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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Volunteer Manager Threatens Naked Run!

What is the light bulb moment? To me it’s that time when one simply “get’s it” and goes “aha”!

It can also be known as the eureka moment!

Eureka is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery. It comes from the Ancient Greek Εὕρηκα/Ηὕρηκα - Heurēka/Hēurēka meaning approximately "I have found it".

This exclamation is most famously attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes; he reportedly proclaimed "Eureka!" when he stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose — he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision, a previously intractable problem. He is said to have been so eager to share his realization that he leapt out of his bathtub and ran through the streets of Syracuse naked.

I am wishing for the day when peak organisations for volunteering, just like Volunteering England, across the globe have their Eureka moment. And that is this: Volunteer Management is an important cog in the wheel of volunteerism and must be supported!

Here is a news item thanks to The Third Sector Online in the UK.

http://thirdsector.co.uk


By Kaye Wiggins, Third Sector Online, 6 May 2010

"Volunteering England and Acevo say the next government must provide more funding for volunteer management Volunteering England and chief executives body Acevo have agreed to lobby ministers jointly in the next government to provide more funding for volunteer management.

When new legislation affecting charities that work with volunteers is introduced, representatives from both groups will ask ministers to commit to providing resources so that charities can train and manage the volunteers, according to Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo.
"Most of Acevo's members work with volunteers," he told Third Sector. "All three of the main political parties are talking about expanding the number of volunteers, but none is saying they would provide extra funding for this.

"There's an assumption by politicians that charities have an open door to welcome unlimited numbers of new volunteers. In reality, they need more funding to be able to do this."

Bubb said Acevo would also consider extending its professional development courses to cover volunteer management in greater depth, and producing a publication about best practice in volunteer management that would be distributed to its members.

Mike Locke, director of public affairs at Volunteering England, said Acevo would be involved with VE's continuing volunteer rights inquiry. Acevo would help the organisation to put together proposals for addressing volunteers' grievances, he said."



What a great and commendable move by VE! All of us in Volunteer Management across the globe should applaud this and hope that such activism spreads globally!

And yet in many nations, Volunteer Management is left off the national volunteerism agenda. Key experts and consultants in Volunteer Management are ignored and sidelined. Associations for Volunteer Management are ignored or irrelevant to the bigger volunteerism picture. Days celebrating Volunteer Management are frowned upon. Volunteer Managers are not consulted.

What is the status of Volunteer Management in your nation? Please share with us here?

I look forward to the day when my own peak body has its own Eureka moment and recognizes the value of my profession. If it does I may have my own Archimedes moment and run naked through the streets of Brisbane! Now that would be an amazing moment to witness…..but so too would my naked run through Brisbane! :-)

BTW - Volunteering England picks up another VM Champion award!!!

1 comment:

  1. Well done Volunteering England and Acevo. In Australia we are in an election year for our federal government. This is an ideal time to lobby ministers and opposition leaders to get the recognition and funding that the Volunteer Management sector needs. However until we can show the world that we are a united collaborative group this will not happen.

    Over the last month a very enthusiastic and emotive online debate occurred. While the debate attracted lots of input from some parties, I am not sure whether this in fact helped to move the sector forward or whether it showed again that we are a sector that is still divided on many basic issues. Will our peak bodies seize the day and lobby all political parties to provide recognition for the Management of volunteers? The silence is deafening!!!

    Many years ago I was a volunteer and president of a support group for an organization struggling to find funding to continue running it’s very valuable community program for parents and young children. I, along with another volunteer, personally lobbied ministers and opposition ministers for funding of this very viable and much needed program. We presented a DVD which showed, through personal testimonies and real life examples, the benefits to participants of the program. We achieved what no one else had been able to achieve for many years – more funding and an understanding and recognition of the value of the program!

    So I’m prepared to lobby ministers and opposition leaders but do I have the resources at my disposal to demonstrate the benefits of volunteer management? Is anyone else prepared to lobby ministers and opposition leaders?

    But if by some chance our own peak body has a eureka moment and recognizes and values our profession then go for it DJ. Make your naked dash through Brisbane – I’ll be there with video camera rolling. Great footage for Youtube. Nothing like publicity. Not sure if this publicity will move the sector forward but I’m sure you’ll get lots of attention.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your message. It will shortly be reviewed. Namaste! DJ

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