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Volunteer Nation Podcast2025-01-09T12:12:04-05:00

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

073 – Vital Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders from Women’s World Cup

By |August 31st, 2023|Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|

August 31, 2023 Episode #73: Vital Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders from Women's World Cup In this episode, Tobi dives deep into the world of sports and extract valuable lessons that nonprofit leaders can apply to their organizations. Just like the US [...]

072 – Volunteer Surveys – Are You Making These Mistakes?

By |August 24th, 2023|Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|

August 24, 2023 Episode #72: Volunteer Surveys - Are You Making These Mistakes? In this episode, Tobi talks about the common mistakes organizations make when conducting volunteer surveys. Drawing from years of experience and the success of their own surveys, Tobi [...]

071 – Partnering with Funders to Support Volunteer Engagement with Jane Justis & Betsy McFarland

By |August 17th, 2023|Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|

August 17, 2023 Episode #71: Partnering with Funders to Support Volunteer Engagement with Jane Justis & Betsy McFarland In this episode, Tobi explores the fascinating world of partnering with funders to support volunteer engagement. We will learn about the critical role [...]

070 – How to Organize a Volunteer Services Department of One

By |August 10th, 2023|Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|

August 10, 2023 Episode #70: How to Organize a Volunteer Services Department of One In this episode, Tobi dives into the essential strategies and techniques to effectively structure and manage your volunteer program, even with limited resources. Whether you're a nonprofit [...]

067 – How to Set Up a New Volunteer Coordinator for Success

By |July 21st, 2023|Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|

July 20, 2023 Episode #67: How to Set Up a New Volunteer Coordinator for Success In this episode,  Tobi dives into the topic of setting up a new volunteer coordinator for success. With the challenges of engaging busy individuals who have [...]

066 – Partnering with Corporate Employee Volunteer Programs with Lynn Margherio

By |July 13th, 2023|Build, Envision, Grow, Scale, Sustain, Volunteer Experience, Volunteer Impact, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Nation Podcast, Volunteer Training|

July 13, 2023 Episode #66: Partnering with Corporate Employee Volunteer Programs with Lynn Margherio In this episode, Tobi interviews Lynn Margherio about the importance of partnering with corporate employee volunteer programs and how this collaboration can benefit nonprofits in terms of [...]

065 – Using Email to Improve Volunteer Retention – Part 2

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

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. [...]

064 – Using Email to Improve Volunteer Retention – Part 1

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

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 [...]

062 – 10 Ways to Create an Exceptional Volunteer Experience

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

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, [...]

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