12: Moving from Transactional to Transformational: How to Re-Imagine Volunteer Engagement with Breauna Dorelus

Breauna Dolerus is Founder and Chief Cause Consultant at Connecting the Cause. Her work is centered on uprooting harmful volunteerism practices especially in black and brown communities based on the principle that transformational service must help instead of harm.

Join this very real conversation with Breauna white supremacy and its relationship with voluntarism, how to truly partner with a community, and the deep-rooted biases that need to be cut short in the nonprofit world.

Episode highlights: 

(01:48) - Who is Breauna Dorelus? Community-centered volunteerism.

(05:18) - Are you really of service? Some of the most hurtful common practices in volunteerism.

(09:38) - How to build truly community-centered strategies: The first step to admitting to deep-rooted biases.

(19:27) - Can we fundamentally break the system for co-liberation? The true empowerment of black and brown voices in the nonprofit sector. 

(24:42) - White supremacy and its relation to volunteerism: Why we need to work as a resource center for the communities’ dreams, not for corporation’s interests. 

(29:19) - Finding true mutually beneficial alignment in volunteer opportunities: Assessing a dignified way to partner with others. 

(38:44) - Relationship dynamics: Building strong community relationships and truly working together.

(43:57) - Scarcity mindset and hurtful money: How to break the cycle and search for real solutions. 

(47:36) - Where to find Breauna + A last piece of advice: Find a black or brown organization doing the work. 

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