Everett Zoo Case Study

A key to defining this group and their responsibilities is to explain their status. The term volunteer is defined as, “persons who did unpaid work (except for expenses) through or for an organization” (USDL, 2015). The nature of a professional, or someone who is paid for their work, demonstrates an implicit motivator in the payment. The duties and responsibilities that are performed by the person whether the duties are assigned or created by the person also have a general connotation. The collection of activities these individuals perform is known in the literature as “volunteering” (Stebbins, 2009, Wilson,

The diversity of nonprofit organizations, services provided and the problems faced shows that nonprofits require leadership with an in-depth understanding of the multifaceted nonprofit landscape. Understanding the culture of nonprofit work is also crucial and much easier to understand once you have been through a nonprofit management program. My career interests lead me towards an avocation of a deeper knowledge of strategic management/planning, legal structure and standards, increase my skills in quantitative analysis of policy, financial governance and developing fundraising strategies. These areas allow for macro management within the nonprofit

Volunteering is often seen as free labor. However, there is a significant cost associated with the recruitment, training, and maintenance of the volunteer force. A full-time staff to oversee the volunteer program is necessary as well to ensure volunteers are being used effectively. The recruitment process varies from advertising to speaking at schools to

It is so difficult for nonprofit organizations to deal with the withdrawal of a major gift. In order to illustrate what ABC Nonprofit should be aware of and how to successfully navigate the complexities that it is facing, I selected the case of the Central Park Children’s Zoo as an example. I suggest that ABC Nonprofit should get to know more about the new major donors before reaching agreements, handle the major gift wisely, and have good relationships with both major donors and individuals or communities that have involved in.

Founded in 1875 in Buffalo, New York, the Buffalo Zoo quickly became a popular tourist attraction. However, as time went on, the outdated buildings and unenthusiastic employees led to a decline in zoo visitors. The zoo began to face several challenges, and the most significant was the fear of losing its accreditation. The president at the time devised a plan to move the Buffalo Zoo to Delaware Park, but that was quickly blocked by employees of the zoo and members of the community. With no support and no where to turn, the president decided to resign. This left the zoo with no plan, and no one to guide them. After extensive searching, the zoo made the decision to hire 43-year-old Donna Fernandes. Donna had an extensive background in education and experience in management and caring for animals. Although Donna seemed like the perfect candidate for the position, she was warned that the employees and community would be reluctant to accept her due to previous negative experiences with poor management and failed attempts to save the zoo. This did not deter Donna, and she worked hard to change those negative experiences into positive ones.

receive donations which is the lifeblood of an charity or non-profit. This paper will discuss the

As a nonprofit fundraiser, it is difficult to truly see the mission that your team raises money for every single day. Fundraisers at the American Red Cross are trained as “sales people,” and before this volunteer experience I had never even been on a Red Cross disaster response call. Throughout the duration of the semester, I was able to gain true insight into the core of the organization and mission. This opportunity allowed me to not only enhance my career at the American Red Cross, but gave me a 360-degree view of the entire organization and the fundamentals of the Red Cross mission.

I chose to complete a fundraiser with The Helpers Organization, which is a nonprofit information and referral program located in Norfolk, Virginia. The Helpers Organization was founded in 2008 by Antwan Staton, as a 501(c) (3) non-profit. It provided utility bills assistance, career programs, and personal growth workshops to the less fortunate people in the Hampton Roads community. They are also a referral program, which provides assistance on a case by case basis. Their utility program is to help clients on a one time basis. After the client receives the Helpers Organization assistance they are encouraged to recover from their situation, without further assistance. However, The Helpers Organization can refer the client to other resources, if necessary. The Helpers Organization primary goal is to help the community of Hampton Roads, by encouraging them to do better with little assistance.

Major gift requires that the staff meets several times, this way the leader may delegate tasks, equally, the manager keeps track of assignment, training and volunteers. It is recommended that the executive director and managers from different departments develop skills to feel comfortable asking for donations. Overall, the agency’s personnel should be trained as fundraisers, thus they can help to raise contributions. Staff should be prepared to contact and solicit sponsors. It is an effective strategy to personally contact sponsors. Hight level of sponsorships is considered after the agency has grown a relationship (Weinstein, 2009).

The agency I choose is called The Maryvale Family YMCA and based on the reading assignment the position description doesn’t meet the standards for a well-designed and motivating position. I came to this conclusion because it isn’t a formal volunteer position desription. It does list some jobs, roles, and volunteers may feel a sense of ownership while performing some of those jobs, but they won’t have the authority to think. This is because the volunteers can’t put in their input towards the planning or evaluating process (McCurley, 55). Another component that their position description is missing is the element that measures achievement also known as keeping score (McCurley 57). This is an important part of a volunteer description because

Discuss the value of the volunteer role/activity/event(s) related to the needs of the clients, the mandate of the agency, and the types of services provided. (8 marks)

In the readings so far the book, Fundraising Principles, and Practice helped examine key aspects of the fundraising process for the nonprofit organizations. It assists with understanding the practices central to fundraising and illustrates different methods and different sectors within the fundraising spectrum. It carefully breaks down the third sector, independent sector, not-for-profit sector, nonprofit sector, charitable sector and the voluntary sector, Based on the book, I understand that a fundraiser is a coordinated group effort to solicit supplemental funding from the community, usually in exchange for something of value.

The proposed work areas included: an analysis of past fundraising efforts, including gathering full contacts of past donors, corporate, individual, governmental and foundation sources; assessing planned events calendar to maximize and capitalize fundraising efforts and identify additional areas for potential sponsorship

The strike at the Toronto Zoo has resulted in lost income for its employees because they want to have increased job security. The article says that John Tory says that “striking zoo workers have good jobs with excellent benefits.” One of the themes in this unit is that unions make a difference for its employees. Union members typically have more job security, high wages, and safe hours. They also have more and/or better benefits such as drug, vision and dental plans, as well as pension plans. The article says that, “these are jobs with guaranteed pension, generous benefits, and more job security than most people who live in the city of Toronto,” so it confirms these facts. Hence, the Toronto Zoo is a prime example of a union which provides many benefits to its workers. Another major theme in this unit is with regards to strikes.

Foremost, managing volunteers differs from managing staff only to the extent of what the manager desires. In other words, there is no difference unless the manager creates differences designed for specific purposes and goals. Mangers need the ability to motivate volunteers and employees to work together to reach common goals (Brudney & Meijs, 2014). Hence, managers use their abilities to organize, evaluate, supervise, and facilitate those around them – whether it is staff or volunteers – to reach the organization’s goals and occupational commitment (Claiborne, Auerbach, Lawrence, Liu, McGowan, Fernendes, & Magnano, 2011; Patti, 2008).