
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.
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
038-New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Nonprofits
December 29, 2022 Episode #038: New Year's Resolution Ideas for Nonprofits Here at VolunteerPro, our focus for 2023 is all about optimization of all our systems. We have an awesome team and great systems in place to to keep everything running [...]
037-Our Top 10 Nonprofit Blog Posts of 2022
December 22, 2022 Episode #037: Our Top 10 Nonprofit Blog Posts of 2022 Did you Know: in addition to producing two podcasts (Volunteer Nation and the Time+Talent Podcast with Jennifer Bennett), Tobi also writes a weekly nonprofit blog? There are literally [...]
036-5 Nonprofit KPIs Your Volunteer Program Should be Tracking
December 15, 2022 Episode #036: 5 Nonprofit KPIs Your Volunteer Program Should be Tracking Getting respect and buy-in for your volunteer program means knowing your numbers. This week, Tobi shares five nonprofit KPIs (key performance indicators) and how you can use [...]
035-6 Ways to Prevent Burnout in Nonprofits
December 8, 2022 Episode #035: 6 Ways to Prevent Burnout in Nonprofits The last 2+ years have been undeniably challenging, and many nonprofit leaders have struggled to keep a sense of passion for their work. Even when you love what you [...]
034-Your Nonprofit Strategic Plan for Volunteers – What to Include
December 1, 2022 Episode #034: Your Nonprofit Strategic Plan for Volunteers – What to Include Here’s a question: when you take a quick scan of the past year, how would you describe it in a word or two? What did your [...]
033-New Research on Volunteer Funding with Dana Litwin
November 24, 2022 Episode #033: New Research on Volunteer Funding with Dana Litwin This week, Tobi sits down with strategic volunteer engagement expert and consultant Dana Litwin to talk about a brand new research project in the volunteer sector, and how [...]
032-How to Utilize Volunteers for Giving Tuesday with Julia Campbell
November 17, 2022 Episode #032: How to Utilize Volunteers for Giving Tuesday with Julia Campbell This week, Tobi sits down with author and fundraising expert Julia Campbell to talk about ways for nonprofits to get involved in Giving Tuesday, and how [...]
031-Rethinking the Volunteer Engagement Cycle with Lori Gotlieb
November 9, 2022 Episode #031: Rethinking the Volunteer Engagement Cycle with Lori Gotlieb This week Tobi welcomes Lori Gotlieb to the show to talk about the volunteer engagement cycle, and some of the innovations going on throughout the sector right now. [...]
030-From Volunteer Disruption to Impact with Beth Steinhorn and Jerome Tennille
November 3, 2022 Episode #030: From Volunteer Disruption to Impact with Beth Steinhorn and Jerome Tennille This week, Tobi welcomes authors Beth Steinhorn and Jerome Tennille to discuss how organizations have responded to the volunteer disruption they’ve experienced over the past [...]
029-Evolutions in Corporate Social Responsibility with Chris Jarvis
October 27, 2022 Episode #029: Evolutions in Corporate Social Responsibility with Chris Jarvis This week, Tobi sits down with Chris Jarvis from Realized Worth to talk about corporate social responsibility (and what that oft-used term really means), as well as how [...]
028-How Nonprofits Can Use Podcasts to Build Community with Anthony Wilson
October 20, 2022 Episode #028: How Nonprofits Can Use Podcasts to Build Community with Anthony Wilson Have you ever considered starting a podcast to tell the world about your organization? Podcast creators can strategically use podcasts to build community around a [...]
027-Secrets to Building a Sense of Community with Volunteers
October 13, 2022 Episode #027: Secrets to Building a Sense of Community with Volunteers Do you remember the first time you experienced a sense of community with other people? It may have been a team sport, or an academic group, or a [...]