Advancing The Profession

In this last episode of season one, Rob chats with Faiza Venzant about equality, diversity and inclusion in advanced level volunteer engagement. Faiza Venzant CVA is the Executive Director of the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and General Manager, Volunteer Development at the YMCA of Greater Toronto. With 20 years of leadership experience in volunteer engagement, she continues this work with a goal of centering community amongst the profession, improving equity and access to volunteerism and increasing diversity amongst professional leaders of volunteers. In 2018, Faiza published her first children's book entitled, My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up! Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

In the penultimate episode of series one, Rob talks to Tobi Johnson, investigating the place and value of research and data in informing advanced practice and learning. Tobi Johnson is an internationally sought-after expert, consultant, and master trainer in volunteer engagement. She is known for her modern thought leadership, highly practical evidence-based strategies, and innovative, “big hat” thinking around engaging, supporting, and acknowledging the work of volunteers. She is the President of Tobi Johnson & Associates, a consulting firm whose mission is to help nonprofit organizations make connections with remarkable volunteers. In 2015, she founded VolunteerPro, an online training and networking community for leaders of volunteers. She is also the co-host of the Time + Talent Podcast with Jennifer Bennett of VolunteerMatch. Tobi has over 30 years of direct experience in nonprofit management, program development, program coordination, training delivery and learning design across a wide range of charities and government agencies. She wrote Chapter 1 of Volunteer Engagement 2.0: Ideas and Insights for Transforming Volunteer Programs in a Changing World, published by Jossey-Bass in 2015. In addition, Tobi is intimately knowledgeable about the professional development needs of today's leaders of volunteers. She was the Chair for the Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) Job Analysis Task Force; responsible for updating the required competencies for the field's only internationally recognized credential. Each year, her firm also conducts the Volunteer Management Progress Report, a global state-of-the-industry survey. In 2019, over 1,700 professionals from 22 countries participated. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Tobi is a graduate of the University of Washington and has a master's degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She now lives in East Tennessee with her husband and feline office assistant, Bailey. VolunteerPro Blog - https://volpro.net/blogs/ Tobi Johnson & Associates Blog - https://tobijohnson.com/blog/ Volunteer Management Progress Report - https://volpro.net/volunteer-management-progress-report/ FREE mini-course, The Art & Science of Volunteer Accountability Enrolment Page - https://volpro.mykajabi.com/offers/woGRAdzC Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

In this new episode, Rob chats to Dana Litwin about thinking outside the box, including understanding what leaders of volunteer engagemnt can learn from improvisational comedy as a way of advancing their practice. Dana Litwin (CVA) is a strategic advisor, public speaker, and thought leader in volunteerism and civic service. Since 2002 she has guided organizations in California's Silicon Valley and world-wide to produce breakthrough talent and community engagement programs. Dana is the creator of the premiere web series “Priceless Advice for Leaders of Volunteers”. Dana is the Past-President of AL!VE, and a founder of the multi-sector National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

In season one, episode five, Rob chat to Ruth Leonard about the role of professional associations when it comes to identifying and encouraging advnaced practcie for leaders of volunteer engagement. Ruth Leonard is Chair of the UK's Association of Volunteer Managers whose day job is Head of Volunteering Development at Macmillan Cancer Support. For Ruth, volunteer management is about empowering and enabling people to bring creativity and ingenuity to a solution to make a difference in their community. Her current role is to consider strategically where volunteering can add value to developing solutions and to ensure a supportive infrastructure so people who want to give their time can have a quality experience. Having been involved in volunteer management for nearly two decades she has significant experience at providing leadership on involving and engaging people and is committed to ensuring others are able to develop these skills. You can connect with Ruth on LinkedIn at https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ruthbleonard or on Twitter @struthyb Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

For season one, episode four, Rob talks to Jerome Tennille from the USA. Jerome and Rob met in 2017 at a workshop about career progression for leaders of volunteer engagement. Jerome discussed his career journey and challenges us all to think differently about what career success might look like. Jerome Tennille has dedicated his life's work to creating a more positive culture of volunteering. He currently works on the Social Impact team at Marriott International where he manages the corporate employee volunteer program for Marriott's global team. He's also an appointed Commissioner for the Governor's Office on Service and Volunteerism for the state of Maryland. Before that, he managed volunteer services for a national 501c3 nonprofit supporting families of fallen veterans. Jerome's work has been published by VolunteerMatch, Nonprofit Information, Impakter, and Business2Community. Through his independent consulting firm, Architecting Social Good, Jerome has collaborated with numerous organizations, including Habitat for Humanity International, America's Service Commissions, Volunteer Fairfax, Serve Ohio, and Peace Through Action USA. Jerome holds a Masters of Sustainability Leadership from Arizona State University and is designated Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA). Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

In this third episode of the first season of Advancing the Profession, Rob chats with Australian colleague Tracey O'Neill, discussing the place of credentialing in advanced volunteer engagement practice Tracey O'Neill, CVA is a social worker and Certified Volunteer Administrator with 20 years of experience as a leader of volunteer engagement. Currently working with the Brotherhood of St Laurence (Melbourne, Australia), a social justice organisation working to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia, she is passionate about the elevation of the profession of volunteer engagement and supporting the development of advanced leadership skills in the sector. Tracey is currently a co-editor of the Voices section of the international online journal ‘Engage; the global voice of leaders of volunteer engagement,' and a recipient of a 2020 Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (Al!ve) Exemplary Leader Impact Award. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

In the second episode of season one, Rob talks to Matthew Hick, Head of Volunteering at the UK's Science Museum Group. They discuss how and why Matt was inspired by an article on ethics in volunteer engagement and muse on advanced practice in heritage volunteering. For the past six years, Matt has been responsible for leading the strategic development of volunteering at the Science Museum Group. During that time, he has overseen a 90% growth in volunteer involvement, helped raised satisfaction levels to 98% and created a culture that embraces volunteering. Matt is also Chair of the Heritage Volunteering Group a peer-to-peer network for those working with volunteers. Alongside this, Matt was Chair and Trustee with York CVS for six years, is a governor for Sphere Federation and the founder and secretary of the Covid community support group – Your Scholes. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

In the first episode of season one, Rob talks to Martin J Cowling. Martin has worked in the community sector for over 35 years as a volunteer, hands-on manager, leader, researcher and consultant. He has worked from small grassroots organisations through to being head of Australia's largest not for profit. He believes that people are the key to an organisation's success and he is passionate about ensuring that staff (both paid and unpaid) have mutually beneficial relationships and contribute to making lasting positive change. Today, Martin works with organisations globally to respond to change and prepare for the future. He mentors, coaches and trains their leaders and leadership teams to be as effective as possible in these turbulent times. In his conversation with Rob, Martin shares his thoughts on what advanced volunteer management really is and what we need to consider when raising our game in working with volunteers. You can connect with Martin on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinjcowling/ Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay

Rob Jackson introduces a new podcast for leaders of volunteer engagement, Advancing The Profession. Season one launches on 5 July 2021. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay