The Keyboard Roundtable is a "retired section." Four to six individuals involved in the leadership of volunteers were invited to participate in a moderated online discussion (via a private listserv) concerning a topic of interest to volunteerism practitioners. Discussions took place during a two to three week period. At the close of the discussion, the Convening Editor edited the discussion for readability and length and ultimately created a coherent and enjoyable "best of" transcript. Also see Voices
Engage Library
Keyboard Roundtables
Recently, the British listserv, UKVPMs, had a flurry of postings regarding formal credentialing or accreditation of volunteers. As this topic has relevance to many settings and different countries, e-Volunteerism convened four knowledgeable practitioners from England, Northern…
July 2003
"Aging in Place" refers to the phenomenon of a volunteer having joined an organization years ago as a young or middle-aged person and, over time, has naturally grown older and is now losing some abilities. The organization is faced with the dilemma of having a loyal volunteer…
July 2005
As advocates for volunteers, we are generally in the position of convincing administrators and frontline paid staff to be more creative in designing work for volunteers – to involve them more. Yet there are times when an organization might consider assigning volunteers to a role…
April 2005
Volunteering infrastructure is a crucial element to encourage the development of a broad range of meaningful volunteering opportunities and the engagement of a diverse spectrum of people in volunteering. Whether it is “peak bodies” engaging in policy debate with national…
October 2005
One of the fundamental roles of volunteers throughout the world is raising money. Even organizations that do not involve many volunteers in helping to provide direct services rely on board-level volunteers and others to advocate for their cause to individual donors, private…
October 2004
Everyone in the volunteer world is intellectually in favor of involving people with disabilities as volunteers, but somehow – in practice – this is not happening as often as it could. Recently a few booklets have been published giving guidance on this subject, but there are…
July 2004
Magic strategies for success. Breaking the rules and getting away with it. What we can teach leaders in the corporate world. Creativity. Innovation. Generational theory. Happy meals vs. real cooking. Leadership. Motivation. Risk management. Volunteer management vocabulary and…
April 2004
The Australian Journal of Volunteering published a speech by Stephen Parsons of Australian Volunteers International entitled "International Volunteering: Challenges in the 21st Century." With Parsons' permission, e-Volunteerism has used our Keyboard Roundtable format to give…
July 2002
Professional associations for volunteer program administrators are nothing new in North America, with the Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA) emerging as far back as 1960 and the Canadian Administrators of Volunteer Resources (CAVR) established in 1972.
While the rest…
April 2002
Here at e-Volunteerism we are constantly on the look out for "cutting edge" reports, practices and strategies we can share with our readers about the world of volunteerism. This month we take a look at one such report. Emanating from the state of South Australia and created by…
July 2001
As volunteer managers, communicating with current and potential volunteers can be one of our most frustrating, ongoing challenges. We send newsletters, write thank you notes, produce brochures, make phone calls, and write training manuals. One of the most frequently asked…
July 2001
The Keyboard Roundtable asked participants from the United States, Australia, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Denmark to comment on the structure and state of National volunteer centers or umbrella groups in each of their countries.
The topic and rationale set for the…
April 2001
When we started this Roundtable, I thought the question was a simple one: Where does Volunteer Services belong?
A reader had sent an e-mail asking, "How is volunteer management different from human resources management?" He was anticipating such a question from his organization…
April 2001
The Global Perspectives Keyboard Roundtable asked colleagues from Wales, Korea, Australia, Switzerland and the United States to make comments on ways to maximise the International Year of Volunteers 2001 on a global scale.
A number of key themes emerged:
The key focus of…
January 2001
Participants from Australia, Italy, Brazil, Finland, Japan, Lebanon and North America
This Keyboard Roundtable included participants from six different countries, representing vastly different volunteerism cultures. The group was asked to respond primarily to the question of "…
October 2000
The future is very much on people’s minds at the moment. Whether related to the prospect of war or terrorism; to the discussions in many nations about retirement, pensions and healthcare during longer life; to our future as an increasingly global society; or to a myriad other…
October 2002
Volunteering in New Zealand has developed significantly in recent years. Volunteering New Zealand (the national body serving the sector) is helping drive a new national volunteer management strategy to grow the profession across the country. At the same time, our Kiwi colleagues…
July 2010
Established in 1964 and held every year in Western Australia, the Dowerin Field Day is an effort to find ways to prevent the small, wheat belt community of Dowerin from becoming a ghost town and to raise funds for improved community facilities. In an attempt to engender…
October 2009
After 10 years of e-Volunteerism, convening editors Andy Fryar and Rob Jackson look back at the Keyboard Roundtable concept. They review why this electronic roundtable discussion of experts, tapping away on their computer keyboards, came into being, and revisit some of the…
January 2010
Over the last few years, we have seen employer-supported volunteering grow into a vital element of the volunteerism field around the world. More recently, we’ve begun to see a shift from the so-called “team challenge” approach to volunteering (where teams of employees perform a…
July 2009