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Revolutionizing Volunteerism with Karen Knight: A Conversation on Impact and Innovation
“Can actions with ulterior motives benefit everybody in the end?”
Sean’s Monologue: Bully Pulpit International
Our guest today is internationally-recognized author, presenter, and volunteerism expert Karen Knight. With nearly three decades of experience mentoring and advising social impact organizations, Karen is a leading voice in challenging conventional ideas about volunteerism and driving creative solutions to long-standing issues.
Karen begins the show by explaining the importance of volunteerism and how our society could not function without non-profit organizations. She and Sean go on to discuss the hardships for NGOs when it comes to recruiting and retaining volunteers – especially in our current times of emotional and financial stress. Karen defines the true value of volunteering, both in hypothetical dollar amounts and in the benefits to society, such as combating the fierce sense of polarization that plagues the United States these days.
Karen reveals to us the most common reasons why people choose to volunteer their time and energy to non-profit organization…and her answer might surprise you. Then she lends us her expertise by sharing tips on how to keep volunteers engaged and feeling valued. She divulges her favorite four types of “perks” to reward volunteers and lays out her rules for giving “tangible gratitude.”
Sean asks Karen about the lessons that the covid-19 pandemic taught us about volunteerism, then the two brainstorm ideas on how governments could support the volunteer efforts that their countries rely upon – and they come up with an excellent idea! I hope someone with this power to act upon their idea might be listening…?
Karen loves to help social impact organizations overcome their challenges! Learn more about her services at: https://karenknight.ca/
Karen Knight
Owner/Founder
Karen Knight has been providing volunteer engagement advice, mentoring and training for social impact organizations for close to 30 years.
An internationally-recognized author, presenter and thought leader, Karen is known for challenging the standard thinking around volunteerism, turning a spotlight on overlooked problems and bringing creative solutions to long-standing issues.
With her passion for making a difference in the world, Karen has gained decades of experience as a volunteer, a leader of volunteers and as a board member. Her professional life has spanned many industries, working in the private, public, and social impact sectors in various leadership positions.
Using her hands-on experience, combined with the extensive studying and research she has completed in the field, Karen loves to help social impact organizations overcome their challenges.
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