Nonprofit Net is pleased to announce a seminar on Wednesday, October 21, 2009; 1:30pm-3:30pm in the Meeting Room in Cary Memorial Library, 1874 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington MA 02420.

To register for the seminar please click here.

Seminar Description

Essentials of Building a Volunteer Program

Engaging quality volunteers is important and challenging, particularly as nonprofits strive to do more with less. Successful nonprofits invest in special planning, preparation, and resources to recruit volunteers who will reliably perform well, despite no financial compensation. This seminar will help you understand the essentials for effective volunteer engagement. We will review current trends in volunteerism and key volunteer motivators, and then discuss how to apply these fundamentals to the activities necessary to build a productive volunteer organization. These include: developing position descriptions; planning, implementing, and evaluating recruitment activities; and ensuring that adequate yet inclusive screening, placement, orientation, supervision, and other processes are in place and consistent. Furthermore, we will discuss motivation-specific approaches to activities that recognize and retain good volunteers.

The seminar will be conducted by Lori Tsuruda, founder and executive director of People Making a Difference (PMD), http://www.pmd.org, a grassroots nonprofit organization that not only provides training and consulting services to nonprofits to build successful volunteer programs but also assists other charities by recruiting individuals and companies to participate in PMD’s organized, one-time community service projects. She is also president of the Directors of Volunteer Administration (DOVA), an association of volunteer resources professionals responsible for recruiting and engaging volunteers at nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston. Lori has coordinated volunteers for HEARTH, Zoo New England, and Cambridge Cares About AIDS and has consulted for several charities and their volunteer-based charitable events. She recently led class volunteers at MIT to develop new approaches in fundraising for their alma mater in honor of their 20th reunion.