pros & cons of subsidizing volunteers for expenses
09:06, 1 September 2010
.. Posted in Volunteerism and Volunteer Management1 trackbacks
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Volunteers are not free. Involving volunteers incurs a variety of costs for an organization. At minimum, volunteer involvement requires staff time to create assignments and support volunteers in those assignments. Training of volunteers may also be required, and this has costs in terms of staff time and materials. Volunteers may need to undergo a criminal background check, and this costs money. Volunteers may even be required to have uniforms.
Volunteering also creates costs for the volunteer, in terms of transportation and parking, and perhaps in other areas, such as child care.
Who pays for these costs?
The pros of an organization paying for all of these costs are that potential volunteers won't be excluded because they wouldn't be able to afford to participate if they had a lot of out-of-their-own-pocket expenses (paying for their own transportation, parking, uniform, training materials, criminal background check, paying for phone calls and texts they receive from you on their cell phones, etc.). This increases the likelihood of diversity in your volunteer ranks.
On the other hand, organizations often find that not charging volunteers for at least some of the costs associated in involving them (training materials, criminal background checks, etc.) leads to volunteers not valuing the organization, leading them to quit shortly after the organization has laid out the cash to involve them. Having volunteers pay some of these expenses has often lead to more committed volunteers who value the support they get from the organization and who stick around longer than just a few weeks.
But, again, if volunteers have substantial out-of-their-own-pocket expenses in order to participate, you will get only those volunteers who can afford to volunteer.
Is there a happy medium? Yes: it's okay to ask volunteers to cover some of the costs the organization incurs for involving volunteers, as long as you also create a way for those who could not afford such to still volunteer. In your volunteering orientation, note what the costs are for your organization to involve volunteers, and ask volunteers to consider donating to the organization to cover some of these costs - but make the donation absolutely, entirely optional, and do not distinguish in any way between those who donate and those who don't.
In addition, look for discounts at other organizations you could provide volunteers, to offset some of their costs in volunteering:
- Are there area companies that would be willing to donate discount cards or phone calling cards for you to distribute to volunteers?
- Could you negotiate reduced parking rates for your volunteers at a nearby parking lot?
- Would a local bookstore give your volunteers a discount for book purchases?
- Could you negotiate any special deals for your volunteers at electronics stores or phone stores?
- Could a local day care provide a discount regarding childcare?
- Could you negotiate a discount on classes at a nonprofit, community college or for-profit company, classes that could help volunteers in their career pursuits?
More resources for volunteer management.
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