You don’t have a volunteer problem.

You have a volunteer experience problem.

In this episode of You Are What You Give, I sit down with Karen Knight, consultant and strategist focused on helping nonprofits engage volunteers the right way.

Because most organizations aren’t struggling to find people who care. They’re struggling to keep them.

Karen has seen the same patterns across organizations of every size:

• Broken onboarding
• Unclear expectations
• Rigid systems
• Treating volunteers like free labor instead of mission partners
  

And the result?

People show up once… and don’t come back.

This conversation is a wake-up call for nonprofit leaders, volunteer coordinators, and anyone building a mission-driven organization.

Because if volunteers are part of your mission,
their experience isn’t secondary. It is the mission.

• Why recruitment isn’t your real problem
• What causes volunteers to disengage (and leave quietly)
• How to rethink onboarding and expectations
• The difference between “help” and true partnership
• Simple ways to improve volunteer retention immediately

The 15-Minute Volunteer Audit

In the next 7 days, do one:

• Call one volunteer and ask: “What has your experience really been like?”
• Go through your own onboarding process — step by step
• Identify one meaningful task someone can do in 15 minutes

No strategy deck.
No committee.

Just one real action.

To connect with Karen Knight, visit karenknight.ca for resources and contact details, connect on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-knight-consulting/), or email her at karen@karenknight.ca.

Special thanks to Victoria Hearst, whose generosity helps make these conversations possible.

There’s a problem most of us never see.

Children sleeping on floors.
No bed. No place to rest.

It’s called bedlessness.

In this episode of You Are What You Give, Luke Michaelson shares how one small moment turned into a movement that has changed over 370,000 lives.

Not by trying to solve everything, but by focusing on one clear, tangible need.

Build beds.

This conversation is about more than beds.
It’s about how real giving works:

Focus over scale.
Action over intention.
Doing one thing exceptionally well.

If you’re a nonprofit leader, donor, volunteer or simply someone who wants to give more thoughtfully, this episode offers a powerful reframing of what it means to make a difference.

To learn more about Luke Mickelson and Sleep in Heavenly Peace, go to https://shpbeds.org/.

Build a Bed.

Find one real need.
One real person.
One real situation.

And take one concrete step.

Because giving doesn’t grow by doing more -
it grows by doing what matters.

Special thanks to Victoria Hearst, whose generosity helps make these conversations possible.

For giving stories, episodes, insights and more, check out You Are What You Give at https://givewithus.com/.

Volunteer travel has become incredibly popular. But not all service trips are created equal.

Some experiences unintentionally center the volunteer instead of the community. Others leave participants inspired but unsure whether their efforts truly made a lasting difference.

In this episode of You Are What You Give, Avi Zimmerman speaks with Erin Hempen, founder of With Change in Mind https://www.withchangeinmind.org/, about how volunteer travel can be designed in a way that genuinely benefits the communities being served, while also transforming the people who participate.

Erin shares what she has learned from years of designing service experiences that emphasize relationships, cultural humility, sustainable impact, and meaningful human connection.

Together they explore:

• What separates meaningful service from “voluntourism”
• How nonprofits can design volunteer trips that respect and strengthen local communities
• How service travel can reshape how volunteers and donors think about giving

For nonprofit leaders, volunteers, and philanthropists alike, this conversation offers a thoughtful look at how service experiences can deepen our understanding of generosity and responsibility.

Special thanks to Victoria Hearst, whose generosity and belief in this project help make You Are What You Give possible.