Advancing The Profession

From the initial spark of an idea in 2008 to a platform now empowering over 600,000 volunteers, Chris Martin is CEO and founder of TeamKinetic. After studying a Masters in Sports Science at Leeds Metropolitan University and realising that he was ill-equipped for a ‘real job’, he set about building a company that did some good in the world and was a fun place to work. Most recently, Chris has embarked on a new passion project alongside his TeamKinetic work, setting up a not-for-profit and a Community of Practice to advance the volunteer management profession's understanding and adoption of digital. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Sarah has been a volunteer in a range of roles since she was a teenager and has worked in the volunteering sector for over 15 years. She supported volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations at Fife Voluntary Action for five years before acting as the national volunteering lead for two Scottish charities – Children First and Shelter Scotland. During this time, Sarah was an active member, and latterly the chair, of the Scottish Volunteering Forum. Sarah became the Senior Policy Officer at Volunteer Scotland – Scotland’s national centre for volunteering - in 2022, advocating for the strategic contribution and interests of volunteers with Scottish decision-makers. Sarah recently moved to Voluntary Health Scotland as their Policy and Public Affairs Lead. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Denise has been Chief Executive with Volunteer Now since August 2017 and prior to that Director of Engagement since 2010. She has extensive experience in supporting volunteer involvement. She has wide ranging expertise in public and organisational volunteering policy development, volunteering research and supporting good practice in volunteering. She is experienced in third sector governance issues through many years working at a senior level in the voluntary and community sector. Denise is an active volunteer for Portadown YMCA, Armagh Rural Transport and Belfast Central Mission. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Tony is the founder and CEO of Better Impact, the creators of Volunteer Impact software. In the late nineties. Tony founded a residential hospice in his hometown and, when looking for volunteer management software for the hospice, he discovered that none was web-based. He offered to build and donate something bespoke for the hospice and that began the journey that has led to organizations in multiple countries and in four languages using Better Impact software. As the need for increasing the security and privacy of volunteer data has grown, Tony has kept up to date with current and emerging practices in the area and is happy to share them with Leaders of Volunteers whenever he can. https://www.betterimpact.com https://welcome.betterimpact.com/ditch_the_spreadsheet https://www.betterimpact.com/BSPC Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

From a young age, Faiza Venzant's parents instilled a strong sense of volunteerism in herself and her two older brothers. They, as immigrants to Canada from Uganda in the early 70s made a successful transition into Canadian life with the help of many generous volunteers. A volunteer herself from a very young age, she has been an advocate for volunteer engagement and excellence in volunteer management for over 20 years. As a facilitator for the Community Action Poverty Simulation, Faiza is passionate about equity and access amongst volunteers and leaders of volunteers. Faiza immigrated to the United States in 2021 and now serves as the Executive Director with the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and an active member and volunteer with Association for Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE.) She has been a CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration) since 2016. In 2018, Faiza published her first children’s book entitled, "My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up!". As a mother of two young boys, she has not actually eaten any of her children. Learn more about the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration at www.cvacert.org Read more about the ADEVI research at https://cvacert.org/adevi/ Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Sarah has expertise in volunteer involvement and not-for-profit strategy and governance. Sarah is the National Strategy Advisor at Volunteering Australia and recently led the development of Australia’s first National Strategy for Volunteering in a decade. This year, Sarah is commencing her Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Clinical Psychology at the University of Western Australia, researching the relationship between volunteering and ‘mattering’. She holds degrees in Arts, Psychology, and Law. Sarah is also a passionate volunteer in animal welfare and mental health. You can find out more about the Australian National Volunteering Strategy at https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/get-involved/national-strategy-for-volunteering/ Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Gethyn has spent over 20 years working in the voluntary and community sector across England and Wales in fields as diverse as sport, youth, environment and disability. Specialising in volunteering initiatives for the past decade he’s worked on strategy for the London 2012 legacy, within central government at the height of the Covid pandemic and run national programmes at Volunteering Matters. A freelancer since 2020, Gethyn now focuses on helping non-profits to develop their business, capture their impact and enhance their volunteer programmes. In recent times he has supported the roll out of a range of national, high-profile volunteering initiatives, including the Vision for Volunteering and The Big Help Out. The diversity of these approaches to volunteering provides the thread that now runs through his work - a belief that volunteering is largely still misunderstood or under-valued, but that by engaging in all of its forms we can help raise it to a level of appreciation and awareness that its social value clearly justifies. https://www.gethynwilliams.net Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

As President of VQ Volunteer Strategies, Beth Steinhorn partners with organizations and their leadership to increase impact through strategic and innovative engagement. The author of multiple books and articles – including serving as co-editor of the recently published book "Transforming Disruption to Impact: Rethinking Volunteer Engagement for a Rapidly Changing World" – she is part of the national conversation about strategic engagement, frequently provides training on the topic, and consults with organizations throughout the US and Canada. Transforming Disruption To Impact — https://disruptiontoimpact.com Leighty Foundation materials on investing in volunteer engagement — http://www.leightyfoundation.org/volunteer-engagement/invest-volunteer-engagement/ Initiative For Strategic Volunteer Engagement — https://strategicvolunteerengagement.org Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Martin J Cowling is passionate about effective change, leadership and impact. He has been a volunteer, hands-on manager, leader, researcher, and consultant working with very small grassroots organisations through to large social purpose organisations, corporates and governments. He works with clients in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, UK and the USA. He led the Office of the Not-for-Profit Sector for the Australian government and helped establish the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC) in 2013. Martin is a skilled presenter, ranked as one of the top 100 speakers on philanthropy by Philanthropy 101. He believes that people are the key to an organisation's success and is passionate about ensuring that staff (paid and unpaid) have mutually beneficial relationships and contribute to making lasting positive change. Martin is a trusted partner for organisations, offering a comprehensive range of services to empower leaders, strengthen teams, and drive impactful change. Through personalised coaching, training, resource mobilisation support, and strategic guidance, he equips organisations with the tools, knowledge, and networks they need to achieve lasting impact, organisational excellence, and social change. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Stuart is the Learning and Capacity Building Manager with Volunteer Ireland. Previously he was Volunteer Manager with a leading homeless charity and the manager of a Volunteer Centre for several years. Stuart has worked in a range of roles in the third sector since and has a background in youth work. He has extensive direct Volunteer management experience with managing volunteer teams of over 1,430 volunteers. He is committed to volunteerism, and to fostering a vibrant and active community, where everyone can volunteer without restrictions, regardless of background or capacity, and achieve full participation by their voluntary activity. Connect with Stuart Email: stuart@volunteer.ie X / Twitter: @StuartGarland | @VoluntIreland LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/StuartGarland Web: www.volunteer.ie/training Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Vanessa Theed is currently the Volunteer and Apprenticeship Strategy Manager at the Natural History Museum and Vice-Chair for the Heritage Volunteering Group (HVG).   Having worked in Volunteer Management for the last 16 years.  Vanessa has a wide variety of experience across different sectors as well as leading on the Investing in Volunteers (IiV) accreditation for best practice for several organisations.  Vanessa hosted one of the first HVG regional network events along with one of the first HVG Volunteer Conferences.  She has developed and supported HVG Inspire events working with local regional networks and has provided Volunteer Management Masterclasses at the Museum and Heritage Show.   Vanessa has lots of energy and enthusiasm and is extremely passionate about volunteering and all that it can bring to both volunteers and volunteer managers.  She doesn’t dwell on the negatives and likes to find solutions to problems and find new ways of working, developing initiatives that can support those we engage with and building collaboration across the sector.  The Heritage Volunteering Group can be found online at http://heritagevolunteeringgroup.org.uk Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

This episode's guest, Karen Janes, has a special offer for ATP listeners. Karen is offering a free online monthly mindfulness session, on the first Friday of every month, from 12.30-1pm GMT. Sign up to learn the benefits of mindfulness and practice in a small and friendly group setting. You will come away with tools you can use straight away to help you to manage stress, build resilience and bring more calm into your day. These are secular, trauma sensitive and workplace appropriate sessions that are accessible to complete beginners as well as existing practitioners. Click the link below to register and you’ll receive a reminder every month. Just sign up here - https://thekjway.ck.page/freemonthlysessions and come along whenever you can! >>>>> Karen Janes is the owner of The KJ way, delivering workplace mindfulness solutions to help organisations and their people to flourish and thrive. Before setting up The KJ way, Karen had a 20-year career in the charity sector working in senior volunteering engagement roles. She knows well some of the challenges people face, and that busy diverse teams need quick and easy practical tools and solutions they can integrate into their working day, and into the organisational culture, to enable them to be effective and to perform at their best. Mindfulness has been transformational in Karen’s life and she’s now passionate about bringing the benefits of mindfulness into the workplace so other people can experience them too. Karen now teaches organisations powerful evidence-based mindfulness tools that help their people to reduce their stress, increase their resilience, and enhance their focus, effectiveness and personal wellbeing. Through her workshops, talks and programmes, Karen shares practices people can immediately start using, both in their professional and personal lives, to create positive and meaningful change for themselves and their teams. All the practices she offers are secular, trauma sensitive and adapted to the workplace and suitable for people with or without previous mindfulness experience. To find out more Email – karen@thekjway.co.uk Call – 07919 561446 Visit the website – www.thekjway.co.uk Join the mailing list to receive weekly tips and tools, as well as invites to free monthly mindfulness sessions – https://thekjway.ck.page/register Follow on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thekjway/ Follow on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MindfulnessTheKJway/ Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Helen Timbrell works as a Consultant, Researcher and Coach with past clients including Guide Dogs, Royal Voluntary Service, Scouts Association and SSAFA. Helen previously held the roles of Director of People and Organisational Development at Samaritans and Versus Arthritis. Prior to this Helen was Director of Volunteering and Participation at the National Trust, where she appointed the organisation’s first Head of Diversity and Inclusion. Helen’s PhD explored geographical variations in volunteering. She has an MBA (with distinction), with dissertation research exploring whether models of employee engagement and commitment could be used to explain volunteer engagement and commitment. Helen is a chartered member of the CIPD and holds an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change, with distinction. Dissertation research for her MSc explored how UK charities manage access to coaching and the implications for equity, diversity and inclusion in their approach. In March 2020 Helen published “What the bloody hell are you doing here?” a report of research comparing the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic volunteers with white volunteers in the same organisations. This research was funded by four UK charities with results being shared across the volunteering sector in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. When Director at the National Trust Helen previously commissioned research exploring the similarities and differences in managing staff and volunteers. This research, completed by De Montfort University, identified the importance of emotional labour in volunteer management. Results have been shared across the UK and led to the creation of a toolkit for volunteer managers and leaders of people. As a volunteer Helen has been a parkrun Event Director, a member of the HR Advisory Committee for Amnesty International UK, a Trustee for Girlguiding UK and a Director of the Association of Volunteer Managers. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Karl Wilding is a lecturer and consultant with wide-ranging experience of charities and the voluntary sector. A former CEO and director of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), he now lectures at the University of Kent’s Centre for Philanthropy. As a consultant, he supports organisations on public policy, governance and strategy. His research interests focus on voluntary sector resources, including volunteering and participation, together with a longstanding interest in futures work. Recent projects include using data to benchmark organisational finances, work on strengthening charity sector data, and analysis of the charity federation model. He is a director at MyCake, a trustee of Communities 1st and a board member at Creating the Future. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Sue Carter Kahl has spent her professional life working and volunteering in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Her work as President of Sue Carter Kahl Consulting is infused with lessons learned as a nonprofit executive, board member, fundraiser, volunteer, and researcher. Her current projects include consulting and training on the value that volunteers bring to organizations, translating research on volunteer impact into practitioner-friendly resources, and blogging at Volunteer Commons. Sue has a PhD in Leadership Studies and a Master’s in Social Work Administration. She serves as a pro bono executive coach through the Fieldstone Leadership Network in San Diego and on projects that help advance volunteerism. She is committed to bridging practice and academia in the volunteer field. You can find Sue on Twitter and LinkedIn: https://twitter.com/SueCarterKahl https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-carter-kahl/ Sue's website is https://suecarterkahlconsulting.com/ Sue's blog is https://www.volunteercommons.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=stats Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

Corina Sadler, CVA is Volunteer Resources Supervisor at the City of Plano, Texas and a National Service Commissioner for the OneStar Foundation in Austin, Texas. She is a Hispanic Volunteer Engagement Professional specializing in local government programs over her 17 year career. She enjoys providing volunteer management guidance to nonprofits and municipalities to unite communities through volunteerism along with volunteering for several national and global professional associations. Corina has trained volunteer managers from across the USA in-person and virtually. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in applied gerontology and nonprofit management from the University of North Texas. Corina has been a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) since 2012. Engage — https://engagejournal.org Corina's LinkledIn profile — https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinasadler/ Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com

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