Volunteer Food Handlers Video

Project Angel Food has a video titiled " I Can Volunteer." It is actually a training video for volunteer food handlers. Through song and dance, it covers all the requirements for those who prepare food, package it, and deliver it.

Just think, no more training of volunteers. Just set them in front of the computer monitor and they can learn it all.

See the video here.

Four Ways Thinking Like a Marketer can Boost Volunteer Engagement

Chiko Noguchi, guest blogger for VolunteerMatch, details four ways to improve volunteer engagement. Here is a brief summary:

1. Make sure your volunteers are familiar with the training regimes and policies that speak to the organization’s impact.

2. Understand why the volunteers are onboard.

3. Give the volunteers something in return for their service.

4. Show the volunteers how they are making a difference.

Be sure to read the entire blog post here.

Successful Non-profit Adminstrators

Have you ever listened to a podcast? Well, here is an interesting one by Tonyehn Verktius.

She asked seven questions of non-profit administrators related to their success: how they became leaders, how the nonprofit finds the means to implement its mission when donations are at a low, etc.

To listen to the podcast, click on the black bar near the interviewee photo. Be sure to have the computer’s sound turned on.

Click here for the podcast.

Volunteer Connect's Betsy Sings

Volunteer Connect's very own Betsy will be singing!
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is holding a fund raising concert on February 8 & 9, 2014 and Betsy will be there.

It will be at the historic Tower Theatre in downtown Bend. Join us and support this worthy organization.

More info here

Volunteer Connect and MLK Day! January 20, 2014

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'" Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities.

Volunteer Connect is hosting eight MLK Day activities. Volunteers are needed in several of them. The listing and more details are given here.

Background Screening of Volunteers

How does your organization screen and select safe volunteers to work with kids? If you rely on a background check, join Oregon Mentors staff to learn why volunteer screening goes way beyond the background check.

During this six-hour training based on SAFE: Screening Applicants for Effectiveness, there will be a review of your organization’s current screening practices and an in-depth dive into 21 tools you can use to screen out child predators.

The training and lunch will be provided in Redmond on February 28. RSVP right away, as space is limited. One person per organization, please.

Due to the nature of the discussion, we recommend that the staff member attending the training is at management-level.

RSVP at: https://oregonmentors.wufoo.com/forms/safe-training-rsvp/. For questions or comments, please contact us at info@oregonmentors.org or 503-517-8990.

Four Practical Strategies for Volunteer Training

As promised, here is an article about volunteer training. As discussed last Tuesday, training can make all the difference is whether someone persists as a volunteer.

The article is written by Tobi Johnson and is titled, “How to Design Volunteer Training That Helps Not Hurts Learning.” She used brain studies and learning theory to create some best practice strategies that help volunteers navigate a training program without being overwhelmed by it. The strategies are:

• Integrate Practice Into Training.

• Feed the Right Emotions.

• Reduce Cognitive Overload.

• Support Metacognitive Skill Building.

Click here for this “must read.”