Welcome to the Volunteer Nation Podcast!
Weekly interviews, big hat thinking, quick wins, and smart strategy to help you
engage your community and make a bigger impact.
Welcome to the Volunteer Nation Podcast!
Weekly interviews, big hat thinking, quick wins, and smart strategy to help you
engage your community and make a bigger impact.
The Volunteer Nation Podcast
Join Tobi and her special guests each week to learn how charities, causes, campaigns, congregations, and companies leverage the power of volunteerism to create a better world.
About the Show
Nonprofit leadership author, coach, and expert Tobi Johnson shares weekly tips to help charities build, grow, and scale exceptional volunteer teams. Discover how your nonprofit can effectively coordinate volunteers who are reliable, equipped, and ready to help you bring about BIG change for the better.
Rather than continuing to “do more with less,” achieve abundance for your organization by engaging community talent that helps you do more with more.
Society is evolving and so, too, is volunteerism. With over 25 years of experience working in nonprofits, public sector agencies, and grassroots campaigns Tobi is known for her modern “big hat” thinking and straight talk about what it takes to achieve success in today’s world.
You will learn how to coordinate volunteers, improve the volunteer experience, recruit volunteers, appreciate volunteers, and do it all more efficiently with the right volunteer management software and digital tools. It’s a mix of interviews and solo shows you’re not going to want to miss.
So, if you’re ready to ditch the stress and harness the power of people to fuel your good work, you’re in exactly the right place. Hit subscribe and let’s DO this!
Your Host
Tobi Johnson, MA, CVA is an internationally sought-after expert, consultant, advisor, and master trainer in volunteer engagement. She is known for her modern thought leadership, highly practical evidence-based strategies, and innovative, “big hat” thinking around engaging, supporting, and acknowledging the work of volunteers. She is the President of Tobi Johnson & Associates, a consulting firm whose mission is to help nonprofit organizations make connections with remarkable volunteers. In 2015, she founded VolunteerPro, an online training and networking community for leaders of volunteers. She is also co-host of the Time + Talent Podcast with Jennifer Bennett of VolunteerMatch.
Tobi has over 30 years direct experience in nonprofit management, program development, program coordination, training delivery and learning design across a wide range of charities and government agencies. She wrote Chapter 1 of Volunteer Engagement 2.0: Ideas and Insights for Transforming Volunteer Programs in a Changing World. Each year, her firm also conducts the Volunteer Management Progress Report, a global state-of-the-industry survey. In 2022, over 1,300 professionals from 28 countries participated.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Tobi is a graduate of the University of Washington and has a master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She now lives in East Tennessee with her husband and feline office assistant, Bailey.
Latest Episodes
154 – Entitled or Exploited? Part 1 – Volunteer Bias in Organizations
March 20, 2025 Episode #154: Entitled or Exploited? Part 1 - Volunteer Bias in Organizations In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi discusses the concept of volunteer bias in organizations, focusing on the theme, Entitled or Exploited. Using data [...]
153 – Building Nonprofit Capacity at Hire Heroes with Michele Wiesner
March 13, 2025 Episode #153: Building Nonprofit Capacity at Hire Heroes with Michele Wiesner In this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast, Tobi welcomes Michele Wiesner, Director of Capacity Building at Hire Heroes USA onto the show! Michele discusses her extensive [...]
152 – What Every Nonprofit Executive Should Know About Community Engagement
March 6, 2025 Episode #152: What Every Nonprofit Executive Should Know About Community Engagement In this episode, Tobi draws insights from the Volunteer Management Progress Report and discusses the perennial challenges in engaging volunteers, particularly respect and buy-in from leadership. She [...]
151 – Reimagining Nonprofit Membership & Volunteer Engagement with Alice Glenn
February 27, 2025 Episode #151: Reimagining Nonprofit Membership & Volunteer Engagement with Alice Glenn In this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast, Tobi Johnson is joined by Alice Glenn, President of the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI). Tobi and Alice [...]
150 – Launch a Community-based Advocacy Program in Six Steps
February 20, 2025 Episode #150: Launch a Community-based Advocacy Program in Six Steps In this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast, Tobi focuses on nonprofit advocacy, emphasizing the importance of advocacy in uncertain times. Tobi outlines a detailed six-step plan to [...]
149 – Nonprofit Advocacy Strategies – A Checklist
February 13, 2025 Episode #149: Nonprofit Advocacy Strategies – A Checklist In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, host Tobi Johnson provides an in-depth discussion on nonprofit advocacy strategies. Tobi talks about the immediate need for nonprofit advocacy and shares [...]
148 – Nonprofit Advocacy 101 – Yes You Can!
February 6, 2025 Episode #148: Nonprofit Advocacy 101 – Yes You Can! In this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast, Tobi addresses the critical need for nonprofits to engage in advocacy, especially amidst current uncertainties like federal funding chaos. She explains [...]
147 – Volunteer Recruitment Trends from Our New Report
January 30, 2025 Episode #147: Volunteer Recruitment Trends from Our New Report In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi discusses the key volunteer recruitment trends from the 2025 Volunteer Management Progress Report. She explores the major challenges non-profit organizations [...]
146 – Expanding Volunteer Jobs to Be Done at Your Nonprofit
January 23, 2025 Episode #146: Expanding Volunteer Jobs to Be Done at Your Nonprofit In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi dives into the art of expanding volunteer roles within nonprofits. Inspired by a recent workshop, she breaks down [...]
145 – Build Your Program with the NEW VolunteerPro Volunteer Impact Lab!
January 16, 2025 Episode #145: Build Your Program with the NEW VolunteerPro Volunteer Impact Lab! In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi introduces the newly rebranded VolunteerPro Impact Lab, a community dedicated to supporting volunteer-driven organizations in their program [...]
144 – Bringing a Collectivist Spirit to Nonpartisan Volunteer Work with Britt Hogue
January 9, 2025 Episode #144: Bringing a Collectivist Spirit to Nonpartisan Volunteer Work with Britt Hogue In this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast, Tobi is joined by the Founder of the Collective Good, Britt Hogue. The pair discuss the [...]
143 – 3 Big Problems with Your Volunteer Recruitment Flyer
January 2, 2025 Episode #143: 3 Big Problems with Your Volunteer Recruitment Flyer In the first episode of 2025, Tobi shares her insights on developing an impactful volunteer recruitment flyer. She discusses common problems, such as lack of audience targeting, incomplete [...]