Post by Jodi Freedman
It seems that Penny and I are on the same wavelength. I just read her blog from June 10th about rising fuel costs. My thoughts have been circling around how much I keep hearing about the cost of gas and cutting down on travel. At the same time, I just used my webcam to see my 6 month old nephew in California. So, my question is how can we use the technology that exists and is available to many of us to keep our volunteers engaged?
Now more than ever, volunteer managers are going to need to be creative. Can you use your volunteers via the internet, so that they are in fact telecomuting to their volunteer positions? Are there ways to make the opportunity move closer to the volunteer, such as representing your organization at a program or fair in their area? This would save you and the volunteer on gas costs!
I certainly don’t have the answers, but I think that we are all going to have to start looking at volunteering through a different lens.I am curious to hear how everyone is meeting this challenge. In an ideal situation, maybe we could buy our volunteers vespas so they could commute for less!
Jodi Freedman is a Major Gifts Specialist at the Maine Chapterof the Alzheimer’s Association.
