Why Volunteers Quit

Those of you who know me reasonably well know that I've been in development for about a decade now, and have also been involved with many nonprofits and organizations. Over the years, an issue that's always concerned me has been volunteer turnover and burnout. And I'm extrapolating here both from nonprofits and all-volunteer organizations to for-profit businesses and other more commercial enterprises -- because, let's face it, even in a business environment there's a gulf between what's required and what a lot of people choose to do.

But, too, every environment loses people and loses talent because, for whatever reason, the talent isn't motivated or engaged appropriately or well enough, and as a result the talent chooses to apply itself elsewhere.

Listed in no particular order are some of the reasons this happens:

• Burn out -- Usually this happens when willing volunteers find themselves unable or unwilling to contribute to the degree demanded by the organization.



• Cool out -- When people who offer their talent find it unused. Usually they're offering because they have a desire to contribute. And if your organization won't give them a meaningful way to contribute, they contribute elsewhere.



• A lack of context -- What are we doing, why are we doing it, and what does it matter if we do it? People volunteer to achieve things. They want to see the significance of their work.



• Static opportunity -- People volunteer out of enlightened self-interest, and one thing they're interested in is taking on more responsibility, learning new things, and being able to grow within their volunteer role.



• Excluded stakeholders -- Usually this means the volunteer's family, who may not have a meaningful way to be involved in the volunteer's philanthropy, and may resent the conflict that volunteering can create with shared time. However, there are a lot of people competing for your volunteer's time and attention, and if you want to avoid losing your volunteer you have to keep this in mind and engage those competing interests as well.



• A Bad Environment -- People volunteer because they enjoy it. And when they don't enjoy it, they quit. Usual reasons for this are that they don't feel well-enough respected, they're not having fun doing it, etc.

So, what's the solution? There are many things that can improve issues with volunteer morale, but it all comes down to the Aretha Franklin Solution: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.

Sorry for the hokey rhyme, but this really is approximately 90% of the solution to issues with volunteer engagement.

Broken down:

1. Give respect to your volunteers, your stakeholders, and your staff. If your professionalism is lacking, fix that first. Nothing is more detrimental to morale than the failure to communicate appropriately and respectfully with everyone who's engaged in the mission of your organization.

A corollary to this is that transparency and fair practices will serve you well.

2. "Find out what it means to me" means exactly that -- what is meaningful to your stakeholders? There are some stakeholders who want a limited role -- they may want to be respected and given relatively free reign to perform tasks which they feel adept at performing. Do that for them. Others will want to grow, to learn, and to get more deeply engaged with the organization -- help them do that. Keep in mind that while they give you their time, talent, and treasure, you're also giving them a meaningful way to be engaged in your organization. Take your side of the exchange seriously.

Summarized greatly, do what, within the needs of your organization, would be meaningful for your volunteers. That's how you keep them.

Yes! Day One!

So, today was Day One of Nanowrimo. I've "participated" before, but without much of a plan I basically just wrote character descriptions and set pieces till I got bored and gave up.

However, I'm talking about my goals for this year to keep myself accountable. So, here goes...

Getting to the end and "winning" is as simple as averaging 1,667 words per day. Today I wrote like crazy and got to that number in about 1.5 hours. So, not bad. I could probably do it in less if I had some ability to focus, but as it was I did about 500 words while waiting for Chris to get his hair trimmed at Great Clips (as an aside, ever got your hair cut at Great Clips? I'm surprised I got anything written), and then managed to clack out about 1500 more while watching the end of the Anaheim Ducks/Washington Capitals game at home. (What can I say? Temmu Selanne inspires me.)

So...the grand total for today? 2,600! Go, me! Just 29 days to go!

Nature Has Other Plans...

I have guests in town, my parents, who hate the cold. So when we planned their visit, we talked a fair amount about the potential for snowfall. "No problem," I assured them, "it'll be way before the first snow. It only snowed this early once before, and that was an anomaly."

Put simply: WRONG. Yes, it almost never snows so early. It hasn't since 1972, actually. But I woke this morning to blankets and blankets of flakes coming down, and it's only gotten worse since then.

And in fact yesterday was a great day to be outside. I rode my horse in the afternoon, and it was a fantastic day to have a panoramic view of the mountains with all the leaves changing. Then, later, my guests and I had dinner at the Nittany Lion Inn and participated in the Lantern Tours that are put on by the Lion Ambassadors. The highlight was climbing Old Main's tower, which isn't usually open.

But we're definitely not going out there today. So, now my parents and I are hunkered down in the basement watching college football. Which is pretty awesome, but very different from what I had planned this weekend.

Literary Endeavors

This is one of those omnibus posts where I just throw a summary of my recent activities out there for everyone to peruse. I've been on a bit of a literary jag, in addition to my other activities.

This has included reading -- and I read what's handed to me, what I see on the shelves at the library, and what I get assigned for various reasons, so there's no particular value judgement afoot here.

• Just finished re-Reading Ellison's Invisible Man, Bryson's At Home, and McEwan's Amsterdam. These actually do come with a value judgment, because I like them enough to keep them around and rotate them on and off the shelves for frequent re-reads.



• Just finished reading, from the library: T.C. Boyle's When the Killing's Done and Clyde Edgerton's The Night Train.



• I'm currently reading: GHW Bush's All the Best (wherein he refers to that old battle axe Barbara Bush as "Bopsie"), Hoover's The Quickening, and Ian Weir's Daniel O'Thunder.

Beyond all that, did I mention that I'm endeavouring this year to participate in National Novel Writing Month and to "win" it? More on that later. Suffice it to say that I have a challenge what with my travel for work, my lack of a laptop, and my other obligations. But I'm spending a lot of my non-copious free time this month doing research, writing character sketches, and generally setting myself up so that I can just write when it's just writing time.

Ahem.

I MADE IT!

This makes me "fresh meat," and now I'm being tenderized by the extremely painful phenomenon of fresh meat boot camp with the State College Area Rollers.

I also have a lot of upcoming activities.

For example:

• Traveling to Hanover for a scrimmage bout this weekend.



• Participating in the 10/22 bout against Binghamton as both a non-skating official and the zombie pirate singer of our national anthem.



• Participating in Bellefonte's Halloween Parade and Fall Festival with the team, which should both march in the parade and have a booth at the Fall Festival.



• Etc., etc. There are bouts and appearances and all kinds of stuff through the end of this season, which is December.

Note that I'm not a full-fledged member of the team yet. Sometime in late November/early December I'll hopefully pass my Level 1 assessments, and graduate to full status and the ability to actually receive and give contact in practice.

So, wish me luck. And watch this space for more events and whatnot.

After

After, a photo by Athens Nikita on Flickr.

Here's the nighttime view of the finished project.

You guys think the light is too low, too high, or just right?

Small Improvements

Given the theme of this blog, and the fact that for about the first year all we did was various forms of construction projects, I shouldn't be surprised when people ask me what's up with the house at the moment. The short answer: very little. We're well into the "enjoy the house" phase, and are currently putting our money and time into other things.

However, occasionally we do small projects when we can see the opportunity to make a big improvement in a short time. A few weeks ago, the front porch light seemingly burned out. This coincided with my blowing a fuse during band practice, and so it could have been a fairly serious problem -- but when Chris hauled the fixture down and discovered that it was simply a shoddy fixture, it was time to go shopping for a new one. At the same time, I decided to replace the contractors' special sconces/lanterns around the back doors, too. Why not? I hate those things -- they work, but they're cheap and ugly, and I am way over cheap and ugly.

At the same time, we decided to take advantage of the lack of a front porch fixture to remedy a basic problem with it -- it's all white! Technically, I suppose that's fine, but being from the south a white porch ceiling is something of an abomination. The proper color is something called "haint blue" -- supposedly it wards off evil spirits if you happen to be from one of the cultures (they are numerous in the south) that believes in it. Personally, I'm not all that superstitious, but I like the way the blue reminds me of the sky, cools the space in the summer, and brings a little color in in the winter -- a major consideration in a place where winter is twice as long as it was down south.

So today Chris and I spent about 6 hours painting the ceiling blue. (Photo at left: pre-painting prep.) We did this on Sunday, because it's one of the few days where we can steal away a few hours and because the local construction nannies don't work on Sunday. I was lucky this morning to find a whole suite of matching lanterns at Lowe's -- they averaged about $40 a fixture. SCORE! (Incidentally, for those who like me are cheap, both Lowe's and Home Depot appear to be having sales on lighting at the moment.)

So, new photos forthcoming once I can manage to get them to upload (damn Flickr!). Not only does it make the house look a tad more southern, but it makes it look great.

Roller Derby in Central PA

A little less than 6 months ago, I tried out for a roller derby team, the State College Area Rollers or SCAR Derby. This came as a surprise to more than one person. My father, when told, said "you remember what happened the last time you rollerbladed?" (I got hit by a car.) My mother said "you used to just cling to the wall at the roller rink." (So true.) But my bandmate was trying out and as I practiced to try out my husband decided to support me and try out as well. So, for better or for worse, I was in. I signed up for a clinic and tryouts with the State College Area Rollers.

In the process, I learned a lot about a sport I honestly knew nothing about.

1. Roller derby is experiencing a resurgence nationwide thanks to the Austin roller derby team and media stuff like Whip It.

2. Maybe if I hadn't spent so much time clinging to the wall, I would've discovered much earlier that skating is actually a great workout.

3. Central PA actually has a burgeoning, if young, regional scene to be part of. Williamsport, Harrisburg, Rochester, and a dozen other teams are located 3-5 hours from State College. Most are under 2 years old, so it's a good time to get in on the action.


I also, unfortunately, didn't make the team. My friends did. Can you say awkward?

I don't hold this against SCAR, since on skates I looked like a baby giraffe does in one of those shows on Animal Planet where they try to figure out how to operate their feet. However, I also didn't give up on skating. After all, my friends and husband spend all their time at the rink or at events, which means I spend a lot of time at them, and I've transitioned to a much more graceful skater in a few short months. And skating was the problem. I hear a lot from people who are not thrilled with having to hit people. Whereas I would love to hit people strategically, if only I could get to them. What I find hilarious/maddening is that there's a weird learning curve for skating -- you start off sucking at everything and then one thing clicks, and then all kinds of things click, and then suddenly you're just elaborating on stuff you already know. So getting started and putting in the time in that sucky stage is key.

So, a new season with new challenges is upon us, and one challenge I'm taking on is a second tryout. I'm also involved in SCAR Derby for better or for worse, anyway, so I'll be spending a lot of time this season as a non-skating official at the bouts. For those who might want to join me (and so far it looks like this recruiting class might be a little smaller than the one I was part of), the next clinic is September 25th at Penn Skates -- with tryouts on October 9th.

See you at the rink?

Not Enough Time, but Lots of new Stuff

I feel like a pathetic blog mistress. After all, I haven't posted an update here since, well, March. WTF is wrong with me?

For one thing, I've been entirely too busy exploring Central PA and points distant to write about it.

Among the totally awesome experiences I've had since I last wrote are:

Frog Fest at Millbrook Marsh
Bellefonte Area Middle School's total domination of this year's Solar Competition at Penn State
The Bellefonte Cruise
India Night in State College
The Arts & Crafts Fair in Bellefonte
and so on.

I probably won't be writing about all of these, but I promise to chronicle my future adventures a little more actively going forward.

Composting, Or Why We No Longer Have an Open Pit in Our Back Yard

Today Chris and I spent about 3 hours in the backyard doing Spring cleanup.  We have had a compost pile since we arrived in Bellefonte, but have not managed to organize it very well.  Basically, there was an abandoned kids' sandbox, so we filled it with compostables.  And it worked fairly well.  But there are a lot of reasons specific to our situation that the open-pit compost  pile just wasn't working for us any more.

1. Bellefonte (the whole region, actually) has skunks.  And we have an enclosed yard, but it's still not really ideal to taunt smelly animals with delicious, smelly food.

2. Speaking of which, our dogs had begun to treat the compost pile like their personal buffet.  

So today we bought this contraption and spent 3 hours building and siting it while also conducting a bonfire in the old compost pile consisting of scrap and fallen wood, woodbine from the hops vine that was all over our fence last summer, and miscellaneous woodlike junk that will compost a lot faster in ash form than regular form.  During that process we cleaned up absolutely every type of junk lurking in our yard (which was quite a bit after a long winter with three dogs doing as they please out there), inventoried the plants and pruned a few back, and discussed our gardening plans for this year.  

So, here's to a great season of gardening -- it feels good to get started.

Buggy Blogger

You may have noticed that there are no photos in my posts lately. I've noticed that, too, particularly when I go through all the steps to upload and a photo and it simply doesn't appear. I have no idea what's going on with Blogger, but as soon as I figure it out I will certainly share it.

More About Franklin Johnson...

Franklin Johnson, as I mentioned in the Wolf Family post, was an african-american servant who lived in the household, age 16 in 1860. Until recently that's all I knew of him. However, a ceremony held late this Fall to honor the local troops of the US Colored Troops mentioned Franklin, and I recently was able to find a bit more out about him through Bellefonte Secrets, a local newsletter:

It had been a devastating four years. Over 620,000 soldiers had been killed – 10% of all Northern males aged 20-45 years and 30% of all Southern males aged 18-40 years. President Abraham Lincoln almost saw the un-uniting of the United States of America. Helping his Union cause was Bellefonte’s own Andrew Gregg Curtin, now Governor of Pennsylvania, who not only advised Lincoln, but also provided a large portion of trained Union soldiers....

Being thankful for the war’s end, the Federal army held a “Grand Review” of its troops in Washington, DC. In celebrating its victory over the Confederacy, the U.S. War Department did not invite the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) to participate. Two hundred thousand African-American soldiers were ignored. These black soldiers were established by General Order 143 on May 22, 1863 and over 10,000 (11 regiments) of them were trained at Camp William Penn near Philadelphia in Chelten Hills. About 18,000 African-Americans served in the U.S. Navy as well. This meant that 10% of Union forces were colored soldiers and 15% of the Navy were as well. What an insult not to have invited these patriots to the “Grand Review.” These USCT soldiers were also gypped out of their pay as they received only $10.00 a month, plus a clothing allowance of $3.50. It wasn’t until June 15, 1864 that Congress would grant pay for all black soldiers equal to their white counterparts. In fact, many did not receive service and disability pensions until the early 1900s.

Sixteen African-American soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor and General James Blunt, leading the battle against the Confederate forces under General Douglas Cooper, said after the July 17, 1863 battle: “I never saw such fighting as was done by the Negro regiment...The question that Negroes will fight is settled; besides they make better solders in every respect than any troops I have ever had under my command.” On September 29, 1864, the 6th USCT were fighting in
the Battle of Chapin’s Farm near Petersburg, VA where 367 entered the battle and 210 were killed or missing. One third of the USCT lost their lives in fighting for the Union. Now the remaining USCT’s were not invited to the Nation’s Capital for the “Grand Review.”

This was just too much for the citizens and leading blacks of Harrisburg. They would stage their own “Grand Review” and it would consist only of USCT veterans. Thus, on Tuesday, November 14, 1865 nearly 7,000 blacks from 25 states marched before the State Capital in Harrisburg and in front of former Secretary of War Senator Simon Cameron’s house. Senator Cameron spoke: “I cannot let this opportunity pass without thanking the African soldiers for the compliment they have paid me, but more than all to thank them for the great service which they have been to their country in the terrible rebellion. Like all other men, you have your destinies in your own hands, and if you continue to conduct yourselves hereafter as your have in the struggle, you will have all the rights you ask for, all the rights that belong to human beings.” After hearing orator William Howard Day and prayers by Rev. John Walker Jackson, Harrisburg’s “Grand Review” ended with a grand ball honoring these USCT veterans.

Conservation to find, repair and restore the grave sites of USCT soldiers is underway and was commemorated at a "Grand Review" on November 14, 2010. In Bellefonte’s Union Cemetery are buried approximately nine USCT members: William Green, Moses Jackson, Franklin Johnson, Moses Johnston/Johnson, Edward Mills, Lewis Mills, Thomas Taylor, Jacob Williams, and Wilson Williams.

However, only five of these graves are marked. Franklin Johnson's is not among them -- Penn State's research was necessary to identifying his final location.

More Foodie Stuff

When I came to central PA, I have to admit that food was a major, major challenge. Sorry, Central PA, but your cuisine leaves much to be desired. I particularly missed hispanic cuisines and had issues with thai, chinese, and other ethnic cuisines. It just was not happening.

The bright side of this, though, is that we now get to cook at home a lot more, and one thing Central PA really does excel at is local food. We have a vibrant and active farming economy, a restaurant and market scene that supports it, and a wide, wide world of CSAs. We also have an informal system of your-friend-knows-my-friend-and-he-has-some-eggs. In this way we have now bought a quarter of a cow and agreed to split some produce with neighbors. But we also found a fantastic CSA.

For those who haven't tried it before, "CSA" stands for community-supported agriculture. Generally speaking, the consumers (us) eliminate the risk for the farmers by paying up front for produce and other farm products, and the farmers plant to the prepaid demand, providing to the consumers the fruits of that process. Generally speaking, it's a compact between the farmer and the consumer, to reduce risk and split the bounty of the harvest. If the harvest is poor, the share we receive is poor, and if the harvest is great we get inundated with vegetables. But, honestly, having participated in a few CSAs now, I've never really felt that I didn't get wildly more vegetables/products than I paid for.

Now, CSAs do vary quite a bit, depending on the strengths and inclinations of the farmers and market. I used to belong to the Roots Farm CSA in Athens, GA, and Roots had a work requirement and specialized in really gorgeous produce in immediately-usable quantities. That went so well that the head Rootster bought my house. Well, not really -- he did buy my house when I left A-Town, but the excellent quality of the vegetables and/or the fantasticness of myself as a member had very little to do with it. Anyway, I digress. I belonged to another CSA in Athens before that which specialized in giant quantities of a few crops, and quite honestly that was somewhat disastrous because those few crops included a bunch of crops that I would prefer not to eat -- but one of the charming things is how CSAs bring the community together, in that case by my donating huge quantities of turnips to my neighbors. Oh, something I liked a lot about Roots, and about my new CSA, is that both come with interpretive materials -- when you get artisanal/heirloom/unusual veggies, it helps to have an inventory and some recipes, and both supply them. Good stuff.

Anyway...I was beyond excited when I got an email a few weeks ago from Diane Cramer, who is one of the leaders of the Bellefonte Farmers Market and also the owner of a local farm with a CSA. She proposed that, for about $20 a week, she'd supply me with 20 weeks of produce, eggs, and mushrooms. And, key for lazy and busy people who also have meat on hand already, this should reduce or eliminate entirely my need to go buy things from the local supermarket for a while. So, that's a win-win. I wrote the check immediately.

So, this summer, there will be lots of delicious food at my house. Stop by!

Baking Via Machine

...is on the list of Things I Don't Do. It's too precise, and it also requires a lot of time, and I'm married to a guy who hates sweets.

However, I also know someone who got sick of her bread machine, and now it's mine. And the resulting experiments?

Well...thank God for the bread machine.

First I attempted "basic bread" -- but it was simply not working out. And as it turns out, while my husband hates sweets, I hate yeasty-tasting stuff. Luckily, we have these wonderful creatures to help me dispose of the projects that don't go so well.

Next I tried french bread -- this actually turned out to be doable, though the recipes seem to consistently ask for less water than is actually necessary.

Now I've gotten to the point with the bread machine where I am with everything else that I cook -- the free-for-all stage. Since the french bread, I have been innovating with all kinds of additives to varying degrees.

Projects that went great: mustard/cheddar bread, blue cheese and walnut bread, whole wheat sunflower bread with cream cheese.

Projects that went not so great: a cornmeal bread that was, um, well, awfully bricklike once it cooled.

This is what I'll make over the weekend. Wish me luck!

3rd Floor Bedroom

3rd Floor Bedroom
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

This is the "before." Hoping we have "after" ASAP!