Mechanisms adopted by social enterprises for effective volunteer-based operations

Purpose This paper aims to describe an exploratory study aiming to identify the mechanisms adopted by social enterprises for effective operations based on volunteer work. Design/methodology/approach An inductive multiple case study method was used addressing three social enterprises whose operations rely on a volunteer workforce. Findings Volunteer-based operations benefit from the establishment of a formal structure, involving different levels of volunteering complemented with other mechanisms, namely, educate and train, empower and connect. Special attention must be given to first-level volunteers, reinforcing the range of practices to motivate and engage them, as they serve as intermediaries between the paid employees and lower-level volunteers. Practical implications The study provides valuable insights for managers for the implementation of effective operations, building on volunteer work, aiming at the generation of social and economic value. Social implications Due to their innovative character, social enterprises are well-positioned to mobilize more and more qualified volunteers for a significant change in their communities. Adopting a more strategic and structured approach to volunteer management can enable these organizations to take advantage of it. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on social enterprise by identifying a set of mechanisms adopted for effective volunteer-based operations. It also contributes to the literature on volunteer management by addressing an underexplored context.

Motivations and Experiences of Older Adult Volunteers in a Telehealth Nursing Simulation Activity

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to safely engaging older adults in volunteer activities. This research explored a unique partnership between a Retired Senior and Volunteer Program (RSVP) and a school of nursing to administer a telehealth virtual simulation training for nurse practitioner students. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with nursing simulation coordinators and volunteers after the telehealth simulation exercise. The purpose of this research was to identify principles of successful virtual volunteer engagement for telehealth simulations. This initial pilot study encompassed debriefing interviews with volunteers (N = 3) and interviews with simulation coordinators (N = 2). Three major themes emerged within the response coding: 1) the benefits of virtual simulation volunteering, 2) technology as a facilitating factor and challenge, and 3) unique volunteer management considerations. Both volunteers and coordinators noted that volunteers derived positive emotional benefits and new insights from their participation. Coordinators discussed the “authenticity” factor that older adults brought to the simulation experience as a benefit to engaging older adult volunteers. Technology sub-themes included accessibility considerations, experience with the online format, and other logistical considerations in conducting telehealth simulation. Volunteer management sub-themes encompassed volunteer skills and motivations, the perceived successful aspects of training, and improvements for future simulations. Volunteers discussed an interest and connection to healthcare and education as a motivating factor for their participation in the telehealth simulation. This small scale pilot research will be expanded through future simulation activities to continue to identify principles of practice for engaging older adults in virtual volunteerism.

Understanding Volunteer Management in 4-H

This is the first in a series of publications to address volunteer management. A 4-H agent must fulfill a number of functions to successfully involve volunteers in a county program. This 5-page article provides an overview of these functions, including a historical perspective of volunteer involvement in UF/IFAS Extension, the role of the 4-H agent as an administrator and trainer of volunteers, risk management, and a process for managing volunteers. Major revision by A. Toelle and L. Wiggins.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/4h301

Role of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning in Deepening the Internet Plus Social Work Service

The traditional social work services are mainly visits which have some problems such as inconvenient information circulation, unreasonable resource allocation, and low service efficiency. To improve these problems, Internet plus is used to reform social work services and form an Internet plus social work service mode. Although this model has a very good improvement effect on social work service, with the rapid increase of the number of social work services and the rapid growth of the number of volunteers, this model has limitations in the arrangement of social work services and volunteer management. Therefore, based on this model, with the help of machine learning, the Internet plus social work service mode can be deepened by using machine learning to manage social services and volunteers. Internet plus social work service is the main problem in this paper. The Internet plus social work service mode is formed. Then, the deepening role of machine learning in Internet + social work service is discussed, and some problems in Internet plus social work service mode are improved. Internet plus social work service mode can better improve the problems in traditional social work service. The paper also uses machine learning to further optimize the mode of Internet plus social work service, which has a good application in social work service prospects.

Engaging Volunteers through ISOTURES: Selecting for Volunteer Involvement

This is the Selection portion of the ISOTURE volunteer management model, part of the Engaging Volunteers through ISOTURES series. This 3-page publication discusses in detail the selection process for volunteers in Florida 4-H. Major revision by Andrew Toelle, Sophia Cooney, and Lori Wiggins.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/4h303

An Intelligent and Data-Driven Mobile Platform for Youth Volunteer Management using Machine Learning and Data Analytics

In Lewis and Clark High School’s Key Club, meetings are always held in a crowded classroom. The system of eventsign up is inefficient and hinders members from joining events. This has led to students becoming discouraged fromjoining Key Club and often resulted in a lack of volunteers for important events. The club needed a more efficientway of connecting volunteers with volunteering opportunities. To solve this problem, we developed a Volunteer Match Mobile application using Dart and Flutter framework for Key Club to use. The next steps will be toadd a volunteer event recommendation and matching feature, utilizing the results from the research on machine learning models and algorithms in this paper.

Scots Wiki – moving forward

How do you recover after a crisis? This session will reflect on the work done by and with the sco.wiki community to recover and rebuild after the negative international press attention that surrounded the wiki in 2020. I’ll talk about on- and off- wiki community development, partnership development, the challenges that still face the project, and hopes for the future. I’ll also reflect on care in volunteer management, and why we should always remember that there are real people behind keyboards. As Scotland Programme Coordinator for Wikimedia UK, I’ve been involved in supporting the community post-crisis, and have been impressed and heartened by the volume of work which has taken place since sco.wiki hit the headlines. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell the story of a group of editors and Scots speakers who are determined that the wiki should survive, grow, and thrive. Abstract id. 11: In the lead-up to the launch of Abstract Wikipedia, a sufficient body of linguistic information, based on which the text within for a given language can be generated, must be in place so that different sets of functions, some working with concepts and others turning these into word sequences, can work together to produce something natural in that language. To achieve that information body's development requires more thorough consideration of a number of linguistic aspects sooner rather than later. This session will thus discuss aspects of language planning with respect to Wikidata lexicographical data and natural language generation, including the compositionality and manipulability of lexical units, the breadth and interconnectedness of units of meaning, and the treatment of variation among a language’s lects broadly construed. Special reference to the handling of each of these aspects for Bengali and those linguistic varieties often grouped with it will be presented.

What Does it Take to Lead Extension Master Gardener Volunteers?

We investigated the importance of volunteer engagement competencies to successful master gardener volunteer administration. We used a web-based survey to collect data from a census of North Carolina Extension agents with master gardener volunteer administration responsibilities. Respondents indicated 52 of the 55 competencies were important to the administration of master gardener volunteers. We concluded that although traditional volunteer management skills are essential, a more comprehensive model encompassing personal and leadership skills is needed to inform development of training and resources that will support attainment of competencies required for successful master gardener volunteer administration.