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The Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism, better known as UServeUtah, is part of the office of the Lieutenant Governor and functions under the umbrella of the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. Their purpose is to “enable individuals, communities and organizations in Utah to benefit from the service, power, skills, and passion of volunteers” (Purpose, 2013). Their vision is to have “vibrant, productive communities with involved, responsible citizens” that will “strengthen Utah communities through the power of service and volunteerism” (Purpose, 2013).
Contents
- History and Organization
- Mission
- Collaborating Agencies and Programs
- Organizations seeking volunteer management training
- Volunteers seeking opportunities to serve
- Challenges
- References
UServeUtah is vested in what they do. Not only do they have a long history of supporting and training skilled volunteers throughout the state, but they also act as a facilitator to then link volunteers with avenues of service. Part of what makes them successful is their core values:
Following its mission, UServeUtah has been instrumental in helping Utah become the top state in the nation for volunteering for the past seven years. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service report, Utah supplies an average of 837,650 volunteers who dedicate more than 177 million hours of service annually, equivalent to $3.8 billion annually (UCOV, Annual Report, 2012). Their goal is to “build upon their success and encourage even more Utahns to volunteer on a regular basis and work with organizations that need their particular skills and abilities” (UCOV, Annual Report, 2011).
History and Organization
In February 1994 UServeUtah was organized through legislation under the National and Community Service Trust Act and the Serve America Act. UServeUtah has an active board of up to seventeen volunteer commissioners, appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, with the purpose to act as “Ambassadors of Service” and support volunteerism in Utah. Each board member can serve no more than two consecutive three-year terms. Organizations currently represented on the board include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Intermountain Health Care, United Way of Utah, University of Utah, and others (Commissioners, 2013). UServeUtah also has a small paid administrative staff headed by an executive director that manages the day-to-day operations of the programs as outlined in the table below: (Staff, 2013).
Mission
UServeUtah’s mission is not based on solving specific problems for the public. Rather, UServeUtah seeks to promote volunteerism through any worth-while cause. This differentiates them from other state agencies. UServeUtah accomplishes this by providing support to the following types of organizations and individuals:
Collaborating Agencies and Programs
The majority of UServeUtah activities are carried out through partnerships with other programs or agencies in the following four areas. Organizations seeking an AmeriCorps grant UServeUtah administers the AmeriCorps program in Utah. AmeriCorps is similar to the Peace Corps but focuses on domestic rather than international needs. AmeriCorps engages volunteers to serve in improving education, health, the environment, and providing economic opportunities for individuals. Additionally, the organization focuses on providing disaster relief, disaster preparedness, and assisting veterans and military families. AmeriCorps provides grant funding to governor-appointed state service commissions throughout the country. As Utah’s service commission, UServeUtah oversees the awarding of this funding to various Utah nonprofit organizations who apply. As part of the applications process for an AmeriCorps grant, Utah nonprofit organizations must attend an informational meeting conducted by UServeUtah staff that orients them with the requirements of for receiving grant money. Once the applications are submitted, the UServeUtah staff works with the board to award grant funding (AmeriCorps, 2013). In 2012, the following organizations were supported through AmeriCorps funding:
Organizations seeking volunteer management training
UServeUtah provides training to other local volunteers who become certified Volunteer Management Trainers. These Volunteer Management Trainers then provide training to non-profit organizations in their communities to help these organizations in recruiting, orienting, supervising, and motivating their own volunteers. Organizations seeking volunteers
Through an online portal on the UServeUtah website, nonprofit organizations seeking volunteer support are linked to a volunteer connection center in their county, there they post volunteer opportunities. While the volunteer connection centers are actually operated by individual counties or organizations like the United Way, UServeUtah acts as a connection point for these individual centers throughout the state.
Volunteers seeking opportunities to serve
Similar to nonprofit organizations, volunteers seeking to serve can visit the UServeUtah website where they can be directed to the same individual volunteer connection centers that nonprofit organizations are routed. This provides a forum for them to connect nonprofit organization with posted volunteer opportunities available in their area. In addition to these main programs, UServeUtah collaborates with what they call “Volunteer Connector Organizations” throughout the state. These organizations fill much the same roll as UServeUtah does on a local level, to help match volunteers with opportunities to serve in their areas. There are 30 volunteer centers in the state of Utah, including those found on university campuses. These centers have dozens of connections to organizations in constant need of volunteers.
Challenges
As UServeUtah promotes volunteerism, perhaps the greatest challenge is helping nonprofit organizations effectively manage volunteer resources. In 2009, the United Way of King County in Seattle, Washington conducted a survey of nonprofit organizations to learn what challenges they face in managing volunteers (Lynch, n.d.). The findings are summarized as follows:
UServerUtah Volunteer Management Training program seeks to help nonprofit organizations overcome the types of challenges learned about in through this study. However with low retention rates and the lack of time and skills of volunteer managers it continues to be an area for improvement. UServeUtah is also likely to face funding challenges in the future. With constant pressures on federal, state, local government budgets as well as the budgets of donating individual, these programs could easily be some of the first to be cut or underfunded. Lastly, there could be the challenge from those who see this program as unnecessary given the high number of volunteers and non-profit organizations in Utah. Given the competing pressures for personnel and financial resources UServeUtah may find they need to do more defend their existence to legislators and the public by demonstrating the benefits they provide.