Blog

Posted Thursday, June 17th, 2021 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Building communities of trusted and safe volunteers is our mission so that volunteerism can thrive. Sterling Volunteers does that largely through partnerships with great organizations like Points of Light. We deeply value Points of Light’s mission to promote and advance volunteer engagement through an affiliate network of about 250 organizations in major metro areas in...

Posted Thursday, June 10th, 2021 by Kimberly Chochon, Sterling Volunteers, Mark Hopwood, VolunteerMatters

To reach our goal to provide highly effective vetting and onboarding for nonprofits and their volunteer programs, our valued partnership with VolunteerMatters quickly became a successful collaboration. Since joining forces with VolunteerMatters — a cloud-based volunteer management solution designed to help organizations recruit, train, and manage volunteers on a unified platform — we have launched...

Posted Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Engaging volunteer leaders offers you the opportunity to move from “doing it all” to “getting it done” at your nonprofit organization. In fact, by modeling the change you want to see, you empower volunteers to lead teams, projects and initiatives, and free up paid staff to do the work for which they are uniquely qualified....

Posted Wednesday, May 12th, 2021 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Volunteers choose opportunities to serve in order to make a difference and help their communities – to have an impact. The crises of the last year haven’t changed that. Still, like so many other areas of volunteer engagement, the events and restrictions related to the pandemic have accelerated changes in how we recognize volunteers for...

Posted Wednesday, April 7th, 2021 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Much has changed in the twelve months since the pandemic was declared in the United States. Many organizations have ceased or greatly reduced volunteering, others, such as those pertaining to crucial services like food delivery, have seen steady or increased engagement due to a rise in demand. In a recent webinar, which is now available...

Posted Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Volunteerism is continuously changing—and certainly the last year brought more change than usual. Not only do social, economic, and generational trends affect how individuals volunteer, but now the pandemic has transformed how organizations can attract, engage, and retain qualified volunteers. In a recent webinar, which is now available on-demand, nonprofit expert Beth Steinhorn, President of...

Posted Thursday, October 15th, 2020 by Kimberly Chochon, Vice President of Partnerships

Let’s acknowledge that creating a safe environment for your volunteers and members is important – whether in the middle of a pandemic or not. For nonprofit and service organizations, factoring in risk mitigation and compliance can help to better manage volunteer program implementation – particularly amid the challenges of COVID-19. While adverse impacts reverberate throughout...

Posted Monday, October 5th, 2020 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Nonprofits are reimagining how re-engagement can continue to drive their mission during the pandemic. Mainly because organizations are facing external challenges such as stay-at-home orders, gathering limitations and unemployment; and internal challenges, including service limitations, budget constraints, and remote work environments. Many organizations are shifting toward new protocols for the services they traditionally offer, for...

Posted Thursday, July 9th, 2020 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Adapting training materials for virtual presentation is a complicated and unique challenge for nonprofit organizations and should be handled with care. It’s important to remember that virtual training shouldn’t just be a lecture or a PDF of a handout – it should be a custom curriculum, designed to leverage technology. Perhaps Darlene Christopher, author of...

Posted Wednesday, June 10th, 2020 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Nearly everyone has had to shift the way they live and work in response to the global pandemic. More people are working remotely now, and it’s important for volunteer organizations to be prepared to engage and screen virtual volunteers – and set them up for success in new ways. In a recent webinar, which is...