armenian Apostolic Church observes Christmas on January 6, while certain Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7


What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.
Agnes M. Pharo 




Hanukkah starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. In 2011, this will be December 20-28




A candle is a small thing.
But one candle can light another.
And see how its own light increases,
as a candle gives its flame to the other.
You are such a light.
Moshe Davis and Victor Ratner




Hijra - Islamic New Year was on  November 26  
I was trying to find an appropriate quote. Any ideas/advice?




Diwali was on Wednesday, October 26, 2011.


Fill the Heart with the oil of love.
Place in it the wick of single-pointed mind.
Light it with the Knowledge of Truth and remove
the darkness of ignorance around you.
Just as one lamp can light many lamps; let each
youth kindle this Light in many hearts.'

Reflections on the Volunteerism Industry

Esme Barratt who I work with in Adelaide, Australia, drew my attention to an article in the Australian newspaper by Frank Ferudi called "Do Good Our Way" in which he challenges the development of the "volunteerism industry [my words]. It is a very thought provoking article.

His premise starts:  What endowed volunteering with an attractive moral quality was that people performed an action or provided a service to others without any compulsion. This was an act based on one's own free will and motivated by the conviction that it was the right thing to do. 


I personally, would be reluctant to say that all volunteering has always been about altruism. Human motivation for volunteering and volunteering acts is rarely "pure" and is deeply linked to our values, culture and relationships. For example, we know there is a high correlation between religious faith (in all traditions) and volunteer involvement. However, I do strongly believe that volunteerism is about humans saying I want to do something to make a difference. Like Frank I do believe that people are thinking "that it was the right thing to do". I know from my own research and real experience that people who believe in the mission and cause are more passionate, stay longer and work harder than those who don't. 

Research from the Wisconsin longitudinal study published in September showed there was a direct correlation between volunteering for "the right reasons"and life span.  Those volunteers whose motivations were more focused on others lived longer than those who volunteered for their own reasons or who chose not to volunteer at all.

Having said that I have always opened up volunteering to anyone. I look for people who want to support the mission of the agency they are volunteering for. They can volunteer with me whatever their motivations and desires if there is a match with those desires and our opportunities.

Ferudi goes on to suggest that volunteering has been turned into an institution that is promoted on the grounds of its benefits for the volunteer and for the community" I actually do not see this as a bad thing. His major concern is that volunteering is being advocated  "not because it is something that is good in itself but because it "delivers a number of key social and economic benefits".

Here is where Ferudi really hooks me in. We have almost allowed volunteering to be captured and turned into an economic force for its own sake.  For example, I have noticed when I sit with young people, they talk about their desire to volunteer to help neighbours, strangers and the world. When I sit with legislators and volunteer managers, these people talk about young people wanting to volunteer simply for their resumes. That's a massive disconnect. Then we market volunteering in this way so it sounds like a job preparation program. We then force young people to "volunteer" through schools, universities and job programs and turn not for profit agencies into de facto job readiness providers.And then we wonder why young people don't volunteer. (Many of them are starting up their own not for profits and social enterprises instead)

I don't often see governments investing in campaigns where we talk about volunteering as part of the creation of social capital. The same with advertising by volunteer centers and community agencies. I see in fact a de emphasising of the community benefits of volunteering because everyone believes we live in a selfish society. Instead we focus on "what people are going to get out of it". Yet we are competing in the wrong way. Why fight selfishness by emphasising selfishness?

Volunteering is competing for people's leisure time. When I ask how will we compete for this time, the number one thing people mention in my workshops is we need to emphasise how much fun volunteering is. Sorry, I don't volunteer because its fun. No offence, I can think of  a million more fun things to do than wrapping Christmas parcels in 35 degree heat or fighting a fire or feeding the hungry at midnight. People do those things because they are wanting to make a real. They may have fun while doing them. Again, In the end I want to use my precious time to volunteer because I want to make a difference. Is that how we are marketing and constructing volunteering?

At the 1998 Australian National Volunteering Conference, a group of volunteer managers formed a small rebellion and convened a meeting to protest the bureaucratisation of volunteering. They feared that the spirit of volunteering would vanish with things like the then proposed  Australian National Standards for Volunteering. At the Australians Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management, a few years ago, we asked the question "have we gone too far?" In other rewords in trying to protect the community, clients, volunteers and agencies, are we squeezing then lifeblood out of volunteering? 

Vern Hughes says yes.In an opinion post in The Melbourne (Australia) Age last February Hughes said: Non-profits lose sight of volunteer heritage. He has gone on to to start an organisation called Street by Street which says: Participants in a Street by Street link-up are not volunteers, they are people in a voluntary relationship with their neighbours, as neighbours. 

This organisation is tapping into what we are seeing anecdotally, a massive rise in people saying they want to volunteer but they do not want to participate in "structured volunteering" Also anecdotalyl are the stories of people losing interest because of 14 Page application forms, six week training courses and what feel like to be onerous long term "contracts" to volunteer. 

I think these are serious issues we need to confront:

1. We need to talk more about the social capital created through volunteering
2. We need to build an appreciation of volunteerism and altruism while opening up volunteering to anyone and not judging people's motives
3. we need to find ways to make it easier for people to volunteer while protecting people
4. we need to avoid the tinkering of volunteering that causes the spirit and reality of volunteering to be lost

Ferudi concludes by saying that "real volunteers are still doing the business. They are those unassuming and often anonymous individuals who don't possess paper qualifications as mentors or facilitators or animators. Let them thrive."  Writings by people such as Frank Ferudi challenges us to think about this volunteering industry and rediscover a  middle ground. 

Wednesday World Changers: Washing Your Hands- changing world

Guest blogger: Tony Feliciano  (pictured left), a member of Gen Y with a passion for the world

The peculiar thing about washing hands with soap is that, though your hands may be clean of debris and dirt, the chemicals in soap that absorb into your skin and wash away down the drain aren’t so “clean.” Sodium Lauryl Sulfonate, for example, is not biodegradable and can kill living organisms. Other materials, like fragrances and solubulizers included in soap formulations can pose health hazards. So, while you may be washing your hands and feeling clean on the outside, both the global environment and your internal health may be battling synthetic invaders. To determine potential health and environmental hazards a specific soap may have, visit http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ for a rating.

I set up Clean World Clean Hands (CWCH) to do three things:

1. produce soap that is biodegradable and safe for your skin 
2. bringing these soaps to third world countries, to areas, for example without proper water filtration, so that people's water sources and environment are not impacted negatively
3. through workshops, donations, and volunteer work give back to the community 

We aim to clean your hands - and the world’s hands.

Let me start with the soap. CWCH aims to produce a soap that is  "invisible". Our product has virtually no impact on the environment or your health and is sustainable, thereby making it "invisible". By using vegetable based glycerin, natural essential oils etc, our soap completely dissociates in water leaving no trace synthetic materials. 

The CWCH mission, therefore, is to create an invisible product that sparks visible change. More specifically, we create all natural biodegradable soap and as a cooperative we encourage invisible product design as well as distribute soap to those in need. 

CWCH cooperative is in its startup stage and any inquires should contact myself (tony@cleanworldcleanhands.com) Donations to support the work are appreciated and an incentives ladder exists for monetary donations. Check out: www.cleanworldcleanhands.com

Tuesday Tech: An average Facebook user

In their quest for cool infographics, the people at mashable.com have produced a really cool info graphic of an average Facebook user. Check it out at: http://mashable.com/2011/11/18/facebook-stats/

Image is below:


A few interesting things. The average user has 229 Facebook friends:

•  22% of those friends are from high school,
•  12% are co-workers
•  9% are from college 

3% of people'  who are  friends on Facebook have  only met once. The average user has never met 7% of their friends on Facebook. So 10% total belong in the rarely connected category.

For nor fot profits, what is interesting is that 7% of friends have been met through voluntary groups.

In 2008, the average user is 38 years old. Two years ago, it was 33 indicating that the number of "older" people on Facebook has been growing fast. Further, the median age of the planet is 28.4 years of age. In the USA the median age is 36.8. This indicates Facebook population is actually skewed toward an older demographic than the general population. Thats fascinating. So much for a "young person's tool". (Australia's median age is 37.5 years so Australia and Facebook's populations are closely aligned!)

56% of users update their status weekly and only 18% daily.

Monday Motivation: what a terrific message

Wednesday World Changers: Australian Volunteers International

Happy 60th birthday Australian Volunteers International (AVI) - a great presentation from Dimity Fifer #VolAus11 http://t.co/92TiCby0

Monday Motivation: International Volunteers Day

Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.  ~David Thomas

Power to Change?

Thank you to Rob Jackson from the United Kingdom for contributing today's blog post for International Volunteers Day.

Each year, the 5^th December is the United Nations International Volunteers Day. Actually, to give it it’s full title it is UN International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development.

Some, like my friend and colleague Jayne Cravens, find this distinction from other forms of volunteering important whilst others use the day as an opportunity to celebrate all volunteering. As Jayne’s blog suggests (follow the link above to read it) it all depends on how you interpret the name of ‘the day’.

This year ‘the day’ falls at the end of the UN’s celebration of ten years since the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) and at the end of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 (EYV11). Both of these international years have been opportunities to celebrate the work of volunteers, to understand volunteering a little bit more and to promote its importance to society, whether nationally or internationally.

Back in 2005 the UK also had its own Year of the Volunteer. The announcement in 2004’s budget speech by then Chancellor (and later Prime Minister) Gordon Brown MP came as a total surprise to his officials and fellow MPs and Ministers but it gave yet another chance to showcase volunteering. Perhaps that’s why the year had little impact on volunteering.

In the UK levels of formal volunteering (that is volunteering done with/through an organisation) have, according to government figures, remained pretty constant for the last decade. We entered 2011 with about the same number of people doing formal volunteering as ten years ago, despite millions of pounds of investment by government.

More recently interest in volunteering shot up, mostly as a result of the financial crisis, but the numbers of people actually doing formal volunteering haven’t changed. That suggests to me that there is a mismatch between what people want from volunteering and what many organisations offer volunteers.

In the same ten year period, recent data from NCVO and Skills Third Sector shows that the number of paid staff in the voluntary and community sector in England rose by 40%. That’s a staggering amount of growth, not only in numbers of staff but cost to the donor. Personally I think it implies a worrying disregard by many organisations for volunteering as a way to effect social and economic change.

So if recent data implies that all these international days and years aren’t effecting much significant change, where can we look for the power of volunteering?

As well as IYV+10 and EYV11, this year’s UN volunteer day falls at the end of a year in which I think we’ve seen more change globally than in any year since the Berlin Wall came down. We’ve had the Arab spring and Occupy Wall St (and other places) protests, to mention just two high profile examples. Both of these, and many others too, have been powered by volunteers, people “doing more than they have to - because they want to - in a cause they consider good” (to quote the late great Ivan Scheier).

Such revolutionary endeavour to effect change invariably starts with volunteers. It starts with people who are passionate about a cause and have a strong desire to see things change. It doesn’t start with paid staff, with a requirement for funding before we take action or as a result of government support.

So on this year’s UN International Volunteer Day, whether you want to focus on volunteering for economic and social development or on some other form of volunteering, the important thing is that we celebrate and promote volunteering. Volunteering that has the power to change the world.

God knows we need some change for the better.

Wednesday World Changers: International Children's Peace Prize

Five children out of 98 children from 42 countries were nominated for the  International Children's Peace Prize 2011.

The winner was  Michaela Mycroft (17) from South Africa. Michaela was born with Cerebral Palsy, which limits her leg and arm functions.

Eight years ago, with the help of her sister and three friends, Mycroft decided to sell cards and flower pots to raise money for a motorised wheelchair. They raised ZAR20 000 in seven weeks.

Because of the success of this project, “Chaeli” as she is known, felt the need to help other children.

Her organisation ‘Chaeli Campaign’ now employs 20 people and assists more than 3 000 disabled South African children every year by providing special equipment.

The other 2011 nominees were:

Liza (17) from Palestine who uses sport to build peace between Israeli and Palestinian youth with a Peace Sport Schools program. In addition, she started a girls football team, introducing women’s football to the Palestinian society.

Malala (13) from Pakistan who dared to stand up for herself and other girls using international media to let the world know girls should also have the right to go to school when it was banned by the Taliban.  "To me education is the only tool that makes a man civilized, a good citizen and help develop the Pakhtun society," she said






Nikolay (17) from Armenia who blogs about human rights and democracy via a website and blog. He aims to inspire other children to spread support for human rights and democracy in Armenia.









Winfred (14) from Uganda monitors the inciences of child abuse and neglect and documents cases of violence against children. Sge established  Kamuli Children’s Counselling Club, where children receive counselling on various challenges they are facing. Winfred also set up a Tree Planting Club to plant more trees and create a green environment for the school. She also set up a Children’s Court which settles disputes amongst children without interference of adults.


i

Volunteer Australia Conference Reportback

400 people attended the Volunteering Australia conference on the Gold Coast. The number was down from their original 600 target. Whether the numbers were down because of the high cost, change of date and venue, the recession or the program we will never know.

We do know that about 1000 people read my blog post on the high cost of the Conference and not one person disagreed with my comments. Volunteering Australia sadly ignored the blog post which is I would suggest a poor response to such a large group of their constituents and poor social media strategy.

We do know that Conference keynote speaker Michael Kirby was his usual brilliant self and that The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP launched  the long awaited national volunteer strategy for Australia. I will comment on the strategy next week.

 We also know that the hashtag #VolAus11 has over 800 twitter comments from over 130 participants. They included:

RT @neridagill: RT @creativewire: Recruiting volunteers is not about 'asking for a favour', it's about giving yr volunteers something meaningful #volaus11


Congrats to Cary and the team at Volunteering Australia on a very successful and beneficial conference. You should be very proud! #volaus11


RT @CreativeWire: The not-for-profit market is 7 times larger than the mining sector in Australia #volaus11


Awesome->RT @ProBonoNews: 'Many of the leaders in volunteering are corporate groups' says Vol Aust of their research #volaus11


Conference attendees,  my readers and I would love your feedback. Please leave some comments. You can be anonymous or open.

Tuesday Tech: Qantas Social Media #fail

This week's Tuesday Tech was going to be on the changes to Google+ which will be of interest to Not for Profits. After the extraordinary gaffe that Qantas the Australian airline committed on Twitter,  that is now next week's blog. There is so much to learn from Qantas fatal actions so I am republishing (and adapting_ this post from my travel blog: Wild about Travel. 


It all started innocently. Last week Qantas began a new social media campaign called “Qantas Luxury”. From my view it seems to be an attempt to to win back the hearts and minds of Australians concerned about Qantas. The airline has been battered by four issues in the last year particularly:

1. a series of  incidents which have suggested to some that the airline appears to be less safe than it once was
2. a decision to shift more of the airline’s resources offshore
3. some of the most acrimonious relations between the company and the unions ever which has led to months of ongoing industrial conflict
4. the recent grounding of the airline by the CEO Alan Joyce which stranded 10s of thousands of people around the world

On Tuesday at 9am Australia Eastern Summer Time, the Qantas PR department sent these Tweets:

The first Twitter response said : ‘Planes that arrive intact and on time because they’re staffed and maintained by properly-paid, Australia-based personnel.


Then the Tweets poured in. Within two hours, #qantasluxury was sitting on 13 tweets a minute. By the end of the day, some commentators are claimed they had reached 51 tweets a minute. Within 24 hours, the hashtag #qantasluxury had 1.5 million impressions. Most of the Tweets were negative toward Qantas.


The chief executive of Qantas, Alan Joyce on October 31 after the grounding said “I think the Qantas brand is an amazingly resilient brand, and predicted it would bounce back. These tweets suggest the bounce back may take a long time…


PuppyOnTheRadio: BREAKING NEWS: Qantas introduce #QantasLuxury class. Same as standard class, but the plane leaves the ground.


corinne_grant: it’s a few weeks ago, but I wrote this break-up letter to Qantas. Seems pertinent again today. thehoopla.com.au/dear-qantas-me/ #qantasluxury #myarse


GrogsGamut:  #QantasLuxury is that safe feeling that comes from knowing your pilots are wearing the correct coloured ties [a reference to the suspension of pilots for wearing a red tie protesting Qantas management decisions]


jeremysear : Quick note to corporate Australia: when you’re in the middle of crushing your workforce, don’t start a twitter promotion. #QantasLuxury


rgcooke: Can’t wait to see the Air Crash Investigations episode on the #qantasluxury hashtag disaster.


RustyAway: #qantasluxury Alan Joyce giving his ill-gotten pay rise to charity and then resigning.


SoBohring: Not having to worry about the safety demonstration, because you can’t crash if your flight never leaves


Qantas soon had a Social Media #epicfail on their hands!


I think, at this point, they needed to acknowledge the seriousness of the complaints and make an apology to the public. Qantas needed to tell the public that they understand that the grounding of an airline was not going to be compensated for by a few pairs of pyjamas. Instead Qantas tweeted:


@QantasAirways At this rate our #QantasLuxury competition is going to take years to judge.


Ah, yes it will. The sensible thing next would be for the CEO to respond publicly promising that the issues in the tweets will be read and addressed. Then following that up with doing just that. There is enough unambiguous material in the Tweets to help the airline understand how the public feels. Instead Mr Joyce has “gone to ground”, vanishing from public view. He has done this amidst allegations that the action to ground the planes was preplanned. In addition, there is legal action by the pilots’ union alleging their lockout was an over reaction to wearing the wrong colour ties (no planes were cancelled by the pilots’ actions).


Joyce has now declined an invitation to appear before an Australian  senate inquiry into the Qantas Sale Act citing unavailability. This is despite his earlier assurances under oath that he was ”happy to defend [the decision to ground the airline] and talk about it in any forum, anywhere, because it was the right call”.


If the first sensible thing is not followed, then the next sensible action would be to sack Mr Joyce. Despite Amanda Vanstone suggesting he is a nominee for Australian of the year, Mr Joyce has lost the confidence of his flight crews, pilots, frequent flyers and the general public. To restore that confidence, he needs to be the Board’s Sacrificial lamb.


The twitter feed for  #qantasluxury is here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23QantasLuxury


You can also find tweets with a mis spelled version of Qantas (the airline does not have a U in its name). https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23QuantasLuxury


In the meantime, one of my favourites:


RT @kiwi_kali: #qantasluxury Somewhere in Qantas HQ a middle aged manager is yelling at a Gen Y social media “expert” to make it stop. / LOL

Monday Motivation: Giving

      

“If you have much, give of your wealth; If you have little, give of your heart”

 Arab Proverb quotes

What are we rewarding?

Attendees at my training know I make fun of some of the stereotypes that the sectors use ti celebrating their volunteers. I read one this week ....and please, please do not hear me belittling the amazing volunteers in the community.


One of the awards went to a woman who contributes many hours to volunteering: organising events, supervising and providing opportunities to disadvantaged, worked on challenges, broke a Guinness Book of Records record, supporting the community parade, does street fundraising, sells cookies/biscuits, organises and enables people to go on camps. 


Daunting isnt it? Who else can aspire to this?

Another  works ‘behind the scenes’ without supervision. Thats an interesting message. 

When we are rewarding volunteers for their efforts, the number one thing we want as volunteers is to be personally thanked. How are you doing that? How can we celebrate volunteering without sounding daunting?

Wednesday World Changers: Emmanuel from Iraq

I posted this amazing video on my Facebook. There are some inspiring people in this world. Emmanuel, a victim of chemical warfare in Iraq, sings his heart out on Australian TV.

A picture tells a 1000 words

There are a myriad of opinions regarding the various Occupy movements around the globe: "idealist" "crackpots", "disillusioned", "people who need to get a job", "hypocritical."All of these comments have been levelled at the people who have pitched tents in squares, parks and universities across the world.
I have seen the tents in Pittsburgh, Melbourne, Portland and Edinburgh this month. Accompanying these movements has been the full power of Social Media. Mobile phones and cameras are madly uploading content to blogs, Facebook and Twitter across the globe.

For most of us what has been happening in the tent cities and the actions against them including removal has been occurring on the sidelines. I was shocked a little out of complacency by the actions shown in this film where armed police at University of California, Davis are filmed pouring pepper spray at seated peaceful protestors. The  old adage a picture tells a 1000 words has come true with this video.

The impact of the videoing of this event?:

• the video has gone viral- no one knows how many times the millions of videos circulating the net have been viewed
• Two of the officers have been suspended
• The Davis Faculty Assn. issued a letter  demanding that Chancellor Katehi step down. "The Chancellor's role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it," the association wrote, calling Katehi's approval of police force to remove the Occupy Davis tents a "gross failure of leadership."
• The board of the statewide Council of UC Faculty Associations agreed
• The Chancellor distanced herself from the Police action and formed a taskforce to investigate the incident saying "It left me with a very bad feeling of what went on"
• two of the police officers have been suspended

All because someone had a video camera and that someone was joined by many other someones with phones and cameras and ipads. Those someones, all had the internet to access and the ability to upload this footage. This is Social Media.

More video footage of this incident here: http://z6mag.com/featured/pepper-spray-video-at-uc-davis-unedited-during-occupy-protest-163175.html

Monday Motivation: Adversity

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends. 

John Churton Collins

Bemused?

I was recently asked to write and contribute an article for a journal on a "pro bono" basis with three days notice. I wrote what I thought was a decent article and got it to the publishers on the morning of the deadline. They were very happy with the article except I then got this email:

Regarding your article for the Quarterly. Thank you for going to the effort of submitting something to us for the deadline. Due to an overload in the office this week I regrettably missed your article when putting the quarterly together, my sincere apologies for this mistake and any inconvenience this might have caused you. 

We are now planning to run it as the lead article in the first quarterly edition next year in February. 




Makes me feel better when others mess up like I can sometimes.

Facebook App and Volunteer Registration

I have used Facebook to sign up for a couple of things recently. Its very easy.  Say "yes" to your app and the app then has all of the data that Facebook possesses about you. You can sign up for Frequent flier programs,  Events and travel offers. Its why marketers love Facebook and all the data it holds on us.

In the middle of training, the other day, I had a thought...three related thoughts actually:

The first is more organisations need to have a link/app on Facebook that directly leads to their volunteering or donor pages on their website. So when an agency, attendee or volunteer posts pictures of an event or training they have attended the link could be easily inserted or added or even included as a tag

The second is why not have an app for people to sign up as a volunteer or make an enquiry as a volunteer. Your application form could be easily be populated by data from Facebook.

Monday Motivation

“If you have much, give of your wealth; If you have little, give of your heart”
 Arab Proverb quote

Shocked by Volunteer San Diego

I was stunned to learn last weekend, that one of my favourite volunteer centres closed one month ago (see below). Volunteer San Diego, a vibrant, innovative organisation was unable to secure funding and closed its doors. I want to say "thank you for the work you did" and to express my sadness to the end of their work and the loss of employment for their paid staff as well as a loss of opportunities for their volunteers. Their Facebook is still live.

I do have some hard questions though:

1. I acknowledge that VSD team were working hard to secure funding. I didn't know they were struggling. There is nothing on their Facebook page to alert us. Could some key people been contacted across USA and advised this was the reality to see if emergency funding could have been found?
2. What other options were there to closing. I am assuming the Board examined every option. Could a smaller version have kept going? Could some core services been kept alive under another auspice?
3. What will be the impact? The interesting test of this closure will be if anyone notices in their work? Will volunteer participation fall? Will it cost agencies more to recruit volunteers? How will we know if they are missed?
4. Whats a viable volunteer centre model look like in 2011? Money for volunteering infrastructure is almost impossible to find so how do volunteering centres scrape enough to function?

Love some answers!


Statement from Volunteer San Diego
After careful deliberation and weighing all the alternatives, Volunteer San Diego (VSD) has elected to close its doors. Despite an all-out effort by staff, volunteers, and the Board of Directors, VSD has not been able to secure sufficient funding to sustain its operations in this economy.

We take pride in the impact VSD has made in San Diego County, but we did not do it alone.

We thank the public for demonstrating year after year how important volunteering is to our community. We thank our partner organizations for providing excellent service opportunities across a broad range of interests and skills. We thank our corporate sponsors not only for believing in and supporting us, but also for understanding that there is a cost to volunteering. And we extend special thanks to our individual donors, those who gave of their time and talent, as well as their dollars.

We hope you will continue to seek volunteer opportunities at the many nonprofits, schools, libraries, faith-based and other community organizations throughout the county.

Thank you for the memories!

- The Volunteer San Diego Staff and Board of Directors

RSPCA celebrates International Volunteer Managers Day

From the Tasmanian Times:

Orphaned puppies and kittens will today help mark International Volunteer Managers Day, at the

RSPCA shelter in Mornington [Tasmania]. The RSPCA were recently named as finalists in the Volunteer Management Award, awarded last weekend as part of the Community Achievement Awards 2011.

CEO of Volunteering Tasmania Adrienne Picone, said International Volunteer Managers Day aims to
recognise the efforts made by the co-ordinators of volunteering organisations.

“There is a lot of effort behind organising volunteering practices, and I think it’s important to have a
day which celebrates the individuals who co-ordinate these practices,” Ms Picone said.

“Volunteer managers have the skills and knowledge to help people be part of the solution in meeting
community needs, and without volunteer managers it would be very difficult to harmonise
volunteering activities.

“The RSPCA is a perfect example of a volunteer management organisation, a community based
charity that works to prevent cruelty to animals by actively promoting their care and protection.

Ms Picone said the contribution of volunteers is universally recognised and appreciated in many
different areas including sport, health, care, and emergency services across Tasmania.

“Behind these volunteers is an equally dedicated group of individuals and agencies who are
responsible for the co-ordination, support, training, recruitment, and administration of people who give
their time and energy to help others,” she said.

The RSPCA Tasmania has 100 active volunteers state-wide involved in animal care, education,
adoption, and fundraising activities. Volunteers significantly contribute to the RSPCA being Australia’s leading animal welfare organisation with its unique commitment to animal care.

Monday Motivation: The Power of Lies

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Sir Winston Churchill- Nov. 11, 1942 - from a speech in the British House of Commons

Happy International Volunteer Managers Day

Happy IVMD and thank you to everyone who has responsibility for ensuring excellent volunteer engagement. Check out:

•  IVMD's website
• Twitter Hashtags: #ivmd #IVMDay
• IVMD Event Listing

Key Commentaries from around the world (more will be added as they come to hand)

• Hands On Blog (USA): 12 Tips for Recognizing Volunteer Managers- 
• I Volunteer Blog (UK): Shout from the Rooftops - good post by Rob Jackson
• Australia: Volunteering Australia does not support International Volunteer Manager's Day
• Australia: VolunteeringQldTV - great video supporting the day
• NZ: Celebrating those that lead and manage our volunteers - official announcement from Volunteering NZ
• Exploring Volunteering (Global): International Volunteer Managers Day great post from a slightly different angle

Learning about training in South Korea

I was privileged to train in South Korea this week- the first time ever. Thank you to IAVE, Seoul Volunteer Centre and Volunteer 21 for hosting me. Apart from falling in love with the country and renewing my passion for Korean food, I learnt a few other things about training,  NGOs and volunteerism:

• the South Korean NGO sector is incredibly well developed
• there are a massive number of volunteer centres across Korea
• they have developed a set of 12 standards for volunteer centres
• the Koreans probably do volunteer recognition better than any other country I have seen
• The Koreans who attended my workshops participated in my small discussion groups but getting feedback from the groups to the presenter (ie me) was a stretching exercise for everyone concerned 
• Most of the presentations I observed were very one way with questions at the end
• Questions were excellent and on topic
• they were very visual - the Korean trainer's had power points that were full of colour and animations and pictures. Some pictures, I believed, in the West would be seen as very "cute" ie little bunnies in the corners
• they liked stories
• they are very respectful of teachers/trainers
• they very honest with me about things they liked and didn't like in training
• they loved photos....I have never smiled so much!!!

Tuesday Tech: Twitter Tricks re Thursdays & Fridays

Each Thursday, various folks are using the tag #ttvolmgrs on Twitter  for questions, comments & tips regarding volunteer management. Thanks to Jayne Cravens for that information. She notes that it's surprising how much information can be squeezed into 140 characters!


On Fridays, you may see people using the hashtag #FF. FF means Follow Friday. For example:

#FF for ments, RTs & convos@yacwa@ausnonprofits@AEMGartmann@strategicgrants@shaicoggins@giftgetter@martinjcowling@ginanmand @TenFM

28 Oct via HootSuite Favorite Retweet Reply

This Tweet is saying follow the Youth Affairs Council of WA, Australian Non Profits, Alexandra Gartmann, Strategic Grants, Shai Coggins and Martin J Cowling, etc etc for mentions, Retweets and conversations.  You can see how much they have packed into 140 characters!


The person sending this #FF Tweet, is recommending the people mentioned in it (including me- thank you!). This example has quite a long list. Some people may allow recommend one or two people-and always say why you are recommending people. This example has done that very well.   If you have been recommended it is good form to reply with a thank you. 


The idea is you can then follow none, each or all of the people some recommends in a #ff tweet. A simple way to do this. In Twitter or Tweetdeck (or other Twitter management tool) or  Hootsuite, is to click on the date stamp at the bottom of the message. 
Eg 28 Oct via HootSuite


The Tweet will open up on a new page and underneath the Tweet will be the list of people mentioned in the Tweet (see below) Just click "Follow" next to the person's name and hey presto!


You will see that because I am using Google Chrome with the Klout extension, the person's Klout score is next to their details. The higher the score,  the more influential that person is on Social Media (see last week's post). If you use Follow Friday to recommend others, make sure you do follow them yourself! 

Mentioned in this Tweet

• 
  16ausnonprofits AusNonProfits · Unfollow

  A list for Australian non-profit organizations and their employees. If you want to have your non-profit added to the list, please tweet me.
• 
  36strategicgrants Jo Garner · Unfollow

  Grants advisory, mentoring, research, writing and strategic project matching services
• 
  15ginanmand Gina Anderson · Follow

  philanthropy, NFP and corporates, charity law (sadly) and corporate affairs
• 
  26AEMGartmann Alexandra Gartmann · Follow

  Passionate about agriculture and rural communities.
• 
  56shaicoggins Shai Coggins · Follow

  geek-ish & artsy. content & community. chocolates & spices. media & life. nonprofit tweets are @connectingup . views here are personal.
• 
  38TenFM Ten FM 89.7 and 98.7 · Follow

  Tenterfield, Texas & Stanthorpe Ten FM Non-profit organisationhttp://www.facebook.com/tenfm with tweets here updated by@Music_IsPower or as noted.
• 
  15giftgetter Mark Quigley · Follow

  Giftgetter runs a fundraising and philanthropy consultancy. He is a multi-award winning consultant, sought after writer and speaker on the Third Sector.
• 
  30yacwa YACWA · Follow

  YACWA is the peak non-government youth organisation in Western Australia. We operate primarily as a human rights organisation.

51martinjcowling Martin J Cowling 

CEO of People First-Total Solutions, hiker, runner, traveller

http://www.facebook.com/martinjcowling