The Latest from my Blog

Flashback to when I started working in volunteer engagement. I had no clue about email marketing. I had trained as an academic and struggled to write like I talk. I soon realized that this profession involves constantly sending mass emails that:

• Update volunteers on organizational successes and events
• Invite volunteers to events and professional development opportunities
• Thank volunteers for their impact
• Share information about logistics and expectations
• Reflect the organization's brand voice and visuals

It’s a skill I built through partnering with awesome marketing and communications colleagues and self-directed learning. But, I continue to work on it every day.

I recently sat down with Kristi Scott, a non-profit consultant focused on email marketing, to learn some more tips and tricks from her toolbox. She walks me through her five-ingredient recipe for effective mass emailing. Step one: strategy.

Check Out: Sue Carter Kahl's PhD dissertation and blog

I'm a huge fan of Sue Carter Kahl. She's a US-based consultant who bridges volunteer engagement research and practice.

Last week, I made time to read Sue's dissertation "Making The Invisible Visible: Capturing the Multidimensional Value of Volunteerism to Nonprofit Organizations". It is organized as three academic papers analyzing the difference between volunteer value and volunteer worth, the gift economy as a way to understand volunteerism, and how to capture volunteer contributions as more than low-cost labor.

I've gotten so much out of this dissertation, including quotes like this, “Additionally, viewing volunteers as free, or even cheap, labor may lead organizations to underinvest in the volunteer function. Since volunteers are supposed to be a vehicle to save costs, it seems counterintuitive to spend money to support them.” (p. 92)

Interested in discussing Sue's dissertation with me? Reply to this email and let me know!

Looking for some quicker reads? Check out Sue's blog articles on www.volunteercommons.com.

Where You'll Find Me

June 13: Presenting my Volunteer Survey Design Workshop: Making REAL Differences with Data for TAVA at The 519​

July 10: Presenting a webinar on "Storytelling without Exploitation" for Volunteer Toronto

Thanks for reading,

Jessica