The Virtues of Volunteering

A couple of weeks ago, President Obama signed the Serve America Act, shining a spotlight on the importance of service and volunteering to the country. The bill is designed, among other things, to create 175,000 new service opportunities nationwide and authorizes nearly $6 bilion over five years to strengthen the country’s commitment to service. In this edition of Drucker Apps, you’ll find tools that will help you understand why the social sector is crucial to the health of our communities, why nonprofits should be relentlessly results driven, and how volunteering is of value not only to nonprofits but to the volunteers themselves. These insights—at once timely and timeless—are based on the ideas and ideals of the late Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management.

A balm for a sick society

“If we don’t want to have serious social problems, we have to increase the effectiveness and the resources of the nonprofit sector.”— Peter F. Drucker to the Economic Club of Washington

Getting beyond good intentions

“Nonprofits are, of course, still dedicated to doing good. But they also realize that good intentions are no substitute for organization and leadership, for accountability, performance, and results.”— Peter F. Drucker, Classic Drucker

  • What businesses can learn from nonprofits. Read more here.
  • Hear Alan Khazei, founder and CEO of Be the Change Inc. (and a co-chair of the Drucker Centennial Committee), discuss how the new national service act is focused on impact.

Why giving is as good as receiving

“What U.S. nonprofits do for their volunteers may well be just as important as what they do for the recipients of their services”— Peter F. Drucker, Post-Capitalist Society

The volunteer’s responsibility

“From the chief executive of a nonprofit on down through the ranks of paid staff and volunteers, the person with the most responsibility for an individual’s development is the person himself—not the boss.”— Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Nonprofit Organization

  • How to get the most out of yourself as a volunteer. Click here to read more.
  • Watch Peter Drucker explain why volunteer time is more valuable than monetary donations