Volunteer Connections in Willmar Share Cutting Edge Trends in Volunteerism

Sharon Mace, Volunteer Connections Chair
Mary Quirk, MAVA Executive Director

If you are wondering what is on the cutting edge of volunteerism, just step into a meeting of the Southwest/West Central (SW/WC) Volunteer Connections held at the Bremer Bank in Willmar. I did that on September 18, 2012 and found close to 20 leaders of volunteers ready to share the opportunities and challenges their agencies were seeing in volunteer engagement.

“We are seeing some agencies with a core of volunteers in their eighties and realizing that to attract younger volunteers the programs are going to have to do things differently,” was one of the first comments heard. Many heads nodded in agreement. The theme of “change” quickly emerged as being on the minds of most in the group. One person said that she has a number of changes that she wants to implement in the volunteer program, such as more use of technology, but to do this will take getting the rest of the organization to buy in with the changes. Another area of change noted was that many younger volunteers need support to volunteer, such as help with child care.

Some of the thoughts on people minds were pure opportunities they are seeing. One person mentioned that recently she asked someone to volunteer and got a quick “yes.” She learned he had never been asked to volunteer before, and all it took was asking. This made her think of how many more people in the community might be willing to volunteer, if just asked.

Challenges of running a volunteer program in rural western Minnesota were shared. Several brought up seeing the aging of rural communities as decreasing volunteer availability, with many people caregiving or tied up with family responsibilities. Additionally, in very small many communities, it can be a challenging in finding a champion for a volunteer program.

I was visiting the SW/WC Connections representing the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administrations (MAVA) to learn how we might work together in the coming year on programs. Most of what I heard reflected major national trends in volunteerism. One of the biggest changes nonprofits are facing with volunteer engagement right now is that what the Boomers and younger generations expect from volunteering is very different from the generations before them. These new generations of volunteers are looking for a wide range of choice in volunteer opportunities including some that use their workplace skills, want to have an impact, and often can only commit to shorter term volunteer opportunities. Likewise the importance of change management is affecting volunteer programs everywhere because the changes needed for an updated volunteer program takes getting buy-in for change from the whole organization.

When the conversation shifted to the challenges of engaging volunteers in smaller, aging rural communities, I knew that I was in western Minnesota. These are some very unique challenges for engaging volunteers in this part of the state.

The members of the SW/WC Volunteer Connection shined in their expertise in volunteer management and willingness to share ideas with each other. What an asset to Southwest and West Central Minnesota to have these dedicated skilled professionals leading volunteer programs that accomplish so much good work.

Mary Quirk, MAVA Executive Director
Mary Quirk is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA), a statewide organization that provides resources and training on the leadership of volunteers. A current focus of MAVA is helping nonprofit and governmental organizations update their systems for engaging volunteers to meet the changing expectations of today’s volunteers. For more information, visit: www.mavanetwork.org
.

Wildcat Sanctuary Wins Bremer Bank $1,000 Nonprofit Giveaway

Bremer hosted its first-ever $1,000 Nonprofit Giveaway Contest via Facebook over the past three weeks and the final results are now in. The winner is the Wildcat Sanctuary, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in Sandstone, Minn. The nonprofit received the most votes during the course of the contest. Thanks to everyone that voted for their favorite nonprofit organization!

Here is more information about the winner: The Wildcat Sanctuary (TWS) is a 501c3 non-profit, no-kill rescue facility located in Sandstone, MN. TWS provides a natural sanctuary to wild cats in need and inspires change to end the captive wildlife crisis. TWS is funded solely on private donations. The Sanctuary is a home for animals, not a zoo for people and is not open to the public. Combining natural and spacious habitats with a life free of exhibition and exploitation, TWS allows all residents to live wild at heart. TWS is committed to public education about the captive wildlife crisis in order to create a world where animal sanctuaries are no longer needed. As a true sanctuary, we do not buy, breed, sell or exhibit animals.

Shining the Light on Community Impact – How One Group Does It

Few organizations can survive, let alone thrive, if they haven’t figured out what unique, special or precise value they bring to the people and places where they do business. But that’s not all there is to it. Are those outside of your world understanding and appreciating what you do and why you exist? How are you telling your story to those who should be hearing it? To those who can help you thrive?

Recently I had the privilege of facilitating a legislative forum designed by a partnership of agencies in southwest Minnesota that have a history of collegiality and cooperation in helping people prepare for and find jobs. Southwest Adult Basic Education, Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council and programs within the Minnesota Workforce Center - Marshall do an impressive job of telling their story and demonstrating their impact each year to an important, influential audience – local, state and national policymakers.

Forum planners make the community impact message interesting, relevant, personal - and according to one state legislator who estimates he’s been there for “about 9 forums” and wouldn’t miss it - effective in helping him understand each year who benefits and how the programs are making a difference. We know that real people/real stories are a great way to shine the light on what you do. That is, customers or consumers talking about their experiences with your services, rather than you or staff simply reporting on what you do. Read about how these agencies make the powerful personal stories the centerpiece of their forum in this Spreading the word about education, jobs programs article published by Marshall Independent on the day after the event.

I want to mention here too that all of the key ingredients in the event: cooperating agencies, front-line staffers, local turf, authentic consumers, local media and elected public leaders all come together in this light and space for just a little over an hour. It’s a facilitation challenge to be sure, but it’s another reason I believe this example of sharing the news on community impact works for this group. Hats off to all involved. I’m still thinking about the stories I heard and the people I met there, and very much appreciate how these programs enrich our communities.

What has worked well to shine the light on your organization’s community impact? Please share it here with our readers.

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar Charter

Time Out For Stress Relief

Southwest West Central Volunteer Connections treated participants in the June 21 meeting to a morning of stress relief at Bremer Bank, Willmar’s community meeting room. The meeting theme, “Taking Care of Business By Taking Care of Ourselves,” featured Tamara Hein, Nutrition Counselor at the ACMC Weight Control Center and the Diabetes Center. Hein loaded us up on information and tips on healthy eating, healthy shopping, and snack preparation ideas for busy parents and professionals.

A couple of her references for us: Have you seen the updated USDA My Food Pyramid? It’s now My Plate, making it easy to figure out how to eat a balanced diet. “Make half your plate fruits and vegetables, and make half of your grains whole grains.” Also, it’s the season to shop locally, especially for the abundance and variety of fresh, home-grown fruits and vegetables. Check out the local foods guide focusing on farmers markets and products in the Upper Minnesota River Valley.

Doreen Mages, Certified Massage Therapist at Willmar Massage Center treated each of us to a neck/shoulder massage. Heavenly! Mages told us that massage is no longer just a luxury, it can be an important part of maintaining good health, including relieving mental and physical fatigue and relaxing muscle spasms and stiffness.

Southwest West Central Volunteer Connections is a peer led network of leaders of volunteers, many of whom are members of Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration. Being a volunteer administrator is a rewarding, but tough job. The June program helped us to remember to take good care of ourselves so that we can take good care of our volunteers!

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar

No More Dishwashing!

The Marshall Area Senior Citizens, Inc. received a $9,245 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation. These dollars have been used to replace the commercial dishwasher. The dishwasher has a huge impact in helping to serve many seniors in the community through home delivered meals, in house congregate meals and various events held at the Adult Community Center on a monthly basis. Pictured below: Beth Ritter (L) and Colette Tubbs (R) of Bremer Bank presenting a check to the MASC, Inc. Board.

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar

Vote by Email Option

To busy nonprofit board members, whose schedules make face-to-face board meetings seem like a luxury, a new trend in nonprofit governance has surfaced that may run afoul of the law – the “vote” by e-mail option.

Responding to the difficulty in wrangling a geographically diverse and time-crunched board, many nonprofit organizations are now allowing directors to “vote” by e-mail. This seems like the perfect solution. An issue or opportunity arises that calls for quick response. Directors are reluctant to attend an extra meeting. Why not circulate an e-mail, ascertain that there is general agreement and take action?

The ease and speed of email voting is seductively simple. But, this practice is a trap, because a board that relies on e-mail voting fails to comply with legal requirements for a proper vote, and exposes its decisions to attack. Nonprofit corporate statutes typically provide for board action to be taken either at a meeting (including a meeting by phone or video conference) or by unanimous written consent. Since an e-mail vote technically does not fit either category, it is quite possible that a court would consider an e-mail vote nothing more than an informal action, which is not legally valid.

Source: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/

Myrna Meadows, NRS, International Falls

Article: "Giving to Charity by Managing Your E-Mail"

I recently came across this article in the New York Times titled "Giving to Charity by Managing Your E-Mail," and thought it was an interesting read. Hope you enjoy!

Myrna Meadows, NRS, International Falls
Giving to Charity by Managing Your E-Mail
By STEPHANIE STROM

Published: May 27, 2011

A new service, GiveBackMail, introduced this week, promises to give 25 percent of its profit to charity if users will route their e-mail activities through its Web site. “The more you use e-mail, the more money you direct toward your charity,” said Rambod Yadegar, who founded the service with his brother, Sam.

GiveBackMail had about 200 users several days after opening for business on Monday, Mr. Yadegar said. Every action users take on the site generates a new ad display and revenue for the company. A dashboard keeps track of how many donations the user generates and, at the end of the month, how much money has been generated, as well as notifications from charities acknowledging donations made by the service.

Read the full article.

Region Nine RDC Organizes Grant Opportunity Forum in Mankato

Region Nine Development Commission hosted an information-packed day for Mankato area government, nonprofit and small business organizations on May 24. Region Nine’s Resource Development Coordinator, Sarah R. Bieswanger, pictured here with Region Nine RDC Executive Director, Reggie Edwards, welcomed over 60 attendees to the Spring 2011 Grant Opportunity Forum. “We design the forum to give you a chance to have conversations with funders and learn about resource opportunities that may be available for your programs, organizations or businesses,” Sarah said in welcoming the group.

Informative presentations, tailored to south central Minnesota interests, were given by representatives of several funding resources. Leading the slate was Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, which also sponsored the Forum. Additional participants/presenters were: HickoryTech Foundation, AgStar Fund for Rural America, USDA Rural Development, and Congressman Tim Walz's office.

Further adding value to the various details and guidelines of each featured funder, Sarah closed out the Forum by guiding participants with more information on developing a competitive grant application. Her tips, including a funder list for southern MN, and all kinds of ways to tap into useful, free and convenient resources led to new ideas for many of the participants. “How many of you know, for instance,” Sarah mentioned, “that we have a site right here at the Blue Earth County Library which houses the national Foundation Center Cooperating Collection. It’s one of my favorite resources for grants information of all kinds.”

For more information on the Grant Opportunity Forum, contact Sarah Reichwald Beiswanger.

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Bremer – Willmar Charter

Southern Minnesota Nonprofit Summit - A Good Day in Mankato

Over 120 nonprofit organizations represented by staff, volunteers and board members enjoyed a day of networking and learning at the first ever Southern Minnesota Nonprofit Summit on May 12 in Mankato. The Summit was lead and organized by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and Bremer Bank was pleased to join the Mankato Area Foundation, TwinRivers Council for the Arts and Greater Mankato Area United Way in sponsoring the event.

Mankato Bremer Bank President, Bradley Peters (pictured above), welcomed attendees to the event, introducing Bremer's newest bank to the south central Minnesota region. Staff members, Richard Ringler, business banker, and Shane Johnson, retail manager, (pictured right) also spent the day at the conference meeting nonprofit leaders and sharing information about Bremer and its services and support to nonprofits. Presently under construction, Bremer Bank-Mankato will be opening in early fall 2011. Bremer Mankato staff are in the community and working with clients and customers. You can reach them at 507-385-2039.

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar Charter

Keeping the Power On

Several Bremer Bank employees attended the annual breakfast for FirstLink, the community emergency phone bank and 211 call center. The bank folks were greeted especially warmly and thanked graciously by the staff and board members of FirstLink for the donation of funds from The Otto Bremer Foundation for the purchase of an emergency generator to make sure the volunteers who take the calls for emergency services can continue in the event of a power failure. This need surfaced this winter and spring when Fargo experienced three major electrical outages.

With the help of the Otto Bremer Foundation grant, the generator has been installed and is operating beautifully. In a power outage it automatically kicks in to keep the power on to run everything in the offices, lights, computers, answering devices and makes it possible to answer and provide a response to all emergency calls.

Howard Barlow, NRS, Fargo

Cutting Edge Planning…..Girl Scouts of America

The Girls Scouts of America have embarked on a “Strategic Learning” process and currently, the Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes & Pines Council is undertaking this process of creating and implementing “winning strategies” as developed by Willie Pietersen.

I feel fortunate to have been invited as part of the team and found the process to be quite in-depth but amazingly rewarding and I’ve learned a lot about the process as well as the Girl Scouts. The first step of the process was the most intense, which was to learn by generating key insights into the external environment and the organization’s own realities through a “deep dive” into research & analysis. There were five categories of inquiry: Customers, Competitors, Stakeholders, Sector Trends, and Our own Realities. I was assigned to Sector Trends.

This is the first time that this method for strategic planning has been done by a not-for-profit but the principals are the same and have been extremely successful in for-profit businesses. Strategic learning is a practical leadership process for mobilizing five competencies to create an adaptive enterprise.

The five competencies include:
1. Insight: the ability to make sense of the changing environment
2. Focus: the ability to create an intense focus on the right things
3. Alignment: the ability to align & mobilize the entire enterprise behind the strategic focus
4. Execution: the ability to implement fast
5. Renewal: the ability to these things over and over without stopping (a cycle of renewal which separates truly dynamic organizations from those that are doomed to become tomorrow’s dinosaurs)

During the most recent retreat, the team moved from the situation analysis to defining strategic choices. From the strategic choices, we worked in small groups and then came together to develop the winning proposition and key priorities.

Currently, the Board of Directors is taking the time to review the strategic choices and the planning team will meet once more (in June) for alignment and implementation. This process will define the gaps between today’s realities and the desired key priority (future state). I’m looking forward to this session and learning more about this process.

If you are interested in learning more, read the full document that describes the process.
Kathy Grochow, NRS, St. Cloud

Networked Nonprofits

Beth Kanter is the author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media. She reports on research by Idealware on who is using Facebook successfully. See the guest post by Kyle Andrei of Idealware at

www.bethkanter.org/facebook-research. She has also published The Networked Nonprofit with Allison Fine.

She says, "Networked Nonprofits are simple and transparent organizations. They are easy for outsiders to get in and insiders to get out. They engage people to shape and share their work in order to raise awareness of social issues, organize communities to provide services or advocate for legislation. In the long run, they are helping to make the world a safer, fairer, healthier place to live."

Myrna Meadows, NRS, International Falls

Understanding True Program Costs = Empowerment

We got down to business this week in figuring out what it costs to deliver programs in our nonprofit agencies. Seventeen participants in the "Calculating True Program Costs" workshop delivered by Nonprofits Assistance Fund and sponsored by Bremer Bank in Willmar know the value of understanding the financial implications of running distinct and various programs in pursuit of their nonprofit missions.

Trainer Janet Ogden-Brackett, loan fund manager with NAF, led us in the work of breaking it down and thinking it through: Organizational budget; Program budget; Project budget; Grant budget. We contemplated Functional Expense Categories: Program expenses; Management and General expenses; Fundraising expenses. We took into consideration: Restricted and Unrestricted Income; Direct and Indirect Expenses. We studied: Staff time Allocation Methods and Assignment of Expenses, including "overhead." We left the workshop with materials, examples and templates.

Q. Why and what for?
A. To know and be able to communicate what our work as an agency and within individual programs actually costs.

Especially in this current environment of ever-limited and often-diminishing resources for community and nonprofit organizations, we need to make informed management decisions about the use of those resources. And we need to be able to demonstrate to supporters what our financial needs are and how we're using contributions. "Good information about true program costs," Ogden-Brackett explained. "And the amount of subsidy for those programs not self-supporting is the first, essential step."

If you missed this workshop and want to receive or review this practical training or other financial training sessions for yourself, check out NAF's training calendar. Let me know if there are other topics you'd like Bremer to host close to home. My email address is: LCSchmidt@bremer.com

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar

Mark Your Calendar: Here Today, Here Tomorrow

A nonprofit conference is being planned for Northern Wisconsin and Eastern MN on Thursday, April 28, 2011, at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in New Richmond, WI. This day long event is open to all.

Workshop sessions will focus around the topic of Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Sustaining A Mission Focused Organization in Hard Times.

Please contact Maltee McMahon for details at mmcmahon@bremer.com.

Personality Assessment and Goal Setting

The ARC (advocating for the rights of citizens with disabilities) of Dunn County board and staff participated in two trainings: 1) True Colors Personality Assessment and 2) Goal Setting conducted by Bremer Bank. The workshops were fun and interactive. Participants took the opportunity to learn about each other, what works well, what doesn’t work well. Each personality is different but we need each other to do our jobs well.


They also engaged in “think big” goal setting, allowing them to expand their horizons and think outside of the box attitude.

The Arc of Dunn County has three major programs:

Guardianship Program
The Arc-Guardianship Program shall provide guardianship of the person or estate. Guardianship is viewed as a responsibility to make critical decisions for a person who has been judicially verified to be incapable of making his or her own decisions.

Residential Program
The Residential Program is designed to meet the needs of adults with developmental disabilities with a focus on modeling and teaching independent living skills based on each persons need and skill level.

Respite Care Program
The Arc of Dunn County’s Respite Care Program provides temporary, quality overnight care for caregivers and families caring for adults with Developmental Disabilities.

The Arc of Dunn County’s mission is to enhance the lives of individuals with cognitive disabilities.

Maltee McMahon, NRS, Wisconsin

Estate Tax Incentive Impact on Philanthropic Giving

According to the Nonprofit Times, the estate tax and take home pay are of most interest to the nonprofit sector of the deal President Obama and Republican leaders have worked out. However the bill has yet to be drafted and there is dissent from Democrats regarding the provision that would set the estate tax exemption level and rate at $5 million and 35% for two years. Independent Sector has called upon Congress to preserve the estate tax incentive for philanthropic giving. Read more at www.nptimes.com/10december.

Myrna Meadows, NRS, International Falls

A Journey to Obtain a Grant

I wanted to share this on behalf of one of the nonprofits in my area. An important plea for a great organization.

Thanks!

On behalf of Lakes Area Interfaith Caregivers, I am writing to extend a big thank you for all your support in our efforts to obtain a Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Grant. If you recruited other voters for us, would you please forward this e-mail to them so that they too know how much we appreciated their support and votes.

Groups that we collaborated with have informed us that obtaining the grant within the first month is truly a challenge and for a good reason. We submitted the grant September 1 and it was not until voting began on October 1 that we knew if Pepsi would accept our grant application. For that reason, it was not until October 1 that we could start recruiting voters. Our project, “Providing services to keep Mom and Pop in the comfort of their own home” started with a rank of 217. As we recruited votes, we saw a consistent gain in our rank with a final rank of 151.

On November 1, we re-submitted the same application. Being that it is the same application, we know that it meets application guidelines, will be accepted, and voting will begin December 1. The first three days of voting are very important. It is during this period that your project’s initial rank is determined.

The direct link has changed. http://www.refresheverything/seniorservices. The number for text votes can be found on our project site. You will not need to re-register. You can also access the site by going to http://www.refresheverything.com/ and enter Lakes Area Interfaith Caregivers or Mom and Pop in the search box in the upper left hand corner.

Many of those that supported us in our partnering efforts have there projects once again being voted on in November. North Branch Hockey Association, Blue Shadows, Swoop and Slayton Soccer were big supporters of our project. They would appreciate your continued support and will support us in December. I have once again attached the list of our partners. If you have already voted for their project, sign in, click my on Your Profile in the lower left hand corner, and their project will be listed.

Once again, we thank you for all your support. Unlike October, we now have many loyal voters recruited and partnerships in place. We will continue to recruit more votes in November and hope that your will continue to support us during the December round of voting.

Pat Loban, volunteer for Lakes Area Interfaith Caregivers
Serving seniors and persons with disabilities in Crow Wing County and surrounding areas.

Posted by Julie Vreeland, NRS, Brainerd

Check Out Our Faves!

In our fourth quarter newsletter, Nonprofit Connection, we explore all of our favorite nonprofit resources. Check it out and let us know what your favorite resources are. We would love to hear from you!
Fourth Quarter Nonprofit Connection Newsletter