A Commitment to Excellence

Posted on November 21, 2018 in Blog

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) is pleased to announce that it has been certified by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, as a Service Enterprise. Certification signifies that organizations have the capability and management expertise to strategically use volunteers to improve the performance of their organization. With this designation, INHF joins the top 11 percent of nonprofits nationwide in volunteer management and organizational performance.

This past year, INHF completed an extensive assessment, logged over 20 hours of training and coaching, and completed an extensive internal planning and change process to better integrate volunteers into the organization. As a result, INHF is now better equipped to leverage the time and talent of volunteers and better meet our mission.

“Service Enterprise has given our organization and staff the skills and resources to expand and focus our volunteer program,” said Volunteer Coordinator Melanie Louis. “It opened our eyes to the impact the volunteers are having at our organization, and it is taking our volunteer program to a new level of engagement.”

INHF is excited to offer more opportunities for volunteers to assist with day-to-day tasks as well as leadership roles at events. With the help of volunteers, we have been able to introduce INHF to new audiences, connecting them to opportunities to make a difference in their community. Since certification to become a Service Enterprise, INHF has already seen a 57-cent increase in the capacity of our Volunteer Program.

Research conducted by the TCC Group, a national program and evaluation firm, found that organizations operating as Service Enterprises outperform peer organizations on all aspects of organizational effectiveness, and are more adaptable, sustainable and capable of scaling their work.

The Service Enterprise Initiative is a national change management program that helps organizations gain a greater return on volunteer investment to better achieve their mission.