The Moral Obligation of Volunteer Recruitment Promises

Recruiting volunteers to contribute their time and effort to your organization puts you in the middle of an implied promise. By issuing the invitation to participate, you are representing that volunteers 1) will be working towards a meaningful mission and 2) will be valued partners in that work. When new people agree to volunteer, they initially commit because they believe in the genuineness of that invitation. Which means they believe you and respond to your sincerity. So recruitment sets up a moral obligation for each of us. More

Volunteer Recognition: Appreciating Volunteers 52 Weeks a Year

Picture this scene: a new principal at the school, with the best of intentions, wants a big volunteer appreciation event to cap off the school year. Volunteers play a significant role in this elementary school, so instead of the understated annual volunteer tea, the principal envisions a big awards ceremony. The invitations are sent out but, because of an incomplete volunteer list, not all volunteers receive an invitation. On the night of the recognition event, the volunteers that are present find themselves paraded onto the stage and six awards are announced to highlight the work of six individual parent volunteers. It was a fiasco. More

Two Guiding Principles for Effective Budgeting

Done well, the budgeting process can produce many wonderful benefits. This issue of “Tools You Can Use” describes two important principles to budget by. These principles will help you lead a successful budgeting process that results in a useful tool for your organization. The information is excerpted from Chapter 4 of Financial Leadership for Nonprofit Executives: Guiding Your Organization to Long-term Success, by Jeanne Bell and Elizabeth Schaffer at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. More

Volunteer Rates Increase With Unemployment Rates

“People that are unemployed, who are trying to make sure that their resumes don't have a gap in time from when they become unemployed until they get that new job. So they are filling that time with volunteering opportunities,” said Annie Anthony, Executive Director of the Cape Fear Volunteer Center. More

Customer Service Overhaul

We all seem to know how important customer service is-if we are going to be successful in retail. Then why do we keep getting lousy service wherever we go? Before things get even worse, here are the commandments you need to put in place and make sure they are ingrained into everyone's mind. More

Retailing in a Recession

Keep in mind is that, while overall spending does contract in a downturn, what does more damage to most retailers is failing to connect with the change in consumer spending patterns. The emotional shift in consumer's minds from ambition to self-preservation makes people buy differently, but they still buy. More

Work-Life Balance in Retail

Working long and hard is standard procedure for many retail professionals. This is especially true for those who run their own store or are making their way up the corporate ladder. But is work all there is? Not according to the happiest retail pros. These men and women have been able to have their retail cake, eat it and wash it down with fine champagne. So how does a retailer balance a career with a personal life? Here are some key strategies. More

Masterful Merchandising: Chocolate Pros Talk Tips and Tactics

To merchandise chocolate most effectively, take a multi-sensory approach, recommends chocolate maker, author and pastry chef Jacques Torres, who operates two highly regarded chocolate retail shops in New York City. "People approach the counter with their taste buds, their eyes, their cognitive processes and their emotions/memories," says Torres. "It's important to keep that in mind when presenting the product so you capture a little of each one of those areas. "Taste rules over everything," Torres continues, "but since most places require a purchase before a taste, the initial purchase is made with senses other than taste." More