DJ Cronin: Freedom

This is one of the best short talks on volunteering I have come across for a long time. Wonderful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qgv9HsFl_Y Fred Rodgers once said “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.” Over the last few weeks Queenslanders and our cousins in NSW in Australia  have not only seen scary things on the news they have literally experienced it due to Cyclone Debbie and its effects. And our Red Cross helpers have been there from members to volunteers and from staff to supporters. It was a Friday night when I got the call “can you help us in our operations centre tomorrow?” and like Red Cross people across the state there was no hesitation and I was at Humanity place the following morning at 8am. I had been activated once before due to a fire on…

As a person who had been in the volunteer management sector for 20 years this year I am privileged that I know volunteer managers around the world.
I have made great friends in the sector. It happens. Meeting people from around the world who are as passionate about Volunteer management as you are is a pleasure and a privilege.
Although I don’t blog as much these days I often hear from people in our sector through my email, my blog, Facebook and Twitter.
Something happened in the last week that inspired this blog. I have changed the names. Sandra has been a Volunteer Manager for 15 years. Last week she sent me a heartfelt email. She had finally given up the ghost of her role. “After 15 years I’ve had enough of the constant struggles within the sector to be appreciated and recognised. Specifically by my own manager and organisation. Sometimes you need to put your health first”
Wow! So much for length of service!
In the same week I heard from Mark. In the sector for about 15 years he is t…

Volunteer Management Matters

https://youtu.be/HPF00lmHo_0

The 2017 National Summit on Volunteer Engagement Leadership: Mapping Our Future, Strengthening Our Voice, is scheduled for July 26-28 in St. Paul, Minnesota

(www.mavanetwork.org/2017summit).



Even though this is an American conference, they really hope to attract participants from many countries.

Click into the Summit Web page and you can read about the event’s vision and goals as well as logistical information. While the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) is the official sponsor, the conference is being planned by colleagues from more than a dozen states and they do want to gather a national (even international) audience.

I have long wished for a similar conference here in Australia so I am hoping that we can gain some valuable learning from this conference. With an expected attendance of 500 it will be a wonderful opportunity to bring together some thought leaders from our sector.

The few other major conferences in our field scatter attention to diverse tracks, of…