FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2020
Contact: Michelle Raymer
Volunteer Iowa Program Officer
michelle.raymer@iowaeda.com
515.348.6235 / 800.308.5987
Selection Open for Service Enterprise Initiative Participants
Volunteer Iowa opens virtual fall cohort opportunity
DES MOINES, Iowa – A national Points of Light program led statewide by Volunteer Iowa, the Service Enterprise Initiative is a proven, research‐based model that equips organizations to leverage volunteers and their skills across all levels to successfully deliver on their social mission. It diagnoses strengths organizations can leverage and challenges that need to be addressed to achieve sustainability. The model continues to achieve results across the state of Iowa, with 41 certified organizations and many more working towards certification.
An informational webinar about the Service Enterprise Initiative, will be held on Friday, September 25 from 10:00-11:00am. The webinar leverages some of the research and proven practices of Points of Light’s Service Enterprise Initiative to help non-profit leadership and volunteer engagement professionals be innovative and agile in their approach to engaging volunteers during this time. There will be an in depth look into how your organization can go about strategically engaging volunteers to effectively and efficiently deliver the organization’s social mission through responding to the increased need without the matching increased funding. To register for the webinar, visit https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/2274170886894302977.
Through a multi-month virtual engagement with Volunteer Iowa, organizations will move through a change management process with innovative training and consulting support, that will result in embracing volunteers into their core operations and greater impact.
An organization will receive:
- A thorough research-based assessment of existing organizational capacity and volunteer engagement practice
- Up to 16 hours of training on change management and reexamining the ways in which the organization engages volunteer
- Individualized consulting to address unique organizational opportunities and challenges
- National certification signifying the organization’s commitment to and proficiency in appropriately leveraging the time and skills of volunteers to meet the social mission of the organization
“We had an idea of what we wanted to do and goals for the volunteer program, but it wasn’t until we sat down and looked at our Service Enterprise diagnostic and started attending the trainings, that we were able to hone in on the steps we needed to take to get to our goal,” said Sarah Lettow, Engagement Coordinator with the ALS Association Iowa Chapter. “We were able to create a bigger and better goal for ourselves because we saw what was possible.”
Applications are due October 5th to be considered in the statewide virtual fall cohort, with trainings beginning in November. More information, including how to request an application, is available by visiting
https://www.volunteeriowa.org/SEI.
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About Volunteer Iowa (Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service)
Volunteer Iowa and its partner agencies work with organizations and individuals on three main fronts. The first is to help agencies develop quality programs that use service as a strategy to fulfill their missions and address Iowa’s greatest areas of need. The second is to help engage Iowans in their communities by promoting service and expanding the volunteer base. Finally, the third area of work is to connect individuals with appropriate service opportunities by building the volunteer infrastructure. More information is available at volunteeriowa.org.
About Points of Light
Points of Light – the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service – mobilizes millions of people to take action that is changing the world. Through affiliates in 250 cities and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages more than 4 million volunteers in 30 million hours of service each year – we put people at the center of change. For more information, go to pointsoflight.org.