158 – Nonprofit Capacity Building with the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond

April 17, 2025

Episode #158: Nonprofit Capacity Building with the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond

In this episode of The Volunteer Nation Podcast, host Tobi Johnson sits down with Diana Villarreal and Gail Cavallaro from the Community Foundation for greater Richmond to explore how strategic volunteer engagement is shaping the future of nonprofits. 

Diana and Gail share the foundation’s mission and walk us through its inspiring history, along with the wide range of programs designed to support nonprofit growth at every level—from individuals to entire networks. You’ll hear about their innovative hybrid course on volunteer management fundamentals, how the foundation is fostering collaboration across the sector, and why informed, inspired philanthropy is at the heart of their work. 

Whether you’re a nonprofit leader, volunteer manager, or simply passionate about community building, this episode offers valuable insights into what’s possible when philanthropy and volunteerism work hand in hand! 

Nonprofit Capacity Building – Episode Highlights

• [00:32] – Introduction to Today’s Topic: Nonprofit Capacity Building 
• [03:12] – Meet the Guests: Community Foundation for Greater Richmond 
• [04:51] – The Importance of Volunteerism 
• [13:00] – About the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond 
• [21:07] – Programs and Strategies for Volunteer Engagement 
• [29:10] – Educating Volunteers for Maximum Impact 
• [32:30] – The Give Back Guide and Civic Circle 
• [36:17] – Organic Program Development 
• [37:51] – Community Foundation’s Impact and Collaboration 
• [40:18] – Hybrid Model for Volunteer Management 
• [44:03] – Course Design and Implementation 
• [55:26] – Tips for Implementing Volunteer Programs 

Helpful Links

• Volunteer Management Progress Report 
• VolunteerPro Impact Lab 
• Volunteer Nation Episode #071: Partnering with Funders to Support Volunteer Engagement with Jane Justis & Betsy McFarland 
• Community Foundation for a greater Richmond Website 
• Community Foundation for a greater Richmond Volunteer Center CFengage 
• Community Foundation for a greater Richmond LinkedIn 
• Community Foundation for a greater Richmond Facebook 
• Community Foundation for a greater Richmond Instagram 
• CFengage Facebook 
• CFengage Instagram  
• Final Gail on LinkedIn  
• Find Diana on LinkedIn 
• Email – civic@cfrichmond.org 

Contact Us

Have questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at wecare@volpro.net.

Rate, Review, & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts

If you love the content Tobi shares on the Volunteer Nation podcast, consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps us reach more people – and help more good causes just like yours – successfully engage enthusiastic, dedicated volunteers with less stress and more joy.

Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars. Then, select “Write a Review” and let us know what you loved most about this episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast so you don’t miss a thing. Follow now!

Subscribe to ProNews: Our Weekly Resource Roundup

If you’d like to stay up to date on all new podcasts, blogs, freebies, and deals posted on our Tobi Johnson & Associates and VolunteerPro websites, subscribe to our weekly ProNews newsletter.

Every Wednesday, we’ll send you a digest of our freshest content, plus a bonus! Once you confirm your subscription, you’ll get our [Free eBook] The New Volunteer Manager: The First 90 Days.

Episode #158 Transcript: Nonprofit Capacity Building with the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond 

Tobi: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast. I’m your host, Tobi Johnson, and today I have. Such a treat. We are going to talk about philanthropy. I have a guest, an organization that I’ve worked with for about five years, the Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond. They are doing amazing work and have been for a while. 

This isn’t a new thing, but that’s why I wanted to have them come on because I wanted them to talk about nonprofit capacity building. So, today’s episode we’re going to talk about nonprofit capacity building with the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond. And I’ve been working with the Community Foundation, as I said, since 2020, and we’ve been collaborating, and I’ve been helping them. 

They’ve been doing a lot of other work. So, we’re going to talk about all of that, but we’ve been working together a little bit to build the capacity of local nonprofits to engage volunteers. And their work in this area has been. Exceptional, and it is an example I think, of how philanthropy and foundations can have an impact on the strength and resilience of local nonprofits. 

They understand community investment in ways that others I don’t think quite get yet, or don’t understand the power of volunteerism, I think. So, it’s a unique opportunity to hear from a local community foundation about how they engage in nonprofit capacity building. We will certainly talk a little bit later in the show about how we’ve collaborated, but they have so much going on. 

Now. We have talked to a family foundation in the past that supports nonprofit capacity building check out Volunteer Nation episode 71, partnering with Funders to support volunteer engagement with Jane Justice and Betsy McFarland, where we talk about the Lady Foundation. So there, this isn’t without precedence on the show, but I just admire so much the work that the community Foundation for Greater Richmond is doing. 

And I know for a fact because I have volunteer pro members from the local area, I’ve trained folks in the local area that it is a hotbed of strong volunteer engagement in organizations. We’re going to learn a little bit more about how that happens, and I’m just hoping it will spark the inspiration and ideas of other funders and philanthropists, but also sparking, if you’re representing an organization, you’re either an executive director or a leader of volunteers, that it might spark some inspiration to start a conversation with your local community foundation about a nonprofit capacity building, specifically around volunteer engagement. 

Today we’re in for a real treat, and I want to get started. So, let’s get going. Diana Villarreal is the program Manager for Community Partnerships for the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond. I’m going to introduce Diana and then I’m going to introduce her partner in crime, Gail. They work together. Diana Villarreal works closely with nonprofits in Richmond to strengthen their capacity to engage volunteers in the community. 

She is energized about connecting organizations to resources and equipping them with tools and knowledge to meet community needs through their missions. Outside of work, Diana enjoys spending time with family, connecting with friends, cooking and exploring restaurants in Richmond. Welcome, Diana.  

Diana: Thanks so much, Tobi. So great to be here.  

Tobi: Awesome. And Gail Cavallaro is Director of Civic Engagement at the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond. She leads the Central Virginia Regional Volunteer Center, oversees nonprofit capacity building related to volunteerism, coordinates the RVA Engage Coalition, and will learn a little bit about engagement. I think today to enhance regional volunteerism and develop programs to engage the community on key issues. She is passionate about working with individuals and groups committed to making a positive impact, and is inspired by the enthusiasm of volunteers outside of work. Gail enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing tennis, gardening, and being outdoors. Welcome Gail.  

Gail: Thank you, Tobi. Wonderful to be here.  

Tobi: Yep. And you’ve got a fellow garden enthusiast right here in front of you. Awesome. We’re, we’re meeting via video gang. We can see each other. So welcome to the Volunteer Nation podcast. I am so thrilled to have you both on the show to talk about what the community foundation for Greater Richmond is, how they approach community engagement and how it supports local volunteer capacity building. 

I really, as I said before, really hope it inspires. Us to partner more closely and help our community foundations understand how an investment in volunteerism an investment in the capacity of our local organizations is. There’s just such a direct line and sometimes organizations think volunteerism is just a nice to have, or we have volunteers that do specific jobs that they’ve always done and there is no room for expansion. 

But there are so many creative ways that we can build community through volunteerism. And in today’s world, gang, we’ve got to have community support. We have got to have the community behind our organizations advocating for our organizations. So. Let’s get started. Let’s start with, tell us a little bit about yourself. Gail, maybe you can kick us off. How did you get into nonprofit work in the first place?  

Gail: Uh, sure. A roundabout way is the way I’d sum it up, but I have a business degree from college. I started in the corporate world. I was, I would describe myself, very corporate. I worked for a management consulting firm and then for a large financial company. I loved my work, learned a lot of great skills and loved what I did. But then I had my first child, and I decided to stay home for many years. And during that time, I volunteered a ton, and I fell in love with it. I just, it, and it was interesting because it was such a big part of my life, but I didn’t even really consider volunteering. 

There was a need, and I filled it, but that’s where my love started. And then I got invited to apply for a seasonal staff position at the Community Foundation, and it was for corporate project work, a great combination of that corporate experience and my volunteering experience. And then that led to some part-time projects. And then that led to a permanent part-time position. And then that led to a permanent position at the Community Foundation. And I’ve been there for seven years.  

Tobi: Wow, that’s fantastic. How about you, Diana?  

Diana: Yeah, absolutely. So, I got into nonprofit work right out of graduate school. I have my master’s in social work, and originally I thought I was going to kind of go down the clinical path and do counseling, but really, I fell in love more with community engagement. So right out of grad school I started working in the nonprofit sector here in Richmond in volunteer and community engagement. And it really was just a great fit and I was able to be with the Ronald McDonald House Charities here in Richmond for nine years. And it was a great experience that I could really grow with the organization and dive deeply into volunteerism and community engagement. 

It’s been wonderful to join the community foundation and take those skills to a more systems level work in working with nonprofits across our region.  

Tobi: Yeah. Yeah. I love that idea of systems level. It really is an ecosystem. Mm. If one organization is not fulfilling their promise to folks, they’re inviting to volunteer, especially early on, like posting a, an opportunity and then not, not following up. 

When people raise their hand, then it really will impact that community member and it may turn them off to volunteering forever. And so, we are intimately connected, whether we realize it or not, across within a, a local area, local community as volunteer involving organizations. So, I like to think of it as an ecosystem that when one of us isn’t doing well, the others of us may not do well either. So, Gail, why do you think, given your vast experience with volunteerism, both as a volunteer and as a a, a paid staff, what does it mean to you?  

Gail: Yeah, I think volunteerism at its core, means you care. You give your time, your energy, your talent, to help someone else. Many times, you might know that person, it’s a neighbor, a friend that’s in need, but many times it’s not anyone you even know. 

I mean, time is a scarce resource. We all live busy lives, so making time for others is just special. And I also think another unique thing about it is it gives us a different perspective. So sometimes we’re exposed to things that are outside of our lived experience, but sometimes we’re volunteering because of our lived experience. 

And in either case, I think you just get this great perspective. I also want to just shout out that I really appreciate the work that the nonprofits do to help our communities. It’s hard work and. If it was easy, the issues would be solved by now. It is anything but easy. So I just really value what volunteers can do to advance our work and help our nonprofits fulfill their missions, help our communities be better versions of themselves and their neighbors. 

Tobi: Yeah, that’s great. What about you, Diana? What does volunteerism mean to you?  

Diana: So, for me, volunteerism is really how you can share that most precious resource of your time. And I think it’s a great way for folks to kind of find those opportunities and those causes that really speak to them and are the right fit for the way that we want to give back to our communities. 

And kind of, as Gail mentioned, like whether you’re volunteering more formally with a nonprofit or more informally to support your community like that is how you can bring your passion to support others around you. And I think that’s a really special way to give a part of yourself. And I’ve always felt so grateful for the people and organizations who’ve poured into me. So, for me, volunteerism is an expression of how I can pour back into others and pour back into my community.  

Tobi: Yeah. Today it feels like volunteerism is more important than ever. Now, I don’t know if it is or not, but it feels like it. Why is it vital for today’s nonprofits? What are you seeing, Diana, in terms of the value that volunteers bring to organizations? 

Diana: Yeah, absolutely, Tobi. I think that volunteers are so vital to nonprofits today because I think a lot of nonprofits have really integrated volunteerism into the fabric of their organization. Um, but I think they’ve had to do so because nonprofits are often operating on really tight budgets. They’re stretched thin. 

Nonprofit staff are wearing so many hats and volunteers can really help to fill in those gaps. But I also think that our nonprofits are being really strategic about what that looks like, kind of as you mentioned, not just doing all the traditional things that they’ve always done. How can we find new opportunities for volunteers to plug in at organizations? 

So, some things we know like volunteers are critical to helping to deliver direct services of nonprofits or to provide spirit specific behind the scenes operations. But I also think. They’re providing a diverse perspective to organizations and they’re spreading awareness because they become ambassadors of those organizations in the community. 

And I think that’s something that’s special and something that our nonprofits really look for as they’re engaging the community. And I know that as we all went through the pandemic, organizations got a little bit of a flavor of what it would look like to not have volunteers for a bit. Right. So, I think we hear often from nonprofits that they can’t do the work without the volunteers and it’s. 

Great to see how much our organizations in our region have dove into that even further. And I think we are so happy to continue to invest in organizations so they can do that work in engaging volunteers.  

Tobi: Yeah, yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about the community foundation for Greater Richmond. Just to give people a context of what is this unique organization that invests so deeply in the community? 

And I’m not sure there’s a lot of community foundations out there that are investing in the way that you’re investing in volunteerism in community engagement. Gail, tell us a little bit about the history, the mission. And how you go about realizing that mission. What are the cause impact areas or what are the areas that are of special interest to the community foundation?How did it get started in that? Good, good stuff.  

Gail: Yeah, sure. Uh, let me start by just sharing, I’ll just read our vision, our vision and our mission and our motto because I think it does give good context to this whole conversation and like, why we do what we do. Mm-hmm. So our vision is a vibrant region where all individuals and families can thrive and prosper. 

The mission is to bring people together to transform our community through informed and inspired philanthropy. And our motto is together we do better. I love, I especially love together. We do better. I feel like it’s so great to go to work every day with that inspiration. Right. For history, we’ve been around, we for a long time, over 50 years. 

We were launched in 1968, and we just started as a local model for local giving. We really, at that time, were trying to lay a sustainable foundation to grow those assets and to build trust in the community. And over time that’s exactly what happened. We were able to grow our assets and really be trusted and regarded as a first-rate organization. 

And we’ve continued to do that while also increasing our impact. So, through those years, we’ve adopted new strategies to, to say, how can we push ourselves and increase our impact? Today our consolidated assets are 3.48 billion wow dollars. And in 2024, we granted out $89 million to the community. Wow. And I am Wow about those numbers as well, Tobi. But really, they don’t even encapsulate all we do because we go deeper.  

Tobi: Mm-hmm. Let’s get into that. Yeah. I mean, for a community foundation, I think that’s an exceptional amount of asset. Mm-hmm. To share and to, so people really, as you said, you’ve built trust, and you have people who are contributing and helping you do this work. 

So, it’s amazing and I think now it’s going to become more and more important because we don’t know what’s happening with federal funding. We don’t know who’s going to be, I mean, some organizations already have been impacted, having myself run federally funded programs. Mm-hmm. Back in the day, if I would’ve had my federal funding cut, we would’ve been dead in the water pretty much. 

It’s great that there are organizations like yours, foundations that can work and partner with people who are interested in giving and interested in philanthropy to do, to do, in a way, I think, more informed giving. Right? And to realize economies of scale, 89 million in giving is pretty, phenomenal for a community foundation. 

Right. And I love this Together. We do more, if that’s the motto. It’s certainly, and, and bringing people together as a mission is certainly volunteerism fits within that. You are such a vocal champion of volunteerism and a vital asset and resource for nonprofits and community. I can see from the mission that it makes total sense, the alignment is there. 

Can you share a little bit more? What are some of the other primary reasons the foundation chooses to invest in strategic volunteer engagement?  

Gail: Sure. I want to say that to answer that question, just kind of lay a little foundation, is that one thing that’s unique about us is that we’re not just about that money transaction. 

Mm-hmm. We are about those relationships, and you’ve spoken to that very well, but I just do want to underscore that also what’s unique to us is that we have our volunteer center embedded within the foundation. And then the third thing I would say, which is also that that commitment to that deeper. 

Engagement and relationships. And then the third thing is we’re very locally focused. We know our community, we know the people, the issues, the nonprofits, our businesses. And so that helps us react to things and to help step in when needed, like when Covid happened, like what’s happening now with federal funding. 

And so, it really does, just knowing those things about us helps us customize our program. And in terms of us being vital. Asset and resource for nonprofits. Again, it goes back to that we’re not one dimensional and we’re not just transactional, right? So we have a broad definition of philanthropy. It includes volunteerism as a form of philanthropy. 

Yay. Yes. Right? And, and as I’ve said, I love our motto together, we do better, and we live that out every day. The more that we can build the capacity for volunteerism, the more our donors can do, our nonprofits can do, and our whole ecosystem and community can do to, to have positive impact on, on our region. 

So, for example, even if a nonprofit doesn’t receive a grant, we have layers of other services for them. For example, our volunteer center, as I said, is our regional volunteer center. It’s free for everyone to use. It’s a great entry point for nonprofits and for volunteers. Volunteerism gets more people involved. 

It builds their civic muscle. It creates ripples. I love that too, about my job, these ripples of impact and connection. That’s one of my favorite things about my job is that we get to do that. So, I guess it’s just a vital component of the community foundation’s true goal of creating that real and sustainable change in our community. 

Tobi: It’s a perspective. It’s a point of view, right? That there’s an ecosystem that requires more than money. That’s, that’s a point of view, a, a philosophy. It’s also that there’s sort of some equity between those who can be part of this community transformation. Right. That we all have a part to play. 

And those, there’s, so there’s some equity there in thinking about we’re not just volunteers, but community members who are getting involved, organizations who are facilitating that involvement. And the community foundation, which is sort of a convener in a lot of ways. In Yeah, and, and sort of. Injecting some support as well. 

When, when you started, do you know when you started the volunteer center? Was that a new, new thing or have you had the volunteer center for a long time? I’m just curious.  

Gail: Yeah, no, the Volunteer Center used to be hands on Greater Richmond, and it was started prior to, it was well established and very well respected as a leader of volunteerism in our region. 

And then our CEO decided to merge it within the community foundation. Nice. And again, yeah. And again, it’s because she, again, saw the power of that extra dimension, that extra form of philanthropy, another way to intentionally. Engage in our community to help solve our problems. That happened about seven years ago. We had just started with Hands on Greater Richmond, but then it was like a month later we were part of the foundation.  

Tobi: Oh. So it is a really good strategic merger. Let’s talk about how you, your programs equip nonprofits to engage effectively with volunteers and ultimately engage in nonprofit capacity building through volunteerism. 

Let’s talk programmatically and if you both can share what programs you work on or what you feel comfortable sharing, but let’s talk about those programs, because I think when you say there’s layers to this mm-hmm. I want folks to get a good idea of what those layers are.  

Gail: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll, I’ll start, Tobi, just, I’ll give you kind of a big picture strategy perspective of the work and then Diana can give you some real specific examples. 

We look at capacity building on three levels. One is the individual level. The next is the organizational level, and the next is the network level, like volunteer fundamentals. That is at the individual level. So, we bring in an individual person from an organization, they get all this incredible content and skill building, and then they take it back to their organizations. 

And if they go to a different organization, they take it there as well. The second level is at an organization level. So, an example of that is we are a hub for service enterprise certification. So, this is accreditation, which means that you have looked at your organization and done a change management process to help you integrate volunteerism strategically throughout the whole organization. 

So, it is not just the volunteer manager that goes through this. It is from the executive director. All through the organization that goes through it. So, the whole organization benefit Brits from that, even if you have individuals that might leave the organization. And then we also focus on the network because of this idea of ecosystem, like, like you were explaining. 

And the, and what we do with that, and I’m a big part of this as well as these regional convenings or sometimes we’re called communities of practice. An example there is RVA Engage, which you read in my bio. One of the things that we do with that coalition is just, it’s just partners throughout the region. 

It’s not necessarily formal, but we bring together those organizations that send volunteers, like a corporation, like a faith-based organization, like a higher ed with nonprofits. And we talked. We talk about the good and the bad. How can we do this work better together? What are some things we can work on together to have more impact? 

And it’s, it’s a, an amazing collaboration of people who are involved in this work and really care about this work. And we’ve had a couple of different initiatives come out of it that has helped us do it all better together.  

Tobi: That’s amazing. I don’t think people have those type of conversations. I mean, organization too, let’s say you have an employee volunteer program and mm-hmm. 

Folks are sending employees. Are you doing a day of service? You might do a debrief, but when you’re actually conversing people who have shared experiences, first, the people who come are interested. Right. Right. Sort of already interested, but also when you get a group of people together, they can really influence each other. 

And ideas get sparked and then folks want to lean in. You know, it’s almost a volunteer activity in and of itself toward its sort, sort of a network volunteer activity as people are getting together and thinking through and kind of ideating, what could we do here to solve the X, Y, Z problem? And these, these partnerships aren’t always smooth on either side. 

So, the more that folks can understand where and problem solve, the more they’re going to stay in it, rather than walk away and say, well I can’t, I, it didn’t work out for us, so we’re not going to work with nonprofits anymore.  

Gail: Right. Yeah. You summed that up well. I mean, we have had, like I said, some difficult conversations. We’ve talked about things like power dynamics. Oh yeah. Right. That’s a lot, you know, fun, it’s hot. And in fact, we start the meetings by saying, these are our rules of engagement so that we can have, it’s a safe space. We want to hear from everyone and so that we can have those difficult conversations. And what comes out on the other side is talk about new perspectives and understanding exactly everything that you just said. 

So, we’ve been doing that for, I guess, about seven years now. Wow. Yeah. So it is, it is very much part of our ecosystem now. And now we just continue, continue to work and continue to learn from each other. Fantastic.  

Tobi: Diana talk. Talk about some of the programs you work with to help nonprofits engage volunteers effectively. 

Diana: Yeah, absolutely. So first I want to talk a little bit more about our volunteer center CF Engage, and with CF Engage. It’s a robust system and it’s nuanced, so I love helping our nonprofits learn more about how to utilize the system and to make sure they’re using CF engage the most effectively to reach new audiences of volunteers. 

So that’s what we really want to help kind of be that connector and help expand reach for organizations. We have over 25,000 individuals on our list and have accounts with CF Engage. So, it’s a great way that we can connect. Individuals and volunteers in the community to organizations, and what are those messages that are going to appeal, right? 

Things we talk about in volunteer fundamentals that I can also weave into the work that our nonprofits are learning about in terms of how to utilize CF Engage. We also have really focused a lot of our work in skills-based volunteering and equipping nonprofits to engage with skilled volunteers. So that’s been exciting. 

Through our platform Skills Connect, our organizations can post a project and recruit skilled volunteers, so it’s kind of that similar matching format. Usually, it’s projects that are short term, so up to 10 hours with a specific delivery in a lot of different areas. Marketing, HR, graphic design is a really popular one that we see. 

So, lots of different needs that are going to be filled by organizations that. Ideas they’ve had on the back burner, but they need additional support. And really, they want to engage with volunteers with specific skills and expertise. And so, we love to provide capacity building training on that and then help guide organizations through the process of posting and connecting with volunteers to do skills-based projects. 

That’s been a real joy for us to do more work in that area. And then Gail mentioned service enterprise and we really enjoy working with organizations through this program. We work with our service enterprise consultant, Katie Campbell, who is just wonderful. And as Gail mentioned, it’s a change management program and it’s research based. 

And so, it’s a really great way for organizations to build that cross-functional team and. Assess their current practices in volunteer engagement and identify those areas for growth. And then Katie walks organizations through the action plan that is completely customized to that organization to help them build on those areas for growth, to provide customized coaching and training. 

And that’s where more of that capacity building comes in as well, until organizations are ready to apply for their accreditation, which is national. And so, we’re really focused on how we can support each other. Nonprofit capacity building from the individual level, from that organizational, and then as Gail spoke to the network piece as well. 

And then of course, I know we’re going to dive more into our volunteer fundamentals training that we partner with you on Tobi, and so we’re excited to share more about our partnership there and how we design that course.  

Tobi: Yeah, we will. We’ll talk about that right after the break. You also help community members be better volunteers and partners, which is fantastic. I know when I was working with volunteers, I had fantastic volunteers, but we worked the last, my last job before I left 15 years ago, left the field and started doing consulting and, and training was really great volunteers, but we worked in a public sector in a state agency, so there were a lot of rules. 

Bureaucracy. It was interesting was, uh, the insurance commissioner’s office. And so, imagine that like we were a little social service consumer support team of volunteers and organizations across the state embedded in this regulatory agency. Talk about like culture, you know? Mm-hmm. There’s a real difference in culture. 

They always would be, wonder what we did, that little volunteer, and I’m like, this little volunteer program has the biggest budget in this agency. But interestingly, I would have volunteers who wanted things to change in a certain way and, and we were federally funded, so there were rules around that as well. 

And it was difficult sometimes. Because they could not, they could not wrap their head around, look, there are rules that we will not be able to change. They’re either, either legislated or there is rule, there are rules from our funder, et cetera, et cetera. And so, it was an interesting sort of back and forth and conversation we were having an education of our volunteers about what’s, what can we change and what’s not changeable. 

So that was just one example of an educational effort to educate volunteers. I’m curious what you all are doing with volunteers in your community to help them get ready to make the biggest impact. They, they can. Because that’s what they want in the first place.  

Gail: That’s right. Yeah. I’ll take this question. So, I will say just foundational terror beliefs is the idea of being informed before you act. Hmm. So, we always encourage listening and learning to be foundational in your work. So, one way is our website. You can go and read about issues on our website. Another way is, is our volunteer hub. Because all the nonprofits that post on our volunteer hub, they know what they’re doing. 

They know their community, they know what their mission is, they know the problems they are trying to solve. And so, the projects that they develop are intentional and share their mission with you when you go and they share the impact that you’ve had when you go. So that’s a great way for a volunteer to know that what they’re doing is impactful versus sometimes, although well-intentioned, we think, oh, I’m going to do X because I think – Y needs this, but do we really know? And when you go and you volunteer with a nonprofit IT company that you do know, they are the experts for that mission. We do offer some formal classes. One of them is called Civic Life. Today. We offer it a few times to the public and more often by invitation. We do it in companies and schools, for example. 

Again, it’s free. So again, we’re trying to create those ripples of impact, but in IT participants create their own personalized engagement plan. Mm, yes. Super cool. We’ve developed something we call the Give Back Guide, and through this session, participants look at their values, they look at their interests. 

We do some research and all that informs this. Plan. We also introduced the civic circle. It is a point of light, which is a, a global volunteer agency model, but it is nine different ways to engage. And so, it really expands someone’s idea of how to engage and meet them where they are. So of course, volunteerism is, is one, but others are like using your voice, for example, using your purchase power voting. 

So, we go through that just to really expand their thinking and, and to meet them where they are. And the overall goal is to inform and motivate. And what we found is when people are more intentional about the way that they engage, they’re more satisfied. It’s more fulfilling. It’s meeting some internal goals of theirs and then also it’s more impactful for, for just that reason. 

Another one I’ll talk about is we have what we call civic action conversations. So, this is one of these regional coalitions. It’s lots of us involved in it. There are issue-based conversations about critical issues our region is facing affordable housing and the childcare crisis. Et cetera. And the focus on these is why they matter, even if you aren’t personally impacted by it. 

Tobi: Mm-hmm.  

Gail: They feature multiple perspectives. We pull in those perspectives, whether it’s a corporate or a nonprofit or a government. We almost always have a community voice to share their perspective. Often a historical perspective. But again, that goal is to get them informed. 

And motivate them and show them a path like you, you can make a difference. And there are many ways that you can get involved. Again, the idea of meeting people where they are, we’ve already talked about our time is a precious resource, and so it’s another way to help people plug in where they’re passionate and what they have time for. 

We have others, but I’ll leave it at, at those. I hope it gives you a taste of some of the work we’re doing in that area. Yeah. Completely amazing. I had no idea.  

Tobi: We’ve been partnering now for five years and I’m like, wait, what? What? This is amazing. I, I just think if you think on a system. Kind of ecosystem level in your community, you’re touching and impacting all parts of that ecosystem. 

Nonprofits are apt to work in silos, both within our organizations department to department not working together, for example. The volunteer manager’s recruiting and they’re not talking to marcoms folks, or the volunteer manager is appreciating and they’re not coordinating with the development folks who are making an ask of money the same week that the invitation for the luncheon goes out. 

Those are, those are the things that can happen when we’re in a silo. Also, it just, we’re just not as effective as we could be. But I also think in communities, non-nonprofits can tend to work in silos and act in a way that’s sort of quote unquote competitive or territorial. Back in the day I did a lot of community outreach and, and partnership development for the nonprofits I worked for, and it was a lot of breaking down a wall, having those conversations. 

Mm-hmm. And so, to see this at all levels from the individual all the way to you as a funder, the organizations, and I just think it’s such a healthy way and a, very smart way of looking at how we do nonprofit capacity building because the world is much more complex than just. One intervention. Right? And so, I just love all these layers of what you’re doing. 

It feels also, and correct me if I’m wrong, but it feels like it’s been kind of organic, that as you see a need, you develop a program to support that. It wasn’t that you design something, a complete picture and start it immediately. Am I wrong on that or how?  

Gail: No, you’re right. We saw the need for connection. We saw the need for us to work together. We had no idea what would come from that. Right. The first thing we did was we just sent out an ask, an invite to say, hey, come have some conversations with us. But I’m a planned person, so that was hard for me to say, I don’t, I don’t want this exact thing to happen. 

Right. But so much great happen by not having it predetermined. Yeah. And we continue to operate that way. And I will say to your point about working in silos, that is one of our biggest goals is we’re trying to, none of us. If we are going to make the progress, we need to make by working in silos, we must work together. 

And so that is really driving us Yeah. To, and when we have those RV engage meetings I’ve been talking about where we have like the businesses and those people sending volunteers and the nonprofits, we, we end with some networking time and almost every single time, or every single time it goes over by like an hour or an hour and a half because people are so happy to be in the room together and to have that sense of community and meet people that they would not have met otherwise. So it really is powerful, but yes, to your point, organic.  

Tobi: Yeah. That’s fantastic. Well, hey, let’s take a break from our conversation with the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond with Gail and Diana who’ve been. Offering us so much value and just interesting ways of going about business, interesting perspectives. 

You know, it’s really a community first perspective. And we’ll talk more about how the foundation supports local nonprofit capacity building. And we’ll talk a little bit more about our partnership that’s been going on now for five years. I cannot believe it, so don’t go anywhere. We will be right back. 

Volunteer Pro Impact Lab 

Hey, are you looking to upgrade and modernize your volunteer program? Or maybe you’re building one from scratch and you’re just not sure where to start. If so, we’ve got the perfect resource for you. The Volunteer Pro Impact Lab, having built several direct service programs from the ground up, I know that it doesn’t happen by accident. 

It’s a clear process that takes careful attention with a focus on impact. In the end, you need a system in place that’s clear. Standardized efficient, and that gets results. In addition, and maybe this is the most important, you need a volunteer program design that directly contributes to your organization’s most critical goals. 

That’s where the Volunteer Pro Impact Lab comes in. When it comes to effective volunteer engagement, our bespoke volunteer strategy Success path model, which is the heart of our resources and strategic advising, will help you transform your volunteer strategy from fundamental to a fully mature what’s working now approach and all in less time. 

With our online assessment, you’ll quickly gain clarity on precisely where to focus your efforts, and we’ll provide recommendations for the exact steps needed for sustainable growth regardless of how large or small your organization is or what your cause impact area or focus is. Our program development and implementation support model will help you build a strong foundation so volunteerism can thrive at your good cause. 

If you are interested in learning more, go to volpro.net/join and we’ll share how to get started and what’s involved.  

Tobi: Okay, we’re back with our conversation with Diana Villarreal and Gail Cavallaro from the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond, with our chat about nonprofit capacity building. And we’re going to dive in a little bit more into our collaboration and how the foundation is supporting nonprofits around volunteerism in, in a little more detail. 

I remember starting this, we started this collaboration about five years ago. The foundation was interested in offering our volunteer management fundamentals. Course to local community members, and we talked about why there were a lot of reasons why an online course would make sense. First off, folks get lifetime access, so they, they go back and check and review and the downloads, the tutorials, et cetera. 

And it’s built on a model as well. We have our volunteer strategy success path model built over all my expertise, but also all my work working in nonprofits myself, but also building our model based on the CVA certification and the different standards around the world for volunteer engagement. So, it’s really an amalgam of information and where we’re today. 

I think that was the other thing. When we built that course, it was really about what volunteer organizations need to do today, including a little bit about digital marketing and psychology and all of the things that interest us about. It’s not really the old school anymore. That type of volunteerism isn’t around anymore. 

So, we started with just offering and then we transitioned. I remember Curtis, who used to work with you all, contacted me and he said, I’m thinking we should do this as a hybrid. I. And I said, well, tell me what you mean by that. And he said, well, I’m thinking folks can go online and study and take the course and download the, the tools and, and, and get to work, but also, I want to meet with them in person. 

And then we started to talk about it more and I said, well, what if we did a capstone project as well? That at the end of the project or at the end of the course, maybe they could create something that, a deliverable that was based on the learning. ’cause I’m big on transitioning from learning to actual practice. 

If you don’t use it, you lose it. And there is plenty that organizations need around volunteer program development. And so that’s kind of how it evolved. And then at some point I think Curtis said, Tobi, why don’t you come on at the last day and just do sort of a Q and A and leadership, just jump on a webinar and do some leadership tips and just answer questions. 

And I said, great, I’ll do that too. And so, it’s really been this back and forth of development of this project and I think what’s really great to come on and talk to folks because I can see that they’ve appreciated and absorbed some of the learning because sometimes when you’re doing online courses, you don’t know what people are getting out of it. 

So Diana, you and I’ve been working together now this last year on this. Why do you think this continues to appeal to your group, and why do you think it’s a good intervention? I’m curious. Because I don’t think everybody’s doing programs like this. They’re, they’re usually saying, well, I just want to do a series of live webinars, or I want you to come, which I do a lot of public speaking. 

We want you to come and talk to our group, but this is also a lot more affordable than me coming and talking to groups. But tell me, how does it work on your end? You know, I kind of described what happens on our end in the, the evolution of this. How does it work in your end and why do you think it works, especially while now in today’s world. 

Diana: Yeah, absolutely Tobi. I think that the hybrid model has really worked in the ways that we’ve kind of adjusted and tinkered, and I think the hybrid is a great option because it kind of gives the best of both worlds for participants. As we mentioned, we know our nonprofit folks are stretched really thin, so the flexibility of the online self-paced modules allows them to set aside time for the course but also pause to answer the phone or put out whatever fires are happening at their nonprofit. 

So, I think that’s a great component to have that flexibility. But to then also have those in-person facilitated conversations. And back to Gail’s point, those convenings where folks can come together in the room to share their experiences and to be able to discuss and kind of go a little bit deeper, I think is meaningful as well. 

So I think having those best of both worlds has worked well for folks who have had an interest. And I think the other piece we kind of talk about is that there’s always a need for folks to learn the best practices for engaging with volunteers. I think lots of folks end up in nonprofit, end up in volunteer management, and don’t have specific training in these areas before jumping into these roles. So, this course allows us to provide those best practices in the course for folks to really dive into. And as you mentioned, lifetime access is huge. The taking, the learning to the practice or implementation, they can’t implement it all at once. They’re going to have to do it piece by piece, right? 

So, to be able to go back and reference, oh, that’s what the commitment to community statement is, and here’s the worksheet that I can start working on this. I think that’s a great asset to folks. So that’s a little bit about why I think that the hybrid continues to be a great model for us as we’re delivering this type of content. 

But you also ask kind of how it works and how it’s designed. So, to share a little bit more about that, there’s. A few main components. We of course, have volunteer pros, online, self-paced modules, and then we have our three in-person sessions, a kickoff, a midway checkpoint, and a final session. Then I offered weekly consultation calls and then our capstone project as well, and we loved having Tobi join for both the kickoff and the final session. 

I think in that kickoff session, you really helped to get folks excited about the course and give them a little bit of an idea of what to expect, and then at that final session. Energizing folks to take those key takeaways away and bring them back to their organization. We had such a great conversation and great questions that Tobi could bring your perspective and your lens to it. 

And then kind of throughout the course, our participants are taking those online modules and joining in for those weekly consultation calls. And for those ends in-person sessions, I really tried to help kind of take that content and pull out. Those areas where we could discuss, maybe have those hard questions and, and dive into that content a little deeper. 

And also, kind of bring our local lens to it. Because I think that’s the cool part about this partnership is that Tobi, you’re looking at this on this national level and landscape, and then we can discuss how all these things look and how the impact is at our local scale and what that means for our community. 

And we can really talk about those challenges that nonprofits are facing and what that looks like in our community. Really throughout that, my goal was to really help facilitate that conversation and facilitate those moments for implementation and what are you going to pull out from the course and really take back to your organization. 

And then a few just kind of logistics, how it works on our end as we’re all year round, having conversations with organizations, building relationships with folks. I’m looking out to see like what organizations could really benefit from taking this course? Gail mentioned we like to meet lots of folks where they are. 

We love to meet nonprofits where they are and if we can kind of get the idea that this course would be something that would really benefit the staff member who’s engaging volunteers at that organization, we really want to help connect them to this as a resource. Another thing that we wanted to mention is that we do subsidize the cost of the course for participants. 

We want to make sure it’s accessible and that is how we are investing in the nonprofit capacity building for volunteer engagement. So that’s something that’s important to us and important in investing in those individuals who are bringing that to the organizations in their community. And once we had those folks all signed up and ready to take the course, Tobi, you make it so easy to get the course set up and to facilitate each. 

Participant has their own login and that’s how they go and log back in to get their lifetime access. And you also keep us up to date on the progress of participants. And the that layered with those weekly consultation calls, those in-person and those weekly consultation calls were virtual. So just another way to make it easy and accessible for folks to participate. 

But the in-person sessions has just been a really great way to continue to build community and just facilitate the deeper conversation, keep all that momentum going.  

Tobi: And folks, were in the course, you can post comments and questions and especially I encourage folks to share their commitment to community statement, which is sort of their philosophy of volunteer involvement. 

Folks share that. I give them feedback. I am answering questions within, usually within the day. If it’s a weekday and somebody posts a question inside the community, I get pinged an email. And so, I’m, I’m also coaching folks along the way, so I’ll get, occasionally I’ll get, or folks will just say, wow, I didn’t realize X, Y, Z, or what about this? 

So that’s helpful. And then we have a supervisor’s guide that we developed. About a year ago, and we provided it to folks, and I think I sent you a copy of that where we have it broken down by module. It’s five modules, the course. And it just offers, because most supervisors don’t know what best practice is in volunteer. 

And most of them have never done the job before. And so, at some point we thought, you know what? They need to know how to, how to have conversations about this and how to ask their direct reports, what’s going on to also ask for some accountability. So it’s been, it’s been an evolution too, the course itself. 

Are you all having, I remember we talked about this before. Do you find that in your area, local area, you have a lot of turnovers with volunteer coordinators? She’s shaking her head yes. So, there’s always new people that need to learn this and I, I, I agree. It’s not like folks going to school and getting a degree in volunteer engagement. 

I mean, I wish. So, this gets it and it, it’s about 10 hours of content, so it’s not overwhelming, but what have you found Diana has been the most valuable for folks? What do they get most charged up about? What is their favorite sort of activities and resources?  

Diana: Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that, Tobi. Because we ask participants these questions because we want to know and we want their feedback. And folks had so many lessons learned. But just to share a few, and I think this circles back to a lot of what we’ve been talking about already today, but one of the biggest takeaways is about buy-in at their organization about volunteerism and how that buy-in at all levels across the organization is so important. 

So that was a key takeaway that folks had. A few others are just investing the time to put more structure to those processes. And like looking at those different areas of recruitment, motivations for volunteers on retention, and how all these factors across the life cycle impact one another. 

So those were a few kinds of key takeaways that folks shared. But one other thing I wanted to highlight as well is that. A lot of the folks really shared about how they felt affirmed by learning those best practices and a lot of what they were doing already. Mm-hmm. But they just learned about how they can refine the processes. 

But a lot of those folks are doing the work already. That’s what I kept saying, you all are doing this work already, but where can we find those areas for process improvement? So, I think that felt good for folks to feel like they’re already doing that work, but how can we apply different lenses to it or just work on refining some of those areas. 

And then in terms of activities and resources, there were so many great ones on the course during our midway check-in. A few things that stood out. We had a great conversation about MythBusters. Mm-hmm. At organizations and how we overcome those. And even that organizations and individuals that were sharing very different experiences had some similarities among the types of MythBusters that folks are experiencing as what are volunteers, what are the myths about your organization, what are the myths about getting involved and how is that a barrier for folks saying yes to your organization? 

So, we really enjoyed the conversation around myth busters, but then also risk management was a popular topic that folks wanted to, to really get into further and with a little trepidation of, it’s a big topic and there’s so much. In that realm. But I think that workbook that’s in the course, something that our participants really enjoyed as a tactical way to dive further into risk management and mitigating risk for engaging volunteers at your organization. 

So sometimes a topic that’s hard to, hard to want to put more time and thought and resources in, but so, so important as we’re engaging and working with volunteers.  

Tobi: Yeah. I mean, it’s way past background checks with Yes. That’s our, you know, and we have a, our goal with risk management, we have a process that is trained in the course and trained in our community. 

In fact, on Friday I’m doing a member in our volunteer Pro Impact Lab. I’m doing a sort of more advanced training on risk management, but. Folks think background checks, but it’s really about, and it’s the corn, sort of the cornerstone of program development. That’s why I included early in the course, because it identifies and pulls out like all of the ways you want to be more effective. 

The risk is that you’re not going to be effective. You know that there’s risk too. People, reputation, revenue, all those things. But when you really boil it down, it’s good. Risk management is good program development, so it’s always interesting for people. And some of us geek out on an it’s, some of us don’t. 

But our goal is to create systems that make it easy for people to think it through and then start implementing. What tips would you have for others who want to implement similar types of learning experiences and growth experiences? I mean, I think our, the other thing I’m hearing is when you’re talking about buy-in, I do in include, you know, having worked in nonprofits for 25 years before I started doing this work, growing as a leader. 

I remember my first job in nonprofit was an unpaid intern, you know, and I, and I left the, the, the, I left as a director level person and it took me, I had to learn a lot of leadership lessons along the way. And somehow that ends up influencing and getting into courses in our impact lab. And when I hear, it always warms my heart when I hear people going, talking about buy-in. 

Like, oh, now I understand. I not only understand buy-in is important, but now I understand some ways to generate buy-in and, and how my leadership can influence others even though I’m not. At the top. I could be brand new. It doesn’t matter. Pull up a chair. So gimme maybe three tips for others that would want to implement something like this where they want to build the capacity of volunteer coordinators in their area. 

Diana: Ooh, that’s a great question. Tobi. Three tips for folks who can support nonprofit capacity and volunteer engagement. And Gail, feel free to jump in too, if you’ve got tips in mind. And I think that. Looking at the community and seeing what those needs are mm-hmm Is kind of where we start in building those relationships and, and I always like to think about like, are we offering the right resource? 

And as you mentioned, the right intervention, I always have my social work lens on, and is that the right intervention? So, I think that is kind of tip number one, making sure that you’re offering the right resource to the right audience. And then, you know, a few other things as well. What’s the right mode? 

And I think as we’ve talked about our partnership and how it’s developed, what is the mode that’s going to work for your audience? Do folks all want to come in person? Do they all want to be online? What types of interactions do they want to have? And then that goes back to meeting folks where they are. So, I think that’s really important to think about what that mode is. 

And then I think the last piece is how can you help leverage the implementation? Which is so easy to just say, here’s all the information. We’re just going to overload information and we hope you figure it out. Right? Like, how can we walk alongside folks and, and also acknowledge that it’s really hard to learn all of this material and then synthesize it and figure out how to take it back to your organization and get buy-in and create change, and try to have more impact on your programs and the community that you serve through engaging volunteers. 

So I think that’s the other piece I would share. How can you walk alongside folks and really help to support them in implementation, which I think is the hardest part.  

Tobi: Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. Gail, what advice do you have for funders who want to support nonprofit capacity building specifically around volunteer engagement and community engagement? 

Gail: Yeah. Well, first, again, at the community foundation, because we have so many relationships, we are constantly talking to people about the, or funders, donors, about the importance of volunteer management and of volunteerism within an organization. So, we are already working on buying with nonprofits about, from all levels, about why it’s so important. 

But specifically, you can find the capacity training, like we’ve said, nonprofits have tight budgets, so we try to remove barriers. And one of those is funding. So, we heavily subsidize the funding for our programs. There’s usually a little bit of a cost just to have skin in the game. Sure. But basically, it’s largely subsidized. 

That’s true for service enterprises. That has a big price tag. That’s true for volunteer fundamentals. And I think that’s a great way, the way to get started is a being a part of the, recognizing the need for it. Because when we build our nonprofits up and give them that capacity, that’s just going to project the work and the impact they’re able to do. 

And so, as a funder, one great way to do that is. Provide the funding, even provide the funding to the people creating the content, right? We would, I don’t think we’d have the capacity to create all this content. That’s why you’re such a valuable partner for us. You’ve got the content and now we can deliver it and get it out into our community so that those would be quick answers for me. 

Tobi: Yeah, and I like that perspective. Find the, find the expert or find the curriculum design I’ve been doing for 40 years. You know, folks think they whip out a PowerPoint deck and there we go. But we have a model and the. The curriculum’s developed on the model, and I’ve been training for a long time, so I appreciate finding the right people to do the, the pieces of the project That makes sense. 

And then own what you can. And I think you’re right, skill building, it’s not just professional development. I also also like to emphasize that it’s really about implementation. As you said, Diana, you’ve got to help people. Sitting and, and watching videos and being in, in class and discussing is fantastic. 

It’s, it’s building skillset, but we also want to make sure all training has an impact on the, the organization itself and whoever the organization is serving and the volunteers that are getting involved. That’s the ultimate, I think, when it comes to, I think when we talk professional development, we’re, we’re limiting the way we see the impact that training can really have when it’s designed and implemented. Well, one more question before we wrap up. And I’ll ask each of you, and Gail, maybe you can start, what are you most excited about in the year ahead?  

Gail: Yeah, question. Personal, professional, doesn’t matter. Yeah, yeah. So much. It’s hard for me to pick just one, so I hope this isn’t a cop out, but what I’m most, truly, truly, what I’m most excited about is the collective impact of all our programming. It’s very intentional. We are trying to have a multidimensional approach, and so it’s really the impact of that that I’m excited about.  

Tobi: Awesome. How about you, Diana? What are you excited, most excited about in the year ahead?  

Diana: Tobi, I am super excited to offer our volunteer fundamentals course again this year. You know, and I think with one year for me, for it under my belt, I’m really excited to help folks who are at nonprofits and equip them to more strategically engage volunteers. It’s the work that I did during my time in the nonprofit sector and it’s a joy to be able to help others do that work more effectively. 

And I really enjoy our partnership in working with Tobi. It’s a great way for us to make sure that organizations can leverage volunteers to do their mission-driven work. So, it’s, it’s a joy and it’s something that I really love collaborating on and really getting to know the participants too. So, I’m looking forward to our Volunteer Fundamentals course this year. 

Tobi: Awesome. Well, we’ll get in touch and have a conversation if we want to make tweaks to the design or what you’re hearing. This is also the fun thing about hybrid is it, it offers more flexibility. It’s just a, a fun, I mean, when Curtis said, hey, I wanna do this fun, this hybrid, I said, tell me more. Let’s, let’s figure this out. 

And I think if we remain flexible like that and are willing to meet the needs of our learners, I think it’s fantastic. So, this has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much for joining me to talk about nonprofit capacity building, to talk about the foundation’s work in the community. I do think it’s unique. 

I don’t think there are a lot of foundations or philanthropists thinking this way. I love that your definition of philanthropy truly includes volunteerism, not just as a, just to tick the box, but really understands the ecosystem of your local community and how you’re building capacity. It’s, it’s so nice to see. When people get it, they just get it. And I remember back in the day, I did a presentation at the local volunteer association at Greater Grava, greater Richmond Area Volunteer Association. Years ago, this was probably, this was when Katie Campbell was still working at CCVA at the very end of her tenure there. 

And I remember being so impressed with the caliber. Of professionals that I was training, and I thought, wow, this, this, this region really has it together. And now you can see why there’s all these players that are working together and collaborating to make this fantastic thing happen in the community. 

And it really is about community, which is so important and something people crave, like you said, Gail, when you know, people hang out for an hour later just to chit chat and network after an event, that means people want to be in community with each other. And no matter what discord is going on in the world, it’s still a human need to relate to one another and to work in collaboration. 

We have a gene in our body that that tells us we are hardwired to be in community together, working together. It’s been that way since the beginning, so it’s been fantastic to see how that gets implemented in a philanthropic way. So, thank you for joining me today. Just one last question and I will put lots of links. 

You’ve sent me some links to put in the show notes. So folks want to learn more about the community foundation, but, but tell me how, what’s the best way for people to get in touch with you and learn more about your work?  

Diana: I would say in terms of learning more about our work, our website, cf richmond.org and our volunteer center, cf engage.org would be the best two places to learn more about our work in terms of connecting with Gail and I find us on LinkedIn. We also have an email inbox that you can email us directly, so that’s civic@cfrichmond.org.  

Tobi: Awesome. Thank you so much ladies. It’s been fantastic. I look forward to collaborating next, or this year. It must be, yeah, this later this year. So, take care. Have a fantastic rest of your week and everybody, if you like this episode, please share it with a colleague and if you really liked it, please give us a five star review and tell us what you think about this episode and join us next week, same time, same place on the Volunteer Nation. Take care, everybody.