Volunteers

I took my 25-year-old special needs daughter to a cheering competition Saturday. She is a competitive cheerleader along with about 20 other special needs young women. My daughter has Down syndrome, autism and Type 1 diabetes. And, brace yourself, she also has attitude. She says things like "What’s up, girl?" with just the right notes. Or, if she doesn’t want to acquiesce to a request, she says, "Hmm, let me think." She puts her finger to her pursed lips, and wanders off, successfully avoiding the task. Girlfriend can work the system...

At Turnkey, "incentive" is a dirty word. We know, through our work over almost 30 years, that if we are attempting to elicit a behavior through enticement or incentive, we are on a bad path. If a person is exhibiting the behavior we desire (like fundraising) in order to get something (like a really nice gift), we have a problem...

I had the honor of recently attending a volunteer reception hosted by the Indiana Division of The Salvation Army. Attendees ranged in age from 4 to older than 90 years old. I knew many of the attendees as they participate in a variety of volunteer activities each year...

Recently, we were preparing a collection of stories to share with a campaign steering committee—profound stories of mission impact that moved the heart, and stressed the importance and urgency of the fundraising campaign’s end results...

The Baby Boomer cohort is entering retirement, but they’re not done leaving their marks. Boomers are set to give $8 trillion to charity, in the form of money and volunteer hours, over the next two decades, according to a Merrill Lynch study. Giving by retirees will account for half of all giving by 2025, said…

More and more organizations are screening all of their volunteers—not just those that work with children, the elderly or the disabled. That’s because they understand that failing to screen everyone means they are risking their organization’s assets, reputation and safety....

Super Tuesday results are in. Candidates and prognosticators are busy spinning the results. The candidates, regardless of where they may fall and what the future may hold, have one thing in common: enthusiasm....

Separating mission work from fundraising work is a deeply rooted practice in nonprofit. I challenge that. I challenge the idea that there is any scenario where a complete separation is necessary or more productive than collaboration. Here is a good illustration of what could be....

It’s no secret: Donors are a nonprofit’s lifeline. But money isn’t the only thing worth giving ... or getting. Yes, cash keeps the cause funded (and the office lights on), but the contributions of volunteers are worth their weight in gold. When volunteers give their time, they take an active role in the organization’s mission and pledge their support to the cause. Clearly, volunteers are valuable. But they aren’t always easy to come by...

Relay for Life sprang from nothing in 1985 to more than $400 million per year at its height. In spite of that gargantuan success, no other nonprofit has been able to put the volunteer-driven model to work in the same way. Why is that? Why have no other organizations been able to get volunteers to handle events in the same way or fundraise at the same levels?...