Retired Boomers New Army of Volunteers? - Results from the Urban Institute, based on data from the Health and Retirement Survey, show that while most volunteers acquire the volunteer habit while still working, a significant share begins volunteer work after retirement. Among adults who retire, 45 percent engage in formal volunteer activities even though only 34 percent of these same adults volunteered while working. Since boomer cohorts following this group will be much larger, nonprofit organizations seem destined to benefit from a significant growth in the services of retirees. Learn more here. [Source: HandsNet WebClipper]
Guide to Public Involvement in Canada - A new tool for those who are looking to start a public involvement project from scratch has been made available by the Canadian Policy Research Network (CPRN). This guide summarizes the theory of public involvement and provides a few practical examples of how to start your own project. Download the guide here. [Source: CharityVillage.com]
What Motivates Low-Income Volunteers? - Vibrant Abbotsford is engaged in actively learning about what motivates low-income volunteers. Learn more about the volunteer work being done by residents in British Columbia here.
Business Support for Employee Volunteers - Imagine Canada's Knowledge Development Centre has released the results of a survey that examines how Canadian businesses are supporting and encouraging employee volunteerism. The survey found that most businesses operating in Canada (71%) either encourage or accommodate employee volunteer activities during working hours and/or encourage employees to volunteer on their own time. Read the full report here. [Source: Charity Village]
Canada's Greying Population - The baby boomer generation's entrance to retirement will change the face of philanthropy in Canada, according to a TD Economics report. The report concludes that charitable services will strain under the pressure of the aging population. The bright side is the expected large, highly skilled volunteer pool baby boomers will generate. Many will emerge as social entrepreneurs, as well. For more information or to download the full report, click here. [Source: Charity Village]
Shifting views of retirement - As baby boomers edge toward retirement, they have definitive ideas and expectation about how they will spend their time. Find out how some organizations are tapping into this pool of potential volunteers, and more deeply engaging the baby boomers that already volunteer for them here. [Source: Charity Village]
Retaining Retirees - This report from the Center for Corporate Citizenship and Volunteers of America indicates that businesses have an important role to play in helping employees and retirees navigate transitions in and between work and civic engagement. Download the report here. [Source: FNC Now]
Corporate Challenge on Volunteerism - Volunteer Canada and The Home Depot Canada announced that they are working together to establish the largest corporate volunteerism initiative in the country. The Corporate Challenge on Volunteerism is calling upon businesses of all sizes to encourage their employees to volunteer more than 150,000 hours of their time in a collaborative effort next year in the communities where they work and live. Businesses will have access to the tools they need to organize a volunteer project, as well as resources to show employers how to engage employees in volunteerism, how to select a community project, and how to organize a volunteer event. For more information, click here. [Source: Charity Village]
Satisfaction and Engagement in Retirement - The Urban Institute analyzes patterns of engagement (defined as time spent in paid work, formal volunteering, informal volunteering, and caregiving activities) among retirees and how engagement relates to their retirement satisfaction. Engaged retirees are significantly more likely to be satisfied with retirement than their non-engaged counterparts, regardless of age, sex, race, marital status, education, mental and physical health, or income. However, retirees who only provide caregiving are significantly less likely to be satisfied. Access the report here. [Source: HandsNet WebClipper]
Volunteer hour - What's an hour of your time worth? Independent Sector estimates that the value of a volunteer hour in 2004 was $17.55 (up from $17.19 in 2003). The total value of 2004 volunteer hours equals approximately $272 billion in services, assuming volunteers gave the same amount of time as in previous years. Read more by clicking here. [Source: Council on Foundations]
Volunteering may be bad for your health - A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health concludes that while volunteering is good for the community, it might have adverse effects on those who volunteer. A survey of 530 people found that the greater the diversity of involvement with a voluntary group, the worse the physical health of the volunteer was. Some people interviewed by researchers believe their health was negatively affected by a number of elements associated with volunteering, including witnessing difficult and depressing situations, observing conflict, and pushing themselves to do too much. View the full report here. [Source: Charity Village]
Volunteer Management Practices - A report from the Urban Institute focuses on charities' adoption of nine volunteer management practices: supervision and communication, liability coverage, screening and matching, regular collection of volunteer numbers and hours written policies and job descriptions, recognition activities, measurement of volunteer impacts, training and professional development, and training for paid staff in working with volunteers. The report includes the extent of the adoption of these practices by charities with different characteristics, and the relationship between volunteer management practices and retention of volunteers. Read more here. [Source: HandsNet WebClipper]
Boomer Volunteers for Communities in Need - A new report from the Harvard School of Public Health-MetLife Foundation Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement suggests that baby boomers have the potential to become a social resource of unprecedented proportions by actively participating in the life of their communities. Read the brief or download the entire report here. [Source: CharityNews-USA]
Volunteer Value Added Project - From the website: "The Volunteer Value Added project calculates the value added by volunteers in non-profit and co-operative organizations, and recognizes their economic and social contributions." The website includes example of survey questions to get information to calculate out-of-pocket expenses and secondary outputs such as the personal benefits received by volunteers as a result of volunteering for your organization. Visit the website here. [Source: OHPE Bulletin 340.2]
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