The Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement (MAVA) connects, educates, strengthens, and advocates for volunteer engagement leaders and their organizations to create positive impact in their communities. With over 750 members and a robust national audience, it is a leader in advancing volunteerism as a key strategy for addressing pressing community issues. MAVA is a new Independent Sector member, as well as a member of the Nonprofit Infrastructure Investment Advocacy Group (NIIAG), co-founded by IS and KABOOM!
Karmit Bulman
We talked with Karmit Bulman, Executive Director, about how MAVA supports volunteerism in Minnesota and beyond.
IS: Tell us more about MAVA’s mission.
KB: We see advancing volunteerism as a strategy for effective community improvement or change, and we believe volunteers and volunteerism are essential to repairing the world. MAVA helps other organizations effectively leverage volunteer resources to advance their missions. Advocacy, education, and connection are also key to our work.
IS: What communities do you serve through your work?
KB: Our primary audience is volunteer engagement professionals who work with nonprofits, in education, or for government. Secondly, our audience is anyone who works for mission-driven organizations that are heavily reliant on volunteers. And finally, volunteers themselves – people who care about their communities, who are invested in social issues, and people who want to and do make a difference.
Photo courtesy of MAVA
IS: What are your organization’s core programs that support the community you serve and help strengthen the nonprofit sector?
KB: The capacity to engage and mobilize volunteers is essential, and we offer programs both to educate our members and other audiences, and to connect them to learn from each other.
- Educational programs – we convene two conferences a year. One is a volunteer engagement leadership conference, which we just held this month. The other conference focuses on dismantling inequity with programming focused on anti-racism, anti-bias training, and addressing other barriers to volunteerism such as ableism, ageism, homophobia, antisemitism, and more.
- Service enterprise – MAVA partners with Points of Light to offer organizations in the state the Service Enterprise Initiative, a capacity-building program with a change management approach that enables organizations to strategically leverage volunteers as a resource to build their capacity. There are 48 organizations in Minnesota with this certification.
- VISTA program – we support the AmeriCorps VISTA program with 16 host sites across the state. Each sponsors one or two VISTAs for full-time service for one year across the state to develop, expand, or improve volunteer engagement that connects Minnesotans to the resources needed to move out of poverty in the areas of economic opportunity, education, and healthy futures.
Photo courtesy of MAVA
- Think tank – we share practical research on trends in volunteerism. We also convene listening sessions, focus groups, and offer other resources on pressing issues that affect volunteerism (for instance, ageism, job equity, anti-racism, and new immigrants). This research is available free to members and at a low cost to all others.
- Connection – some volunteer professionals feel isolated and misunderstood in their roles. Our gatherings, called MAVA Connections, provide the opportunity for support and learning. We also offer connection opportunities designed specifically for BIPOC and allies in events where they can safely share experiences. In addition to regularly held convenings, we are also responsive to current events, and lead conversations for volunteers and leaders who engage with volunteers to help understand how we can create positive change in response to events that impact community engagement.
- Advocacy – we’re involved with advocacy for legislation for bills and other policies that promote more effective volunteerism. MAVA also helps volunteerism professionals advocate for the position of volunteer engagement, and to elevate understanding of and respect for the profession.
IS: Independent Sector brings together a diverse community of changemakers at nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs that are working to achieve a racially just and healthy sector and nation where all people in the U.S. thrive. How does your work align with Independent Sector’s mission and our member organizations?
KB: We have always relied on Independent Sector’s Value of Volunteer Time for a quantitative measure of volunteer impact. More recently, we became involved with the Nonprofit Infrastructure Advocacy Group (NIIAG) and found other parallels with other work in terms of advocacy, education, and providing thought leadership. Ultimately, leadership on community issues happens through the most effective nonprofit work and we both share that commitment. MAVA stresses that volunteerism is key to repairing the world to make it a better place.
IS: Tell us about a memorable moment that affirmed how your organization’s work impacts the community you serve.
KB: In July 2017, MAVA brought together leaders of volunteers from across the country, and some even from abroad, to examine and map out the future. During the closing convening of the National Summit on Volunteer Engagement Leadership in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, a temporary task force was appointed to develop a structure for leveraging and convening existing networks, organizations, and individuals. The purpose was to drive a national conversation about the potential of volunteer engagement and encouraging collective action for national engagement strategies. This led to the formation of The National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement, an alliance I’m still involved with as a co-chair of the funder work group and a leadership team member. The Alliance has been very active in ensuring volunteers are considered as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
IS: What would you like people to know about MAVA that might surprise them?
KB: People might be surprised to know that volunteerism is a way of life for so many communities and people, yet only 30% of people in the U.S. are connected to nonprofits and other structured organizations to volunteer. That leaves a big gap for other volunteers – and there is work to do to break down barriers to connecting volunteers with nonprofits and other organizations that need their assistance so people who want to create change can partner better with nonprofits.
Learn about other Independent Sector members and becoming a member.
