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Volunteers provide nonprofits with their time in exchange for the opportunity to make a difference within their community. The importance of volunteers, and the value that they provide, has increased the need to strategically engage, recruit, and manage them. Through our training program, Volunteer Fairfax allows our community to invest in the professional development of leaders of volunteers as they become more effective at managing their volunteers.

Volunteer Fairfax’s training program provides these essential and advanced tools. For the past five years, Susan Sanow has led our program that provides professional development opportunities for Volunteer Directors, Managers, Coordinators, or anyone else who just happens to lead volunteers. She serves as the Senior Manager of Special Projects and Training and is the only Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) on our staff.

Educational opportunities include traditional webinars, roundtable discussion groups, and the Points of Light sponsored Civic Circle Cohort – a nine-month learning experience that provides space to learn, reflect, discuss, and act on civic engagement and affecting local change.

Prior to the pandemic, VF’s training was fee-based and offered a monthly schedule.  In support of our community of volunteer leaders during these challenging times, we now offer a series of FREE volunteer management educational opportunities. Due to the cultivation of new topics, increased schedule, and attendance, the program also attracted foundation and corporate support allowing us to continue to offer the educational programs at no cost to the attendee.

Shifting to an all-virtual platform in 2020, allowed for greater participation across the board. On average, about 75 people, (five times the attendance numbers in 2019), attend our webinar training per occurrence.  While we aim to serve Fairfax County-based volunteer leaders, word has spread, and we now reach a national (and sometimes international) audience.  We continue to offer established classes as well as incorporate new topics throughout the year.   Though Susan serves as the primary educator for each VF webinar,  we occasionally retain external pro bono instructors/leaders to expand our program building on others’ expertise. Susan has served as a conference speaker at the 2020 Points of Light Virtual Conference and continues to be in great demand at statewide and regional conferences in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, and, of course, Virginia!

Volunteer Fairfax is proud that our training program offers a reputable professional development opportunity for one to become a leader in volunteer management.  Through these webinars and roundtables, we strengthen the capacity of local nonprofits to meet regional community needs.

To learn more about the volunteer management training program and see the latest offering, click here.