From day one, I said to her that “it’s not that I don’t want you to be privy to things, it’s that I don’t want you to be burdened with junk. You’re here to do good work and you deserve to be shielded from the nonsense.”
Are we, volunteer managers lone nuts? Is no one listening? Do we whine, cajole, beg, furiously educate, preach, go back and squeeze our stress ball, then start again?
Are organizations V2O friendly or are we more like a V-mart where we offer a “take it or leave it” engagement experience?
Nonprofits no longer have the monopoly on solving issues. What can business teach us about our current volunteering model?
As we move into a new reality, this is an ideal time to survey volunteers and sort through their thoughts …
Instead of the notion that a volunteer manager should “work harder” to “get volunteers,” we need to place the reasons volunteers leave or never get started squarely on the outdated systems that no longer work.
Our aim is to create a consistent flow of highly engaged and productive volunteers who positively impact our organization’s goals, objectives and mission. This is the time to introduce the factors that freeze or free up a volunteer flow.
Nothing is more infectious than an inspiring vision that has movement. It gives volunteers an identity. It means that they won’t have to mimic volunteer past to make their unique mark.
We are in new territory and for many organizations, volunteers are temporarily staying home. What can a volunteer manager do …
for every minute we spend on something with little ROI, we miss spending that minute on something with a large ROI that has impact and moves us in the direction we want to go.
