🤔 Struggling with volunteer engagement? Declining numbers, reduced hours, stretched budgets?

✨ Sometimes the solution can be found through working with external expertise and support.

"Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to help staff see the stumbling blocks they have unconsciously been placing in volunteers' paths." - Susan J Ellis

Read more about the value of external consultancy support in the latest article on my blog 👇

🔗 https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/06/20/hire-a-consultant/

#LOVols #VolMgmt #VolunteerEngagement #NonProfit #Consulting

Stop scaring volunteers away & start thinking like a dating site 💕

The latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog revisits a popular 2016 piece comparing volunteer engagement to dating apps — and the lessons are still relevant today!

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/06/06/volunteer-recruitment-tips-from-an-unlikely-source/

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Recruitment #NonProfit #VolunteerEngagement

Very rarely do we think of volunteering as anything other than the nice, familiar forms of giving we are used to. So, what about volunteering as an act of civil disobedience?

That's the subject I explore in the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog.

#LoVols #volmgmt #volunteering #CivilDisobedience

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/05/23/civil-disobedience/

The late Susan J Ellis wrote a great article in 1997 about unions and volunteers that is still highly relevant 28 years later. So I'm showcasing it as a guest post on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog this week.

#LOVols #VolMgmt

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/05/09/unions-volunteers/

Is our focus on volunteer metrics like numbers, hours and notional wage compromising the distinctiveness of volunteering?

That's what I'm reflecting on in the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Nonprofits #Volunteering

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/04/25/the-business-case-for-volunteer-engagement-balancing-pragmatism-and-purpose/

From The Archive is back!

This latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog looks back at something I wrote in 2018 about how sometimes we need to embrace risk in volunteer engagement, not always try to avoid it.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Risk #RiskManagement

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/04/11/risk-learn-to-love-it-2/

This is a brilliant article. Whilst the content is specifically Australian and focused on emergency / disaster volunteering, the narrative could just as easily apply to other countries and contexts.

In short, it is worth a few minutes of your time to read.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/volunteerism-australia-decline-reimagining-social-infrastructure/105118866?__readwiseLocation=

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Volunteering

The issue of declining volunteer rates should be a concern for more than just Volunteer Engagement Professionals.
Building on the work of a colleague in the USA, I explore this issue in the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Volunteering #Nonprofits

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/03/14/why-falling-volunteer-rates-should-worry-everyone-not-just-volunteer-managers/

I'm doing a webinar with Civic Champs on 3 April.

For more details and to book a free place visit the link below.

#LOVols #VolMgmt

https://www.civicchamps.com/upcoming-webinars/all-volunteer-managers-are-liars

Research shows that around 150 million jobs globally will shift to older workers by the end of the decade. What might this mean for volunteer engagement?

I explore this question in the latest article on my blog.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Volunteering

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/02/28/an-age-old-issue-with-a-new-dimension/

It's Valentine's Day so of course the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog is about showing your volunteers some love.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Volunteering #valentinesday

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/02/14/show-your-volunteers-some-love/

Sales are now open for the 2025 Advanced Volunteer Management Symposium. Grab your place before they all go.

Details and booking link below.

#VolunteerLeadership #VolunteerEngagement #ProfessionalDevelopment #ImpactfulChange #AVMS2025 #LOVols #VolMgmt

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7287024925150728193

The first Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog article of 2025 is here.

I revisit an article from ten years ago that explores how volunteer management can make you sick. But all is not as it seems!

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2025/01/17/how-volunteer-management-can-make-you-sick/

#LOVols #VolMgmt

This presentation from Helen Timbrell at the 2024 TeamKinetic conference is just brilliant.

A must watch for Volunteer Engagement Professionals.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #MustWatch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgU5wfQ3UTY

In case you missed it last week, new data on #volunteering in England is available from DCMS.

If you'd like help thinking through what this means for your organisation then let me know.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-life-survey-202324-annual-publication/community-life-survey-202324-volunteering-and-charitable-giving

#VolMgmt #LOVols

My last blog post for 2024 is a round-up of some of the best articles and podcast episodes of the last twelve months for Volunteer Engagement Professionals.

What would you add to the list?

#LOVols #VolMgmt #BestOf2024

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2024/12/06/bestof2024/

This is a really great listen with Tobi Johnson, MA, CVA and Breauna Dorelus, MPA

#LOVols #VolMgmt

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/volunteer-nation/id1618807513?i=1000676953251

The trilogy of guest articles on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog is complete as Martin J Cowling looks at the issue of toxicity in volunteering organisations.

#VolMgmt #LOVols #Volunteering #Toxic #Toxicity

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2024/11/08/toxic/

Tim Suda, CVA is the guest author of the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog. Tim writes about the concept of first-generation volunteers and how we attract people into volunteering who have never given time before.

#LOVols #VolMgmt #Volunteers #recruitment

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2024/10/11/engaging-first-generation-volunteers/

New article alert!

What's on my volunteering wishlist for the new UK government?

Read the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog to find out and add your thoughts.

https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2024/09/13/a-volunteering-wish-list-for-the-new-uk-government/

#LOVols #VolMgmt #volunteering #UKGovernment