Since 2009, Reimagining Service has sought to increase the impact of volunteers through new research and practices as well as initiatives that have changed the way the corporate, nonprofit and public sectors engage volunteers. The coalition has helped shift “the mindset of organizations and individuals regarding the value of volunteers” by highlighting “compelling data and exemplary organizations to demonstrate that strategic volunteer engagement is a cost-effective approach to building organizational capacity.”
Bill Hulterstrom, President and CEO of United Way of Utah County, describes what Reimagining Service means to him.
As the Reimagining Service organization sunsets, its good work will live on via its published research, case studies, toolkits, initiatives, and the people and organizations – including United Way -- that embraced its work. In this video, Bill Hulterstrom, President and CEO of United Way of Utah County, describes what Reimagining Service means to him.
One of the many useful tools the coalition developed is the Guide to Hosting a Reimagining Service Summit, which can help guide a community discussion about achieving greater impact through volunteers. United Way of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin, for example, brought together 125 representatives from nonprofits, businesses, philanthropy, faith-based organizations and government to ignite a community-wide conversation about volunteering and what it means to the growth of Dane County. The Reimagining Service guide incorporates lessons learned from that meeting and others, and offers ideas on planning an event that will lead to leveraging volunteers for greater impact.
When research revealed that organizations that strategically leverage volunteers outperform peer organizations on all measures of organizational capacity and have greater impact, Reimagining Service developed the Nonprofit Service Enterprise Initiative and trained United Ways and other nonprofits to integrate eight characteristics of strategic volunteer engagement into their work. The coalition also identified several emerging practices that will spark major changes in volunteer engagement. One of them is measuring return on investment (ROI), which will create additional opportunities to leverage volunteers strategically. You can learn more about measuring ROI through Reimagining Service’s educational brief. The coalition’s final contribution to the field of strategic volunteer engagement is an excellent report summarizing the highlights of its campaign.
These are but a few examples of the thoughtful contributions by Reimagining Service as it sought to answer the question “How do you convert good intentions into greater impact?” United Way is working to engage volunteers for greater impact every day. I hope you’ll learn more about strategic volunteer engagement through the important and inspiring work of Reimagining Service, and that you’ll share your approaches and questions about leveraging volunteers to achieve impact.