Episode 77: Leveraging the Power of People

Nonprofits and social good organizations rely on volunteerism, making volunteers are one of the most important assets that an organization has. Today’s guest emphasizes the importance of volunteers and talks about how organizations can best manage and leverage those valued assets.

In today’s episode, recorded at bbcon 2018, Points of Light CEO Natalye Paquin talks about how the critical role that volunteers and volunteerism can have on advancing social good and achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Natalye also talks about the role of technology in facilitating and tracking the impact of volunteers, and how Points of Light and Blackbaud are collaborating to advance data, insights and measurement for volunteerism.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Points of Light’s new strategic plan
• How nonprofits can leverage volunteers as one of their most valuable assets
• How volunteers and volunteerism can support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• The role of technology in facilitating volunteerism, tracking data and  measuring impact
• Why the sector needs a standard taxonomy to manage and measure volunteerism

Resources:

• Article: “Volunteers” by Jenny Lawson, President of Innovation, Points of Light in npEXPERTS 2018
• Announcement about Blackbaud-Points of Light partnership
• Natalye Paquin
• Points of Light

Notable Quotes from Natalye Paquin:

“We are really focused on better leveraging the power of people.”

“…over 30 percent of the workforce in the nonprofit sector is really contributions by volunteers. 58 percent of the output is by volunteers. Volunteers understand your mission personally, so they can be champions as well as donors.”

“This is really about creating a common language, a taxonomy, of how you measure and manage volunteers.”