Shows
Volunteer Nation188. Let's Talk Volunteering with Weave: the Social Fabric ProjectIn this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi Johnson shares a webinar featuring Jennifer Bennett of Idealist and Travis Sternhagen, Volunteer Manager at Kinship Community Food Center. The episode delves into the transformative community-centric approach adopted by Kinship, emphasizing mutual aid, trust, and relationships over traditional transactional models of volunteerism. Tobi and Jennifer discuss the challenges and strategies involved in fostering a sense of community among volunteers and service recipients alike, highlighting practical steps and profound insights shared by Travis. This episode offers invaluable guidance for anyone looking to reinvigorate volunteer engagement by making it deeply r...
2025-11-1359 minVolunteer Nation52. New Volunteer Research with Jennifer Bennett and Darcy Hughes of VolunteerMatchWe are pleased to discuss and bring to our audience a new research report from my friends at VolunteerMatch and how we connect hopeful and helpful data from today’s volunteers. In today’s episode, we have Darcy Hughes and Jennifer Bennett. Jennifer is the Director of Education & Training joined VolunteerMatch to formalize and manage the organization’s volunteer engagement program. With her breadth of experience, she is well qualified to help VolunteerMatch’s community of nonprofits better recruit and engage volunteers. Darcy is the Content & Storytelling Manager, responsible for newsletters for nonprofits and volunteers, conducting...
2023-04-0656 minVolunteer Nation37. Our Top 10 Nonprofit Blog Posts of 2022Did you Know: in addition to producing two podcasts (Volunteer Nation and the Time+Talent Podcast with Jennifer Bennett), Tobi also writes a weekly nonprofit blog? There are literally hundreds of in-depth posts, each with a wealth of information you can apply to your volunteer program. And as a holiday gift to you, Tobi is counting down the top 10 fan favorites from both the VolunteerPro and Tobi Johnson & Associates websites to get you started. These are the posts that garnered the most attention and visits, and they’re sure to be of high value to you...
2022-12-2233 min
Time + Talent PodcastDiversifying Your Volunteer Team - It Can Be Done!Show Notes: During the height of COVID, CASA of San Joaquin County faced the fact that over 1500 children from the County were living in foster care. These abused and neglected children had been removed from their families and placed in foster homes, group homes (now called STRTPs), or even at our county's homeless shelter. To address this challenge, CASA connects children and youth living in foster care with a community volunteer who makes an 18-24 month commitment to advocate and mentor them. When Dani started with CASA in October of 2021, she was given a bold...
2022-12-1950 min
Time + Talent PodcastFrom AmeriCorps to Her Doctorate: One Leader's JourneyCourtney Tull joins us to talk about her work with volunteers and her journey - so far! Starting with her work as an AmeriCorps member she found a connection with the work of leading and engaging volunteers in the community. Since that first experience, Courtney has achieved her CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration), her Masters in Administration of Human Services, and completed her Doctorate in Social Sciences. While working for Habitat for Humanity Sussex County in Delaware, Courtney began the research for her Doctorate - exploring her suspected connections between volunteering, well-being, and q...
2022-12-1235 min
Time + Talent PodcastUsing Volunteer Feedback and Reflection to Boost EngagementMobileServe helps groups like schools - from elementary to college - and companies connect with nonprofits to access service learning opportunities. They also allow those groups to gather information and feedback from the students and employees participating. Kevin Bauman joins us to talk about what they’ve learned by reviewing the information they’ve collected around impact. For volunteers - whether they’re students or adults - volunteering can offer the opportunity to make an impact, but that message doesn’t always get clearly delivered. MobileServe has found that asking volunteers to reflect on their...
2022-12-0542 min
Time + Talent PodcastEvolving Your Model to Empower WomenTheresa Goebel-Menting founded and directs the We EmpowHer Women’s Empowerment Series, aimed at helping marginalized women and their families overcome challenges that may be holding them back from their true potential. This program provides mentorship, support, and education for women in the Fond du Lac community. Since its inception, Theresa has provided direct supervision to members of the committee, as well as direct mentorship to participants involved. In this interview, we chat with Theresa about how she made the decision to move a struggling program out of county government and into a private nonprofit. She shares the...
2022-11-2837 min
Time + Talent PodcastYouth Volunteers as LeadersMuslimDepiction is a nonprofit that brings awareness and teaches about the diversity and culture of the Middle East. Through the help of volunteers and their newsletter, they spread the word about the nonprofit throughout America. They are also currently raising funds to build a school in Bali for over 60 students in preschool-kindergarten. In this episode, Zainab shares how she has engaged volunteers to spread the word on their campuses, pass out flyers, print posters, advocate within their social and family circles, and get involved in their GoFundMe project. She discusses how volunteering and charity are vital parts o...
2022-11-2142 min
2022-11-1441 min
Time + Talent PodcastHow One Zoo Reimagined Engagement Through the PandemicThe Chester Zoo introduced a range of micro-volunteering activities alongside our traditional roles to engage the community in conservation action and volunteering in various ways from citizen science projects from home using motion sensor cameras in people's gardens to discover hedgehog habits to digital roles such as writing subtitles, researching and checking data to responding to letters from school children and school groups when they wrote to the zoo. At the same time, the Chester Zoo embarked on attaining their Investing in Volunteers quality standard, which requires documenting and improving practices in volunteer engagement. True to their c...
2022-11-0750 min
Time + Talent PodcastHelping Veterans Fight Loneliness through Remote VolunteeringIn this episode, Prince Taylor, Deputy Director, VA Center for Development & Civic Engagement at the US Department of Veterans Affairs shares how their organization moved a friendly visitor program online and adapted it for remote volunteers. The Compassionate Contact Corps is a virtual social prescription program where trained volunteers are matched with Veterans that are experiencing loneliness or are socially isolated. The volunteer typically calls the veteran weekly for 15-60 minutes to provide socialization and companionship via phone or video calls. In our chat. Prince shares how the program came about through the enthusiastic advocacy of...
2022-10-3139 min
Time + Talent PodcastWelcome to Season 4Season 4 of the Time + Talent Podcast is here and we're finally caught up! Tobi and Jennifer are back with a second season of the year. We generally post one season per year; however Season 3 was posted earlier this year - having been delayed by COVID. Now, Tobi and Jenimfer are back on track to share innovative and inspirational stories from practitioners in the field of nonprofit volunteer and community engagement. The good news is that nonprofits are building back from COVID and a global pandemic and welcoming volunteers back to service. In this season, we s...
2022-10-2444 min
Time + Talent PodcastBuild a Better Volunteer Handbook with a Team ApproachIn 2021, during the pandemic, Holden Forests and Gardens began work on the foundation components for their volunteer engagement strategy. One of those efforts was a volunteer-led task force to redevelop their Volunteer Handbook. In this episode, Tracee Patterson Associate Director of Volunteer and Employee Engagement, Sarah Hartley Manager of Volunteer Resources, and Patrick Biliter Volunteer Handbook Review Task Force Team Leader share the work they did to evaluate and redesign their Volunteer Handbook. After reviewing Handbooks from other organizations they created a digital document that focuses on supporting and engaging volunteers in the work of...
2022-10-2445 minVolunteer Nation15. Recruiting Volunteers Online with Jennifer BennettTake a moment to think about your current online volunteer postings. Do those postings share the inspiring mission of your organization? Do they include photos of happy volunteers in action, and share why the posted opportunity is needed and important? Or do your posts simply list the shift, the day, and the duties, hoping that somebody out there just really wants to come work for free?When you take the time to consider how you are messaging your volunteer opportunities, you can better see ways to more effectively recruit volunteers online by building a sense o...
2022-07-2140 min
Time + Talent PodcastThe Leadership Path - from Volunteer Services to the C-SuiteKelly Furnas of Operation Kindness shares her professional journey from Director of Volunteer Services to Chief Operating Officer in less than two years and the leadership mindset and actions that made this path possible. Founded in 1976, Operation Kindness is a pioneer in North Texas for providing assistance to animals in need of medical care, companionship, and a home. In addition to pet adoptions, they provide extensive medical care for animals, a foster program, a pet food pantry, a surrender prevention program, education to pet parents and volunteer opportunities. And, the pandemic has not slowed them down. They...
2022-03-1844 minTime + Talent PodcastBalancing the Needs of Employees and VolunteersWhat happens when a volunteer manager needs to balance the needs of volunteers and paid staff? At the Lloyd Moss Free Clinic Andrea SpringerCollins takes a straightforward approach based in clear communication. In this episode she shares her approach and the systems she’s implemented to successfully manage these relationships. Over 25 years ago, the Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic began with medical and non-medical volunteers offering limited services two evenings a week in the Amy Guest Wing of the old Mary Washington Hospital. Over time, the Clinic has evolved into a unique and essential health care provider th...
2022-03-1142 minTime + Talent PodcastTapping the Potential of (Career) VolunteersKara McLaughlin of Mesa Community Action Network shares how “career volunteers” play a pivotal role in guiding her agency’s program development and how they grow their leadership pipeline by fostering a welcoming culture and by integrating volunteers into operations at every level. A New Leaf is a nonprofit organization, providing a broad spectrum of support services to help individuals & families in need. Whether it be the loss of a job, a medical crisis, domestic violence, homelessness, or another crisis, A New Leaf is here to help households recover and thrive. A New Leaf is a cert...
2022-03-041h 09Time + Talent PodcastConnecting with Volunteers During Times of ChangeElena Laguna of Oxfam shares how her organization navigated openings and closings of their retail shops due to COVID, which are the primary source of unrestricted funding for the organization’s work, all while maintaining a sense of community amongst their volunteers. Oxfam is an international non-governmental organization working with others to challenge inequality, overcome poverty and work with people to thrive, not just survive. For over 75 years, Oxfam has led a movement of people dedicated to ending extreme poverty. The organization works with over 18,000 volunteers annually in their network of approximately 600 local charity shops, at festivals an...
2022-02-2550 minTime + Talent PodcastQuilting for JusticeLauren Black from the Social Justice Sewing Academy talks about the opportunity her organization had to completely rethink the way they engaged volunteers, and to launch an entirely new volunteer engagement strategy during a pandemic. What do you do when a pandemic strikes and your organization’s mission is running workshops for kids and teens? You launch an entirely new strategy engaging individual skills-based volunteers - at least that’s what you do if you’re the Social Justice Sewing Academy! Founded in 2017, the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA) is a non-profit organization that aims to emp...
2022-02-1832 minTime + Talent PodcastHow Remote Volunteering Gave this Organization an Edge!Michele Wiesner of Hire Heroes USA shares how her organization was given an “edge” when it comes to engaging volunteers during a pandemic and how they have been growing capacity through remote volunteering since 2005. Hire Heroes USA provides employment assistance services to thousands of transitioning military members each year. Through personalized service and support, they help veterans and military spouses get hired, and they help companies hire and retain them. As the director of capacity building, Michele leads a team of six full-time volunteer program managers who are responsible for engaging and supporting volunteers in thei...
2022-02-1148 minTime + Talent PodcastManaging Change through Strategic CommunicationsElizabeth Garrabrant from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective shares how she’s engaging new types of volunteers in new ways to meet the needs of her community during the second year of the pandemic. The Mid-Ohio Food Collective serves 20 counties in central and eastern Ohio. They run a foodbank as well as a community kitchen and market. They also operate a farm, and farmacy - providing healthy food options to ensure that community members stay healthy even while facing food insecurity. During the pandemic the Mid-Ohio Food Collective saw the need in the community increase while th...
2022-02-0437 minTime + Talent PodcastEasy Technology Solutions for Older Adult VolunteersSara Bumgarner, Volunteer Services Manager and RSVP Director of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of the Treasure Coast shares how her organization re-purposed use of a simple online device to help volunteers and patients stay connected during COVID. The VNA of the Treasure Coast was founded over 40 years ago with the distinct mission of fulfilling the need to provide homecare for local residents of Indian River County, Florida.The VNA operates Hospice House, a 12-room state of the art facility privately nestled on hospital grounds, Hidden Treasures Thrift Stores to help fund hospice services, and offers private...
2022-01-2845 minTime + Talent PodcastWhy Do Volunteer Managers Adopt New Technology?Mark Hager shares his exciting research on technology adoption in volunteer management. This research was conducted in conjunction with CCVA and focused on CVAs and how they’ve changed or adopted technology during the pandemic. Mark Hager has been leading the field in research on volunteer management and engagement for years. He has recently released an update on his original Volunteer Management Capacity Study and his new work on Technology Evolution in Volunteer Administration. He joins us to discuss what he learned in this new TEVA study, and what that might mean for the leaders of volunteers an...
2022-01-2159 minTime + Talent PodcastWelcome to Season 3!Tobi Johnson, President & Founder of VolunteerPro, and Jennifer Bennett, Director, Education and Training at VolunteerMatch talk about the Season 3 themes and their thoughts on how leaders of volunteers are continuing to adapt and evolve to engaging volunteers during the ongoing pandemic. Season 3 of the Time + Talent Podcast is finally here! Tobi and Jennifer are back to share exciting and inspirational stories from practitioners in the field of volunteer management. We didn’t think we’d still be talking about COVID and a global pandemic in 2022, but we are, and this season highlights the organizations that are not just...
2022-01-2140 min
Advancing The ProfessionSeason 1 Episode 7 Tobi JohnsonIn the penultimate episode of series one, Rob talks to Tobi Johnson, investigating the place and value of research and data in informing advanced practice and learning.
Tobi Johnson is an internationally sought-after expert, consultant, and
master trainer in volunteer engagement. She is known for her modern
thought leadership, highly practical evidence-based strategies, and
innovative, “big hat” thinking around engaging, supporting, and
acknowledging the work of volunteers.
She is the President of Tobi Johnson & Associates, a consulting firm
whose mission is to help nonprofit organizations make connections with
remarkable volunteers. In 2015, she founded VolunteerPro, an online
training and networking community for...
2021-09-2752 min
Time + Talent PodcastBecoming an Architect of the Volunteer ExperienceDuring Faiza’s work with volunteers, she has radically shifted how she sees her role and the work of leading and engaging volunteers. Initially, she focused on the processes - ensuring that her work, the work of onboarding and managing volunteers, was systematic and thorough. But now she sees her role as an internal consultant and facilitator to help ensure that others in the organization are successfully engaging and building relationships with volunteers. Faiza shares how the YMCA of Greater Toronto - the largest provider of childcare services in the Metro Area - has implemented this strategy. And...
2020-11-0949 min
Time + Talent PodcastTransforming Your Volunteer Strategy from the Ground UpSOAR365 (formerly the Greater Richmond Arc) was founded 65 years ago by parents determined to find new and different ways to support their children with disabilities. The agency provides a range of services and employment opportunities for people of all ages with a wide range of abilities. Alison was hired a few years ago to transform their volunteer strategy. With the agency goal of “becoming Best-in-Class in all that we do,” the agency’s executive director included volunteer engagement in that aspiration. He understood the power of volunteers and assigned Alison the task of remaking the volunteer program from t...
2020-11-0248 min
Time + Talent PodcastCorporate Social Responsibility Its a Two-Way StreetShow Notes: Nicolle Lee from Voya Financial joins us to pull back the curtain and share her company's employee volunteer program's strategies. Voya Financial has just seen an increase in participation in their volunteer events they've also discovered additional benefits to deploying employees as volunteers in the community. In the past, Voya Financial’s Employee Volunteer Program was similar to many - legacy events that were uninspired and unfocused. But not anymore. Voya decided to re-energize their EVP by focusing on completing activities that directly support their purpose to help “All Americans Retire Better.” Voya...
2020-10-2633 min
Time + Talent PodcastStrengthening the Impact of Young Professional VolunteersShow Notes: Like many organization’s Habitat for Humanity, NYC has faced challenges when tapping into the time and talent of young professionals, but Ricardo Sebastian seems to have found the secret to success! When Ricardo took over the management of the Board he narrowed the focus of the Young Professionals Board to advocacy and fundraising and asked all current members to reapply. He wasn’t discouraged when only 3 existing members wanted to continue, and through careful and thoughtful recruitment he was able to build the Board to 21 members. Prior to the pandemic, the...
2020-10-1950 min
Time + Talent PodcastDigital Transformation as the New Normal - Moving Mentoring OnlineOasis Institute is the largest intergenerational K-3 mentoring program in the nation with 83 school districts and 4000 tutors. The average volunteer is a 72-year-old woman - many are former teachers, moms, grandmas, or others who have worked with children. They volunteer for an hour a week, and with an average tenure of 17 years. All tutoring took place in person before COVID-19 required a pivot. With shelter-in-place, they had to reinvent their whole program. Elizabeth worked to understand what volunteers wanted to do, what the school’s policies were, and what might work moving forward. She invited volunteers to co...
2020-10-1240 min
Time + Talent PodcastBuilding Community Together - Online & During a PandemicCedars has been supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 1919. They work together with the people they serve — as individuals deserving of respect, personal choice, and the chance to develop interests, skills, and independence. They’re residential and day programs are known for creating a life-affirming, loving environment in which personal accomplishments are celebrated, individual skills are recognized and participants are able to live creative, productive, and joyous lives. But Cedars has been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic and a particularly devastating wildfire season in northern California. When the pandemic hit, the agency doubled down o...
2020-10-0536 min
Time + Talent PodcastDignity & Respect Extends to Volunteers TooMetrocrest Services in the greater Dallas Area provides food and support services to 600-800 clients a week. Food Pantry, Rides, Home Repair, Consignment Store, Ambassador - social media, represent MCS in the community. While they had a diverse clientele, volunteers came from the surrounding suburbs and didn’t reflect the diverse community they served. Brittni really wanted volunteers to better reflect the community as well as inspire the next generation of volunteers. The community is beginning to gentrify but there are still needs. Brittni shares her personal story to educate volunteers, and there’s no judgment - the...
2020-09-2839 min
Time + Talent PodcastThe Hard Truth: Diversity & Inclusion from the Volunteer PerspectiveAfter decades as a leader of volunteers for high-profile national charities in the UK, Helen Timbrell switched gears to work as an organizational development consultant and coach. This afforded her the opportunity to develop and collaborate on unique research, and with a PhD she has the ability to straddle both practitioner and academic worlds. Earlier this year, Helen conducted qualitative research into the experiences of volunteers and race. “What the bloody hell are you doing here? A comparative study of the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and White volunteers in four organisations” was completed in Marc...
2020-09-281h 00
Time + Talent PodcastWelcome to Season 2!What do you get when you interview a slate of talented leaders of volunteers and nonprofits professionals who understand the power of community? You get Season 2 of the Time + Talent podcast! We couldn’t be more appreciative of our smart and dedicated guests this season and can’t wait to give you the rundown on what you can expect. We have deep respect for the talented people who lead volunteer programs -- their leadership skills are being tested in the current environment, but they are undaunted. In the Season 2 kick-off, we discuss how putting relationships with...
2020-09-2839 min
Time + Talent PodcastThe Rewards & Challenges of Nonprofit Board Diversity - Part 2In Part 2 Dabash Negash from NYC Service shares ideas for starting a conversation and setting some goals and practices to help your organization understand and achieve better Board diversity, equity and inclusion. If you missed Episode 108 you can hear her discuss the results and findings from their survey and report on Board diversity in New York City. In Part 2 Dabash discusses ways to take action on addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion for Board members. Dabash encourages everyone to use the data in their report as well as other similar reports like the 2019 Volunteer...
2019-11-2524 min
Time + Talent PodcastThe Rewards & Challenges of Nonprofit Board Diversity - Part 1In 2018 NYC Service partnered with the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee to conduct a survey on nonprofit board diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) gaps, strategies, recommendations and resources. The full report on their findings entitled What Lies Beneath: The State of NYC Nonprofit Board Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion can be found HERE. In this episode, Dabash Nagash joins us to talk about the survey, the report, and what they learned. She’ll discuss ways to put the results into action in Episode 109. NYC Service really sees Board members and Board service as a key way tha...
2019-11-2523 min
Time + Talent PodcastDigital Team Building with Remote VolunteersElise Segars from Crisis Text Line shares her experience motivating, inspiring, and building relationships with volunteers that she never meets face to face. We talk about what’s worked, what wasn’t as successful, and how their recognition strategy is designed to ‘surprise and delight’ their volunteers. At Crisis Text Line, volunteers must complete 30 hours of online training before they are certified to begin work as an online Crisis Counselor. Because Crisis Counselors live all around the U.S. and volunteer from their homes or work using the agency’s platform, Crisis Text Line has had to pay special at...
2019-11-1828 min
Time + Talent PodcastDesigning a Leadership Pipeline for 23,000 VolunteersThat’s not a typo – the New York Roadrunners, the organization that plans running events including the New York City Marathon, engages 23,000 volunteers a year. Erika Amaya joins us to talk about how she couldn’t make that happen without volunteer leaders. As the manager of a “mega program” that engages over 23,000 volunteers a year, volunteer leadership is critical. But, in recent years, the New York Road Runners found they were losing the legacy volunteers they had counted on for so many years due to volunteer retirements. So, they took action and revamped their volunteer leadership training and developm...
2019-11-0727 min
Time + Talent PodcastBuilding an Army of Volunteer AdvocatesCarla Lehn had a vision for how volunteers could transform the California State Library system. She talks about what she learned, the unexpected benefits of gathering feedback, and how she literally wrote the book on the transformative power of volunteer advocates! Carla worked in the recent past with the California State Library to build the capacity of the state network through deeper volunteer engagement. Through this process, she introduced libraries to the concept of skilled volunteering and began to work with local libraries to develop community leaders. When she began the process of c...
2019-11-0427 min
Time + Talent PodcastUsing Radical Transparency to Build Buy-InOpen, honest, and transparent communication can produce real results when applied to introducing and implementing changes to a volunteer engagement strategy. Kendra Baumer shares the success she’s had at the New York–New Jersey Trails Commission. Kendra practices a kind of “compassionate radical transparency” (our words) as her leadership philosophy. When conducting her program assessment, she kept everyone in the loop at every step of the way. This helped build trust in the process and buy-in when she was ready to implement program changes -- all vital for an organization that is 100 years old and steeped in tradi...
2019-10-2827 min
Time + Talent PodcastKey Lessons from 7 Years of Intern IterationsThe Huron River Watershed Council’s internship initiative addresses a trifecta of community needs, intern needs, and agency needs. Jason Frenzel - Volunteer & Stewardship Coordinator - is taking an iterative approach to its design and his approach has evolved over the years to become ever more aligned with the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) goals for the organization. In addition, the internship program contributes to growing future scientists and community members that will become ambassadors and continue to advocate for the health of the watershed. Internships also forge strong alliances with local educational institutions. He...
2019-10-2127 min
Time + Talent PodcastPutting Volunteer Wellness FirstAs a wellness organization, one of the aims of Beach Cities Health District is to impact the health and wellbeing of volunteers themselves. Through their research, they have found that volunteers who reach a threshold of at least two hours a week of volunteering are more likely to realize health benefits. So, they work to engage volunteers at this level. While many leaders of volunteers focus on what supporters can do for them, Megan recognizes the need to help meet the emotional and motivational needs of volunteers as well. As a manager of talent across the organization, s...
2019-10-1425 min
Time + Talent PodcastWelcome to the T+T Podcast - Bold Practices in Volunteer EngagementTobi Johnson, President & Founder of VolunteerPro, and Jennifer Bennett, Senior Manager, Education & Training at VolunteerMatch talk about why they started the Time + Talent podcast and outline the trends and themes that define this first season. Don't forget to subscribe to this show!
2019-09-0629 min