Testimonials ...

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Golden Gate Village of San Franciso hired envision2inspire in March 2022 to guide us through the process of building a more robust volunteer program.

Patricia was extremely helpful to us in developing our broader vision for the program as well as establishing its day-to-day processes and systems.  We felt we received a tremendous amount of value working with her due to her wealth of experience in Volunteer Program Development. 

Her knowledge and support enabled us to elevate and professionalize our program; we are now able to provide a richer experience for our volunteers and a higher quality of service to our members. 

Thank you, Patricia! 

Christine Ness

Programs Director, Golden Gate Village of San Francisco

In December 2022, we contracted with Patricia Carvalho of Envision to Inspire to consult with us on better ways to increase our volunteer base. From our first free consultation session we were impressed that she had already spent time online getting to know our organization’s structure and mission so that we could have an honest conversation about how she would be able to help us. 

Our committee found her easy to work with based on both her professional manner as well as her personal style of relating. She was very receptive to our statement of needs and was able to adapt her recommendations to those areas in which we had both the interest and ability to develop improvements. In certain areas she led the way by transcribing for us ways to better communicate with our intended audience both through our website as well as online forums. 

She was very specific in many of her community recommendations based both on her personal experiences in her previous role as well as her creative problem solving skills. Some of her ideas we had already tried, but it gave us an appreciation of what we had been doing correctly. She presented both short term, “low hanging fruit” as well as long term, more complicated ideas for down the road considerations. In short, we felt well served for our consultation dollars by a professional who was always respectful, prompt, responsive and flexible. 

Kathy Monroe
Co-chair, Carquinez Village Volunteers and Services 

Pat Carvalho, who has worked at Ashby Village for the past decade, is a skilled operations administrator, a leader who has been able to attract and motivate a large corps of engaged volunteers, and a valued member of our management team.

Pat first worked with us as a volunteer and not long after was hired as our Volunteer and Operations Manager. She created and maintained all policies and procedures for the smooth running of the administrative functions of Ashby Village. She has managed an Office Corps of volunteers to run the office and has overseen other staff and volunteers who now manage member requests for volunteer services. She oversaw the implementation of Salesforce as an operating system for all our data-keeping, volunteer requests and services, mailing lists, and donations. 

She single-handedly built Ashby Village’s Volunteer Program from scratch, from systems for volunteer screenings, onboarding, training to volunteer appreciation events and activities for volunteers to meet each other and have fun while serving our members. We now have approximately 300 active volunteers, 27% of whom are Ashby Village members. Our Volunteer Training program has been hailed as one of the best.

In the year 2020, she did all this and more during the pandemic, when the needs for different types of services increased three-fold, which we were able to deliver seamlessly.

Andra Lichtenstein

Chair, Ashby Village Board of Directors 

Pat Carvalho's strategies and effectiveness in creating Ashby Village's Volunteer Program (an essential part of our ability to provide services to seniors) has made it a model for many other Villages across the country.  

Part of her ability to do this was not just related to her skills and efficiency, but because of her ability to create a supportive and fun work environment. She didn’t just onboard volunteers but conveyed respect and value in all of her relations with them. As her talents became more obvious, she was asked to take on the position of Operations Director in which she successfully created our operational systems. 

It is difficult to completely describe all that Pat was able to manage and oversee. Besides all these complex and important “back office” tasks, which ensured the smooth operation of our Village, Pat was also the “face” of our Village. She was always there to greet Volunteers and Members, ever patient, supportive and welcoming, while also managing her 25 plus group Office Corps who helped run the day-to-day requests at our Village for services. 

In summary, Pat is a multitalented woman, kind, and fun-loving, but also an incredibly hard worker, quick learner, skilled, intelligent, and efficient, with terrific administrative and interpersonal skills. We are enormously sad to lose her but wish her well in her new pursuits. You would be very lucky to have such a skilled person with whom to work. 

Dr. Roberta A. Pressman

Coordinator of Member Support Services, Ashby Village 

At Ashby Village, Pat created the Volunteer Program from the ground up.  From the development and implementation of a comprehensive hands-on volunteer training program to the daily volunteer opportunity assignments, Pat did it all.  She had an outstanding group of volunteers that encompassed a wide age range and set of skills.  She attracted the volunteers by her dedication to them and the volunteer program.  Regardless of the task, there were always volunteers ready to go, thanks to Pat’s organization and management of the group. 

Pat let her volunteers know just how much she and Ashby Village appreciated their hard work.  One of the many ways she did this was through the creative and wonderful Volunteer Appreciation Parties, to say Thank You and make sure each volunteer knew they were highly valued.  The events were carefully crafted, with a theme that was carried through the entire party.  Her organizational ability is surpassed only by her love for fun and having a great time.  The volunteers always loved attending these events and felt that Ashby Village appreciated their work. 

As a testament to Pat, the volunteer ranks grew steadily over the years she was at Ashby Village.  The group became a village within a village.  As a volunteer myself, I made lots of friends and was so impressed with the way Pat managed the group so professionally.  She is a real gem and certainly has the secret sauce to making a volunteer-based organization successful.

 If your organization uses volunteers and you want those volunteers to be loyal, engaged, and effective in their work – you need Pat Carvalho!   

Melissa Beidler

Ashby Village Volunteer

Having been a volunteer with AV for five years now, I still clearly remember how attending the training as a potential volunteer energized me and solidified my desire to go forward.  

The training Ashby Village presented was not only welcoming, informative, dynamic, interactive, and cohesive ... Pat’s warmth and genuine excitement and dedication to the AV mission were clear throughout.  The facilitators were inclusive and receptive to all questions and suggestions. 

Later, as part of the Office Corps, I made check-in phone calls to new volunteers to assess their overall satisfaction and engagement.  The most universal feedback was comments about the training. The positivity and energy were highly valued by the volunteers and one of the main reasons they decided to engage with Ashby Village.  

The human component of the training, in conjunction with such a well-organized, thorough program made the decision to volunteer clearer.

Noni Zukin

Ashby Village Office Volunteer