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ASU Lodestar Center offers nationally recognized training to boost nonprofits' efficiency
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Grant from governor's office helps organizations learn best practices for recruiting, keeping volunteers
by Mary Beth Faller for ASU Now, published December 18, 2018
The lifeblood of any nonprofit organization is its volunteers — those people who gladly donate their time for a cause that stirs their passion.
Thanks to a new grant from the Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith, and Family, Arizona State University is helping nonprofits in the state to better manage — and appreciate — their volunteers. The ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation won the funding last summer to offer the nationally recognized “Service Enterprise Initiative” program. Ten state nonprofits are wrapping up the training now, and the center is accepting applications for the next cohort to begin in February.
“It shows our volunteers that we’re really trying,” said Elaine Starks, executive director of Power Paws, a Scottsdale-based organization that trains assistance dogs. The nonprofit has about 30 volunteers and aims to place about 12 dogs a year with people who have diabetes or post-traumatic stress disorder or who need mobility assistance. Volunteers foster the dogs while they are being trained.
“Some of our volunteers have been with us for 10 years, and we want to show them that we’re making an investment in them and recognizing them.”
The grant allows Lodestar to offer the program at a cost of only $430 for the nonprofits, which can then begin the national certification process by the Points of Light Foundation, a nationwide organization that works to increase and improve volunteer service. The Service Enterprise Initiative training is based on research that pinpointed 10 practices that nonprofits should incorporate to be most efficient, such as standardizing training, setting up a tracking system and communicating clear expectations.
The training helps nonprofits of any size to become more effective, according to Cynthia Thiede, director of professional development education for the ASU Lodestar Center’s Nonprofit Management Institute. The center is in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.
“They all want to do better at managing their volunteers, and they want a higher retention rate,” she said.
The Points of Light Foundation estimates that, after the training, organizations can expect a return of $3 to $6 for every $1 invested in effective volunteer engagement. The research found that nonprofits that engage volunteers in productive ways are equally as effective as agencies without volunteers, but at almost half the median budget.
Starks started to revamp the volunteer procedures at Power Paws after she was promoted to executive director a year ago, and she said the Service Enterprise Initiative training has improved that process.
“It helped me to see that we needed to provide our volunteers with more structure,” she said. “To have an invested volunteer, you need to give them an outline of your expectations.”
Previously, Power Paws volunteers had to agree to a two-year commitment. Now, in the new system, dogs will attend training more frequently, reducing the commitment to one year, and volunteers will get a better picture throughout the process of how close their dog is to being placed. In addition, other volunteers will provide short-term respite to the dog-fostering volunteers.
“Our volunteer program was put together 17 years ago, and it needed to be freshened up,” Starks said.
Pat Bell-Demers, executive director of the Sonoran Arts League, said the training revealed a lot of “aha moments.”
“It was an eye-opener to get through the diagnostic and uncover those weaknesses and those strengths,” she said.
The Sonoran Arts League, which is based in Cave Creek and has more than 400 volunteers, promotes arts in the community with exhibits, classes, artists-in-residence, studio tours, veterans’ programs and a gallery.
One of the training sessions teaches nonprofits how to calculate the return on investment for volunteers’ work.
“Being able to identify the value that these individuals bring is priceless,” Bell-Demers said. “They open up doors, bring us relationships and help further our mission.”
The training helped the league set up a strategic action plan, she said.
“Boards of directors come and go all the time, but this plan is timeless,” she said.
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