Mission Statement
MAVA’s mission is to inspire excellence in leadership of volunteers to impact communities. Nationally recognized for innovation, MAVA unites leaders of volunteers, conducts research, builds capacity for quality and leadership, and provides an energetic, respected voice for volunteerism. MAVA is Minnesota’s only statewide, multi-sector alliance of volunteer resources leaders and dedicates its efforts to improving community problem solving and service. Founded in 2001 as a nonprofit 501(C)3, MAVA’s strategic goals include increased and diversified membership, strategic partnerships and collaborations, regular and frequent access to training for paid and unpaid leaders of volunteers, and a strong MAVA voice that influences public policy and organizational systems change. Our ability to utilize the skills of our members and MAVA’s philosophy of collaboration and partnership allows us even greater impact.
Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
MAVA brought 350 volunteer engagement leaders together in May, 2015 for a three day conference on Changing the World Through Effective Volunteer Engagement. MAVA Served as a hub for the National Point of Light’s “Service Enterprise,” a new national initiative to take volunteer engagement to the highest level. Social Enterprise addresses systems wide preparation, bringing each organization to an advanced capacity for volunteerism that significantly impacts the mission and shows a measurable return on investment. MAVA received funding from the federal Volunteer Generations Fund in connection with this initiative. MAVA provided 4027 hours of volunteer management training to 392 non profit management professionals from 139 organizations that support 83,000 volunteers in over 1 million hours of service valued at over $23,000 million. Through MAVA's VISTA Program, 9 nonprofits improved their volunteer management best practices by an average of 37% as a result of VISTA resources. In one year, VISTA members engaged 66,981 volunteers, who served 236, 746 hours who delivered programming to 5,629,996 individuals in communities across the state. MAVA helped to increase civic engagement in 60 cities in most regions of Minnesota though workshops, interviews and discussions. In addition, MAVA researched existing resources on engaging short term volunteers, conducted a survey and held focus groups to understand barriers in engaging short term volunteers. MAVA determined effective strategies to address barriers within nonprofits for short term volunteerism. MAVA also developed and delivered training curriculum on strategies for engaging short term volunteers and a self- assessment on readiness to engage short term volunteers and provided seed money to organizations in order to improve readiness for engaging short term volunteers.
Current Goals
1. Serving as a hub for the National Point of Light’s “Service Enterprise,” a new national initiative to take volunteer engagement to the highest level. Social Enterprise addresses systems wide preparation, bringing each organization to an advanced capacity for volunteerism that significantly impacts the mission and shows a measureable return on investment. MAVA received funding from the federal Volunteer Generations Fund in connection with this initiative.
2. Administering a federal AmeriCorps/VISTA programs for building volunteer capacity.
3. Providing a forum in which groups can share information, ideas and resources on volunteer issues.
4. Working with cities to find new ways to engage a diverse citizenry in community problems; developing a curriculum based on these efforts; and educating and training cities throughout the state to grow citizen involvement in problem solving and service.
5. Providing a biannual conference on volunteer leadership.
6. Researching recent trends that will impact volunteerism in the immediate future. Our goal is to learn what we can about trends, and develop curriculum that will address the needs of those involved in leading volunteerism today. Recent topics of interest have been short term volunteerism and the unique skills and interests of the Boomer generation.
7. Offering best practice training to those involved in leading volunteers through our Volunteer Impact Leadership Training series.
Community or Constituency Served
The Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) provides an engaging forum to people involved in the field of volunteerism across the state of Minnesota. MAVA is a powerful force for leaders of volunteers wherein we provide exchange of relevant information and ideas and effective professional development though multi-level training opportunities. With over 600 members, MAVA is constantly shaping the future of volunteerism that impacts our community positively.
Geographic Area Served
MAVA serves the entire State of Minnesota.
