Susan J. Ellis Hot Topics

Susan J. Ellis wrote a monthly hot topic from 1997-2020. Her hot topics were widely shared in the volunteer management field and sparked many discussions! In 2003, she explained her approach to her hot topics -- The Hot Topic is the Hot Topic

1997

Is the Challenge Recruiting Citizens to Volunteer or Making Sure Agencies Are Ready for Volunteers?
Is Volunteer Management Really a Profession?
Redirecting Corporate Volunteering
The Holiday Season: Going Beyond "Feel-Good" Volunteering
Volunteers as the "Third Branch" of an Organization
What's Gender Got to Do with It?
Why Is It Labor Unions vs. Volunteers?
A Proposal for Five Additional Goals after the Summit

1998

What's the Mystery about Motivation?
Turbulence at the State Level
The Presidents' Summit One Year Later
The Limits of the "V" Word
The Giving of Thanks
Reinventing Conferences
Reaching Out to International Visitors
Let's Commit to International Exchange
Let's All Resolve...
Give Volunteers a Voice
Some Nagging Questions...

1999

Philanthropy, Civic Engagement, and the Lessons of Volunteering
The Wall of Executive Indifference
The Money Factor in Volunteer Management
The Just-a-Volunteer Syndrome
Statistics, Bikinis and Volunteers: The New Independent Sector Study on Giving and Volunteering
Staff Resistance and Highly-Skilled Volunteers
Once in a Millennium Opportunity
Mystifying Data: Can America's Promise Get Away with It?
Lessening Social Exclusion through Volunteering
If the Whole World is Changing, Can Volunteerism Stay the Same?
Volunteer Managers and the Time ManagementbTrap

2000

Be Careful What We Wish For! The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Volunteering
Wishes and Resolves for the New Year
Warning! We're about to Waste an Opportunity!
Volunteering in For-Profit Settings: Exploitation or Value Added?
Unskilled vs. Differently Skilled: Maximize Volunteer Differences
The Volunteer Generation Gap
On Being a Dream-Catcher
Mixed Messages: What Do We Really Think about Young Volunteers?
If Not Your Home Page, Then Where?
Enough Formal Banquets! Let's Transform Recognition Events
A Proposal for IYV2001: The Look Back to Look Ahead Project
Some Truths Revealed about Nametags

2001

Money is No Object
Who is Celebrating IYV? Connecting the "Streams of Service"
When a Volunteer Transforms into an Employee
Tackling Causes Not Symptoms: New/Old Roles for Volunteers
Purity and Reality: For-Profit Consulting in Volunteerism
National Volunteer Week: Does Anyone Care?
It's Time to Start Counting Volunteers Seriously
Faith-Based Initiatives: What Might This Mean?
Evaluating by Comparisons: Watch Out for the Traps!
"Youth Involvement" in Our Field
A Volunteerism Perspective on the Days after the 11th of September
Advocacy for Volunteer Involvement: The Role of Funders

2002

Don't Call Me a 'Senior'!
What We See, or Don't: Volunteers in Television, Films, and Novels
Mixed Messages from Government: Lessons from Minnesota
Moving on from 2001
Reacting to the Critics
Spring Cleaning: Take a Fresh Look at Your Volunteer Program
A Utopian View of Volunteerism Professional Organizations
The Great Divide: Leaders Who Are Paid and Leaders Who Are Volunteers
A Medal for Volunteer Service - How to Measure Success?
What's Hot, What's Not
The World According to Volunteer Experience
The Missing Link: Where are Volunteers at the National Level?
United Way is Not the Way for Volunteer Centers

2003

Educating Other Professions about Volunteers: Starting at the Source
War and Volunteers: History Repeats Itself
Universal Standards vs. Your Own Situation
Turning a Gift into a Powerful Tool: The Internet-related's Impact on the Volunteer Field
The Need for Institutional Memory
Raising Money through Volunteer Labor
Beyond Common Sense: Volunteer Management as a Specialty
Making an Impact When You Spend Money
One Step Further: Volunteer Services and Agency-wide Education
The Hot Topic Is the Hot Topic
Marketing Savvy - Our Field's Blind Spot

2004

Economic Development, Internet Technology, and Volunteers
Chicken or Egg: Why Are Our Professional Associations Weak?
Does It Matter if Volunteers Work in a Nonprofit or a Government Setting?
Government, Politicians, and the Use of the Word "Volunteer"
Interns: The "Acceptable" Volunteers?
Making Volunteer Management Happen: A Proposal for AmeriCorps
Shaping Public Opinion: Volunteering, Government, and News Reports
Should We Ask Volunteers to Give Money on Top of Time?
Watching, Helping and Learning from China
Applied Futurism: Putting Trends to Work Today
A Great New Report to Praise, Criticize, and Use

2005

Still Tilting at Windmills
Charity Burnout? How to Cope with the Impact of Mother Nature in 2005
Keeping an Eye on Things in the Year Ahead
Mobile Volunteers -"Tis the Season"
Recruitment Maxims
Save a Life, Win a Car! When Do Incentives to Volunteer Cross the Line?
The Silver Lining of Disaster
Volunteers Just Want to Have Fun
We Can Model True Collaboration
Why Be Boring When You Can Celebrate in So Many Ways?
Why Can't We Make Progress on Public Perceptions about Volunteering?
Development Strength in Numbers: Engaging Volunteers as Partners in Program Development

2006

The Middle Management Barrier
Encouraging Entrepreneurial Volunteering
Online Spying Can Improve Your Volunteer Management Skills
Start Early: Teaching Students about Volunteering, Not Simply Doing It
The Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Obstacles to Progress
The Implications of History
Together We Stand: Volunteers and Volunteer Resource Managers Connected
What's in a Name or a Title?
Why a New Association Should Serve the USA
A Call to Action on Behalf of Our Profession
"I Don't Have Time"

2007

Boards of Directors: Governing at a Distance?
Voluntourism - Pros, Cons, and Possibilities
Volunteering We See but Don't Recognize
The More We're Different, the More We're the Same
The Moral Obligation of Volunteer Recruitment Promises
The Big Merger: Many Unanswered Questions
Technology Acceleration: Grab Hold and Hang On
Should Volunteer Program Managers Be Volunteers, Too?
Marking a Special Birthday
Make New Friends But Keep the Old...
I'll Help with That, but Don't Ask Me to Lead It!
Helper Triage: Volunteer Management in Emergencies

2008

Confidentiality and Other Objections to Volunteers
California Governor "Pumps Up" Volunteering
Is the Rising Cost of Gas a Crisis or an Opportunity for Volunteering?
It's Volunteers and Money
Replacing Volunteers with Paid Staff
So, What Do You Do?
The Yin and Yang of China's Olympic Volunteers
Volunteering Is Bigger than the Nonprofit Sector
Volunteers Should Not Be Second-Class Taxpayers
How Will the Economic Crisis Affect Volunteering?
The Power of Difference
From Organizing Charity to Building Community

2009

The Difference Between Needing and Wanting Volunteers
When the Ax Falls: Budget Cutting and Volunteers
What's Ahead for 2009?
The Separation of Service-learning from Volunteering...and Does It Matter?
The Role of Volunteer Resources Managers in the Serve America Act
The Drive towards "Highly-skilled" and "Pro Bono" Volunteering
Taking the Client's Perspective in Designing Volunteer Roles
Media Blitz vs. Media Noise: What Are We Trying to Accomplish?
Making Ongoing Volunteering Valued and Visible
Days, Hours and Minutes of Service - Enough Is Enough
"A New Era of Responsibility": An Open Letter toPresident Obama

2010

"You Get What You Pay For"
AmeriCorps and Senior Corps Targeting Volunteer Management
Both Receiving and Giving
Differentiating between Volunteering and Working for Pay
Good Intentions Going Nowhere -- Again
Limiting Volunteers through Insurance Requirements
Online Information Overload -- and How to Cope
Reimagining Service: Is Corporate HR Management What We See?
The Correlation between Time Donors and Money Donors
The Self-Directed Volunteer
The Word "Volunteer" Can Reveal, Conceal, or Confuse
When Volunteers Resist Change

2011

Needed: A Multi-level Approach to Credentialing Volunteer Management
Addressing Volunteerism Issues in the Blogosphere
Celebrate Collective Accomplishments, Not Volunteered Time
Exercise Your Volunteering Funny Bone
I'll Never Understand Why Executives Still Don't Understand
My Personal "State of the World's Volunteering" Report
Part-time Volunteer Management Means Equally Limited Volunteer Involvement
Real Professions Have Strong Associations
Short Attention Spans versus Long-term Causes
The Choice of the Citizen: Pay Taxes, Do Without, or Volunteer
Is the Corporation for National and Community Service on the Right Track for Volunteerism?

2012

The Perfect Volunteer Storm
Why Do We Love Volunteer Satisfaction Surveys?
What Would the Perfect Volunteer-Involving Organization Look Like?
Volunteering Is Inherently Political
Three Things Volunteer Managers Can Learn from the Social Media Revolution
Practicing What We Preach: Volunteers Helping Us, Too
Let's Be Honest about Nonprofit Boards of Directors (or, Lessons to Be Learned from Penn State
Is Volunteering the Emperor's New Clothes?
How Serving the Volunteer Field Has Changed after 35 Years -- Or Not?
End-of-Year Reports Can Illuminate Volunteer Achievements
"Why?" Is More Powerful than #@#%!

2013

Don't Let the History Made by Volunteers Fall through the Cracks of Time
What Volunteer Resources Managers Can Teach Human Resources Managers
Why Social Media Is Not the Cure-All for Building Volunteer Engagement
Volunteering and Employability: Cause or Effect?
The Treasure Trove of Knowledge Philanthropists
Strategic Volunteer Management: Expanding Your Organization's Brain
Stop Volunteers from Being Their Own Worst Enemies
Should We Cap the Number of Hours a Volunteer May Serve Each Week?
Revisiting the Seven Deadly Sins of Directing Volunteers
Prospective Volunteers Are Closer than You Think
Education through Celebration on InternationalVolunteer Managers Day
Breaking through the Glass Ceiling for Volunteers

2014

Virtual Volunteering Revisited
I Really Want to Know: What’s Going on Out There?
Identifying Who Is and Is Not a “Volunteer”
It’s Time to Discuss the Complex Relationship of Volunteering and Money
Let’s Help People Help Each Other
Pulling the Rug Out from Under Volunteer Involvement: Sudden Staff Changes
Volunteers and the Quest for Innovation
Ten Time-Tested Volunteer Recruitment Tips that Still Work
Working Together to Recognize Volunteers…and More
What Did You and Volunteers Do Well this Year?
Whom Don’t We Ask to Volunteer?

2015

Keeping Former Volunteers as Our Long-term Friends
Do Volunteers Want to “Talk Amongst Themselves”?
Fighting against Ignorance: Picking up My Sword Yet Again
If Google Can’t Find the People Who Lead Volunteers, No One Can
In the Middle: The Leader of Volunteers as Intermediary
Letting Volunteers into the Team’s Locker Room
Mixed Messages to Volunteers Whom We’ve Asked to Be Friendly
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
Replace Current Volunteers or Redirect New Ones?
See Superheroes for What They Really Are!
Volunteers as Beta Testers
What I Learned about Online Resources for Volunteer Management (While Updating the New Energize, Inc. Web Site)

2016

When Things Look Dark, Volunteers Can Spark Lightning
Clients Are a Talent Pool, Too
Do You Stick Your Neck Out When Advocating for Volunteers?
Incorporate the Power of Live Web Calls into Volunteer Management
Inform, and WOW, Everyone about Volunteers
Political Campaigns: Epicenter of Volunteering
Sending Volunteer Talent Down the Drain
The Division of Labor between Volunteer Centers and Volunteer-Involving Organizations
The Domino Effect of Setting Goals for Volunteer Involvement
The Limitations of Seeing Volunteers Only as Unpaid Staff
What Volunteer Recruiters Can Learn from #GivingTuesday

2017

Continuous Learning Is Not Optional
Don’t Forget Volunteers as Part of the Solution to 2017 Nonprofit Challenges
! Energize Turns 40!
Find the Money for Priceless Conferencing
Letting Fear Prevent Volunteer Involvement is Too Risky
Pride in the Volunteer Management Profession
The “Social Compact” and Voluntary Action Are the Foundation of Democracy — Even Today
Three Great Days: Reflections after the Summit on Volunteer Engagement Leadership
Branding National Volunteer Week: Whose Week Is It Anyway?
Leaders of Volunteers: Will You “Be the Voice ”for Our Profession?

2018

Happy Birthday to Energize’s Founder and a Volunteer Management Pioneer
Grow Volunteer-Staff Harmony: Plant New Seeds this Spring
Good News: Today and Tomorrow for Energize, Inc.
Don’t Just Recognize Volunteers, INVEST in Them…and Yourself
Bribing volunteers: Should we be incentivising people for their time?
Is Volunteer Management Really a Profession?
Leaders of Volunteers: Stop Being So Bloody Nice!
New Year’s Resolution for Executive Directors of Volunteer-Involving Organizations
Seeking Funder Support for Volunteer Engagement? Assess Your Approach!
Volunteers? Donors? Let’s Call Them All Supporters!
What Is the New National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement and What Will It Mean for Us?
Leader or Liability: Are Leaders Sabotaging Volunteer Engagement?

2019

Remembering Susan J. Ellis
When "Just" a Volunteer is Better than a Paid Employee
Volunteering Trend Watch: What Can We Learn from Looking Back?
The Volunteer Engagement Cha-Cha
The Times They Are a Changin’—Even for Volunteers
S#%& Words We Need To Stop Saying: Words and Phrases to Erase from the Lexicon of Volunteer Management
Revisiting Credentials and Certifications in Volunteer Engagement
Lessons Learned About Leading Volunteers From a Volunteering Working Mom
How Volunteer Action in 2018 Can Focus Us for2019
Fueling Volunteer Passion: Empowering Volunteers to Self-Motivate
Could Volunteers Replace Paid Staff? Have No Fear!

2020

How Leaders Can Find Strength In Vulnerability
Re-Opening and Recovery: Volunteer Engagement Resources in a Coronavirus World
Supporting Volunteer Efforts During Coronavirus
Susan J. Ellis Foundation: Supporting the Volunteer Engagement Profession