Understanding Volunteer Drop Out
from VolunteerToday.com
The Decline of Motivation: From Commitment to Dropping out of Volunteering is the title of an article in Nonprofit Management and Leadership (Fall 2008) on why volunteers drop out. The study is an in-depth look, over a period of two years, at the volunteers at a sexual assault and abuse center. The authors set out to answer one of the most basic problems in volunteer programs, that of retention. More

Good Practice Guide: Training Volunteers
from The Citizen's Information Board U.K.
Through training activities designed to equip your volunteers with essential skills, knowledge and attitudes, your organization can ensure that the highest possible level of service is provided. Training is essential both when volunteers first join your organization, and on an on-going basis, if assigned tasks are to be carried out effectively. More

Days, Hours and Minutes of Service – Enough is Enough!
from Energize
For over a decade it's been a clear, universal trend that new volunteers are seeking short-term assignments with a visible beginning, middle and end. There are many reasons that this has now become the norm. Combined with the hope that people will be more attracted to serving in bite-sized chunks of time with certain holidays and commemorative dates that lend themselves to expressions of community involvement, and – voila! – a "day of service." Conceptually, the idea of carrying out single days of volunteering is fine. But it has proliferated to the point of absurdity and someone has to cry "enough!" More

Free Podcast: What Most Retailers Get Wrong
from BusinessWeek
Herb Sorensen, who applies scientific methods and technologies in his new book, Inside the Mind of the Shopper (Wharton School Publishing), offers insights for retailers, including concentrating on best-selling items and guiding customers with visual cues. More

Why Every Manager Should Understand Store Design and Visual Marketing
from DMSRetail
Your store's design elements - the space planning, fixtures and casework, signage and graphics, visual merchandising, lighting - should be your No. 1 salesperson all by itself. If a customer has 10 questions over the course of their shopping experience in your store, the store itself should be answering at least 7 of them, leaving the store staff to handle the higher level sales questions that simply close the deal. More

2009 AHVRP Annual Conference Distinguishing Our Profession, Discovering Our Spirit Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa Phoenix, AZ August 27-30, 2009 Website: www.todaysvolunteer.org For a full conference brochure, click here.

Web Site Maintenance Musts
from Entrepreneur
And even if you do perform frequent check-ups on your website, are you sure you're giving it a really thorough once-over? About once a month, you should "pop the hood" to perform a comprehensive check-up, find what's not working and fix it. Here's what you should be looking for. More

Customer Service is Key in Today's Economic Climate
from CSM
It's been said that your first time customer, even your first time visitor (say to your website) is always the highest cost to you. You've had to spend your hard earned advertising dollars to get them there. But it's the repeat customers and visitors that really provide the best returns. If they keep coming back to check out your site, your products, your services, or your information, you've clearly developed a relationship with them. You have established credibility and trust. Once you've done this, the chance that these repeat visitors will buy from you increases exponentially. More