From An Organizational Issue to a Community Issue: Shifting Volunteer Management

This article was interesting to me - primarily because at my previous organization as the Volunteer Manager, I managed a program in a way where the volunteer energy was a common pool. There were no requirements as a whole to volunteer - anyone could engage. Yes, specific projects had their own requirements - like age, a background check, a training to attend, but otherwise, we allowed anyone who had a passion and willingness to help us volunteer with us. Introducing this plan to an organization where there had always been interviews and applications was tough - but in the end, the staff saw how it brought in a more diverse range of volunteers in skill set, abilities, age and interests. And because the organization made it easy for them to keep volunteering with no requirements on time they had to dedicated to the organization or other restrictions, volunteers stuck around for years. What the organization also saw develop was a more culturally diverse volunteer pool as well. When you're able to engage with anyone, including students, you see more families come out to participate in events in their local communities. When then volunteers stay engaged at the organization, and an organization makes mobility between tasks easy, you end up with a more diverse pool of volunteers and individuals always willing to contribute their time. I work with a lot of local organizations, including local volunteer centers, and I've seen big successes and struggles with groups in getting and retaining their volunteer work force. Often times groups see volunteer recruitment as a means to the end. But when you are able to develop a management structure in your program where volunteers are able to engage at their own pace and on their own time, and contribute their input to the manager on ways to make the program work for volunteers, those are the groups I see that have the most success in volunteer retention. And these are the groups that aren't running out to volunteer fairs every week or so - they have plenty of volunteers coming in their door by word of mouth alone. These groups also work more closely with volunteers in creating special projects and opportunities specifically for them. Now, I'm not discrediting the importance of a Volunteer Center - I think they can serve as a vital link in the community for engaging individuals in service. However, so many times volunteer centers serve as that place for people to call or reach out to when they are required to perform service. There needs to be a transition to where volunteer centers serve as a catalyst for community engagement in their areas for anyone- not just those that have a requirement to serve. I don't even have an answer to this - but how do you have a volunteer center become this catalyst for change? Do you make the center an in-house operation for organizations that can't afford a paid volunteer manager? Do you make it the go to place for corporations to reach out to be paired with an organization to help? Or is it more there as a resource for the non profits and volunteer managers as a whole? I'm not sure what the ideal answer is to this.

Thanks for posting this work Laurie. The cross-referencing of other disciplines to volunteer management often moves the focus of thinking from "what should we do" to "what might we do". This habit of considering the 'art of the possible'will be key in ensuring volunteering and volunteer management evolves healthily.

The possibility of using volunteer energy as a community resource seems like a very practical idea. The volunteer pool would be available to those who need volunteers, and in this day of social networks and other internet access, it should be do-able; however, part of verb, “VOLUNTEER” seems to suggest an action by THE volunteer, who decides on what or with whom he/she wishes to expend the energy. Many volunteers do switch interests or organizations, so beginning within a common pool, might actually be a better place to start since a person finding a particular organization can be a very random process. Maybe a new vocabulary, which the article almost suggests, would be a place to start. It can’t be just another casting of the same old characters. In an area, such as the Washington, DC Metropolitan area, which includes not only the District of Columbia, but also portions of Virginia and Maryland, re-organizing or asking some organizations to give up jurisdiction would probably not be an easy task. It’s one of those “chicken or egg” situations that demand a lot of thought and cooperation at many levels. Should there be an umbrella organization that begins the task and seeks both volunteers and organizations to begin the “pool,” or does it begin within already existing organizations willing to share volunteers, programs, managers, etc. ? There are already several volunteer centers within the Washington, DC area, Volunteer Fairfax (VF) for example, so the concepts discussed in the article seem readily applicable, but where to start? Is this pool of “volunteer energy” a role for a volunteer center? Many times this is at least part of the role a volunteer center, such as Volunteer Fairfax, hopes to play in the community. In our case, we help individuals find volunteer opportunities that they are interested in – sharing volunteer opportunities through our database, social media and our programs. Yes Court Appointed Community Service (ACS) is one of those programs but we also have many other programs to connect volunteers to community organizations in need. For example we connect working professionals with evening and weekend opportunities through Volunteers for Change and individuals looking to serve on a board with nonprofits in need of their skills through BoardLink Northern Virginia. I think, a volunteer center can play an important role in facilitating this pool of volunteer energy. Each community is different, and with that so is each volunteer center. But, I think they are a great place to start! Perhaps, one of the ideas in an article like this one could be the spark that lights a fire in us all.