Thanks to a generous grant from the Leighty Foundation, AL!VE has recently bolstered our work assisting the National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement and other follow up from the 2017 National Summit on Volunteer Engagement Leadership. AL!VE President Elect, Dana Litwin is co-facilitating the Alliance alongside consultant Betsy McFarland. AL!VE is the fiduciary for the National Alliance, which is currently forming an interim leadership team. Over the coming months they will be checking in with everyone who has expressed interest and working to get a long term leadership team in place early in 2018.  As part of the Leighty grant, AL!VE Association Manager Gretchen Jordan, along with some of the board of directors, are facilitating follow up conversations from the 2017 National Summit on topics including industry related communications, research, visioning. With all of these areas in flux for the coming months, AL!VE plans to conduct Summit follow up conversations at numerous local and regional associations, delivering updates on these topics and hosting listening sessions. We hope this will assist the Alliance in its preparations into the future, and help AL!VE become more useful to our members and other practitioners. If your local association would like to get more information and potential get involved in these developments, please let us know!
 
All my best,
Jason

New to AL!VE or just want to check in?  
Find out what's happening or get a quick fix of networking with your peers. 

New members will get a brief overview of our mission, benefits, activities and committees.  Existing members can get a refresher, check in and ask questions. We'll share upcoming announcements, activities, calendar events and trainings.

Webinars will be approximately 30 minutes with an additional 30 minutes allocated for networking or discussion.  

Register for one of our upcoming webinars:
Wednesday, August 29^th, 2018; 12pm EST / 9am PST
Monday, October 8th, 2018; 2pm EST / 11am PST

To register, click on the title webinar name below or visit our calendar.

The Accidental Volunteer Manager
08/09/2018 (fee-based)

AL!VE Exclusive Member Benefit: Free Volunteer Management Software!
08/15/2018 (members only)

AL!VE Associations of Volunteer Engagement Professionals Quarterly Roundtable
08/15/2018 (members only)

VolunteerPro: Digital Volunteer Communications: Keeping the Connection with Volunteers You Don't See
08/22/2018 (fee-based)

Information session: 'Leading the Way Not Managing the Day' Hybrid Conference October 2018
08/29/2018 (free)

VolunteerPro: Take Your Volunteer Training Online
09/27/2018 (fee-based)

AL!VE Academy: Stacking Up Report - What CEO's Say About Our Profession
09/28/2018 (fee-based)

Colorado Conference on Volunteerism
10/10/2018 (fee-based)

AL!VE Academy Partner Webinar: Finding the right questions to get the right answers for recruiting volunteers! Presented by VySys

Welcome to our newest AL!VE members:

Kelly McCulley-Miko
Loveland Living Planet Aquarium

Ruth Paulus
Hospice of Miami Valley

Melanie Aronhalt
maronhalt@denrescue.org
Join Date: 06/25/2018

Liz Mataya
Sigma Sigma Sigma National Sorority

Tiffany Holmes
AARP Foundation RSVP Chicago

Lindsey Acciarito
Hire Heroes USA

Janis Ferguson
James Place/Elmbrook Church

Jessica Ames
The American Society for Nondestructive Testing

Robert Ashcraft
ASU Lodestar Center

Jennifer Flynn
Meals on Wheels

William Miklosey
AESOP's Attic Inc.

Tabitha Shinn
Tulsa Habitat for Humanity

Marie Dabis
Denver Police Department

Yvonne Dunphe
Five Rivers Metro Parks

Barbara Knapper-Bolden
BKB Solutions

Debra Tauer
Wisconsin Volunteer Coordinators Association

Monica Barnes
Rialto Center for the Arts

A big THANK YOU to these renewing members:

Harriett Edwards
NC State University- NC Cooperative Extension
Member Since: 06/05/2009

Susan J. Ellis
Energize, Inc.
Member Since: 06/05/2009

Shirley Conger
Member Since: 06/07/2009

Gretchen Jordan, CVA
Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement
Member Since: 06/08/2009

Wanda Bailey
Member Since: 06/09/2009

Karen McDonald
Anne Arundel County- Dept. of Detention Facilities
Member Since: 06/09/2009

Katherine Campbell, CVA
Member Since: 07/23/2009

Sarah Elliston, CVA
New Thought Unity Center
Member Since: 05/17/2010

Meghan Kaskoun, CVA
Cincinnati Arts Association- Aronoff Center
Member Since: 07/20/2010

Jeannie Citerman-Kraeger
Cleveland-Cuyahoga Workforce Development Board
Member Since: 06/20/2012

Allyson Drinnon
Habitat for Humanity International
Member Since: 06/24/2014

Corina Sadler, CVA
Volunteers in Plano
Member Since: 07/02/2015

Heather Harrington
Volunteers in Plano
Member Since: 07/02/2015

Rebecca Finberg
Volunteers in Plano
Member Since: 07/02/2015

Andrea Hill
Leadership Memphis- Volunteer Memphis
Member Since: 06/27/2016

Kim Soto, CVA
San Diego Humane Society
Member Since: 07/02/2016

Megan Vixie, CVA
Beach Cities Health District
Member Since: 07/14/2016

Angie Drier
Senior Neighbors - RSVP
Member Since: 07/25/2016

Nikki Rossiter
Housing Hope
Member Since: 05/03/2017

Sogia Thach
Beach Cities Health District
Member Since: 06/27/2017

Alejandra Sierra
Beach Cities Health District
Member Since: 06/27/2017

Jennifer Beatty
Universities Space Research Association
Member Since: 07/02/2017

Susan Wolford
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Member Since: 07/11/2017

Michele Rondot
Alberta Health Services
Member Since: 07/20/2017

Ashley Rieser
Animal Friends
Member Since: 07/29/2017

Listed below are upcoming recognized days of service within the next couple of months.  This may be a great opportunity for your organization to host service projects.

World Humanitarian Day
August 19, 2018
Annual event to "pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and to mobilize people to advocate for a more humane world." While volunteers are not specifically mentioned, there is no reason why unpaid humanitarians cannot be recognized alongside paid ones.

September 11^th National Day of Service and Remembrance
September 11, 2018
The September 11^th National Day of Service and Remembrance is the culmination of efforts originally launched in 2002 by the nonprofit 9/11 Day with wide support by the 9/11 community and leading national service organizations.

We are here for you!  If you have a question, recommendation or concern, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@volunteeralive.org. 

Or visit our website at www.volunteeralive.org.

Emerging Leaders Mentor Program
September 2018 - March 2019

AL!VE is dedicated to the professional growth and development of leaders in volunteer engagement. The purpose of the Emerging Leaders Mentor Program is to provide a platform for AL!VE members to connect, share best practices and position themselves as leaders in the field through ongoing professional development and skills building. Participants will paired with AL!VE Mentors to receive individualized coaching and support as well as monthly mentee peer sessions pertaining to leadership development topics.

For more information about this program, commitments and requirements, timeline, etc., please review the AL!VE Emerging Leaders Mentor Program FAQ.

IMPORTANT: If interested in participating, please review the dates for virtual events of this program so you can ensure your attendance. If you have any concerns about this program, please contact Megan Vixie, AL!VE Mentor Program Facilitator at marketing@volunteeralive.org.

Interested?
If interested in becoming a mentee:
Complete the mentee application here.

If interested in serving as a mentor:
Complete the mentor questionnaire here.

Applications and questionnaires are due by Monday, September 3^rd.

We are excited to launch this new benefit and we hope you take advantage of it as a mentee or mentor!

Call for Nominations:
AL!VE Board of Directors

The Call for Nominations for AL!VE Board of Directors is open August 24^th and we are seeking candidates who have a passion for volunteer engagement and the growth and success of the profession. With many new initiatives on the horizon, AL!VE needs and welcomes the enthusiastic participation of its members on the Board of Directors.

Board service is a chance to grow personally and professionally, to develop skills, gain unique experience and make lasting connections with a team of other passionate and motivated professionals throughout the country. The volunteer commitment is an average of 15 hours per month. Individuals may nominate themselves or a colleague.  
 
Our 2019 slate will consist of new board members chosen from those who apply and current board members seeking a second term. We welcome nominations from all regions, with an immediate need of representation from the following regions: Mountain, Upper West, Atlantic and South East.  View a map of the regional representations here.

The nomination process is open August 23^rd through October 19^th, 2018.  The schedule for nominations and elections is as follows:

• Nomination Opens: Friday, August 23^rd, 2018

• Nomination Deadline: Friday, October 19^th, 2018

• Candidate Phone Interviews: October 20^th-31^st , 2018

• Slate Announced: Thursday, November 1^st, 2018

• Voting Opens: Tuesday, November 6^th, 2018

• Voting Closes: Wednesday, November 21^st, 2018

• Election Results Announced: Wednesday, November 28^th, 2018

• New Board Orientation: December 14^th, 2018

• Board Term Begins: Tuesday, January 1^st, 2019

We are asking you to serve. Please share your professional knowledge, expertise, and passion to help us craft and forge the future of the profession. This is an exciting time to join the leadership of AL!VE and help us map our ambitious future. To learn more or apply, visit the 2019 Board Nomination webpage. 

AL!VE Academy Presents:
Community Engagement is More Than Recruitment
Thursday, August 30, 2018
3pm EST / Noon PST
via GoToMeeting
Cost: AL!VE Members (Free) / Non-Members ($25)
To attend this event, register here. 

How do you engage the community to support your cause in ways other than volunteering? Do groups and individuals want to support you, sometimes with a specific idea, but you're not sure how to engage them effectively? This interactive session will ask participants to share best practices and “what works” when it comes to community engagement, so come explore new ideas as well as some proven methods for building and strengthening support from your own community!

About the Presenter:

Mark W. Smith, CVA, is a volunteer engagement and management professional with over 15 years of experience in arts & culture, senior services, and nutrition. Mark currently serves on the Executive Committee as the Secretary for AL!VE and as a board member representing the mountain region. Mark’s community impact includes serving nine years on the DOVIA Colorado board of directors (previously called Denver DOVIA), three years each serving on the steering committees for the Colorado Conference on Volunteerism (CCOV), and National Philanthropy Day in Colorado, mentoring those new to the field, and as a session presenter for CCOV.  In 2015 Mark received the Outstanding Achievement in Volunteer Management Award for his dedication to the profession.

Mark will also be the keynote speaker for the Colorado Conference on Volunteerism, Engage, Unite and Ignite, on October 10th!  Click here to learn more about this conference.

Interested in presenting at an upcoming AL!VE Academy?
AL!VE Academy offers members the opportunity to develop and practice their presentation skills while sharing their expertise with their colleagues. We are looking for members interested in presenting in the 2019 AL!VE Academy. Check out the Get Involved section of our website to learn more or contact Emilie at brometbauer@yahoo.com.

Rural Communities of Practice
Next Topic: Volunteer Leadership Succession
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
3pm EST / Noon PST
via GoToMeeting
Members Only
To attend this event, register here. 

Volunteer Engagement Professionals in small towns face unique challenges and opportunities that aren’t always addressed by advice intended for city-based audiences. There are also fewer opportunities to connect with others doing similar work across the country. That’s what led to the creation of AL!VE’s Community of Practice (CoP) for volunteer engagement professionals in rural communities.
 
Communities of practice are really a semi-informal group of people who have a particular practice in common. The purpose of a CoP is for members to share issues, strategies, best practices, get and receive colleagues' support, make connections, and provide an opportunity to share information, experiences, and resources specific to their shared practice. They connect in a variety of ways, including online networking, occasional meetings, and hosted trainings, or discussions of issues or something unique to their shared practice.
 
The Rural CoP is more than a webinar series, it’s a chance to get to know your peers, and have a network you can go to with questions or to get feedback on new ideas. We hope participants will reach out to each other between webinars as they virtually get to know each other. It’s owned by the group, so share your questions, suggestions for upcoming topics, and resources that others would benefit from.
 
On our first webinar we discussed research conducted by MAVA on rural volunteerism, and how we saw similar themes playing out in our own communities. Coming up this month we’ll dive into the topic of volunteer leadership succession. Many communities have those handful of leaders who are the chair of every committee, for every event, and have been for decades. How have you found success in developing the next generation of volunteer leaders? How have you encouraged current volunteers to be open to new volunteers and new ideas? Bring your challenges, as well as ideas of what’s worked in your community!

October 23^rd or 24^th, 2018

A virtual hybrid conference means a local group (e.g., DOVIA, Volunteer Association or agency) live streams our presenters to their participants.  AL!VE arranges for the speakers, handouts and content.  The group pays a connection fee, arranges for the meeting space, meals, etc., local facilitator, and determines the local cost per person.  The group keeps the proceeds!

Session Topics
How I Learned to Lead My Way and Take Charge of My Day
Leading From Behind  |  Getting A Seat At the Table
 

Would you like to attend an event?
We're excited to announce these cities will be hosting (and more to come):

Wilmington, Delaware
Wichita, Kansas
Castle Rock, Colorado
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Plano, Texas
Burlingame, California
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Corning, New York

Check back at the event website in September when host sites will have their registration links available.

Interested in becoming a host site?
You can register as a host site here or sign up now for our information session:
Wednesday, August 29^th, 1:30pm EST / 10:30am PST

About the Conference:
Presented by AL!VE, Better Impact, and VMPC (Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada), this event is designed for local Associations of Volunteer Engagement Professionals, Volunteer Centers, State Commissions on Volunteerism, Educational institutions, or organizations with a team of volunteer engagement staff.  

Connect with other volunteer engagement professionals during this live-stream conference across North America as remote sites all over the United States and Canada learn locally from national presenters. This event will be presented in a ‘Ted Talks meets Late Night Talk Show’ format, with the opportunity to discuss the speaker's presentation within your local group and pose questions for the panel of presenters. 

The latest issue of the International Journal of Volunteer Administration (IJOVA) features three articles that address important topics for volunteer engagement professionals.

Pet Visitation:  A Study of Hospital Volunteer Motivations
Campbell, Scotland-Coogan, and Werk offer results of a study that explores the motivations for volunteers who bring in their certified dogs to visit children in a pediatric hospital system. This article is very timely as we see more and more debated in the popular press and other outlets about service and support animals.

Integrated Review of Volunteer Retention and Implications for Training
DeBoer and Akdere share a review of literature focusing on human service volunteer retention and key factors of motivation, satisfaction, and socialization. The authors demonstrate their interrelationships as well as how they impact training programs.

Confessions of Three (over) Achievers, Programming for Affiliation-Motivated Volunteers
Culp, Edwards, and Jordan reflect on their conference planning and zest to meet participant’s needs. In a light-hearted manner, yet powerfully, they describe lessons learned and future approach that will meet the needs and desires of those in attendance. Truly, lessons for all of us!

IJOVA is thrilled with the direction we are heading. New ideas and partnerships will certainly bring new opportunities. We welcome you to join us by submitting a manuscript, volunteering to serve as a peer reviewer, promoting the journal, or sharing your feedback! Learn more at www.volunteeralive.org/ijova.

AL!VE hosts a quarterly roundtable discussion for Associations of Volunteer Engagement Professionals.  We will share successes, challenges, resources, templates and information.  These discussions are meant for board of directors or leadership in these local associations, not individual AL!VE members. At each roundtable, we will have updates on our current project to expand services and supports for local associations.
 
August 15th: Peer Recognition (register here) 
Does your association of volunteer engagement professionals recognize your peers?  Join Jennifer Thompson, CVA and Gretchen Jordan, CVA for a roundtable discussion of providing a meaningful ways to recognize the peers in your local community.  We'll share some examples of judging templates, award names, and how to get the word out about all the great and wondrous things your peers have accomplished.

SAVE THE DATE:
November 14th:  Making the Most of Social Media 
Are you making the most of social media for your association of volunteer engagement professionals?  Learn tips & tricks for utilizing Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter to communicate, recruit, inform and train your members and the community about the value of our profession.

For more information or to register for these events, go to our Calendar of Events.

(These topics are subject to change depending on regional or national events).

AL!VE, Advocacy and You

As a professional leader and manager of volunteer engagement, your responsibilities include advocating for volunteers, your programs, your position, your profession, and for volunteerism as an essential foundation of civic and societal health.

AL!VE, as a professional association whose members represent a vast diversity of industries, fields, and perspectives, our responsibility is to provide our membership and the profession with resources on how to be an advocate and current information about trends, legislation, and issues that are relevant and important to our field (like the recent successful funding increase to National Service in the 2019 Appropriations which is described in an America's Service Commissions article that you can find here).

If you have ideas or suggestions of issues, trends, and legislation that you would like to share our learn more about, or if you are interested in researching and sharing advocacy topics, please contact Emilie Bromet-Bauer, AL!VE VP of Programs & Advocacy at brometbauer@yahoo.com.

On September 11-12, join Voices for National Service for Capitol Hill Day 2018 in Washington, D.C. 

Capitol Hill Day - sponsored by CSX - is an excellent opportunity for national service practitioners, alumni, partners, and funders to make sure Congress knows the value and impact that AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs are having on the ground, in their states and districts. 

Registration for Hill Day is free and includes training, materials, and a kick-off reception on Tuesday, September 11 from 5:30-7:30PM. Visits to congressional offices will be on Wednesday, September 12 from 8:30AM-1:00PM.

For more information, visit the Voices for National Service Hill Day website and view the FAQs.

Register for Hill Day today. Registration will close on August 15.