Volunteer Management Resources


Recommended Reading

The New Breed - Second Edition: Understanding & Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer
by Jonathan McKee and‎ Thomas W. McKee

The world of volunteers has changed. But have you changed, too?

Across the country, volunteer ranks continue to grow, but people are volunteering differently. They’re working online, seeking flexible schedules, and pursuing a role in defining how projects should be completed. They want to feel a sense of responsibility for your organization’s overall mission.

Put simply, these volunteers don’t want to simply make a contribution; they want to make a difference!

Jonathan McKee and Thomas McKee have tapped into their decades of experience with the simple goal of helping you recruit, manage, and lead the new breed of volunteers. They’ll guide you to a clearer understanding of what today’s volunteers look like, how they want to get involved, and how you can most effectively attract, train, and unleash them within your organization.

You’ll also discover a bounty of helpful resources to assist you, including job descriptions, applications, and interview questions; activities, icebreakers, and team-builders for volunteer meetings; community-building activities; and tips for board retreats and planning sessions.

The 21st century calls for a new system and for a greatly expanded definition of what it means to be a volunteer. If you can harness this passion and potential, you’ll experience results that will reward both your organization and your volunteers.

The Volunteer Revolution: Unleashing the Power of Everybody
by Bill Hybels

Pastor Bill Hybels believes that there is a new reality in America. The church has entered an era of growth and unprecedented spiritual opportunity to share the Gospel, yet at the same time we face a shrinking economy and a world in crisis. This poses a great resource challenge for the church. In order to reach out to people who are spiritually hungry, the church needs more people to be equipped to serve others. Hybels passionately believes the key to the future of the church is the equation "X (paid staff) + Y (volunteers) = Z (bearing much fruit for God’s glory)." Churches cannot afford to continue hiring more and more staff with limited budgets. The key to resourcing the church is what Hybels calls "the Y factor." The Y factor is the pool of volunteers in every church. The great need of the church is to grow the church’s volunteer base through the equipping ministry of church staffs. As churches recover the message of Ephesians 4:11-12 to "equip God’s people for works of service" they will launch a Volunteer Revolution. People are just waiting to discover the gifts and passions that God has given them to serve others and then be invited to use those gifts and passions through the local church in order to advance the kingdom of God on Earth. Hybels believes that every church staff should be helping people discover their spiritual gifts, passions and place of service in order to meet the growing needs in our churches and world. Hybels makes a clarion call to move beyond volunteer retention to volunteer acquisition. By attracting, connecting, training, and sustaining volunteers, churches will mobilize people into places of service that will bring new meaning to their lives and understand why God put them on planet Earth. Hybels also outlines how we can build lifelong volunteers in the church through community, celebration, and commendation.

Love Works: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders
by Joel Manby

Love Works is a framework for successful leadership. It outlines a counterintuitive but proven path to success through a passionate and motivated workforce. The mainstay of this philosophy is leading with love, which relies on seven time-proven---but unfortunately not-so-often tested---principles that break down the natural walls within corporate cultures, empower managers and employees, disarm difficulties, and cultivate an atmosphere that builds long-term success. The key to leading with love is turning love from an emotion into an action. This shift fosters strong relationships, which in turn builds enthusiastic employees and leads to enthusiastic customers. Using love at work also leverages the undeniable truth that love builds healthy relationship at home, so why not use the same behavior to build healthy relationships at work? The book will explore the seven principles of love, which are patient, kind, trusting, unselfish, truthful, forgiving and dedicated. Joel Manby is proof that leading with love works. He has refined and relied upon this leadership philosophy for more than a quarter-century---first as a highly successful corporate executive at Saturn, then as Saab North America's CEO, and most recently as president and CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE). HFE was also featured in the CBS hit show Undercover Boss. Overwhelmed by the response of the 18 million viewers who loved seeing love in action, Manby decided to share these principles.

The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials for Becoming a Change Maker
by Brad Lomenick

We need great leaders.  More than ever we need authentic, collaborative, inspiring men and women of integrity at the helm of society- and too often our leaders fall short.  Some focus on personal success, alienating those they lead.  Others shift their principles when it is convenient.

There is a better way.  You can energize and inspire the people around you.  You can equip a team of principled collaborators to answer God's calling.  You can be a catalyst leader.

In The Catalyst Leader, Brad Lomenick describes the skills and principles that define a true change maker.  This book offers eight key essentials by which a leader can influence others and make a difference, laying out the path to the keys for becoming an effective leader.

Lomenick shares wisdom, practical knowledge, and stories of success and failure from his own journey of running Catalyst, one of America's most influential leadership movements.  And the lives of dozens of leaders around the world- from the creators of famous reality show to pastors, from ranch workers to a Silicon Valley designer.  These men and women are living proof that good leadership inspires and innovates, while poor leadership leaves us with hopelessness and regret.


Leading can be a difficult road, and many choose to follow.  But you can take a better path.  Begin your journey to becoming a catalyst leader.

Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness
Robert K. Greenleaf

A classic work on leadership for business men and women, government leaders and all persons in positions of authority.

Leadership Is an Art
Max Depree

In what has become a bible for the business world, the successful former CEO of Herman Miller, Inc., explores how executives and managers can learn the leadership skills that build a better, more profitable organization.

Leadership Is an Art has long been a must-read not only within the business community but also in professions ranging from academia to medical practices, to the political arena. First published in 1989, the book has sold more than 800,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. This revised edition brings Max De Pree’s timeless words and practical philosophy to a new generation of readers. 

De Pree looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “hows” of corporate life, he explains the “whys.” He shows that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. Along the way, the artful leader must: 

• Stimulate effectiveness by enabling others to reach both their personal potential and their institutional potential 

• Take a role in developing, expressing, and defending civility and values

• Nurture new leaders and ensure the continuation of the corporate culture

Leadership Is an Art offers a proven design for achieving success by developing the generous spirit within all of us. Now more than ever, it provides the insights and guidelines leaders in every field need.

Lead Like Jesus
Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges, Phyllis Hendry

If you want to be an effective servant leader---at work, at home, or at church---Blanchard believes you must first answer two key questions: "Whose and who are you going to be?"

Resources

Energizeinc.com
A-Z Volunteer Management. Extensive, searchable library of materials on over 100 topics. Includes articles, book excerpts, free guides and reports, websites, blogs, and more... plus tips from colleagues. Continually updated.

ManagementHelp.org - Developing and Managing Volunteer Programs Library
Planning Your Volunteer Program
Considerations in Establishing or Modifying Volunteer Management Systems
Online Tutorial About Volunteer Management Programs
Role of Volunteer Managers
Staffing Analysis (Deciding Whether Volunteers Are Needed)
Legal and Risk Considerations
Policies and Procedures
Volunteer Job/Task Descriptions

Operating Your Volunteer Program
Volunteer Recruitment
Screening Volunteers
Selecting ("Hiring") Volunteers
Orienting and Training Volunteers
Supervising (delegating, evaluating, addressing issues, rewarding, etc.)
Volunteer and Staff Relations
Assessing Your Volunteer Management Practices

Additional Information

National Council of Nonprofits - Volunteer Management Tools and Resources

Verified Volunteers
Verified Volunteers is dedicated to helping you understand the latest news, trends, and best practices related to volunteer screening, onboarding and management.

Tobi Johnson and Associates
A consulting firm whose mission is to help nonprofit organizations make connections with remarkable volunteers offering several free guides and assessment tools.


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