Michelle Obama promotes service at national volunteer conference
By Nancy Long
Executive Director
Executive Service Corps
Michelle Obama’s keynote address at the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering on Monday established her as an insider to volunteer managers and advocates. She addressed the President’s call to service as well as the challenges of volunteer management, acknowledging the longer hours, growing needs, and greater difficulties that are the realities of an economic downturn for volunteer managers. She spoke as someone who understands the field, even shaking her head when mentioning outcomes reports and saying “I know. I had to do them too….”
The First Lady applauded the accomplishments of the 4500 volunteer managers and advocates who gathered at the conference and countered the perception of volunteerism as “the icing on the cake, but not necessarily part of the cake itself.” She pointed to the importance of their work by saying that she reads the story of progress in this nation “the story of people who chose in times of trial to struggle and serve.”
Her comments call attention to the great risk of this national surge in volunteerism. Many nonprofits, lacking staff and training, are not prepared to provide meaningful and impactful opportunities to the growing numbers of volunteers. If volunteer management is not shored up, the call to service could end in disappointment and cynicism for some. We need to challenge the perceptions that lead to underinvestment in this area.
If service is so powerful, why did the Obamas’ friends and family wonder “if they had their heads on straight” when they both turned away from lucrative careers to community service? Why are people who manage volunteers paid so little and often the first to be laid off in hard times? Why don’t more nonprofit leaders focus on volunteers as a strategy for maintaining and increasing services? If we understand the value of volunteers, particularly those providing pro bono professional services, why is there so little grantmaking to support volunteerism?
Michelle Obama said that she and the president believe that service is the only way to rebuild our economy; that “service is the key to achieving our national priorities.” The federal government is considering making some big investments in national service and the infrastructure for volunteerism ( i.e. the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act). We have had the speeches and applause. We now need the appropriations from Congress to fully fund the Act—and we need to get to work locally building the infrastructure for effective volunteer engagement.
Tags: Economy, nonprofit partners, public policy, Serve America, stimulus
