GAVA News

The Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration (GAVA) is seeking presenters and engaging topics for our 2025 programs!  We’re looking for thought leaders, practitioners, and innovators to share insights on volunteer engagement, leadership development, ethical practices, and the challenges and opportunities in our field.

 

Whether you're an experienced presenter or a passionate professional with fresh ideas, we invite you to contribute to our mission of supporting high-quality leadership and advancing the role of volunteer administration as a profession.

Let’s collaborate to create impactful programs that inspire, educate, and empower volunteer leaders statewide. Share your expertise and help us shape the future of volunteerism!

 

For more information or to share an idea, email programming@mygava.org. 

We're excited to invite you to participate in VolunteerPro’s 2025 Volunteer Management Progress Report – The Recruitment Edition, their 10th annual survey!

 

Your input is crucial to uncovering the most current trends in volunteer engagement. This year, VolunteerPro is exploring:

 

· The biggest challenges for leaders of volunteers right now

· The current average salaries for leaders of volunteers

· The specific recruitment tactics organizations are using to attract volunteers

· Which tactics are the most effective and what benchmarks to track against

· The extent to which organizations are leveraging paid advertising in their recruitment

· The most popular websites for posting volunteer opportunities

· And much more ...

 

Why Participate? This survey serves as a pulse check for the field of volunteerism by providing a nuanced view of challenges, trends, and opportunities. By taking a few minutes to complete the survey, you contribute to a collective intelligence that guides our industry's evolution.

 

Survey Link: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/S8Cl9I

 

Survey Deadline: Friday, December 20, 2024 @5pm Eastern

GAVA is looking at hosting an in-person gathering in 2025! We invite you to share your thoughts and ideas on location for a 1-day gathering of GAVA members.

Share your input on gathering locations

1. Lead as a GAVA Board Member
   Join our Board of Directors and support leaders of volunteers across Georgia. This is your chance to support programming statewide. Step into a leadership role that matters!
   

2. Share Your Expertise as a Webinar Presenter
   Have knowledge to share? We’re looking for dynamic presenters for our upcoming trainings. By leading a session, you'll help equip others with the skills and insights they need to succeed, all while growing your own leadership and public speaking abilities.

These are two powerful ways you can lead, share, and grow with GAVA. Interested? Contact president@mygava.org today to learn more about these exciting opportunities!

Catherine Gillespie is Volunteer Coordinator at The Place. She received a BFA from Rutgers University and a MALS degree (minored in online learning & education) from Thomas Edison University.

Catherine had the wonderful opportunity to work in healthcare as a Hospice Volunteer Coordinator and became an End-of-Life doula. She also collaborated with Princeton University where she taught the end-of-life process to Princeton students. Using her certification as a Grief Counselor and bereavement background, she created and developed a Sitting Vigil program at Amedisys Healthcare for 30k employees via Relias education.

After a decade in healthcare, Catherine decided to return to the non-profit arena, where she manages 350+ volunteers, while developing a robust Volunteer Program that supports 5 departments in 2 locations, Forsyth & Dawson.

Are you missing out on the hidden potential of remote volunteer programs? Michele Wiesner, Director of Capacity Building at Hire Heroes USA and GAVA Board President, shares how to unlock this game-changer. Michele discusses the journey of building an effective remote volunteer program, highlights success stories of remote volunteers making significant impacts, and provides practical advice for nonprofit leaders to start or improve their remote volunteer programs.

Listen here: https://successfulnonprofits.com/portfolio/remote-volunteers/

Lara Tillery is the Manager of Volunteer Relations at NCCPA. A native of Atlanta, Lara received her Bachelor of Arts at Kennesaw State University. She has worked in the volunteer administration field for over 16 years. Prior to NCCPA, Lara was the Volunteer and Marketing Manager at CVI (Center for the Visually Impaired) where she worked with volunteers for over ten years. She transitioned to NCCPA and has been working there for six years.

A longtime goal of Lara's was to get her Certification in Volunteer Administration. In 2021 she achieved this goal. When Lara isn't working with volunteers, she enjoys making sterling silver jewelry, watching movies, spending time with family and friends and traveling.

Do you have a topic you're passionate about? Are you interested in sharing your expertise with a vibrant community? GAVA is seeking dynamic presenters and fresh topics for our upcoming virtual events. Whether it's innovative volunteer management techniques, leadership strategies, or community engagement, we want to hear from you! Presenters receive a free one year membership to GAVA.

Interested? Email programming@mygava.org and be a part of our mission to elevate volunteer administration in Georgia. Let's learn and grow together!

Learn the top challenges for leaders of volunteers, how volunteer services operate in different organizations, the sector's progress toward diversity and inclusion goals, how the pandemic impacted volunteer participation levels and where they're at now, and more!

Download the report here.

Congratulations to GAVA member, Carrie Jones, CVA, for recently earning the Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) credential from the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration.

Carrie is a Senior Recruitment Specialist at American Red Cross of Georgia.

 Learn more about CVA.