History

Read more details about our history, here.

Early Organization History
  • Professional association in 1961 called the American Association of Volunteer Services Coordinators.
  • An international professional association of members engaged in the management of volunteers in nonprofit, governmental, school-based, quasi-nonprofit, and similar organizations.
  • Changed name in 1979 to Association for Volunteer Administrators (AVA).
Member Benefits Through the Years
  • Certified Volunteer Manager (CVM) certification program, currently CVA (Certified Volunteer Administrator).
  • Quarterly Member Briefings.
  • CyberVPM electronic mailing list and chat room.
  • Volunteer Management magazine.
  • International Conference on Volunteer Administration, which brought together the experts and instructors in the volunteer administration.
  • Beginning in 1982 the Journal of Volunteer Administration (JOVA) was offered as a member benefit with each member receiving four issues per year. 
  • JOVA was applied research on the management of volunteer programs until 2006.
Tumultuous Time
  • Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA) dissolves March 1, 2006
  • New homes for two organizational programs:  Certified Volunteer Administrator; and Journal of Volunteer Administration
International Journal of Volunteer Administration is Born
  • Dr. R. Dale Safrit, Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of 4-H Youth Development at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh, Associate Editor of JOVA from 1998 assumes editorship in 2006.
  • Dr. Safrit worked with AVA Board, NCSU administrators and attorneys to legally transfer The JOVA to North Carolina State University, the Department of 4-H Youth Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, according to the existing AVA bylaws. 
  • Transfer of JOVA to North Carolina State University effective April 18, 2006.
    • Copyrighted name of The JOVA, including all rights and privileges pertaining.
  • Dr. R. Dale Safrit appointed Dr. Ryan Schmiesing (The Ohio State University) as Associate Editor. (2006) Dr. Schmiesing had served as The JOVA manuscript reviewer for more than seven years.
  • JOVA Editorial Board, meeting on June 12, 2006 voted unanimously to rename The JOVA as The International Journal of Volunteer Administration (The IJOVA)
    • Move immediately to online publication format only.
    • Four (4) issues of Volume XXIV published in 2006-2007
    • Financial support for The IJOVA’s transition provided through a targeted gift to the North Carolina 4-H Development Fund by IMPACT: A Fund for Change Through Volunteerism (i.e., The Volunteer IMPACT Fund, to which The UPS Foundation is a lead contributor).
    • Four issues of Volume XXIV posted via public domain and available free of charge to anyone with access to the Web.
    • 2007, The IJOVA became a Web-based subscription-only publication.
    • IJOVA governed by a six-member Editorial Board representing three predominant genres of volunteer management professionals: (a) practicing managers of volunteers, (b) consultants, and (c) academicians focusing upon volunteer management and administration. Three Board members represent the United States while one member each is to represent Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
Refreshing IJOVA
  • Editorial board in 2015 sets an aggressive agenda to reconsider the journal and took the following steps:
    • Engaged consulting firm to develop new website and implement a subscription management system.
    • Made the decision to move away from publishing two or three issues to publishing manuscripts as they are reviewed and approved.
    • Reconstituted the board to grow membership and move to the next phase of leadership.