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Workplace volunteering is a growth industry as more and more companies – from the Fortune 500 to small local firms – are investing to support their employees’ community activities.

As your company’s workplace volunteer director, you probably have a small central team (or maybe it’s only you!) responsible for a national, or perhaps an international, program.  You depend for success on a decentralized group of regular employees who have volunteered to lead on the local level.  Like platoon sergeants in the army, they are your program’s management front line!  They’re the ones most likely to directly select the projects, recruit project leaders and volunteers, plan and implement the activities, recognize the participants, measure the results, generate publicity and keep you – and company management – informed.  And all this on top of their regular job!

Now, you can offer your front line volunteer leaders effective training that will help build your program’s capacity to serve the company and the community.

Taught by David Warshaw, past director of General Electric’s award winning global employee volunteer program and Founder of Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions, this workshop will present tried techniques and best practices from companies around the world that will enhance the confidence and improve the skills of those most important to your company’s community success. 

Subject Summary – Among the workshop topics are:

• Understanding strategy: Help your front-line volunteer managers interpret your corporate community strategy for the local market.  Have them become effective eyes and ears for what’s working, and what’s not, so you can improve your program’s return on investment.
• Companies are from Mars; nonprofits are from Venus:  Successful community partnerships require an understanding of both side’s mission and motivations.  Learn the nonprofit lingo and how to work across sectors with effectiveness and understanding.
• Choosing projects with impact: More can always be done in the community than your teams have time or resources to accomplish. Your leaders will learn tried and true methods for selecting those projects with the best chances for success and the highest impact.
• Building Effective Teams:  Help front-line leaders recruit the project managers needed to organize a variety of activities over the course of a year and to engage and motivate a cadre of volunteers by recognizing employee passions while aligning them with the needs of the community and the company’s strategic goals.
• Implementation 101: What does it take to plan and carry out a stellar volunteer event?  From checklists to contingencies, learn what the experts have learned from successes and failures.  Measurement and management feedback techniques will be presented also.
• Don’t Hide Your Light Under a Bushel:  With training that builds confidence, front line volunteer leaders can be effective media spokespersons for your company and the community.   
• And Don’t Forget to Say Thanks!  Motivating volunteers to come back a second, a third… and more… times to company volunteer activities is enhanced by strong recognition programs.  And they don’t have to be expensive.  Some great peer-to-peer examples of effective recognition will be presented. 
  

Conducting the Program

All you need to provide is a room and a crowd!  Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions will provide the rest.  We will work with you to assure that the topics are tailored to your company’s strategy and unique situation.  A variety of schedules can be implemented:

• Ideally, the program should be conducted over a full day. 
• Half-day workshops can be provided by selecting from among the topics of the full-day session. 
• A series of distance-learning Internet sessions (typically 1 hour each) can be used to impart the information to a decentralized group of volunteer leaders.

Vistas Volunteer Management will meet with company volunteer directors to develop an agreed upon course curriculum and provide course materials for duplication and distribution in advance of the session.

Program Costs

Program costs are competitve, and include all preparation and materials.  Phone call meetings to plan the program are included.  In addition to program fee, VistasVMS will request reimbursement for Travel and Living expense.  Additional fees and T&L will be charged if face-to-face planning sessions are required. 

Three options are avaialable for this workshop: Full-day (six hours) or half-day (three hours)  in-person sessions, or a series of hour-long Distance Learning sessions.   For Distance Learning sessions, any additional costs for internet and voice connections will be billed without mark-up.  Of course, a company's existing systems can be used.  

For More Information and to book a workshop, contact:
David Warshaw, Founder and Principal, Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions (see below).