Sustainability

We know the important good that volunteers can accomplish on a local level. And the most effective way of involving volunteers is through well-organized volunteer centers.

Volunteer centers work hard to fulfill their mission of mobilizing people and resources to deliver creative solutions to community problems. As nonprofit organizations, they derive their support from community contributions, grants, fundraising events, membership dues, and service fees. Because of their effective utilization of available resources, and their expertise in involving volunteers to meet community needs, volunteer centers are masters of cost containment in service to their communities.

In the category of “community building", volunteer centers do not specialize in one direct service to any one constituent group. In many ways, volunteer centers are still pioneers in their efforts to bring everyone together for the common good, rather than focus on championing the cause of one group, or advocating for one targeted need. The benefit to society is that they can serve effectively on behalf of all residents and all area needs. The downside is that there are not many grants for “community building,” a factor which affects income strategies.

Sustainability is one of the largest issues facing volunteer centers. Especially in rural areas, volunteer centers often operate with budgets that seriously affect the amount of service that they can give, often curtailing their hours and staff below the most effective level. Even high volunteer involvement does not replace the need for a continuity of knowledgeable and dedicated staff with strong volunteer management and administrative skills.

Because of the vast accomplishments of volunteers in addressing every problem that our society faces, the Volunteer Centers of Michigan has a goal of assisting all counties in Michigan to establish volunteer centers. But just as important is the goal of sustaining Volunteer Centers, by finding the financial resources to support them into the future, and ensuring that income levels meet volunteer center goals of giving high quality services.

Michigan’s Volunteer Investment Grants
The Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) is our state government’s office charged with supporting volunteer efforts throughout Michigan. Knowing the important role that volunteer centers play in promoting and managing volunteer efforts in local communities, the Commission sought a method to encourage the growth of new volunteer centers and to ensure future sustainability of all Centers through stable funding. In 1997, MCSC requested a legislative appropriation of one million dollars to fund a grant-making program that would assist Volunteer Centers to become more knowledgeable about fund development, and more adept at fundraising.

This money, known as Michigan’s Volunteer Investment Grants (VIG grants), was a competitive challenge grant program through which qualifying Volunteer Centers raised money to build a permanent designated endowment fund in their community foundation.

Call your volunteer center to see if it has a permanent endowment. If so, your contribution to that endowment may offer you the advantage of an extra Michigan tax credit beyond your federal tax deduction. It will offer your local Volunteer Center another opportunity to build its future.