Kristina Israel has been a member of NCAVA for three years now after originally joining thanks to encouragement from a friend!
Kristina is the outgoing Volunteer Services Specialist for The Council on Aging of Buncombe County and will start her new role as the Community Engagement Manager for the City of Asheville in May. She was hired in 2021 to restructure the volunteer program, which had until that point been managed by program staff and part-time coordinators. As part of the Strategic Leadership Team, it's her job to keep volunteers top-of-mind in organizational planning and to harness their potential to serve … clients in a growing number of ways … while a lot of her role is about managing the day-to-day operations of my department, she also has the opportunity to work with the leadership team to ensure that volunteer resources are utilized in a way that builds capacity and strengthens the organization. On top of it all, Kristina also serves as NCAVA’s current president!
Kristina recently provided us with more information about her NCAVA story, which we are excited to share with you all:
Q: What inspired you to begin working with volunteers?
A: To be honest, I feel like this profession chose me. Previously I did marketing and outreach in the natural foods sector. I enjoyed that work and had plans to stay in that field when I moved back home to NC in 2015. But life, as they say, had other plans. Looking back on my time as a volunteer administrator, I will say that my decision to join NCAVA and seek out my credential marked a turning point in my career. That was the point at which I made the choice to commit to making a difference in this profession.
Q: What is an exciting project that you are currently working on?
A: As President of the board, I am working on an orientation for our new NCAVA board members for this year's board retreat in July. And at the Council on Aging, I am outfitting a new office space for Volunteer Services that is offsite from our main campus. This is a huge boost to our program because volunteers have never had their own workspace for administrative projects and meetings/trainings. I'm thrilled that the organization has chosen to invest in its volunteers in this way.
Q: What would you say is your biggest accomplishment in your career thus far?
A: Does making it through the past two years in one piece count as an accomplishment? Because I think we all deserve a pat on the back for that. :) So much has happened since I started my new job last summer that I am proud to report. Our number of actively-serving volunteers has increased by almost 70% and we are serving more clients than ever before. That feels impressive to me at a time when many volunteer programs are still on hold due to the pandemic (and have been for almost two years now). I am also incredibly proud of our NCAVA board. In 2021, we managed to host our first-ever virtual statewide conference and met our goal of 100 total members for the year (up from just 54 in 2020). 2022 promises to be an even better year as we are planning to announce our first in-person statewide conference since 2019. There are so many people who are new to this profession and so we hope to get the word out about all the support NCAVA has to offer! If you are reading this, you can help. Encourage your new colleagues to find out about NCAVA and your local affiliates. Peer-to-peer referrals are, in my opinion, the most effective way to recruit new members.
Q: What advice would you give to other volunteer managers, especially those beginning their career?
A: It's important to have a conversation early on about whether your organization will support outside training and resources for you to be successful in your role. If your supervisor or leader sees that you are keen to invest in your own professional development, they are more likely to support your requests for membership in organizations like NCAVA. You should never have to foot the bill for membership fees and conference registration if it's directly tied to the work you perform at your job. Even smaller organizations can usually afford to support their staff in ongoing professional development so don't be shy! Take the opportunity to set the tone from the start. You will be glad you did.
To connect with Kristina about any topics mentioned in this interview, please email her at kristina.israel@icloud.com.