People often express amazement at how many volunteers across the nation work as VITA Volunteers, taking many hours of training and then reporting after work each day or spending all day Saturdays during tax season preparing other people's taxes.
This short video offers some insight into that and offers food for thought for management about motivating paid employees as well.
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 3, 2009
NonProfit Conversation
So many of my friends are in the non-profit world, this blog, NonProfit Conversation, hosted by Bunnie Reidel is a good resource...
Reading the articles made me reflect on my own volunteer management experiences. I've been in volunteer management for more than 20 years; and I've been a volunteer much longer than that. When you find a good resource, you hang onto it. Web 2.0 makes it so much easier to hang onto those valuable resources but what's even better is that they're typically updated frequently so the resources are more relevant than old handouts and paper-based information.
If you're not making use of Web 2.0 tools, maybe you should take a closer look and see if you're missing out on some time-saving efficiency tools that would make your professional life a bit more manageable!
...to do your best, you have to be at your best...
Reading the articles made me reflect on my own volunteer management experiences. I've been in volunteer management for more than 20 years; and I've been a volunteer much longer than that. When you find a good resource, you hang onto it. Web 2.0 makes it so much easier to hang onto those valuable resources but what's even better is that they're typically updated frequently so the resources are more relevant than old handouts and paper-based information.
If you're not making use of Web 2.0 tools, maybe you should take a closer look and see if you're missing out on some time-saving efficiency tools that would make your professional life a bit more manageable!
...to do your best, you have to be at your best...
Appreciation and Looking Forward
Yesterday I hosted a brief celebration for a group of 10 volunteers who gave up evenings and Saturdays for several months to prepare tax returns for low-income residents in our community.
This is a huge commitment by people that is replicated all over the country each year, from January - April. It's actually even longer than that, as many of them spend some time in December getting trained in tax law and the software used by IRS VITA Sites like ours. VITA stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and the IRS provides training, support materials, and support throughout the tax preparation process. It's a great collaboration that brings more money (in refunds) to low-income taxpayers and means they don't have to spend money to get their returns prepared properly.
This is our 3rd year as a VITA Site and in the past 2 years, we've really gelled as a site and the volunteers very quickly bonded and worked as a team. Without these dedicated, talented folks, we could not provide this service.
So, even as I thank them, I am looking forward to expansion. Last year, our site remained open through October 15 so we could help people file for the Economic Stimulus Payment. This year, we will remain open through October 15 so we can accommodate late filers and people who have past returns to file. We also plan to run Saturday workshops and seminars on tax topics. Again, tough to do without our dedicated volunteers.
I tip my hat to all the volunteers out there who give up their family and leisure time to help their community. These unsung heroes are the heartbeat of so many programs that could not provide great service without them.
Claire
This is a huge commitment by people that is replicated all over the country each year, from January - April. It's actually even longer than that, as many of them spend some time in December getting trained in tax law and the software used by IRS VITA Sites like ours. VITA stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and the IRS provides training, support materials, and support throughout the tax preparation process. It's a great collaboration that brings more money (in refunds) to low-income taxpayers and means they don't have to spend money to get their returns prepared properly.
This is our 3rd year as a VITA Site and in the past 2 years, we've really gelled as a site and the volunteers very quickly bonded and worked as a team. Without these dedicated, talented folks, we could not provide this service.
So, even as I thank them, I am looking forward to expansion. Last year, our site remained open through October 15 so we could help people file for the Economic Stimulus Payment. This year, we will remain open through October 15 so we can accommodate late filers and people who have past returns to file. We also plan to run Saturday workshops and seminars on tax topics. Again, tough to do without our dedicated volunteers.
I tip my hat to all the volunteers out there who give up their family and leisure time to help their community. These unsung heroes are the heartbeat of so many programs that could not provide great service without them.
Claire
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