US Baby Boomer Facts

• On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turned 65
• Every 8.5 seconds a baby boomer in the U.S. turns 50 years old.
• The baby boom generation is the largest generation in American history -There are approximately 77.6 million baby boomers in the U.S. - 28% of the U.S. population
• In four years time (2015), people aged 50 and older will make up 45% of the America’s population. 
• A 50-year-old female baby boomer can expect to live 82.5 years; while a male boomer will live on average 78.5 years.
• The baby boom phenomenon is responsible for over half of all consumer spending in the United States (and I would say in NZ, Australia, Canada and Uk too)
• 80% of all leisure travel is taken by boomers.
• Beginning in January 2011 about four million boomers will be ready to retire each year, and will do so for almost two decades.
• Baby boomers account for  (The U.S. Census)

How are they going to fill their next 30 years?

Wednesday World Changers: International Volunteer Manager's Day

It is just seven weeks to go until International Volunteer Managers Day 2011 on 5^th November!

International Volunteer Managers Day is celebrated on November 5 and seeks to recognise the important work which those who lead volunteers make in the process of effective volunteering. IVMDay offers volunteer management professionals an opportunity to 'celebrate through educating' others about the work they do. The Day is supported by many groups around the world. Most of the National Volunteer Networks are supporters. I say most because Volunteering Australia continues to actively refuse to support the day which is disappointing.

Did you know about the day? If not find out more here: http://www.volunteermanagersday.org/

• Follow the day on Twitter and promote it by mentioning @IVMday in your tweets.

• Get in touch to tell the IVMD Team what you have planned for 2011 and they’ll promote it on their website

• ‘Like’ the International Volunteer Managers Day page on Facebook and post your plans there too.

A small group of volunteers have worked to build the day up which has taken off in many cities, states/provinces and countries around the world.  Thank you to those people. 


 They are seeking new blood to join the committee and take International Volunteer Managers Day forward into the future. If interested, please send the committee an email outlining a bit of information about you, what you like about the Day and what one change or development you’d like to implement to take it to new heights.

I will keep you updated by what I know.

Tuesday Tech: Facebook Changes Unfurled

If you are a Facebooker and as of last week, 800 million people are, then you would have noticed some changes to your Facebook and/or lots of complaints about those changes!

A number of the changes are clearly in reaction to Google+ which yesterday was rolled out to everyone after a couple of months of invitation only. See my post on Google+




The changes that I have picked up are:

1. Updates are now known as Stories-thats a fascinating shift. We are now seen to be publishing about ourselves in the same way a newswriter or an author publishes a story
2. Real Time News Ticker: There is now a live mini stream of my friends’ updates. You can click on one of the little updates and you get a pop up with the full story. This was previewed for some of us a few weeks ago. I alternate between switching it on and off. You can hide it by downloading a groovy app for Chrome or Firefox.  This is the first Facebook attack on Twitter but it doesn't come close to replacing the way Google+ does it so well
3. Facebook has now combined the two feeds you used to tab between on your page (one was for Recent news and the other popular news). That in itself was a new feature not that long ago surely?  Now you have one feed but a Blue Corner now appears on the stories that Facebook thinks will interest you more (as seen below).  How they are choosing what  is important, I don't know. Any ideas anyone?     I have been fascinated by the choices so far!                     .    
4. In the right hand corner of every news story is a downward arrow, Clicking on it brings up options as to what I want done with that story.  For example, I can now mark some stories as top stories which means they will get more attention
5. Timeline -this is another response to Google+...and turns our main profile page into a Blog like experience. I have been testing it for a few days and I am yet to like it. I am not saying I dislike it, I just dont get it yet.
6. When I look at a Facebook business (or community group) page, there’s a new Friend Activity  link so I can see what friends are saying about the Page
7. I don't have to "Like" a Facebook page to be able to comment on that page- useful for not for profits
8. Choosing who reads what. I can now share which story with which audiences. ie Do I share with everyone or just my family or. This is another reaction to Google+. I dont like this change as a reader because I like learning about the random details of my friends not what they selectively want me to see!
9. Not for Profits can request that any duplicate Community Pages be merged with their Facebook Page (yay) and any Facebook Places (now Facebook Locations) are being integrated in as well. See my earlier Blog Post on this.     
10. Foursquare Venues, Gowalla Spots, and Yelp Pages are now integrated into Facebook Places Pages! This means that when people "check into" one of those tools, their check in will be linked to a not for profit page. This means any agency with a physical address, location or shop need to think about what they do with people checking in to your locale.
11. Hidden biggie: while everyone is moaning about the real time feed etc, the change that is getting less attention is that the external apps (the companies that pay for Facebook and make money from us) have more power over our information. Any app that is part of Facebook can collect info on my likes and broadcast it at anytime. These apps will broadcast to Timelines and Tickers separately. So if I like a new page, a company, a news story or song on an external app, then my friends will know through Ticker. My timeline will probably show a summary of that info. An advertiser can start to build an even more accurate picture of us and even more narrowly  advertise and market to me.

If you have not seen these changes, you soon will. You will get a little prompt and a message asking if you would like a tour of the new features.

Negative Reactions

The reaction to these changes has been hugely negative by users with comments appearing like:
••• "Facebook is starting to feel like that deadbeat boyfriend you just don't know how to break up with." -- @ScrewyDecimal

••• "Facebook continues to reinvent itself, by making itself less usable yet somehow exactly the same." -- @modeps

••• "Complaining about Facebook format changes is the ultimate 1st world problem." -- @Jenn1ferJun1per

••• "Why doesn't Facebook have a Dislike button?!” — Every jackass you know -- @hugsformonsters

••• "im a bit behind but what's wrong with facebook today?" -- @integratedmalay

••• "Facebook is banned in Pakistan. Can we do that in India too? Please." -- @desijourno

My thinking is that there are three reasons why Facebook changes get such huge negative reactions to changes:

1. Facebook has now become part of our identity and so every time it gets tinkered with, we feel like its  a part of us. 
2. Facebook gave almost no warning.  Change takes time. We need these ideas warned about a few times. 
3. I don't fundamentally believe we trust Facebook. We might all use it but their poor handling of privacy etc accompanied by sudden (and what seem dramatic) changes makes us remember they are in control and we are not sure we trust whoever is in control. 

The question is are these changes enough for us to switch off Facebook? Will Google+ gain and Facebook lose or will this mean more people using both or some switching off both platforms for good?

What I don't understand is why Facebook has this heavy handed change all approach? Why not roll these  things out as options. If I want a blue corner, let me choose it. If I want a real time news ticker,  why not let me choose it?

My biggest realisation is that through these changes, I feel a lot less like a customer and much more of a commodity to be marketed.

Ironic, seeing I teach not for profits how to use Facebook to reach donors and volunteers.

Whats your reaction to the changes?

Monday Motivation: Energy

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine, July 2003

Facebook....three years

Discovered I have been on Facebook for three years! 2100 friends later!

http://www.facebook.com/martin.j.cowling

Am playing with the new timeline version which will be released next.  It has some good features but wonder how many people will disengage because its a change!

Canada notes changing boomers

The Vancouver Sun has picked up the concern that I have held for a while,  that we are not ready to face the decline in volunteering amongst boomers. They note the "sandwich generation" of baby boomers, for instance, are likely to be so busy holding down full-time jobs and caring for their parents and children that they won't have time for charity work that I share about in my training.

The National Seniors' Council of Canada  in 2007 noted "three main barriers to securing boomers as volunteers:

1.  their lack of time (because its filled with so many other options)
2.  inability to make a longterm commitment (I would prefer desire to not make a long term commitment rather than inability!)
3. their preference for giving money rather than their time (which is linked in their consumer mentality-they are massive consumers)

These are definitely not unique to Canada. I am seeing same things in UK, Australia, NZ and USA. See my earlier blogpost where I talk about the massive drop in boomer volunteer numbers in the USA- I note that no one there seems worried. 

A great quote  in the article comes from Lorelynn Hart, program manager for Volunteer BC.
"The challenge is, when people are gone how do we replace them? Seniors are still the crux of many organizations. They're flexible, they have more time and they want to give back to their community. My in-laws are in their 70s, but they're the busiest retired people I know."

This is my question too: "How do we replace them?".

The answer is not filling the same volunteer roles. It means completely re designing volunteering. It means making volunteering an attractive, meaningful activity and not just a cheap substitute for paid workers. It means marketing volunteering very differently?

Is anyone ready for that?

Update

I have been very busy this last week! Somehow I managed to publish three drafts yesterday instead of a completed post!

Am in the middle of a major report for a client due next week. I am very excited by it.

Finally, I have some amazing news about my other blog: Wild about travel. 

Keep you posted.

Tuesday Post: World Meeting Planner

Love this tool especially when I am travelling.

 timeanddate.com’s allows me to arrange an international teleconference online and on my Iphone.

Anyone else use this or something similar?

Monday Motivation: Tenacity

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.

Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895)

Monday Motivation September 2011

“We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”


 Aristotle quotes (Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scientist and Physician, 384 BC-322 BC)

September 11 Thoughts

Theres so much being written and thought and published about September 11- What can I add?

For the victims of all terrorism, war and hate, what can we do to stop these cycles of violence?

Prayers and hope for a better world.

Weekender Article on Facebook

One of my blog posts has been reprinted in the Weekender Herald, a newspaper in Adelaide, Australia. The link to the on-line edition with the article is here.

The Adelaide Hills Volunteering Team have been experimenting with this online means of communicating about volunteering for a couple of years now and it has kept me disciplined to write a lot of articles!

Thanks guys. What is interesting too is the paper have moved the community pages a little forward toward the front!

Friday Facts: Uk Big Society after the Riots

Been following a whole lot of comments and posts about UK after the recent riotshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12378974

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12092740

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/06/david-cameron-big-society-coalition

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/07/big-society-is-not-working

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/07/big-society-volunteering-eric-pickles

No More Free Training?

What do you think of something you get for free? How much value do you place on it?
I have been pondering this over the last week.

Me in action!

I spend about 700 hours a year presenting seminars and workshops (14 hours a week on average). This means I see and meet a lot of people and can make a lot of observations about what I have learnt from these trainings.

From time to time, a client will organise me to present training to their community, network or city for free. To pay for the training, they will use funds from somewhere else.

The training organiser will offer free training for many reasons:

• to get more people there
• they were given a grant for the purpose
• its their agency's philosophy to give free training
• they are concerned at the tight economic situation of their community 

These are all fair reasons. My reflections of my experiences of what happens when a group offers training for free, has made me question the value of giving training for free.

Here are some observations I have made over the last eight years:

1. More people don't show- they havent paid anything so they have nothing to lose. The organisers often lose with excess catering which is "wasted"

2. More people are late to a free training than a training they have paid for. They're less committed to it

3. More people actively plan to leave a free training earlier (many end up staying and telling me how good it was). It is almost as they believed before they came that if "its free so it probably won't be very good".

4. In a free training session, I find more people leave their phones on. Additionally more people will answer their phone and take a call in the middle of a free workshop. They don't value what is free as much as something they have paid to listen.

5. Bizarrely, I get more "rude people" coming to a free workshop than one where they paid. These people are more likely to interrupt, annoy others and sidetrack than in other workshops. I am particularly pleased with the way I and my team handle these situations.

6. I don't often get people arguing with what I say but I can tell you 90% of the times that someone has decided to start an argument with me, it has been at a free workshop. I am not talking questioning or discussing or even disagreeing, I am talking about picking an argument.

7. Finally, I can tell you that my overall evaluation scores are a little lower at the Free workshops I have done. Not dramatically lower. My average rating at a paid workshop is 93%. At a free workshop, it is 91%. The fact there is this consistent difference says something. I know I am not different when I present at these free sessions. It makes no difference to me and I try to give 110% to my presentations. I know my content is the same. The difference is in the expectations of the audience. Have other people found this?


Note to my clients, who I appreciate so much.
One because you are fun to work with and
Two because you have kept me employed. Thank you.

I dont begrudge or regret doing any workshops for you. I however, suggest for the future: If you organise training, and you believe in its value, don’t make it free.

What is your experience?

How naive are we?

Got this email in my in box the other day.

We discovered irregular activity on your PayPal account.

In order to use your Paypal account furthermore, you must actualize your data. 

Please, use the link below and actualize your data.

http://www.paypal-iau.com/au/?cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run

Thank you for your assistance. 

Warm greetings,

PayPal Team

I need to actualise my data? Come on. How many people click on such a link? And then give up their personal info?

This is called Phishing and exposes you and your agency to fraud. It is extraordinary how many people fall for it

What protections do you have in place to protect yourself and your workplace?


You need at least some policy and some training. 


In our busy world, so many agencies dont provide either and expose themselves to money disappearing. 

Monday Motivation

“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”

Leo F. Buscaglia

Friday Facts: Singapore Giving

I live on the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbounre. The area of the Peninsula is around 723.1 km² or 279.2 sq mi. About 135 000 people live here.


I was stunned to learn recently that the Peninsula is slightly bigger than the area of the city-state of Singapore. However while I share my neighbourhood with 134 999 others,  Singapore crams 5,076,700 people in! One of the most densely populated countries in the world. Although when you are there, Singapore's planning is so good that you never have a sense of being crowded.


In that island, Singaporeans cram business, education and recreation --and charity support. According to research from Singapore's National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC),  almost one quarter, one in four volunteer. Their research says a mere two years ago, it was less than a one in five volunteered. 


The overall percentage of financial donors fell marginally but average annual donations per person are up to $331 from $300 in 2008. So while fewer people donated money last year, those who did, gave more. Roughly 60 per cent of the donations were made to the major religious groups on the island: Mahayana Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism.



The median income of all employed persons, full-time and part-time, is S$30 000.  So giving as a per cent of average income is about 1.1%. NB 21 percent earn below S$14 400 per annum.


The World giving index listed Singapore as equal 91st in the world for "Overall Giving" along with Spain, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Peru, Mali and France.


The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)'s chief executive Laurence Lien said he was 'delighted' that more people than ever before 'stepped up to the challenge to give more of their time and money.' 'During the deep economic uncertainty, people see needs more obviously,' said Mr Lien


My question is how did they do it? To go from 20% of the population to 25% in two years is phenomenal. What was the secret?

Volunteering is Socialist?

Fox News has posted a link to a blog that has criticised the call for the USA to dedicate September 11 to a day of service in memory of those who died.

The criticisms seem to be:

• such a call is "Socialist"
• September 11 should be about remembrance not  community service and soup kitchens 
• volunteering should be spontaneous not mandated

Others note that: "President George W Bush was a strong supporter of  this Day of Service... and... a clear majority of Republicans voted in April 2009 to make September 11 a Day of Service" with the Serve America Act. 

What do you think?

• Is asking people to serve on this day "Socialist"? 
• Is it wrong of a government to encourage or invite their people to volunteer?