Be Your Own Best Advocate: Top Ten Ways You Can Advocate for yourself, volunteers and programs
Although we know how important our role, volunteers and an engaging program are, we will always need to advocate why that is important to staff, the community, and prospective volunteers.
Often the volunteer department is ‘taken for granted’ or mistakenly assumed from that person’s last volunteer experience. Can simple and everyday advocacy elevate the stature of your volunteer department and agency’s impact? How can you practically and consistently craft messages and tactics that help promote a dynamic and engaging program that everyone should be a part of? Are you able to speak up and out for your professional development and value at your agency? We will examine answers to these questions.
Learning objectives:
- Learn the importance of advocacy and ways to make it second nature
- Craft a story or message that is compelling
- Discover ways to advocate that you might not have thought about
Presenter Biography:
Gretchen Jordan, CVA is a Certified Volunteer Administrator and has over twenty-five years of experience managing volunteers and programs. She has a degree in Community and Human Service from Empire State College and earned her CVA in 2000. Gretchen is an independent contractor currently engaged with AL!VE (Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement) as the Association Manager.
Previous work experience includes the Oregon Long-Term Care Ombudsman as the Coordinator of Volunteers, Program Coordinator and Volunteer Resource Manager with the Oregon office of AARP, and Program Manager for Camp Fire USA Mt. Hood Council, as well as management for an international corporation, work experience in county government, and as a small business owner.
Gretchen served on the board of Directors for AL!VE including one term as Board President from 2009 – 2016, and on the local level for NOVAA (Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators) and MVVMA (Mid Valley Volunteer Managers Association) since 1998. She has served on Oregon Commission for Voluntary Action and Service with Oregon Volunteers! She enjoys connecting, training and networking with her peers. A native Oregonian, Gretchen and her husband currently live and work full time in a motor coach while touring the United States and Canada.
A native Oregonian who now calls Florida home base, Gretchen and her husband currently live and work full time in a motor coach while touring the United States and Canada.
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