Christopher Scott blogged

Volunteers are like water, they always take the path of least resistance. Give water an option of going uphill or downhill and it will always choose downhill. Great non-profits who have a solid volunteer base make a very clear and predicable outcome for their volunteers to achieve. While at the same time, making it clear how the volunteer can achieve the outcome. The worst thing that you can do for your volunteers, is have them show up and not have a list or job that is clear and simple for them to do right way. If your volunteers show up and they don't have anything to do, then they will not come back. This is because they don't feel like they are needed.

Volunteers_are_like_water To have a solid volunteer base you need to make sure that there is always something for them to do. Once there is something for your volunteers to do, if you can make the process simple and easy for them to follow, and make them feel needed and apprecated they will always come back.

I will be writing a four part series on how to get and retain volunteers in the near future so be on the lookout!

At 10 PM when we slip into our fancy pj's, crawl under our silk sheets, and our head hits the pillow millions of people on the opposite side of the earth are waking up wearing the same old clothes, they slept on the floor the night before, and they will go hungry like they did yesterday. The reason that I don't sleep very much is this, "Poverty does not sleep, so why should I?" Thinking about those that are less fortunate than myself, does not make me want to go to sleep.

We have all had those special teachers in our lives that had such a positive impact on us. Well Sean Byrne is one of those teachers (or should I say 'professor' since he teaches at CSU, Stanislaus). When I first took his Financial Accounting class Sean immediately had an impact on me. His enthusiasm and energy is so contagious.

What had the greatest effect on my life was when Sean announced that he gave extra credit for every 5 hours of community service that you did. I was always down for, and in need of extra credit so I totally jumped on the opportunity. After many early mornings at the United Samaritans Foundation in Turlock of making sandwitches, loading food trucks, and handing out food boxes, I can honestly say my life was changed forever.

Thank you Sean, not just for being a great teacher, but for helping one of your students to find his true passion in life!

I don't know what is the actual definition of what makes up a 'hero' and I honestly don't really even care.

I do know that by no means am I a hero compared to the thousands of men and women who have died fighting for my freedom. From the Civil War, to WWI, to WWII, Vietnam, Gulf War, and now the Iraq war.

Those men and women who make it possible for me to be sitting here writing this, you are TRUE heroes

When it comes to overseas mission and non-profit trips, there are two kinds of people. There are the 'Senders' and there are the 'Goers.' Both people are equally important. The 'Senders' are the people who make it financially and physically possible for the 'Goers' to make the trip overseas. They are the ones who donate large sums of money, and who do the training with the 'Goers' before they plan on going overseas. While the 'Goers' are usually younger people with very little commitments, and they are the ones who make the tri p overseas to make a significant difference.

Here is the kicker; If it's not for the 'Senders,' the 'Goers' who not be capable of making the trip overseas. If it's not for the 'Goers,' the 'Senders' would not have anyone to send overseas.

When do you think is the time that you need to be working the hardest? Most people think that Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, and Jerry Rice all work their hardest the day before a big game. The truth is that the hardest work and dedication from all of these great players happens in the off-season. The off-season is when these guys dedicate hours and hourse to developing their skills and talent. The off-season is when they make major changes and work on creating new skills that they did not have before.

The point is that it's in the times that we are the least busy that we need to be working the hardest. If you run a winter homeless shelter you should be working the hardest during the summer on grant writing and fundraising. So when winter comes around, all you have to focus on is serving the homeless that visit your shelter. For A Day of Hope we work the extremely hard the other nine months of the year that we are not actually preparing for our Thanksgiving baskets. We work hard on networking, coming up with new ideas, and working on developing ourselves to become better leaders.

The off-season is the time to work the hardest, so that during the regular season all you have to do execute what you have worked so hard to develop and create!