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Volunteer Nation Podcast2023-04-11T14:41:41-04:00

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

065 – Using Email to Improve Volunteer Retention – Part 2

By |July 6th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|Tags: |

July 6, 2023 Episode #65: Using Email to Improve Volunteer Retention – Part 2 In this episode, we continue to explore strategies to improve volunteer retention part 2. We're excited to dive deeper into the power of email as a communication tool. While [...]

064 – Using Email to Improve Volunteer Retention – Part 1

By |June 29th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|Tags: |

June 29, 2023 Episode #64: Using Email to Improve Volunteer Retention – Part 1 In this episode, Tobi dives into the world of communication strategies and explore how leveraging email can significantly improve volunteer retention. But before we get into the details, [...]

063 – How to Make Better Decisions with Rishma Walji

By |June 22nd, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|Tags: |

June 22, 2023 Episode #63: How to Make Better Decisions with Rishma Walji In this episode, Tobi had an insightful conversation with Rishma Walji on how to make better decisions. Knowing who you are, how you want to show up, and what's [...]

062 – 10 Ways to Create an Exceptional Volunteer Experience

By |June 15th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|Tags: |

June 15, 2023 Episode #62: 10 Ways to Create an Exceptional Volunteer Experience Not all volunteer experience are equal and the same. To truly make an impact, organizations must focus on creating exceptional volunteer experiences that not only benefit the organization, but [...]

061 – Training for Nonprofits – How We’ve Got it All Wrong

By |June 8th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|Tags: |

June 8, 2023 Episode #61: Training for Nonprofits - How We've Got it All Wrong In today's episode, Tobi discusses about training for nonprofits and how we've got it all wrong. When we do launches and promotions at VolunteerPro, we ask our audience [...]

060 – Giving Circles and Collective Philanthropy with Sara Lomelin

By |June 1st, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Recruitment|Tags: |

June 1, 2023 Episode #60: Giving Circles and Collective Philanthropy with Sara Lomelin In today's episode, Tobi interviews Sara Lomelin who is an expert in Giving Circles and collective philanthropy. Here at VolunteerPro, we're also very interested in doing that when it [...]

059 – 6 Must Have Strategies to Recruit Volunteers Using Your Website

By |May 25th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, featured, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Recruitment|Tags: |

May 25, 2023 Episode #059: 6 Must Have Strategies to Recruit Volunteers Using Your Website In today's episode, Tobi talks about how to improve your recruiting volunteers on your website. Tobi worked with many coaching clients around their volunteer recruitment strategies, and [...]

058 – Innovative Models in Volunteerism Research with Lucas Meijs

By |May 18th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Nation Podcast|Tags: |

May 18, 2023 Episode #058: Innovative Models in Volunteerism Research with Lucas Meijs In today's episode, Tobi interviews Lucas Meijs about innovative models in volunteerism research. Lucas has been writing about and researching volunteerism for three decades. The discussion revolves around the [...]

057 – The Compassionate Instinct & Bringing Wonder Back to Work with Dacher Keltner

By |May 11th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Nation Podcast|Tags: |

May 11, 2023 Episode #057: The Compassionate Instinct & Bringing Wonder Back to Work with Dacher Keltner In today's episode, Tobi features Dacher Keltner and discusses the compassionate instinct, bringing wonder and awe back into our lives, and becoming more resilient. Dacher [...]

056 – The Role of Voluntarism & Volunteerism in America with Elisabeth Clemens

By |May 4th, 2023|Categories: Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Nation Podcast|Tags: |

May 4, 2023 Episode #056: The Role of Voluntarism & Volunteerism in America with Elisabeth Clemens In today's episode, Tobi interviews Dr. Elisabeth Clemens from University of Chicago who is an expert in how volunteerism sits and civic society sits in building [...]

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