Secretariat

IAVE's secretariat office in Washington DC provides comprehensive association services for IAVE members, including all aspects of IAVE’s program management and administrative functions. The secretariat is managed by the Civil Society Consulting Group LLC (CSCG), under the supervision of the IAVE board of directors.  CSCG is a consulting firm founded and operated by Kenn Allen that works globally in support of volunteering and the development of NGOs.

Profiles

Kathi Dennis
Executive Director

Kathleen Dennis currently serves as IAVE’s Executive Director with overall responsibility for working in partnership with the board of directors to implement IAVE’s strategic plan while managing the secretariat team and working closely with the World President on outreach to external partners.

Originally from Detroit, Kathi came to Washington DC in 1994 to work at the Corporation for National and Community Service to help launch the National Civilian Community Corps, an AmeriCorps Program. Over the past 15 years, Kathi has worked with a number of national and international programs developing training initiatives, recruiting members, and raising money. Kathi previously served as the first Executive Director for the International Association for Volunteer Effort, coordinating efforts in with volunteer centers and organizations recognizing and celebrating the International Year of Volunteers, 2001. Kathi joined Habitat for Humanity International in 2005 to work with the HFHI National Service Programs and eventually helped in developing the national service response in dealing with the destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Since 2007, Kathi has worked as a consultant with NGOs and volunteer programs doing training for volunteer administrators, youth volunteering and strategic planning in disaster recovery. She also serves on the board for CCVA, the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration.

Kenn Allen
Program Director
Assistant Treasurer

Kenn Allen works in support of IAVE's various current and developing program initiatives and manages IAVE's administrative services. He also serves as IAVE's Assistant Treasurer and Assistant Secretary.

Kenn has been a member of IAVE since 1980 and served as its elected volunteer World President from 1996 through 2001.  He organized the 1988 World Volunteer Conference in Washington DC and, while serving as First Vice President of the board, was responsible for the 1996 World Volunteer Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. He served as project director for the Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project and authored its final report.  In 2012, he authored The Big Tent: Corporate Volunteering in the Global Age, which was sponsored and published by the Telefonica Foundation in partnership with IAVE.

Kenn is the founder and president of the Civil Society Consulting Group LLC, which was established in 2001 to provide a broad range of consulting services to NGOs, businesses and governments. Based in Washington DC, CSCG is a global consulting firm that specializes in working with leaders of the corporate sector, civil society, and government to "unleash the power of people to change the world."  Kenn has worked as a consultant and trainer in over 30 countries worldwide, helping develop organizational systems to effectively engage volunteers, designing and facilitating strategic planning processes and advocating for corporate volunteering.  For eleven years he was a senior executive of the Points of Light Foundation, the national volunteer center in the U.S. and prior to that led the National Center for Voluntary Action and its successor VOLUNTEER.  He has a doctorate in human resource development from George Washington University in Washington DC where he lives.

Sarah Hayes
Director
Global Corporate Volunteer Council

Sarah Hayes is responsible for IAVE's Global Corporate Volunteer Council (GCVC). Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Ms. Hayes is a consultant specializing in employee volunteering programs and successful business-community partnerships. She works with the Civil Society Consulting Group (CSCG) as well as being on the leadership faculty of the Points of Light Institute and Hands On Network.

Ms. Hayes founded KPMG’s “Involve” Program and developed it from a local San Francisco initiative into a national, award-winning program. During Ms. Hayes tenure as the national manager, Involve was a recipient of the National Award for Excellence in Workplace Volunteerism from the Points of Light Foundation, the National Family Volunteering Award from the Points of Light Foundation, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Volunteer Administration, in addition to many regional and local awards. Ms. Hayes also worked with Starwood Hotels Worldwide to develop a global employee volunteer program strategy, and was instrumental in Starwood becoming the hotel partner of the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

Ms. Hayes has served on the National Council of Workplace Volunteerism in the United States for a number of years and was on the U.S. Committee for the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) in 2001.

Becoming active with the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) in 2000, Ms. Hayes originally served as the board member representing corporate interests, and currently directs the efforts of IAVE’s Global Corporate Volunteer Council (GCVC), launched at the World Volunteer Conference in New Delhi in 2006. Through her efforts GCVC membership grew from six to over 30 in around five years.

Ms. Hayes currently resides in the New York City area, where she enjoys hiking along the Hudson River, reading, seeing plays and hearing music with friends. She has a beautiful daughter, Ellen, who is 29, and two very sweet cats.

Rick Hayes
Administrative Secretary