When Susan Vanden Heuvel took the helm of the Appleton-based nonprofit organization Volunteer Fox Cities six years ago, she says, the state of Wisconsin was home to 15 independent volunteer centers.
Today there are only four. It’s a fact that makes Volunteer Fox Cities’ recent 30th anniversary that much more of a cause for celebration.
Many of the volunteer centers that have gone away were absorbed by bigger organizations like United Way — which have great missions, Vanden Heuvel says — but there’s something special about her organization’s focus on human connections.
“Being standalone, we have the freedom to really listen to our nonprofit partners and members and hear what they’re celebrating and what they’re struggling with,” Vanden Heuvel says.
Volunteer Fox Cities currently has nearly 100 member nonprofits representing Calumet, Outagamie, Waupaca and Winnebago counties and was formerly known as the Volunteer Center of East Central Wisconsin. Its corporate investors not only fund the mission, but they receive Volunteer Fox Cities’ services connecting employees to group volunteer opportunities. Amidst a talent shortage, Vanden Heuvel says, prospective employees are increasingly seeking workplaces that reflect their values by emphasizing and facilitating volunteer service — and Volunteer Fox Cities delivers that experience for the employers who want to offer it.
It’s a win-win-win for the nonprofits, companies and employees, explains Brad Creighton, Volunteer Fox Cities’ community engagement director.
“We want to support the area corporations and their social responsibility in a way that’s unifying, but we also want to give people who haven’t necessarily volunteered before a taste of what it could be like,” he says. “So I may sign up for this event in my workplace, but then I get there and find I really like volunteering.”
And while Volunteer Fox Cities has carved out a sturdy niche in corporate community outreach and group activities, it also serves individual community members looking to volunteer. Melissa Jagodinsky, member and events manager, describes Volunteer Fox Cities’ “Get Connected” website as a “Match.com for volunteers” that receives more than 200 pageviews of its individual volunteer opportunities each day from among more than 9,000 registered users. Opportunities can be sorted on a variety of variables, including type of work, cause and volunteer age — including denoting jobs with which children can help.
In addition to corporate partners and Get Connected users, retirees represent a significant portion of Volunteer Fox Cities’ volunteer force; Jan Sommerfeld directs the organization’s RSVP program, which engaged 288 volunteers aged 55 and over in 44,000 hours of service last year alone. And while the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a hard blow to volunteerism everywhere, Sommerfeld says it was actually the Fox Cities’ seniors that sustained organizations like Greater Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity through the pandemic.
“What volunteering looks like [has been] changing since 2014, and the pandemic just accelerated the pace,” Creighton says. “There are still plenty of eager volunteers out there, so we spent a lot of time with our nonprofit partners talking about ‘what does the new volunteer look like?’”
Volunteer Fox Cities and its partners have adapted. And as the organization has grown, added its own events and seen overwhelming positive response to its new “Volunteer in a Box” program, it has identified the need for a bigger space. As part of the 30th anniversary celebration Aug. 23, Volunteer Fox Cities launched a $1 million capital campaign to support its move to a larger facility, also in Appleton. The organization has been housed out of its current space on Oneida Street for 20 years, Vanden Heuvel says, thanks to the generosity of Community First Credit Union, but it is ready to spread out.
“We don’t currently have training space,” Vanden Heuvel says. “And there’s a couple of new programs we’d like to bring online. This [new] building would also allow us to have projects on site, so volunteers could come into our building and work on them at any time.”
Volunteer Fox Cities’ small but mighty staff of six agrees: Volunteering is a 24-7-365 proposition, and connecting volunteers to community service is energizing work. “We believe that every single nonprofit has a story to tell, and they need volunteers to fulfill their mission,” Vanden Heuvel says. “And that’s the fun of it, I think.”
With jobs ranging from knitting scarves to laying path pavers at the Hearthstone Historic House Museum to serving meals at shelters, impact and variety are traits upon which Volunteer Fox Cities prides itself.
“I’m convinced more than ever,” Creighton says, “that there’s something for everybody.”
