volunteerplaintalk

Category: sustainable volunteering

Is Volunteer Management a Science?
In 1959, novelist and scientist, C. P. Snow gave a lecture entitled The Two Cultures. Essentially Snow argued that the humanities and science were split into opposing cultures, each one not understanding the other.

Most of us would probably categorize volunteer management as a humanity. In the post The Volunteer Investor I likened volunteers to humanity investors. But while humanity is at the heart of volunteering, isn’t the management of volunteers a science? And, by treating it as a science, does that automatically remove the humanity?

Well, what if we look at other science based professions that serve humanity?
- Does the researcher seeking a cure for cancer not dream about the potential millions of people saved?
- Does the engineer developing a new prosthetic not imagine the first time an amputee puts on that device and walks?
- Does a safety engineer never think about the children she may keep safe?
Re-framing volunteer management as a science will not remove the humanity. Instead, it will elevate the skills volunteer managers possess.

So, then how can we re-frame volunteer management to reflect the science of it? Do we stop talking about the heartfelt work volunteers do? Do we become invested in cold stats? Or, can we do both? Can we still convey the humanity while highlighting the precise steps taken to achieve outcomes?

When we, leaders of volunteers separate the volunteers’ incredible outcomes from the systematic steps needed to achieve those outcomes, then we can begin to identify and speak to the science of volunteer management.

How? Well, we can, as volunteer management professionals begin to:
- Temper human stories with solution stories and the steps necessary to achieve results
- Speak in management language when discussing volunteer engagement and challenges
- Remove emotion when dealing with difficult situations and instead, utilize scientific methods such as observation, gathering of data, testing and logical thinking to solve problems
- Re-evaluate programs based on priorities, time involved and solutions achieved
- Re-think in terms of humanely leading volunteers, but managing projects
- Tout the science of volunteer engagement in terms of strategies, social metrics and road-maps
- Categorize the skills used to engage volunteers, such as motivating, knowledgeable delegating (not just delegation because anybody can delegate), problem solving, results orienting, relationship building, strategical planning, innovating and big picture thinking
- Chronicle the methodical steps necessary to engage volunteers
- Create data that leads to goals, such as maps, diagrams etc
- Experiment and innovate
The perception that we coordinate volunteers who require nothing more than a phone call negates the methods required to fully engage these investors in our missions.

Do we do ourselves a disservice when we blur the lines between the hearts of our volunteers and the hard work we do? Do we sometimes become so emotionally invested in our volunteers’ humanity that we lose our management voices?

The results of volunteer involvement is humanity’s crowning achievement but the skills, knowledge and sheer hard work is the science of getting to those results.

If we project our profession as a science with a humanity outcome, we can then elevate the precise, nuanced methodology required to achieve our humanitarian goals.

Lab coat anyone?

-Meridian
November 8, 2017
Taking Extra Care to Support Volunteers
The recent spate of natural disasters has cast a light on incredible volunteers across the globe helping people in need.

Although not always news worthy, volunteers daily walk towards a crisis instead of running away. In organizations everywhere, volunteers are doing the hard work, the emotional work. Because they feel so deeply, they are affected by the tragedies they witness such as in this story: Volunteer shares harrowing account of how Hurricane Irma ripped toddler from woman’s arms

In our training programs, we encourage our volunteers to have empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another) so they can better serve our clients. But can empathy take a toll?

I remember a new volunteer, Jenna and the first time she was present with a patient who died. Jenna had hours of volunteer training. She and I had talked at length about her strengths and capabilities. She was prepared… on paper.

Minutes after she left the room, allowing family members to gather, she sought me out. I was in the middle of some urgent matter that I have long forgotten. I looked up and saw Jenna’s face and I knew. You can’t mistake a face that has been profoundly affected by what was just witnessed. It’s there in the tiny muscles that make up the eyes and mouth. It’s there, deep in the irises that reflect a life altering experience. It’s there in the reverent voice asking for “a moment of your time.”

We found a private spot and sat for several long and quiet minutes while Jenna gathered her thoughts. It was difficult for her to put into words how she felt. She only knew that she felt changed, different, profoundly transformed somehow.

And if you think about it, how does each volunteer cope with the things they witness? Does training and on-boarding take care of the emotional investment our volunteers make when accepting roles placing them in life’s most profound situations?

Volunteers have an amazing resilience and ability to cope when faced with deeply personal scenarios. But what if a situation becomes more personal? In what situations can this happen to a volunteer, even if they have received excellent training?
- a volunteer works with a person who reminds them of a family member (child, partner, parent, sibling)
- a volunteer witnesses tragedy over and over and it accumulates
- a volunteer is dealing with a crisis in their own lives
- a volunteer is in a situation in which they perceive their help makes little difference (in outward appearance)
- a volunteer gets caught up in the narrative of the situation
- a volunteer feels the frustration of the client
We can’t prepare our volunteers for every situation, story and person they will encounter. So, how can we provide extra support for volunteers in order to prevent burnout? A few of the things we can do are:
- ask clinical staff to be on the lookout for signs a volunteer needs support
- ask clinical staff to be available to speak with volunteers who may be overwhelmed
- enlist experienced volunteers to routinely call the volunteers who are working with clients. Experienced volunteers are the perfect candidates to do these check-ins because volunteers are comfortable speaking to other volunteers. (This is a great assignment for volunteers who physically can no longer do the job-instead of “retiring” them, elevate them to mentoring status)
- create a monthly coffee klatch or tea time and encourage volunteers to share tips, stories and feelings
- use newsletters to offer tips on self care
- incorporate stories of volunteers who experienced emotional challenges into training and emphasize that this is not a sign of failure
- designate a portion of each volunteer meeting to discuss “what’s going on with you”
- intervene when noticing a volunteer experiencing emotional challenges (this can be personal, professional etc.)
If we make it clear that we are serious about supporting our volunteers, we will help them remain emotionally healthy and keep them from burning out.

This is the irony of non-profit work: We want our volunteers to share in our clients’ pain (Empathy) in order to better support the clients. But that empathy can lead to our volunteers experiencing their own emotional pain. Let’s make sure we support them so it doesn’t get out of hand.

-Meridian
October 4, 2017
The Volunteer Investor: Is It Their Time or Something More?
Time=Money. We all say it and that’s why we call volunteers “time donors.” They donate their time, and of course, skills, expertise, talents etc. But is that what they really are? Donors? Maybe there’s a more descriptive word for our volunteers. And what is the difference between the terms donate and invest anyway?

donate: to present as a gift, grant, or contribution

invest: to use, give, or devote (money, time) as for a purpose or to achieve something:

Hmmmm, there’s a subtle, but profound difference in the two definitions.

Volunteers don’t just show up, give a few hours and walk away. But outdated thinking categorizes them in this way. Doesn’t it feel like investing is closer to what volunteers do? Maybe we should start to rethink this whole time donor idea.

Let’s take this further and examine investors. Investors invest money, right? But why? Why do they invest money in startups. non-profits, real estate, stock markets and other ventures. To make more money? Or is it more than that?

Money is a currency. So what do investors really invest? Many things. They invest their future, hoping to be financially secure. They invest their dreams, hoping to achieve a goal. They invest their essence, hoping to give back. They invest their good name, hoping to attach to a cause that is worthy of their currency. They invest employee engagement, hoping to attract great employees. They invest their clout, hoping to further a cause that supports their vision.

Investors invest so many intangibles, and their currency is money. They don’t give startups or organizations money, they devote their money in order to achieve a goal.

How would this apply to volunteers?

If money=currency, then time=currency.

So if volunteers’ currency is time, then what exactly do they invest?

They invest their humanity. (the quality or condition of being human)

Volunteer managers everywhere instinctively know this. We feel this every day when hearing and observing our volunteers’ intangibles. How do we feel this?
- by the rewards volunteers tell us they personally feel
- by their belief in us and our missions
- by the passion exhibited by volunteers
- by the camaraderie volunteers forge when bonding with like minded citizens
- by the commitment volunteers show
- by the enrichment volunteers gain by volunteering with us
- by the sense of pride volunteers feel in their work
- by the support and love they extend to us and other staff
- by the initiative they take when doing word of mouth marketing in their communities
- by the care they wrap around strangers in need
- by the desire they exhibit in wanting us to grow and succeed
- by the pure joy they infuse into our lives
- by the amount of time they spend away from us helping us off the clock by recruiting, marketing. finding resources, donating, improving themselves, etc.
Investors, according to experts, want the following things from the areas in which they invest:
- they want to build a relationship
- they want to partner
- they want to invest in a “team”
- they want to see a better future
- they want to grow
- they want to understand concepts
Sounds an awful lot like the wants of our volunteers, doesn’t it? Calling volunteers “time donors” implies that they give time and walk away and are mostly disconnected from us. Nothing could be further from the truth.

So, do volunteers donate their time or devote their time if devote implies giving for a purpose? I think devote wins hands down.

For years and years, we have been trying to equate time donation with money donation. Time and money are simply two different types of currencies. And besides, we all know that volunteers do so much more than give their time to a task. They also raise money, find resources, advocate, broadcast, recruit, and market for us. They have chosen to invest a huge chunk of what makes them human in our missions. They have chosen to connect their precious humanity to us.

Let’s stop constantly trying to shove volunteers into the round money hole by equating time spent with dollars saved, which isn’t a true measuring stick at all. Let’s erase the idea that volunteers have no more connection with us than a few hours here and there.

time donors=minimal involvement

volunteer investors=fully engaged

Instead, let’s elevate the volunteers’ role as investors. Investors who devote their time, money, skills, talents, resources, passion, commitment, expertise, experience, knowledge, drive, zeal, perspective, and so much more to helping us further our causes.

Humanity Investors.

What could be more important than that?

-Meridian
September 20, 2017
The Volunteer Periphery
Sea of peripheral volunteers

I have a friend who never seems to see the people around him. He lets the door swing shut just as an elderly man is about to walk through and he never sees the mom carrying a baby needing to get by as he blocks the aisle in the store. It’s as though he has no peripheral vision. It got me to thinking about managers of volunteers and how we develop our peripheral vision to the point of hyper awareness.

You know what I mean. You’re the kind of person who:

counts the number of people behind you in the buffet line at a friend’s party and then you mentally divide up the pasta portions in the pan to make sure that you don’t take more than your share.

looks around at a concert, sizing up the height of the crowd and then squeezes into a spot that ensures you don’t block the petite woman to your left.

Does this sound like you? I thought so.

We all have peripheral volunteers. These are the volunteers who are episodic, temporarily inactive, retired, yet to be trained, prospective, or absent. And unlike the world of paid staff where rosters consist of those receiving paychecks, our peripheral volunteers remain on our stats and radar.

We don’t have the luxury of ignoring them because they are potentially contributing volunteers. Or they may have given years of service and we owe them our attention. They float around in the periphery, bobbing in and out of view because we have a fluid connection with them. And how about the guilt that comes with not paying proper attention to them. (Yep, just think of how you felt when you forgot that volunteer’s 80th birthday, the one who gave twenty years of service to your organization)

What can we do with these outlying volunteers? How can we keep them in view as we scurry about in our busy day? Where do they fit into statistics?

This is one area in which:
1. technology serves us well
2. volunteers can assume pivotal roles
3. stats reflect the monumental balancing we do
4. volunteer message sharing can actually help
When lists that capture prospective, episodic, absent, retired, ill and every other category meaning non current pile up, it’s time to create some systems that help.

Create categorized email lists-prospective volunteers, group and corporate volunteers, temporarily inactive volunteers etc. Decide which groups get which messages, e.g., upcoming training sessions, newsletters, notices about volunteer events or vacancies, etc.

Recruit volunteers to oversee the periphery-lists are only helpful if they are accurate. It’s humbling when you take a call telling you that volunteer Dave died a year ago and his family keeps getting mail addressed to him. A volunteer or volunteers in charge of overseeing other volunteers on the periphery can focus on keeping lists up to date. They can also make phone calls, interview, do impromptu surveys, offer new opportunities, gather information and compile statistics. The scope of the potential work can fill a full-time position or several part-time positions.

Report your time spent managing peripheral volunteers-this is an invisible area that requires a lot of time so report it as part of your recruitment, retention, and cultivation. Refer to your efforts to engage “prospects”, retain episodic volunteers, build community awareness, increase visibility, maintain good relationships, cultivate donors, supporters etc. This nuanced area of our work is critical and should be accounted for.

Share messaging with other organizations, but be careful. Bombarding potential volunteers with multiple messages can be off-putting, so don’t overload emails with “spam.” Instead, co-op with other volunteer organizations and include “other good work opportunities” at the end of every other month newsletters (or other scheduling) with contact information. As your volunteer opportunities are added to the internals at other organizations, you’ve just exponentially increased your recruitment efforts.

Volunteer management casts a wide net. Presiding over the sea of active, potential and former volunteers is daunting. Systems in place to oversee peripheral volunteers will help to ease the overwhelming burden and free us up to concentrate on innovation and solutions.

Out nets are huge and always jumping with activity. If our eyes and hands are always on every inch of those nets, then we can’t steer the boat.

-Meridian
September 6, 2017
Innovation and Sustainable Volunteering
What would sustainable volunteering look like? Besides many of the innovations already being implemented, what would nurturing a volunteer garden shared within our communities involve? Is this a 180 degree leap or is it more of a naturally occurring shift that we have been moving towards all along? Are we, volunteer managers coming together in an organic movement to help one another and therefore all volunteers and all good work?

What can we try? Will this take extra work, headache and heartache to achieve? Just as in gardening, there are necessary steps to achieve a bountiful crop.

I’m going to list some ideas in a season of planting using the gardening metaphor.

TILLING THE SOIL (preparing to garden):
- Make a list of agencies and organizations in your area that utilize volunteers and reach out to introduce yourself to each leader of volunteers
- Join any clearinghouse agencies such as United Way, and Volunteer Centres in your area
- Join a DOVIA (Directors Of Volunteers In Agencies) or a similar group in your area or if none exists, reach out to another volunteer manager and start a peer group
- Create a list serve or simple newsletter to share with your fellow volunteer managers in your locale
PLANTING (seeding the way):
- Share your volunteer opportunities with other volunteer managers (at your peer group and by list serve) and ask for theirs-regularly check in to gauge the fluidity of roles, etc.
- Discuss volunteers’ skills and interests at peer group meetings. Offer other volunteer managers the opportunity to contact one of your volunteers if their mission or opportunity more closely aligns with your volunteer’s passion
- Share background checks if you are able in order to cut costs
- Pair up with other organizations to conduct a visible volunteer project and involve local media to cover the event
- Create volunteer educational conferences with other volunteer managers to benefit all volunteers in area-share space, costs of snacks or printed materials creating more bang for the buck
- Share cost of a national speaker with other volunteer programs and invite all volunteers in area-have plenty of information on volunteering opportunities available
FEEDING (nurturing the collective):
- Bring your volunteers to another organization on Make a Difference Day or another day of service and help that organization-build that camaraderie, use positive press to show cooperation: Days of service include:
- Good Deeds Day – April 15, 2018 (USA)
- National Volunteer Week – April 15-22, 2018 (USA)
- 911 Day of Service – September 11 (USA)
- Make a Difference Day – October 28, 2017 (USA)
- Family Volunteer Day – November 18, 2017 (USA)
- MLK Day of Service – January 15, 2018 (USA)
- Volunteers’ Week -June 1-7 (UK)
- National Volunteer Week -21-27 May 2018 (Australia)
- National Volunteer Week -April 15-21 2018 (Canada)
- International Volunteer Day -5 December 2017 (UN)
- National Volunteer Week -18-24 June 2017(2018 not published yet) (New Zealand)
- Create a summer circle of volunteering for out of school students so they can sample the various opportunities in your area and participate in a well-rounded service learning experience
- Conduct partner training sessions with other organizations
- Partner with another organization to create a group of volunteers to cross-volunteer (a really rudimentary example – library volunteers + homeless shelter volunteers = a reading program for school aged children in the shelter. Library volunteers finding appropriate books, shelter volunteers utilizing them and perhaps some library volunteers venturing out to read to the children while shelter volunteers conduct a fundraiser for the library-and no this isn’t simple or easy but it can be a start)
- Mentor new volunteer coordinators in your area
- Offer your highly seasoned and trained volunteers to train/mentor volunteers at another organization
- Partner with other volunteer managers to create a presentation that educates organizational staff on the nuances of volunteer engagement-allow all volunteer managers in your area to utilize
- Create partnership recruitment efforts by sharing speaking engagements
Future Bounty (what might come of this?)
- Increased satisfaction and sustainability of volunteers
- More flexible options for prospective volunteers
- Sharing of best practices between leaders of volunteers
- The showcasing of cooperation between non-profit agencies
- Increased volunteer involvement in organizational planning and innovations
- More good work accomplished within communities
- Cooperative think tanks springing up
- Less stress on volunteer managers
We, volunteer managers are unique, innovative and forward thinking. Why wouldn’t we bond with one another and forge a new, co-operative garden in order to create sustainable volunteerism?

Besides, we are generous and big picture oriented by nature. Let’s co-op.

-Meridian
August 30, 2017
Sustainability and Volunteerism
Retention: the continued possession, use, or control of something.

Does that sound like the volunteerism you know? Not to me either. Maybe it’s time to rethink using the phrase “volunteer retention,” because it conjures up images of a stagnant retention pond. It also rhymes with detention which is closely related to imprisonment. (shudder)

So, if we stop using that phrase, then do we have to rethink the old principles behind it such as:
- make the volunteers feel welcomed
- say thank you a lot
- be mindful of their time
What???? But wait. Just because these principles are fluffy and nice, it doesn’t mean they are still the best for the changing landscape of volunteerism. Maybe it’s time to retire volunteer retention and instead, embrace volunteer sustainability. Ok, so swapping phrases does not make for innovation. I get that.

What is the difference then, between retention and sustainability? Well, we’ve all been moving away from the strategies that worked with the WWII generation for some time now. Why not update our verbiage to match the creative ideas being implemented out there by so many forward thinking visionaries. And while we are embracing these changes, let’s go even further.

*This is where sustainability is radically different from volunteer retention. Sustainability, unlike retention is the ability to maintain a healthy balance while avoiding depletion. Sustainability, as it is being applied to agriculture, economics and ecosystems implementation implies that there is a larger network to be considered. It implies that resources are not hoarded (retention) and depleted.

What larger network is there to consider when engaging volunteers? The larger network is all volunteer organizations and individual volunteer satisfaction. With that in mind, let’s ask these questions:
- Why do we keep volunteers on waiting lists if we cannot use them in a timely manner or cannot find roles for their passions?
- Why do more volunteers equal better volunteer engagement even if some volunteers are in name only?
- Why do we stuff volunteers with specialized skill sets and interests into non-matching roles? Or try to tweak a role just to keep the volunteer?
- Why do we cling to volunteers as though they are 23 year old offspring and we just can’t bear to see them fly?
- Why do we blame ourselves when volunteers leave?
It is time we, volunteer managers, think of other volunteer managers, our volunteers, all volunteer opportunities, all clients in our area, and all missions as a network serving the greater good.

It is time we viewed volunteerism as a regenerating community garden that needs tending by all of us so that the bounty of volunteers is nurtured, regrown and sustained.

It is time we added collective volunteer engagement, sharing and referral to our innovative methods in order to cultivate volunteer sustainability.

How many times does a volunteer get frustrated and drop out when they have to wait too long to share their time and skill? Or how many volunteers quit because their passion is not being fully utilized? How are we serving our communities when we deplete our volunteer base by clinging to the archaic notion of volunteer retention?

Next time: We can be the leaders of a sustainable movement. (Innovation and Sustainable Volunteering)

-Meridian
August 23, 2017