FARMINGTON – For the past four years, United Way of the Tri-Valley Area has successfully developed a volunteer center in partnership with the Maine Commission for Community Service funded by the Volunteer Generation Fund.
The success of the volunteer center at United Way, led The Lerner Foundation of Portland to recognize the organization for its creativity, innovation and impact. The foundation awarded UWTVA $38,532 to pilot the Service Enterprise Model in 2015.
Service Enterprise, created by Points of Light and Reimagining Service, is an organizational change model that engages citizens to volunteer and help organizations achieve their goals. Those goals included are to deliver more services, accomplish more work and to integrate volunteer management practices into its operations so the work can be sustained, according to Eleni Margaronis, the volunteer coordinator at the United Way.
The Maine Commission of Community Service has been working to bring the Service Enterprise model to the state of over two years.
United Way, partnering with MCCS, proposes to adapt the non-profit service enterprise model to four local municipalities. The goal is to make available to local government this volunteer coordination process “to increase engagement of citizens in the mission-related services and governmental functions essential to thriving communities,” Margaronis said.
The December 2014 data on civic health show just 17 percent of people contact public officials about any issue; only 16 percent of Maine citizens take a leadership role in local organizations. If service enterprise shows local government how to engage citizens in their mission services, it might be possible to forge a different partnership between citizens and their leaders.
For more information about the Service Enterprise Model or how you can get involved in your community, contact the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area at 207-778-5048, email, Volunteer@uwtva.org or visit VolunteerMaine.org.
