Volunteering

We must never lose sight of the fact that volunteers are not an interruption of our work, but rather our partners in accomplishing it.

While perhaps an obvious sentiment, it’s a worthwhile reminder that our sector cannot function without them: we need volunteers to run programs and deliver services; we need them to help us fundraise and generate revenue; and we need them to govern our organizations as board members.

We turn our attention in this edition of Philanthropic Trends Quarterly to volunteers, with a particular focus on the areas of governance and fundraising. We do so not only because of their importance, but also because we are finding ourselves more and more often working with our clients in areas related to their volunteers. Whether developing a volunteer structure for their campaigns, coaching them on how to create volunteer impact or reviewing their governance mandate, we are seeing that this is an area of much growth and change.