Jayne Blog (Volunteerism, Nonprofit Tech, Civil Society, etc.)

Apr. 13, 2008 - involve nonprofits when creating services for them

It amazes me how often a software designer or corporate person or a politician decides a nonprofit organizations need a certain service, software or working model and spends much time and energy developing such and promoting their efforts to the press -- but without ever talking to nonprofits about what these agencies believe they really need. In the end, these initiatives disappear, as they do not speak to the needs of nonprofit organizations and, therefore, such organizations don't use them.

For instance, there have been at least half a dozen initiatives where the goal was for people who wanted to volunteer to input their qualifications, interests and availability into an online database, which nonprofits were supposed to search through regularly, finding volunteers for tasks. These web sites never lasted long, mostly because volunteers didn't keep their profiles up-to-date and were often unavailable on the rare occasion a nonprofit tried to contact a candidate. They also put more work on nonprofits: instead of volunteers searching through assignments and self-selecting regarding where and when they wanted to volunteer, nonprofits had the burden of searching through information and trying to find volunteers with correct contact information and who were available.

Another example of this "backward" thinking is the oh-so-many volunteer opportunities databases/web sites, that, starting in the 1990s, were built and promoted to potential volunteers instead of organizations, the assumption being that organizations would just magically know how to use them. The developers either quickly learned that nonprofits were the key to their success, since that's who actually provides the volunteering opportunities and involve volunteers, and therefore changed their business strategy to focus on such, or they disappeared, thereby creating hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of frustrated people regarding volunteerism.

For those who want to see an increase in volunteerism or want to improve the experience of current volunteers: please focus on the organizations that involve volunteers. Look at their needs, which is often NOT more volunteers, but more resources so they can involve such: their staff needs training on the fundamentals of volunteer management, as well as ongoing training regarding proven best practices and emerging, promising practices. They need funding for a trained volunteer manager who can devote all of her or his time to such (not do it in addition to marketing or fund raising or other duties). They need funding for volunteer management systems, and access to published resources and to continuing education regarding volunteer management. Also, to all you social entrepreneurs out there, please read the research that's already available before starting a volunteer-related initiative, particularly an online initiative. Attend nonprofit conferences or join nonprofit associations and listen to the challenges they are facing -- they are probably NOT what you think they are. In short: be customer focused!

For information on what prompted this blog entry, see this proposed volunteer-related initiative on NetSquared, including the comments underneath.

About Jayne

This blog (web log) is by Jayne Cravens, and is primarily focused on resources and news regarding mission-based organizations: nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, and public sector agencies, as well as development issues and humanitarian efforts. It promotes resources and opinions relating to volunteer management/community involvement, tech use by nonprofits, and outreach strategies for nonprofits. There are also some personal postings (such is the nature of blogs), regarding travel, causes I personally support (like women's empowerment, urban biking, etc.). To comment on this blog, you must register on forumer.com.

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