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Primary Format : Current Events Language : English Also Listed as: City : Philadelphia State/Province : PA Country : USA Region : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of Energized Hot Topics Podcasts Methings.com listings of Energized Hot Topics Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

View the full archive of Energized Hot Topics Volunteering Is Bigger than the Nonprofit Sector Too many politicians, commentators, academics, and the general public are unable to recognize that a giant part of the volunteer world is unpaid service on behalf of government, especially at the state and local level. In this podcast, Susan talks about this topic which has surfaced in the American presidential campaign, and considers why this issue is at the heart of our political, social and economic future. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Media Blitz vs. Media Noise: What Are We Trying to Accomplish? We've just ended the Entertainment Industry Foundation's attempt to mention volunteering in all types of media. What's important is not which popular shows carried the volunteering message or even how well. Susan raises key questions about the goals and outcomes of the supposed media blitz. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Taking the Client's Perspective in Designing Volunteer Roles Susan reflects on her recent healthcare experiences to question whether we are simply missing the boat by not directing volunteers into work that is of greatest value to the users of our services right now. In a changing world, can we afford to ignore emerging needs – and isn't it important to ask volunteers to do whatever is of highest priority? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Making Ongoing Volunteering Valued and Visible How can we integrate discussion of everyone's own volunteering into daily life in a natural, even "taken for granted" way? In the face of hoopla about single days of service, how do we shine a light on ongoing service that is already so pervasive, yet invisible to many? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Separation of Service-learning from Volunteering…and Does It Matter? Service-learning has evolved as a world unto itself apart from the field of volunteer management, despite the connecting link of the young people engaged in service. Why is it important for educators, students, and the public to see service-learning as a type of volunteering? How can volunteer program managers bridge the divide? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Drive towards "Highly-skilled" and "Pro Bono" Volunteering New initiatives, such as A Billion + Change, are encouraging corporations to send "highly-skilled" and "pro bono" volunteers out to help nonprofits. But the basics must be in place to utilize the offered expertise. Susan identifies six assumptions that need to be challenged – not to negate pro bono projects but to assure their success. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Role of Volunteer Resources Managers in the Serve America Act: Stay Up-to-Date and Lead The lengthy and complex Serve America Act has been signed into law. As a profession, we have a unique and strategic chance to influence effective implementation of the Act, draw attention to the skills of volunteer resources management, and assure that the volunteer community is truly strengthened by the new initiatives. Learn how you can get involved. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Days, Hours and Minutes of Service – Enough Is Enough! With most people feeling time deprived, the old image of volunteering as an endless commitment, and a political climate urging civic engagement, it’s easy to see why single "days of service" have become popular. Organizing short bursts of volunteer energy can be useful, but this trend has proliferated to the point of absurdity, with ever-shorter time commitments. Susan cries "enough!" What do you think? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Confidentiality and Other Objections to Volunteers It's easy for staff to stop any creative idea involving volunteers by raising concern over confidentiality, risk, or other issue solemnly pronounced as protecting clients. And too often it works. We must be prepared for these sorts of reactions and stand our ground. Are these valid concerns or really smokescreens hiding a general resistance to volunteer involvement? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Difference between Needing and Wanting Volunteers Susan shares some true stories that highlight the gap between ever-expanding needs for volunteers and resistance from organizations who do not actually want this help. How welcoming is your setting? Whose responsibility is to question negative or informed attitudes? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website "A New Era of Responsibility": An Open Letter to President Obama As US President Barack Obama advocates volunteering as part of what he terms "a new era of responsibility," it's a unique moment in which the profession of volunteer management can make itself visible. Susan offers this "Open Letter" to present concrete requests and urges you to add your perspective as well. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What’s Ahead for 2009? In the spirit of the new year, Susan considers what 2009 might hold in store for volunteering – from actions of the new Obama Administration in the US, to developments in our professional associations, to the future of conferencing in our field. What are your predictions and wishes? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website From Organizing Charity to Building Community December tends to focus on charity to poor families. The challenge for volunteer resource managers is how to redirect the traditional one-way giving model into community building – moving from concentrated holiday events to year-round support and looking inside a neighborhood or organization before looking outside for volunteers. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How Will the Economic Crisis Affect Volunteering? The global economic situation affects us all as private individuals and within community sectors. So, how will a recession affect volunteering? Will volunteering increase, decrease, or change in some way as the financial situation becomes more dire? Susan offers some perspective and invites you to share your hopes, fears, and predictions by posting a response. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Confusing Talk about "Service" We've recently had a flurry of special events, legislative proposals, and media attention focused on the subject of "service." It was brought to a head by an event in New York City on September 11-12, called ServiceNation, at which both presidential candidates spoke. But what are we talking about? Lumping all forms of "service" together hinders rather than helps debate and action. Susan examines the confusion. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Replacing Volunteers with Paid Staff There is endless talk about making sure volunteers do not displace paid staff. But what about the opposite issue? When and how is it legitimate to place employees into roles traditionally held by volunteers? This emerging trend deserves attention. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Yin and Yang of China’s Olympic Volunteers 1.7 million Chinese have gone through a rigorous application, screening, and training process to become Olympic volunteers, but much of the press coverage to date treats this not as quality volunteer management, but as suspect "government control." Susan challenges readers to watch Olympics reporting carefully this month and report back on positives, negatives, and contradictions revealed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Volunteers Should Not Be Second-Class Taxpayers The IRS has just acknowledged the soaring cost of gas by raising the tax deduction for mileage to 58.5 cents per mile – but the rate for driving by volunteers remains at 14 cents, as it has for 10 years. Susan examines this unfair treatment of volunteers in the US and other countries and urges a write-in campaign to make some much-needed changes. Get involved! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is the Rising Cost of Gas a Crisis or an Opportunity for Volunteering? The cost of gasoline for our cars is rising at a staggering rate. Although there hasn't really been much public discussion yet about the potential of gasoline prices to disrupt critical volunteer services, it's going to surface. In this timely podcast, Susan doesn't only talk about this money issue - she also considers whether there's a silver lining for volunteering in the cloud of the energy crisis. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website It's Volunteers AND Money In this month's featured podcast: Is your volunteer program appropriately funded? Have you requested something not in your usual budget and been told "we don't have the money"? But that just means no money right now. Every organization, whether nonprofit or government, plans ahead for raising and spending funds for anything it wants to do. How can you effectively make the case for allocating more money to support volunteers? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website