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 From
the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success
Susan J. Ellis
This book will help you:
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Put all the pieces in place to incorporate volunteers into an
organization so they can be successful
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Educate your agency executives to give real support to volunteers,
beyond just lip service
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Be an effective "in-house educator" about volunteers
The first and only book that addresses the top decision-maker's role in a
volunteer program. It illuminates the issues necessary to facilitate
volunteer program success, including developing a vision for volunteer
involvement, addressing questions of policy, budgeting funds and other
resources, staffing the volunteer program, assessing the impact of volunteer
contributions, and dealing with legal, risk management, and insurance
issues. Also includes the revised FASB regulations on accounting practices
regarding donated time are explained.
Reader's Comments
"If your volunteer
program is losing steam, this book will get it rolling. If your program is
thriving, this book will validate the good work already being done. Either
way, the book is a winner." --- (Front and Centre, January 1996)
"An invaluable
tool...gave me the insight as to how to work with current staff to accept
the challenge of working effectively with new volunteers." --
Elliot Shelkrot, President and Director, The Free Library of Philadelphia
"...a comprehensive
structured approach to designing and administering volunteer
programs..." -- Foundations News
"A classic...should be
read by both the executive director and coordinator of volunteers. Susan is
simply one of the best writers and thinkers in the field." ---
Celeste Wroblewski, Associate Director for Volunteer Development, YMCA of
the USA national office
"...should be required
reading for agency directors and for those in the field looking to build
credibility and speak the corporate language necessary to communicate our
value to administrators." -- Karen King, Volunteer Manager, John
Ball Zoological Garden
Brief
Excerpt
Identifying a Leader
T he vast majority of people who direct volunteer programs do not do so as a
full-time job. Rather, they work part-time at volunteer management while
actually primarily filling a different function in the organization; they
have been asked to assume leadership of the volunteer program in addition to
their other responsibilities. In many cases they were "anointed"
into the leadership of volunteers; they did not seek the extra
responsibility and felt they had little or no option when their
administrator offered it to them. Additionally, they continue to view their
original job description as their priority and try to "squeeze in"
the volunteer program as a secondary set of tasks. In terms of career goals,
most of these part-timers have no interest in pursuing the volunteer
management field. They see themselves rather as "social workers,"
"park rangers," "occupational therapists," or
"probation officers" and consider the volunteerism
"piece" of their jobs as something they will escape when they move
up.
Logically, someone who sees
volunteer leadership as secondary (perhaps even as distracting) will rarely
give the type of direction to the program that will make it achieve its true
potential. So why "anoint" a reluctant director of volunteers?
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