Mary V. Merrill is a volunteer consultant and trainer based in Columbus, Ohio.

Clive Mentzel is director of the Office of Active Citizenship and Service at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. OACS is home to more than 60 student service groups that work on local, national, and international problems through hands-on volunteer service.

Charles E. Zech is a professor of economics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He wrote the article “The Value of Volunteers as Resources for Congregations” for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (1998).

Gerald Gamm is an associate professor of political science and history at the University of Rochester in New York. He wrote the article “The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940” for the Journal of Interdisciplinary History (1999).

Ram A. Cnaan is a leading expert on faith-based social services and the chair of the doctoral program in social welfare at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He wrote the article “Defining Who Is a Volunteer: Conceptual and Empirical Considerations” for the journal Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (1996). He is also director of the Program […]

David Bell is director of the Program for International Development, Community Planning and Environment at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Christine Letts is interim faculty director at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Susan J. Ellis is the editor-in-chief of E-Volunteerism, a quarterly online journal that focuses on effective volunteer management. Contact Ellis in Philadelphia, Pa.

Nancy Macduff is a volunteer trainer, manager and author who publishes the online newsletter Volunteer Today.  She’s based in Walla Walla, Wash.