Click here to download and print a copy of workshop details

But for many nonprofits, managing corporate volunteers is a challenge.  Often, they don’t fit into an ongoing volunteer management scheme and need “special handling” to be effective. Rather than individual volunteers willing to serve on an ongoing basis, corporations more typically provide groups of employees looking for done-in-a-day or other episodic projects.  Many times, lack of success is due to miscommunication about goals and expectations.  In many ways, companies are from Mars; nonprofits are from Venus. 

Breaking through to greater understanding can provide new and powerful volunteer resources to fulfill nonprofit missions.  In a workshop taught by David Warshaw, former director of General Electric’s award winning global employee volunteer program and founder of Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions, agency directors and managers of volunteers can learn from tried and true best practices how to develop relationships with business that can build their agency’s capacity to deliver on mission objectives.

Workshop Summary

The Companies are from Mars; Nonprofits are from Venus workshop will encompass the following topics:

• The challenges and benefits of volunteers in nonprofit agencies: Using Urban Institute research, gain insight into the “net benefit” of your agency’s volunteer program.
• What business wants: Understand the “business case” for corporate investment in workplace volunteerism; what are their “return on investment” (ROI) measures. Learn how to communicate to businesses how they’ll benefit by volunteering with you.
• Getting to “yes:”  Learn how to establish a good working relationship with a business, whether for a one-day event or an ongoing program, by clarifying expectations on both sides and setting clear goals.
• The (often winding) road to success: A step-by-step roadmap to achieving positive results.
• From project to partnership: Getting beyond a one-time transaction to tap into the broader capacity-building resources many companies have to offer.

The Companies are from Mars; Nonprofits are from Venus workshop can be offered in two models.

• For a single agency:  This is an ideal process for an agency Board of Directors or professional staff that is analyzing its volunteer program quality and capacity to serve in the community.  It can clarify how working with business volunteers can be a plus for the organization and lead to the development of goals and plans to engage in this growing movement among corporations.
• Sponsored by a community convener (e.g., Volunteer Centers, Corporate Volunteer Councils, DOVIAs, or other local networks of volunteer program managers: All it takes is a hall and a crowd.  Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions will assist with marketing templates and tools, provide all course materials and conduct the session.  We will work with the convener to tailor the presentation to community needs and characteristics.   

The workshop is typically presented in a six hour session.  The host will provide suitable training facilities, plus appropriate refreshments for recipients. There is no maximum number of participants, although reasonable size to engage attendees in informal, interactive sessions is preferred. 

Vistas Volunteer Management will meet with the host to agree on any modifications necessary to meet local needs, and will provide course materials for duplication and distribution by the host in advance of the session.

Program Costs

Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions' fees are competitive and include all preparation and materials, plus phone meetings to plan and tailor the workshop to your audience.

Additional costs include Travel and Living Expense for the workshop and, if needed, for face-to-face planning meetings.

Specific fees will be provided via proposal once an outline of your event has been decided.

If hosted by a Volunteer Center or other community convener, registration fees collected in excess of program costs will be retained by that organization.

For More Information and to book a workshop, contact:

David Warshaw, Founder and Principal, Vistas Volunteer Management Solutions (see below).