Time + Talent Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Show Notes:

During the height of COVID, CASA of San Joaquin County faced the fact that over 1500 children from the County were living in foster care. These abused and neglected children had been removed from their families and placed in foster homes, group homes (now called STRTPs), or even at our county's homeless shelter. To address this challenge, CASA connects children and youth living in foster care with a community volunteer who makes an 18-24 month commitment to advocate and mentor them.

When Dani started with CASA in October of 2021, she was given a bold goal to recruit 42 community members from diverse walks of life. To follow through on this commitment, she was able to not only reach her goal but surpass it. Through the smart use of social media and focused outreach, she was able to attract a diverse and multi-generational group of volunteers dedicated to helping youth navigate the court system.

In this episode, Dani shares her recipe for effective social media and how she overcame her anxiety around making cold calls (don’t we all have that?!). In the end, it’s all about staying true to your mission and communicating your passion for those you serve in a compassionate and accessible way. Dani shows us how it’s done with grace and focus!

Learn more about the work of CASA and how you can help at:

• www.nochildabuse.org/casa
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/casa-of-san-joaquin-county/
• https://www.facebook.com/CASAsanjoaquincounty
• https://www.instagram.com/casaofsjcounty/

For More:

For more on how another organization approached diversifying their volunteer team, check out Time + Talent Podcast Episode 108: The Rewards & Challenges of Nonprofit Board Diversity - Part 1 and Episode 109: The Rewards & Challenges of Nonprofit Board Diversity - Part 2

Guest Bio:

Dani Daly is the Recruiter/Trainer for CASA of San Joaquin County. As an educator and a mother, Dani noticed the needs of children living in the foster care system. Dani noticed that the students she worked closely with, as well as the friends of her two school-aged children, who resided in foster care, often felt alone having few adults who were in their lives who weren't being paid to be there. 

After years of working in education, Dani joined CASA of San Joaquin County to make a difference in the lives of children in foster care. Dani works diligently to recruit San Joaquin County citizens to join the CASA organization and is passionate about diversifying the pool of volunteers to more closely represent our county's youth in foster care.

You can reach Dani on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-daly-55292198/

And via email at ddaly@nochildabuse.org

Courtney Tull joins us to talk about her work with volunteers and  her journey - so far!

Starting with her work as an AmeriCorps member she found a connection with the work of leading and engaging volunteers in the community.

Since that first experience, Courtney has achieved her CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration), her Masters in Administration of Human Services, and completed her Doctorate in Social Sciences.

While working for Habitat for Humanity Sussex County in Delaware, Courtney began the research for her Doctorate - exploring her suspected connections between volunteering, well-being, and quality of life.

She was right, and she confirmed that volunteers who understand and follow their motivations reap greater rewards from their service.

Courtney shares how this data can provide the grounds to tailor recruitment and marketing strategies to match the work to the motivations of volunteers. 

View the infographic of Courtney’s research here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lwafytpve_CezWhgcMmcDfH9QJK46U7f/

You can read Courtney manuscript on her findings here: https://www.proquest.com/openview/a6dda1793a0abc57ba181d8494355324/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

For More:

For more research on volunteer engagement check out Season 2, Episode 202 The Hard Truth: Diversity & Equity in Volunteer Engagement.

Guest Bio:

Courtney Tull, CVA, DSocSci is an experienced leader in nonprofit and human service administration specializing in volunteer management, community engagement, and social science.

Courtney earned the Delaware Service Impact Award from the Governor's Commission on Community and Volunteer Service in 2018 as a result of her AmeriCorps service.

As a practitioner, Courtney has recruited thousands of volunteers and AmeriCorps members to aid Sussex County Habitat in its mission to build affordable housing and strengthen communities in Delaware.  

Since 2020, she has designed and presented her doctoral-level research about the relationship between volunteering and well-being to professional audiences locally and nationally, also being recognized as Wilmington University's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Academic Award Recipient in 2022.

Courtney recently relocated to Orlando, Florida where she enjoys getting to know her new community, sitting on her balcony to read and look for new healthy recipes, and caring for her guinea pigs.

You can reach Courtney at ctull04098@gmail.com or on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-tull

Kelly Furnas of Operation Kindness shares her professional journey from Director of Volunteer Services to Chief Operating Officer in less than two years and the leadership mindset and actions that made this path possible. Founded in 1976, Operation Kindness is a pioneer in North Texas for providing assistance to animals in need of medical care, companionship, and a home. In addition to pet adoptions, they provide extensive medical care for animals, a foster program, a pet food pantry, a surrender prevention program, education to pet parents and volunteer opportunities.

And, the pandemic has not slowed them down. They have engaged over 11,000 volunteers since the start and regularly have about 1,600-1,800 volunteers active.

Kelly was initially hired as the director of Volunteer Services in October 2019.  But she was quickly promoted to Director of Operations in January 2021, and then Chief Operating Officer in July 2021.  It’s been a whirlwind ride, but Kelly is well grounded in what it takes to succeed as a leader.

In this episode, she shares how her organization has maintained close connections with volunteers during COVID through a smart communications strategy. 

She also shares advice for volunteer managers who want to advance their careers and offers practical tips on how to frame the volunteer work so it gets noticed and how to effectively ask for resources and support.

For more information, visit https://www.operationkindness.org/.

For More:

For more info on developing your leadership skills, check out Season 2 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 206: Strengthening the Impact of Young Professional Volunteers.

Guest Bio:

Kelly Furnas
Chief Operating Officer
Operation Kindness

Kelly Furnas became Chief Operating Officer of Operation Kindness in July 2021, following her roles as Director of Operations and Volunteer Services in recent years.

She has been involved with OPK since 2015. As COO, her goals include

helping Operation Kindness have the largest impact on life saving in North Texas, enhancing her team’s skills, and finding process improvements that allow them to save more lives. 

Previously, she worked in various senior leadership and operation roles in the financial services industry before finding her dream job with Operation Kindness. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Texas A&M University. 

At home, Kelly loves spending time with her cat, Smokey (an Operation Kindness alumni),and her dog Quinn. As an A&M grad, you will find her rooting for her Aggies during every game. She also loves to cook and even acted as a judge in a local cooking competition!

You can find Kelly atkelly@operationkindness.org and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-furnas/.

What happens when a volunteer manager needs to balance the needs of volunteers and paid staff? At the Lloyd Moss Free Clinic Andrea SpringerCollins takes a straightforward approach based in clear communication. In this episode she shares her approach and the systems she’s implemented to successfully manage these relationships.

Over 25 years ago, the Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic began with medical and non-medical volunteers offering limited services two evenings a week in the Amy Guest Wing of the old Mary Washington Hospital. Over time, the Clinic has evolved into a unique and essential health care provider that is meeting a critical need in our community. As the demand for services ballooned and the number of volunteers has grown, the Clinic has relocated twice and greatly expanded its hours, services, and programs. 

Today, the Clinic operates five days a week and offers both day and evening appointments in a state-of-the-art facility. In 2018 our team of 560 volunteers, including 175 physicians and dentists, provided over 19,000 hours of care and services such as primary and specialty care, women’s health, dental care, mental health, nutrition education, and physical therapy. Patients have access to free diagnostics and specialized procedures (including surgery and chemotherapy) through Mary Washington Healthcare, Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, and other essential community partners. 

Thanks to the volunteerism of local healthcare professionals and donations of in-kind goods and services, the Clinic’s annual budget of $2.2 million leveraged over $30 million of healthcare in 2017. The Clinic receives no federal support and depends on monetary contributions from individuals, organizations, and businesses to serve people in need each year.

Andrea shares her approach to balancing the needs of volunteers and the needs of paid staff to effectively deliver health care services to the community. It can be a delicate balance to match the right volunteer to the right role and staff supervisor and Andrea brings an optimistic and straightforward communication style to her work recruiting, screening, and orienting her highly skilled volunteers.

And, listen until the end to hear Andrea’s tips for staying centered and finding the necessary energy to continue to work with volunteers in a healthcare setting, during a pandemic.

For more information, visit https://mossfreeclinic.org/

For More:

For more information on creating volunteer management systems that work, check out Season 2 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 208: Transforming Your Volunteer Strategy from the Ground Up with Alison Jones-Nassar. 

Guest Bio:

Andrea SpringerCollins
Volunteer Coordinator
Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic

Andrea SpringerCollins joined Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic as Volunteer Coordinator in 2012. During that time she has coordinated monthly information sessions for prospective volunteers, facilitated volunteer staffing with the appropriate department managers.

She is responsible for recruiting volunteer providers including MD, DO, PA, NP, M/LCSW, DDS, RDH, and PharmD.She manages all aspects of coordinating medical volunteers including registering volunteer health care professional with the Virginia Division of Risk Management for immunity from liability, maintaining volunteer PII records and data entry, and evaluating volunteer/staff experience.

Andrea holds a Master’s of Arts Degree with emphasis in Communication from the University of Oklahoma, and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Minor- Vocal Music from Southern University A&M. 

You can find Andrea at andrea@mossfreeclinic.org.

Kara McLaughlin of Mesa Community Action Network shares how “career volunteers” play a pivotal role in guiding her agency’s program development and how they grow their leadership pipeline by fostering a welcoming culture and by integrating volunteers into operations at every level.

A New Leaf is a nonprofit organization, providing a broad spectrum of support services to help individuals & families in need. Whether it be the loss of a job, a medical crisis, domestic violence, homelessness, or another crisis, A New Leaf is here to help households recover and thrive.

A New Leaf is a certified Service Enterprise organization, welcoming the presence of community partners in its efforts to deliver on its mission of Helping Families, Changing Lives. As integral members of our team, volunteers experience meaningful work while contributing to enhanced services, renewed energy, and increased community awareness.

The volunteer program has been limited to new volunteers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They have limited volunteer involvement to critical need areas, and only where they can operate safely. Existing volunteers working at A New Leaf programs continue to operate under program guidelines.

Despite the impact of the pandemic on operations volunteers continue to be involved in pivotal decision-making roles throughout the organization.  

In this episode, Kara shares how her organization has strategically leveraged volunteers in order to do more with less, not only in direct service roles but also in leadership and program development.

Kara discusses the power of the “career volunteer,” or those that contribute significant hours each month to their cause of choice, and notes that they are available to help in every community.  Organizations simply need to connect with them to tap this valuable resource.

For more information, visit https://www.turnanewleaf.org/about/.

For More:

For more info on growing volunteer leaders, check out Season 1 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 106: Designing a Leadership Pipeline for 23,000 Volunteers.

Guest Bio:

Kara McLaughlin, B.A.E.
Sr. Volunteer Financial Coach/Educator
Mesa Community Action Network

Kara McLaughlin, who is a graduate of Arizona State University is an experienced “career volunteer” serving the non-profit industry through budget counseling, education, program development, volunteer community leadership, and emergency financial services since 1988.  A long time community servant and an ardent supporter of volunteer service.

Born in the Midwest, Kara moved to Arizona with her family in second grade and married her junior high sweetheart Phil McLaughlin in 1986. Together they have three amazing young adult children and two beagles. 

Kara followed her husband across the globe as a Navy wife for 26 years beginning her volunteer career helping other Navy spouses. After discovering her teaching certification wasn’t valid at new duty stations and working for a non-profit, Kara began taking on numerous volunteer roles for Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Boy Scouts of America, Churches, music groups, and more. 

Although her intent was to resume her career once Phil left the Navy, Kara discovered upon Phil’s retirement that she did have a career, that of a volunteer. After moving back to Arizona, she joined A New Leaf as a volunteer and has served as an IDA Assistant, Lead Volunteer Financial Coach & Educator, and now serves as their Organization Volunteer Chair. 

Kara realizes she is blessed to be able to donate her time and talents which fits her family’s priorities best with the Volunteer benefits package of flexibility. 

You can find Kara at kmclaughlin@turnanewleaf.org and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kara-mclaughlin-68867579/.

Elena Laguna of Oxfam shares how her organization navigated openings and closings of their retail shops due to COVID, which are the primary source of unrestricted funding for the organization’s work, all while maintaining a sense of community amongst their volunteers. Oxfam is an international non-governmental organization working with others to challenge inequality, overcome poverty and work with people to thrive, not just survive. For over 75 years, Oxfam has led a movement of people dedicated to ending extreme poverty.

The organization works with over 18,000 volunteers annually in their network of approximately 600 local charity shops, at festivals and special events, and as part of fundraising campaigns.

In March 2020 Oxfam was forced to close its shops In order to keep communities safe from COVID transmission.This meant that thousands of volunteers could not come into work and one of the organization’s main sources of unrestricted funding was virtually eliminated overnight.

As a result, Oxfam quickly pivoted to offering online shopping and doubled down on their commitment to and investment in, supporting their volunteers.The COVID pandemic has also accelerated their digital transformation.

In this interview, Elena shares the ups and downs of their work, “not for volunteers, but with volunteers.” She shares how they maintained a sense of community amongst their volunteers using a variety of technology tools and how volunteers are the “X-factor” in everything they do. 

For more information on Oxfam, their key impact areas, their network of shops, and how to get involved visit https://www.oxfam.org.uk/ or follow them on Facebook @oxfamGB or Instagram @oxfamgb.

You can find out more about volunteering, visit - https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer-with-us/

Or, find a local shop here - https://www.oxfam.org.uk/shops/.

For More:

For more info on how organizations can build community online, check out Season 2 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 204: Building Community Together - Online and During a Pandemic.

Guest Bio:

Elena Laguna
Head of Volunteering, Oxfam Great Britain
Trustee, Peer Power Youth

Elena is a volunteering and learning specialist and she believes in social action as a powerful tool for civic engagement within society.

She has successfully performed various volunteer management roles which have spanned local areas as well as national ones across the UK, allowing her to work with organizations of different sizes and form partnerships across diverse communities and cultures.

Elena has an interest in building high-quality volunteering programmes with volunteer impact and engagement at their core. She started in the charity sector as a young volunteer and is now passionate about providing an exceptional volunteer management service to every stakeholder.

She is currently Head of Volunteer Engagement at Oxfam Great Britain and a Trustee at Peer Power Youth and has experience in developing new digital models, innovative strategies and approaches to engaging volunteers.

Lauren Black from the Social Justice Sewing Academy talks about the opportunity her organization had to completely rethink the way they engaged volunteers, and to launch an entirely new volunteer engagement strategy during a pandemic.

What do you do when a pandemic strikes and your organization’s mission is running workshops for kids and teens? You launch an entirely new strategy engaging individual skills-based volunteers - at least that’s what you do if you’re the Social Justice Sewing Academy!

Founded in 2017, the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA) is a non-profit organization that aims to empower individuals to utilize textile art for personal transformation, community cohesion, and to begin the journey toward becoming an agent of social change. Prior to COVID-19, youth workshops and programs were at the core of the organization.Through a series of hands-on workshops in schools, prisons, and community centers across the country, SJSA used social justice and art education to bridge artistic expression with activism.  Many of our young artists made art that explored issues such as gender discrimination, mass incarceration, gun violence, and gentrification. The powerful imagery that youth created in cloth demonstrated their critique of issues plaguing their local and larger communities. These quilt blocks are then sent to volunteers around the world to embellish and embroider before being sewn together into quilts to be displayed in museums, galleries, and quilt shows across the country.

While youth programming remains at the heart of SJSA, the civil rights movement of 2020 and the concurrent COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted SJSA’s programming. Due to no longer being able to provide in-person programming and limited virtual youth workshops, SJSA launched a series of new initiatives to critically respond to the times, including the Remembrance Project. The Remembrance Project engages remote skills-based volunteers to create a quilt block to remember members of the community lost to violence.

Time + Talent co-host Jennifer Bennett is a volunteer with SJSA and she also shares her experience volunteering during the Summer of 2020 with the Remembrance Project.

For more information, visit https://www.sjsacademy.org/

To volunteer with SJSA and the Remembrance Project: https://www.sjsacademy.org/volunteer-form 

To view the Remembrance Project Gallery: https://www.instagram.com/sjsa_remembranceproject/

To see other SJSA Projects: https://www.instagram.com/sjsacademy/

To see and read about the block Jennifer created: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEsGjDyn_st/

To learn more about the Remembrance Project and the Stitching Stolen Lives book: https://www.sjsacademy.org/shop/p/stitching-stolen-lives

For More:

For more info on engaging skills-based volunteers, check out Season 2 of the Time + Talent Podcast, Episode #206 Strengthening the Impact of Young Professional Volunteers.

Guest Bio:

Lauren Black
Executive Director
Social Justice Sewing Academy

Lauren Black is the Executive Director of the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA). Lauren currently works as a School Psychologist in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She recently completed her Masters in Educational Psychology and her Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology at Loyola Marymount University. 

She is passionate about tackling issues that disempower people and erase their voices based on elements of their identity. In working with SJSA, Lauren fights against marginalization, systemic oppression, and underrepresentation through education, outreach, and collaboration.

You can find Lauren Black at lauren@sjsacademy.com.

Michele Wiesner of Hire Heroes USA shares how her organization was given an “edge” when it comes to engaging volunteers during a pandemic and how they have been growing capacity through remote volunteering since 2005.

Hire Heroes USA provides employment assistance services to thousands of transitioning military members each year. Through personalized service and support, they help veterans and military spouses get hired, and they help companies hire and retain them.

As the director of capacity building, Michele leads a team of six full-time volunteer program managers who are responsible for engaging and supporting volunteers in their regions. As opposed to many volunteer-driven organizations who’ve had to pivot to online volunteerism, Hire Heroes has always operated this way.  Some staff, however, have had to make the transition from working in an office to working from home.

Rather than making big changes during COVID, they had to make more subtle adjustments to their mature digital volunteer strategy.  And, staff have had to catch up with volunteers.

In this episode, Michele shares how her team has made pivots and how they managed their exponential growth (triple the number of volunteer applications during COVID!) by focusing on building relationships, offering meaningful roles to supporters, and remaining flexible in their approach.

For more information, visit https://www.hireheroesusa.org/ and all social channels @hireheroesusa.

To explore volunteer opportunities with Hire Heroes, visit https://www.hireheroesusa.org/volunteer/.

For More:

For more info on preparing and supporting a fully remote volunteer team, check out Season 1 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 107: Digital Team Building with Remote Volunteers.

Guest Bio:

Michele Wiesner
Director, Capacity Building
Hire Heroes USA

Michele Wiesner, Director of Capacity Building, is responsible for the growth, direction and results of service delivery support programs, including the Volunteer Program, Alumni Program and Referral and Training Partners Program. These support programs serve to increase organizational reach, influence, effectiveness and efficiency through partnerships and supporters. 

Michele earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Georgia, and she also holds a Certification in Volunteer Administration (CVA). Michele joined Hire Heroes USA full time in 2012 as the organization’s first Volunteer Coordinator, responsible for the creation of the Volunteer Program. She was promoted to Manager in 2013 and then to Director of the Volunteer Program in late 2015. In 2019, she took on the responsibility of serving as the Director of Capacity Building to strengthen our mission through productive partnerships. 

She grew up in Georgia and currently resides just east of Athens with her husband, a veteran of the U.S. Army.

You can find Michele at mwiesner@hireheroesusa.org or finer her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelewiesner/.

For more on Michele's local professional association, the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration, visit https://www.mygava.org/.

Elizabeth Garrabrant from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective shares how she’s engaging new types of volunteers in new ways to meet the needs of her community during the second year of the pandemic.

The Mid-Ohio Food Collective serves 20 counties in central and eastern Ohio. They run a foodbank as well as a community kitchen and market. They also operate a farm, and farmacy - providing healthy food options to ensure that community members stay healthy even while facing food insecurity.

During the pandemic the Mid-Ohio Food Collective saw the need in the community increase while their volunteers - especially their older adult volunteers - were sheltering in place, and companies were putting their employee volunteering activities on hold. When the National Guard became available to help with essential activities in the community Elizabeth put in a request - without much hope of receiving aid. Instead she found she had 100 dedicated National Guard members ready to help provide food and assistance to the community. She was able to get the Guard members successfully deployed by tapping into the experience and availability of her existing volunteers as trainers and leaders.

Throughout the initial transition period and into the ongoing pandemic Elizabeth has been able to safely bring volunteers back as well as stay connected with volunteers who prefer to work remotely by relying on open, honest, and transparent communication practices. She shares her successes as well as her challenges in balancing the needs of her organization and community, and the health and safety of her volunteers.       

Her organization is back to about two-thirds capacity and is looking forward to the future and continuing to bring back all of the ways volunteers help the meet their mission and the needs of the community.

For more information, visit https://mofc.org/volunteer/

You can find Elizabeth at egarrabrant@mofc.org or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/egarrabrantcva/.

For More:

For more info on supporting and maintaining connections with diverse volunteers, check out Season 2 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 203: Dignity and Respect Extends to Volunteers, Too.

Guest Bio:

Elizabeth Garrabrant 
Director of Volunteer Services
Mid-Ohio Food Collective

Elizabeth Garrabrant has been with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective for 20 years.  In her current role, Elizabeth works with leaders throughout the organization to develop volunteerism strategies that will result in both positive and meaningful volunteer opportunities as well as meet the needs of the organization in the most efficient and effective way possible. 

She collaborates with local partners and events to bring a MOFC presence to the community.  Since her first years with MOFC, the volunteer program has grown significantly – from one project in one location- to now having MOFC volunteers assist with 35+ different activities in 15 different locations.

Sara Bumgarner, Volunteer Services Manager and RSVP Director of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of the Treasure Coast shares how her organization re-purposed use of a simple online device to help volunteers and patients stay connected during COVID.

The VNA of the Treasure Coast was founded over 40 years ago with the distinct mission of fulfilling the need to provide homecare for local residents of Indian River County, Florida.The VNA operates Hospice House, a 12-room state of the art facility privately nestled on hospital grounds, Hidden Treasures Thrift Stores to help fund hospice services, and offers private home care services which include transportation, personal care and clinical care.

The organization’s work is carried out by close to 400 clinical and administrative staff.  In addition, volunteers are at the heart of the VNA and are a key resource to the agency. More than 400 dedicated individuals generously donate their time and talent to assist in various aspects of the VNA. They interact with patients, help out at VNA Hospice House, provide assistance around the office and thrift stores.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, VNA was forced to discontinue in-person volunteer roles. Instead, they implemented a virtual visit program, where volunteers could keep in touch with their patients using a virtual tablet called a GrandPad (https://www.grandpad.net/). The tool was initially developed to keep families and seniors connected through a super simple interface. The use was repurposed to connect volunteers and homebound patients.

For more information, visit VNA of the Treasure Coast - https://www.vnatc.com/.

You can connect with Sara at sbumgarner@vnatc.com.

For More:

For more info on helping older volunteers adopt new technology, check out Season 2 of the Time + Talent podcast, Episode 205: Digital Transformation as the New Normal - Moving Mentoring Online.

Guest Bio:

Sara D. Bumgarner, CVA
Volunteer Services Manager and RSVP Director
Visiting Nurse Association of the Treasure Coast

Sara has worked in the non-profit field for 28 years, the last 15 years managing volunteers. She earned her certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) credential in October of 2020.

She has been working for ten years at current organization, VNA of the Treasure Coast, six of those as the Volunteer Manager and the last two as Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Director. She currently oversees 450 volunteers for VNA, the bulk of whom are hospice volunteers.