volunteerplaintalk

Category: advocacy

  • It’s Time for Volunteer Fresh

    Is there a soft bias towards volunteers because they only volunteer once a week or month? Volunteers can’t be as committed, as knowledgeable, as valuable or impactful as staff who labor 40 (wait, who are we kidding, like 60-80, most uncounted) hours a week? But in reality, less time spent by volunteers is a gift.

     Volunteers are not burdened by the stress of working for us full-time.

    Volunteers who show up once a week or month are like opening the window. They come in, trailing currents of fresh air. They bring with them new experiences, a taste of outside ideas, and rejuvenated enthusiasm to our stale environments

    What factors contribute to a stale environment?

    Well, for starters, the pandemic for cryin’ out loud! Compassion fatigue, burnout, overwork, repetition, familiarity, slow to change movement, it’s always been done thus mentality, funding worries and stress. Each of these freshness killers lurks in the halls of non-profits, waiting to blow their stale breath into our lungs.

    Pedestal of Perpetual Caring

    There is a pressure on non-profit staff to be “on” at all times. This Pedestal of Perpetual Caring implies that every moment is as intensely compassionate as the first one. Who can live up to that standard when change is everywhere, workloads are increasing, reports are due, projects need attention and budgets are withering?

    Enter Volunteer Fresh

    What benefits do we reap because our volunteers are NOT with us 24/7?

    • Our volunteers, because they are not on a pedestal of caring and are not burdened by the stresses of working with us full-time can and do exhibit the intense compassion every client needs.
    • Our volunteers can focus on a single, crucial task, because they are not being pulled in 50 directions.
    • Our volunteers are out there in the world 98% of the time and bring with them outside opinions, trends, ideas and methods.
    • Our volunteers bring infectious enthusiasm and continually remind us why we love our work. They plug us back into our missions.

    Volunteer Fresh is Circular

    Volunteers are not tools They are living, breathing human beings. They do not volunteer in a vacuum. Instead, they trail portions of us when in the community and bring portions of our community to us every time they volunteer. They bring our mission to the community and the freshness of our communities to us. They are a continuous pipeline or bridge that directly connects us with not only the people we serve, but with the people we want to reach out to for support.

    Some questions to ask your organization when talking about volunteer fresh.

    • Do you want unbiased opinions from the community or do you want the same stale reports?
    • Do you want new, untapped donation streams? (yep, that will get some attention)
    • Do you want to give our clients stress-free compassion or would you rather send in someone who is overworked?
    • Do you actually want diversity or are you just mouthing the desire to be inclusive?
    • Do you want free word of mouth marketing or do you want to stretch the budget?
    • Do you want free expertise or do you want to bring back last year’s consultant who just told you what you wanted to hear? (and charged a hefty fee)
    • Do you want to put together another task force made up of staff who are already overworked, or would you like to hear some diverse opinions? (including thoughts from volunteers who have been recipients of mission services)

    Ok, non-profit people. We’re tired of being indoors. It is time to open the window.

    -Meridian

    in case you want a copy of the volunteer fresh diagram:

    customer-engagement-venn-diagramDownload

    this is an update from a 2017 post

  • Are We a Lone Nut or Part of a Movement?

    Everywhere #LoVols are saying, “Volunteerism is evolving and we must adapt to meet today’s volunteer needs.” We’re all saying it. But individually. We hear each other. But our organizations mostly hear us, and a lone voice is rarely heeded.

    I love Derek Sivers’ “How to Start a Movement” Ted Talk. It’s so good: (and only 3 minutes long)

    Are we, volunteer managers lone nuts? Do we whine, cajole, beg, furiously educate, preach, go back and squeeze our stress ball, then start again? I know I did, all the time. (I didn’t squeeze a stress ball though, I preferred sneaking in and turning off the light in the bathroom closest to the senior management offices-yeah, passive-aggressive, I know)

    We need to fix this lone nut conundrum and find the followers who can help create a movement. Let’s move our message outside the volunteer management bubble and get people who are not in our profession to follow our lead. It will not be easy, but we need the first brave followers to help lead change. (if you didn’t watch the video, the first follower is also a leader who has an important role-inviting others to join in)

    Where are these first followers? In your organization, who has benefited from volunteer involvement? Who on staff do the volunteers praise? I had one department in my organization that worked wonderfully with their volunteers. I wish I had tapped into that department’s potential to be the first follower but sadly, I didn’t know the importance of the first follower at the time.

    How do we create a movement within our organizations? Well, can you enlist staff who “get volunteer value” or an entire department who work wonderfully with volunteers to be your first follower? How?

    • equip the FF (first follower) with the phrases that advocate for volunteer engagement. Ask the FF to repeat key words when speaking. (for example, “our volunteers give my staff more time to complete their critical tasks.”)
    • ask a department who works well with volunteers to co-present a volunteer presentation at a staff meeting. (assure them that you will do the majority of work so they’re not bogged down) Ask the department to share success stories and invite others to join. Remember, the FF has a leadership role-inviting others to join.
    • invite your local volunteer manager peer group to speak to your organization. Ask them to share the trends they are seeing and how their organizations are striving to be “cutting edge” by adopting their volunteer manager’s recommendations. Remember, in a movement, no one wants to be left out.
    • share articles on volunteering trends with senior management. Give them the research to back up your advocacy. That makes you the FF, and not the lone nut.
    • find the “what’s in it for me” verbiage to entice followers. A movement is not something we throw at people, it’s something they choose to participate in.
    • join every volunteer management group you can, whether locally, nationally or globally. There’s many groups on social media. Together, we can’t all be lone nuts.

    We know our volunteer programs have so much to offer. We know we’re advocating for a better way for our volunteers, our organizations, the people we serve and our communities.

    We’re not lone nuts. We’re a movement.

    -Meridian