Take the next step into the amazing field of volunteer management and join us for Volunteer Management 201!

This training prepares volunteer managers to tackle the challenging and complex issues of volunteer engagement and program sustainability, to help you build the skills you will need to lead the volunteers of 2021 and beyond.

This interactive training is designed for volunteer managers who have completed Volunteer Management 101 or those who are seeking advanced training in the field. Facilitated by Lupine DeSnyder and Melia Tichenor, both of whom have been working in the field of nonprofit and volunteer management for over a decade.

Typically a full-day offering, this training has been modified for our remote reality and will take place via Zoom in two 3.75 hour morning sessions, offering a mix of content presentation, activities, and small group discussions in breakout rooms. The training will covering the following topics and address COVID-19 considerations along the way:

• Organizational Culture & Volunteers
• Intercultural Communication
• Equipping Staff to Engage Volunteers
• Cultivating Leadership Volunteers

• Motivational Leadership
• Advocating for your Volunteer Program
• Program Evaluation Strategies
• Breakout Group topics

Registration for this event will sign you up for both sessions. Zoom links to join this training remotely will be sent in the week before the event to those who have registered, along with a workbook to be used throughout the training. Questions? Contact melia.novaa@gmail.com

Join us and develop your volunteer program to its fullest potential!

About your Trainers:

Melia Hadidian Tichenor, CVA is in her eleventh year of working in the volunteer management world in Portland, specializing in bringing learning experiences into the service environment. She currently serves as the Coordinator for the Student Community Engagement Center at Portland State University, helping empower students to engage with communities to create positive social change, in addition to training colleagues in volunteer management best practices with NOVAA. 

Melia completed her Masters degree in Postsecondary Adult and Continuing Education (PACE) and a Service-Learning Graduate Certificate through PSU’s Graduate School of Education and has been a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) since 2014. Prior to coming to Portland State, Melia spent eight years at Hands On Greater Portland, working to support hundreds of Hands On's nonprofit partners in developing a wide array of episodic volunteer projects, both for the Hands On Project Calendar and for various national days of service. In addition to her work with Hands On's nonprofit partners, she ran the Hands On Greater Portland TeamWorks program, which brought together teams of 10-12 volunteers to explore specific issue area or neighborhood through the lens of service learning and experiential education.

Melia has also taken her volunteer management experience abroad to Armenia, where she served for four months as a volunteer consultant and trainer to the staff at Birthright Armenia, a program designed to connect young diasporan Armenians to their cultural and ancestral roots through volunteer positions and internships in the Armenian homeland. 

Lupine DeSnyder is a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) with over 20 years of experience in volunteer program management and community engagement in private, non-profit and government settings with organizations ranging from private businesses to public and non-profit organizations, such as the City of Portland and The Nature Conservancy. She also co-founded, managed and grew the affordable health care-based business, Working Class Acupuncture. Most recently, Lupine served as Community Access Coordinator in Volunteer Services with Metro Parks and Nature, and as Partnership Manager with the statewide environmental nonprofit, SOLVE, in Portland, Oregon.

Lupine has trained and served as a neighborhood mediator with PCC/East Metro Mediation, volunteers with Feed the Mass and Portland Homeless Family Solutions and persists in promoting equity in access to resources and volunteerism. She is excited to share and learn from workshop participants.