Friends,

As we approach the holiday season – a season of giving and sharing, I’d like to highlight a few ways to share the joys of the season through  Points of Light Institute.

Toys for Tots Through generationOn and Hasbro December 3-10

Points of Light’s recently launched generationOn is a movement to empower young people to make their mark on the world by transforming their communities.  This holiday season Hasbro is  providing extra incentive to kids who step up and volunteer.  From December 3-10, for every child or teen who takes the pledge to volunteer and joins generationOn, Hasbro will donate a toy to a child in need through the Toys for Tots Holiday Gift Campaign (up to 100,000 total toys).  This is just one example of the many ways Hasbro’s generosity is supporting  generationOn, as well as children in need.  You can further this holiday effort by spreading the word to friends, families, colleagues, and young people to join generationOn’s global movement.

Holiday Shopping on MissionFish

Omar, a 12-year-old boy in Zanzibar with a serious heart condition, is attending school, something he once could only dream about.  The folks who funded his life-changing surgery? Many, many eBay shoppers, who harnessed their purchasing power to benefit a nonprofit called “Save a Child’s Heart.”

By using the dollars of eager buyers, MissionFish, a business unit of Points of Light Institute, which partners with eBay, has raised more than $220 million to benefit 22,000 nonprofits in the U.S. and UK since its start seven years ago.  eBay shoppers designate a portion of the purchase price to a nonprofit (sellers may do so also).  In addition, nonprofits can sell goods to raise money.  So, you may shop for the holidays and benefit a host of causes at the same time by clicking here.

Tag You’re It!

We are extending our game of virtual tag to December 17, to give individuals a chance to incorporate the spirit of holiday giving into their commitments to improve their communities.  For example, you could deliver holiday meals to shut-ins, wrap gift packages for needy children, donate blankets and gloves to shelters or, as one woman pledged, “increase random acts of kindness.”

As many of you know, Tag is part of Points of Light’s multi-year Get HandsOn Campaign to mobilize 500,000 volunteer leaders to accomplish 2 million projects.  At gethandson.com, you can create your own volunteer projects or join others posted by thousands of people who are committed to positive change.  What better way to get into the spirit of the season as well as make a promise for the New Year!

In service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Points of Light Institute, and Co-Founder, HandsOn Network

Today’s post comes from Michael Nealis, Interactive Strategy Coordinator for Points of Light Institute.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  A few years ago, I broke out of my family’s tradition of coming together and having a meal to start a tradition of my own.  My best friend and I started making our own Thanksgiving dinner.  The meal has grown over the years, and now we feed about twenty-five people.  This year, two days before the meal, we started doing the prep work.  While we worked, we talked about what we’ve done and where our lives have taken us over the past year.

We don’t get to see each other as much as we used to.  We used to live in the same dorm, now we live almost five hundred miles apart.  This is one time during the year that we know we’re going to spend time together, and we try to squeeze as much silliness and as many 2am conversations into that time as we can.

We work together really well in the kitchen.  We know what the other person is doing, and we’re able to help each other out and have a lot of fun doing something that I’d always seen as a source of stress and frustration when I watched my family members make Thanksgiving dinner.

This year, though, was the first year that my best friend’s wife didn’t have to work and was able to help us prepare the meal.  Having a third person in the kitchen who didn’t really know what was doing upset the balance we’d worked out over seven years of meals together.  Instead of simply banishing her from the kitchen, or getting frustrated and yelling, we did our best to show her the steps of each task.  Sure, it took a little bit longer to do some things, but she also saw some of the tasks differently than we did and really helped us to have an easier time making dinner.

Any time you add a new person to a system that has been working well, the system is bound to be shaken up—whether it’s a new person in the kitchen, or a new volunteer for your organization.  (I bet you were wondering how I was going to get there, weren’t you?)  It’s important to bring them into the organizational fold and have a system in place to teach them everything they’re going to need to know to be an effective volunteer and advocate for your organization.

Whether it’s making sure your volunteer knows how to do the tasks you’re asking them to do, or it’s letting your new volunteer know about all of the things that are commonplace to anyone who has been at the organization for a while, like the finicky front door, everyone coming together for lunch, or the office tradition of getting together to dance at 4pm on Friday.  Volunteer orientations are an important part of volunteer retention for your organization.

A strong orientation program brings a new volunteer into the organization the same way a new employee is brought into the organizations.  It doesn’t just let the volunteer know what their task is, it brings the volunteer into the organizational culture and lets them know just what to expect from their position, their management, and their time in the office.

Something important to remember as we’re giving thanks for all of the good things (and all of the challenges) in our lives tomorrow is that “thank you” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.  Think about your best friend and your boss.  You probably don’t say thank you to them in the same way.

Your volunteers are the same way.  They’re all going to appreciate you saying thank you, but some ways of saying thank you may carry more meaning than others.

One of the easier ways of breaking apart you volunteer population is by generation.  The boomers are going to put more meaning into some types of recognition than someone who is a Millennial or Gen Xer.

Here are some ideas for showing volunteers from different generations that you’re thankful for them and their service:

The Greatest Generation – Born Before 1945

• Recognition events like luncheons or parties
• Highlight the amount of time they’ve been serving
• If you give an item, make it something useful, not just something to put on a shelf
• Make a donation in their name to one of their favorite causes

The Boomers – Born 1945-mid 1960s

• Get your organization’s leaders to thank your volunteer personally
• Offer leadership opportunities on organization projects
• Send personalized notes to the volunteer’s family thanking them for the time they spend away from their family
• Highlight the volunteer’s contribution in the company newsletter or website

Generation X – Born mid 1960s-late 1970s

• Offer opportunities to develop a skill or increase knowledge about the issue the volunteer works with
• Help the volunteer to increase their network by introducing them to organizational outsiders or taking them to networking events with industry leaders
• Acknowledge the work that the volunteer is doing publicly; use media contacts to highlight your volunteers
• Offer to be a reference for the volunteer

Generation Y/Millennial – Born late 1970s-early 2000s

• Offer increased responsibilities and challenges
• Give feedback on the work that they’ve done
• Send hand written notes to the volunteer
• Offer opportunities to learn more about the organization

Remember, though, that these are just guidelines.  Spend some time getting to know your volunteers to find out what would be the most meaningful way to recognize them.

Most importantly, don’t forget to actually say “thank you” to your volunteers.