Acts of Service in Volunteer Engagement

2026-02-17

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Rethinking “It’s Always the Same People”In this episode of Making a Ruckus, we explore Acts of Service as a volunteer love language — and what it means for leaders of volunteer engagement and volunteer management.If you’ve ever said, “It’s always the same people who step up,” this episode is for you.Some volunteers express care and commitment through action. They respond quickly, thrive in urgency, and feel most connected when they are useful. But there’s an important distinction between willingness and endless capacity — and ma...

Rethinking “It’s Always the Same People”

In this episode of Making a Ruckus, we explore Acts of Service as a volunteer love language — and what it means for leaders of volunteer engagement and volunteer management.

If you’ve ever said, “It’s always the same people who step up,” this episode is for you.

Some volunteers express care and commitment through action. They respond quickly, thrive in urgency, and feel most connected when they are useful. But there’s an important distinction between willingness and endless capacity — and many volunteer systems unintentionally reward over-giving.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why urgency activates certain volunteers
The difference between reliability and resilience in volunteer leadership
How volunteer engagement systems can reward availability over sustainability
Signs of burnout in highly reliable volunteers
Practical strategies for designing volunteer roles without creating dependency

This episode is for volunteer managers, leaders of volunteer engagement, nonprofit leaders, and anyone responsible for volunteer retention and sustainability.

The goal isn’t to stop volunteers from stepping up.
It’s to ensure stepping up remains a choice — not an expectation.

Be Bold. Stay Curious. Keep making a ruckus.

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