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The global voice of leaders of volunteer engagement.
07/31/2026
FREE training alert! Join a conversation that challenges volunteer engagement professionals to stop minimizing their role and start owning it. Through the lens of professional self-advocacy, this free session explore how to speak to your impact, claim your expertise, and lead with the authority your work deserves.
Register today >> cvacert.org/speakersseries
This is session is available from our partner Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration.
07/31/2026
Did you know? In 1963, the Council of National Organizations for Adult Education produced "Probing Volunteer Staff Relations" -- a kit and manual of two self-inventory questionnaires with remarkable relevance even many decades later! See more milestones from the profession at the Ellis Archive.
Milestones Timeline | Ellis Archive on the Professional Leadership of Volunteers This Milestones Timeline is based on the documents available in our larger database of materials. The Timeline illustrates the chronological progression of pivotal events and trends that influenced the work of volunteer engagement professionals during the 20th century. Each Timeline entry links to a...
07/31/2026
NEW Feature Article!
"The Tangled Web of Making Donations to Complete Court-Ordered Community Service"
Volunteers doing court-ordered community service at nonprofits, NGOs and charities was meant to be an alternative to fines and jail time. But there are nonprofits and probation officers offering another alternative: make a donation to a nonprofit and get a letter for the court saying the mandated hours have been completed.
Is this practice ethical? Is it legal? Should Volunteer Managers agree to collaborate on a unified statement about this practice? The answers are more complicated than you may think. This Engage feature by Volunteer Engagement expert Jayne Cravens explores these issues and their consequences on the Volunteer Engagement field.
https://engagejournal.org/article/tangled-ethical-and-legal-webs-making-donations-complete-court-ordered-community-service
* this article is for Engage members, low cost monthly memberships are available
07/31/2026
Tune in for FREE!
"The Future of Volunteer Engagement Leadership: A Video Conversation"
FREE
Check-in with Rob Jackson, Erin Spink, Betsy McFarland and Faiza Venzant in this on-demand video!
What should the future of Volunteer Engagement Leadership look like? How should the field move forward and what should be considered as we look to the future? This Points of View is a video conversation on these very topics that recently took place between Volunteer Engagement experts Rob Jackson, Erin Spink, Betsy McFarland and Faiza Venzant at the Al!ve conference in Sacramento, CA. This “town hall,” sponsored by the Susan J. Ellis Foundation, provided an extensive reflection on the future of the profession that “was so Susan J. Ellis,” remarked McFarland about the connection to the field’s iconic, legendary leader and co-founder of the Engage journal. “This was the perfect opportunity to take stock and explore where we are, what to do about our challenges and what we need to think about as we go forward.”
https://engagejournal.org/article/points-view-july-2026
07/31/2026
Our new Research to Practice is live!
🌍 In this issue’s Research to Practice, guest authors Rachel Schad, Traci Lato-Smith and Paige Porter from reDirect introduce SEE (Supportive Environments for Effectiveness), a research-backed framework built on decades of environmental psychology research. Using three case studies, they demonstrate how applying SEE can enable simple changes to create more informed, capable and engaged volunteers, and give readers the blueprint to get started.
SEEing Volunteer Engagement from a New Perspective What really stands in the way of great Volunteer Engagement? Funding, leadership buy-in or something less obvious? It can feel difficult or overwhelming to answer this question in today’s fast-paced and resource-constrained workplace environments. This issue’s Research to Practice, written by gu...
07/30/2026
A chance to learn from Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd!
You're Invited to an upcoming webinar!
Incremental Investment in Volunteer Strategy: Measuring What Matters + Demonstrating Impact
featuring Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd & Houston Goodwin
📆 Wednesday, August 19th
at 12:00 - 1:00 pm EST
How do you demonstrate the true value of volunteer engagement beyond volunteer hours?
In the 4th session of our Incremental Investment in Volunteer Strategy series, Rob and Houston will explore practical ways to measure, communicate, and amplify the impact of volunteer engagement.
In this free LIVE webinar, you'll learn:
✔️ Measure outcomes that matter—not just volunteer hours and participation
✔️ Connect volunteer engagement to mission impact, organizational goals, and future investment
✔️ Combine meaningful data with authentic stories to communicate impact effectively
✔️ Build simple, sustainable measurement practices that support continuous improvement and long-term success
Together, they'll discuss how organizations can move beyond basic activity metrics to capture meaningful outcomes, connect volunteer engagement to organizational priorities, and tell compelling stories that resonate with leadership, funders, and community partners.
🎓 Free and Open to the Public 🎓
All registrants will receive a recording of the presentation AND bonus resources.
Join in on the Volunteer Leadership conversation - Register at the link below! ⬇️
07/30/2026
New! The Engage Spark Award
A brand new award for Volunteer Engagement Professionals from Engage.
Find out more and nominate at the link below.
https://buff.ly/D01mito
The Engage Spark Award is Live!
The quarterly Engage Spark Award shines a light on creative Volunteer Engagement ideas, whether they are a small tweak or a bold experiment.
Recognizing individuals who reimagine Volunteer Engagement
Volunteer Engagement innovations aren’t always about sweeping transformations. Sometimes, they begin as sparks from simple ideas, thoughtful adjustments, or pivotal shifts that improve how we engage with volunteers.
In each quarterly issue, the Engage Journal will celebrate a spark.
We want to recognize individuals who are reimagining volunteer engagement through small tweaks or big changes. Whether it’s a fresh approach to recruitment, a shift in designing roles, a new use for technology, or a way to elevate our profession, the Engage Spark Award honors the courage to innovate.
Through this award, we are proud to continue the legacy of Susan J. Ellis, whose life’s work championed the recognition, elevation and celebration of Volunteer Engagement. In that spirit, the award highlights innovation while also honoring the people behind the ideas and their impact on the future of engaging volunteers.
By reading these aawrds in this FREE section you will:
Draw inspiration from stories that showcase creativity and innovation;
Gain insights from ideas applicable to your work; and
Celebrate the recognition of volunteer engagement peers.
Each Engage Spark Award recipient will receive a digital certificate, suitable for framing, in recognition of their contribution. Additionally, each recipient will receive a complimentary one-month subscription to Engage and will be featured in Engage Journal’s social media posts.
Have you tried something different? Something that sparked a positive change? We are calling for submissions of up to 500 words.
Be that spark. Inspire our community of Volunteer Engagement practitioners.
Nominate Yourself for an Engage Spark Award! Here: https://www.e-volunteerism.com/spark-form
07/29/2026
"increasing levels of volunteering in a NHS Neighbourhood, and indeed across a whole system, will help provide significant long-term sustainable health outcomes, regardless of future health priorities and focus."
🌍 Are the health benefits to volunteering becoming more mainstream or do we have more work to do?
Why the NHS should be investing in volunteering I won’t beat about the bush, the Social Return on Investment (SROI) case for the NHS investing in volunteering is huge. Any NHS Neighbourhood or system that is serious about prevention or soc…
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