Advocacy, Ethics, and Trends
Advocacy
- Center for Public Research & Leadership’s Intermediary Organizations and Education Innovation examines the role of intermediary organizations with innovative education practices and provides an evaluative framework, rubrics, and tools for assessing the organization’s readiness for and success at employing the strategies outlined in the report. This report also provides toolkits for capacity building, network weaving, and system cultivating.
- E-Volunteerism Article Archives (need to subscribe) links to articles on all of its volunteer subjects.
- MAVA Research and Initiatives provides links with research/resources to specific initiatives like immigrant and refugee communities, inclusive volunteerism, and rural volunteerism.
- Muster is a leading grassroots advocacy software.
- National Council of Nonprofits’ Everyday Advocacy Resources provides helpful how-to sheets, and information about federal, state, and local lobbying laws.
- Nonprofits’ Internal Marketing and Its Influence on Volunteers’ Experiences and Behavior research article demonstrates how internal marketing is positively associated with volunteer satisfaction (must be a subscriber to view).
- Leroux Kivi Miller’s Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause discusses how to shape a nonprofit’s marketing platform to build support for its mission and programs. Reviewers dubbed it as a down-to-earth book with reader-friendly tips.
- Nonprofit Pro’s Demonstrating Effective Leadership to Better Service Your Nonprofit and Donors includes suggestions from a CEO of a nonprofit organization regarding workplace adjustments, big picture, assessing leadership talent, funders, communication, and more.
- Nonprofit Quarterly asks Are Volunteers and Nonprofits a Heavenly Match? in an article providing insight into the value and relative necessity of volunteers among nonprofits.
- Nonprofit Times' "Chatbots Catching On As Engagement Tool reports on a nonprofit that utilizes Facebook Messenger chatbots instead of ads or posts.
- Nonprofit Times’ "Meaningful Engagement: How Small Organizations Can Design and Sustain Young Professionals’ Engagement" summarizes a PowerPoint presentation looks at competencies and poses reflection questions.
- Nonprofit Quarterly's "Philanthropy’s Response to COVID-19: 3 Foundation Leaders Discuss Priorities" covers the role of institutional philanthropy in a crisis of this scale; what the speakers’ foundations are doing; potential long-term changes to philanthropy; and guidance for grant-seekers. A webinar was also hosted.
- SalsaLabs blog post, Nonprofit Advocacy Examples: 5 Successful Strategies, addresses advocacy strategies and pain points with click-to-call advocacy, social advocacy, petitions, advocacy events, and campaign reporting.
- This whitepaper from Nonprofit Quarterly, Talent: The Missing Piece of Nonprofit Sustainability, examines the alignment of talent sustainability with other types of sustainability, steps to take, and the sustainability continuum.
- Refer to the Value of Volunteer Time for state-level data on volunteer time, talent, and effort.
- "What Do Federal Coronavirus Bills Mean for Nonprofits?" This article provides a general overview of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, the Families First Act, and the CARES Act.
- Volunteer Protection Act 42 US Code Chapter 139 - VOLUNTEER PROTECTION | US Code; includes sections 42 U.S.C. 14501, 14502, 14503, 14504, and 14505 and stipulates that states have their own volunteer liability laws.
- Read the DELIVER Act of 2019 in House Bill 2928: introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (not current legislation), which requests the Internal Revenue Code be amended to increase the standard charitable mileage rate for delivery of meals to elderly, disabled, frail, and at-risk individuals.
Ethics
- The Ethics of Volunteerism in Translation examines a high-profile beneficiary of volunteer translation, Translators Without Borders, and its role in the platform economy.
- Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Ethics and Nonprofits examines the factors affecting moral conduct and ethical issues in nonprofit organizations.
Trends
Micro (local, individual level) trends impacting individual organizations and associations
Macro (national, international) trends impacting the overall field of volunteer engagement
- Review these accessibility resources from RespectAbility Inclusive Philanthropy, philanthropy’s partner in enabling funders to make the maximum impact in tomorrow’s diverse organizations.
- Disability: IN is a leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion practices, has compiled this resource library for employers.
- Job Accommodation Network (JAN) provides free consulting services for all employers about all aspects of employment accommodations.
- Inclusive Volunteering at The Arc ensures all community members can give back to their communities.
- Fostering Inclusive Volunteering & Service Learning: The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) is composed of partners with expertise in disability, education, employment, and workforce development issues, and is charged with assisting state and local workforce development systems to integrate youth with disabilities into their service strategies.
- Familiarize yourself with some of the current and pending legislation and advocacy in LGBTQIA+ topics using the following resources:
- Dereca Blackmon, former Stanford University Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of the Diversity and Inclusion Office and former Associate Dean and Director of the Diversity and First-Gen Office, is CEO of Inclusion Design Group. Blackmon’s company provides workshops, training, and consulting for groups, businesses, and the like on diversity and inclusion
- Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration’s article, Recognizing Racism in Volunteer Engagement, takes a hard look at the systemic racism underpinning volunteerism culture in the United States.
- Jerome Tennille counters MAVA’s observations with suggestions for Fighting Racism Through Diverse & Inclusive Volunteer Engagement.
Additional Resources:
