emerging trends in volunteer management
09:25, 5 April 2010
.. Posted in Volunteerism and Volunteer Management.. Link
There are several trends affecting those who support and involve volunteers -- not just in the USA. I research these trends on an ongoing basis, and ask volunteer managers for their feedback at every opportunity.
Here's the list I've been presenting. How are these trends affecting you, as either someone who supports and involves volunteers or as someone who volunteers (or wants to)? Let's hear from you.
- Volunteers want to know what difference they make/what they accomplish for the org or clients (not just a mug or a pin; sometimes instead of such).
- Volunteers want to be leaders & decision-makers, not just workers.
- Volunteers want to feel a real, deep connection to the organization & its work (even with “episodic volunteering”).
- Volunteers want experience they can put on their CV, blog about, brag about, etc.
- Volunteers want flexibility in when & how they serve (they don't want to have to make a year-long commitment, they want ways to serve outside of traditional work hours, they want to help create ways to contribute, etc.).
- Governments are asking volunteers to provide service to fill gaps left by government funding cuts.
- Staff other than the traditional volunteer manager are involving volunteers.
- More organizations are involving the volunteers because of specific professional skills (pro bono consultants)
- More emphasis on outcome-based reporting (not just number of hours contributed, and certainly not amount of money saved by not paying staff to do the work volunteers undertake, but rather, changed perceptions, changed behavior, increased awareness, etc.)
- Volunteer involvement as a reflection of the organization's mission (e.g. an org that serves people with disabilities involves such people as volunteers; an org that encourages cultural understanding creates volunteering activities that encourage such)
- Volunteer ranks are expected to have representation from a variety of members of the local community (diversity).
- Involuntary volunteers (people who provide service because they are compelled to do so by the courts, by class requirements, or by government requirements)
- Corporate volunteers/employees on loan (they are paid by their organizations for the time they are working at a nonprofit)
- Aging volunteers and a need for new, younger volunteers to fill ranks (and younger can be "people under 60", as one volunteer manager put it)
- More documentation requirements by donors, partners and the organization itself
- More attention to risk management
- Busier/tighter schedules (for both the volunteers and those that involve and support them)
- More people not original to the community wanting to volunteer (people from other countries now in the area, retirees, people relocating for jobs, etc.)
- Volunteers expect the org to use the Internet to support and involve them.
- Volunteer managers must justify and promote the importance of their role in their organization. They need to be the in-house expert on volunteer management, not just an HR administrator.
- Volunteer managers must undertake themselves the communications activities they need for their programs, including online activities.
