Mackenzie Albrecht is MAVA's Greater Minnesota Program Manager. She's responsible for outreach, relationship-building, and supporting volunteer engagement organizations and networks across Greater Minnesota. As a resident of Central Minnesota, she has first-hand experience engaging volunteers in small town and rural areas. Mackenzie has been involved with nonprofits as a volunteer, board member, and staff member since 2014, primarily with animal and youth related organizations. Before joining the MAVA staff, Mackenzie worked as the Volunteer Manager at Ruff Start Rescue, one of Minnesota's largest foster-based animal rescues. She became involved with MAVA when she completed the Volunteer Impact Leadership Training series and went on to serve on MAVA's Professional Development Committee before coming on as a staff member.
We talk a lot about burnout in the nonprofit sector, and burnout is especially common among volunteer engagement professionals. According to a 2017 Job Equity Study, volunteer engagement professionals, even more so than their coworkers in other departments, are overworked, underpaid, and unfortunately undervalued by their organizations.