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Ethics
Family Feud: Relatives, Co-Workers and Friends as Volunteers
We often think of well-functioning volunteer programs as happy little families, systems in which people get along so well that they resemble the idyllic picture of family relationships portrayed in U.S. television shows from the 1950s. And while this is often true, occasionally we run into situations where the family more resembles the Ozzy Osbournes.
The notion of families volunteering together is one that has a lot of intrinsic appeal and a lot of value. In this Points of View, however, we look at things from a slightly different perspective: the potential conflicts that arise when individuals with close outside relationships – spouses, siblings, relatives, close friends, co-workers, fellow church members – are volunteering “inside” the same organization but those “outside” relationships, either positive or negative, begin to affect volunteering behavior.
We examine what happens when volunteer programs actually involve those with family-like relationships in volunteering together, analyze what is likely to happen in these scenarios (and why), and offer some tips for what to do if you encounter problems or to prevent them in the first place.
Don't Tell: Confidentiality and the Volunteer Situation
The Samaritans are a UK-based charity that provides confidential emotional support to those who are depressed or suicidal. Volunteers provide this service through 24-hour crisis-lines and e-mail response centers. One of the keystones of The Samaritans philosophy is that their service is absolutely confidential. Their belief is that clients will be more likely to seek Samaritan services and freely express their state of mind if they feel that their conversation is protected from disclosure. In October 2003, a volunteer for the UK branch of The Samaritans, encountered a difficulty in keeping to this promise of confidentiality.
One of his callers confessed to a murder of a young girl.
He reported this to police, who then, with the cooperation of The Samaritans, tapped further conversations between the volunteer and his caller and eventually arrested James Ford for the murder of Amanda Champion.
The Samaritans then terminated the volunteer, citing his breach of the Samaritan confidentiality policy.
As you might expect, when this became public knowledge it ignited a bit of a debate in the UK over whether asking volunteers to remain silent about such matters is a good idea. After all, allowing confessed murderers to run around free doesn’t seem like the best service to the public.
While this is clearly a worst-case scenario, this situation prompted us to make a few comments about client confidentiality, volunteers, organizational responsibility, and the implications of the debate.
Ethics and the Hydra
Most of us have seen board members separate their collective, decision-making role on the board from their individual, working role in other volunteer capacities. And we know that board members who fail to make or remember the distinction can be very problematic. The level of potential ethical dilemmas can escalate greatly in organizations where board members play many related external roles as well.
Volunteers with some self-interest can be very valuable to an organization. If the success of the organization is important to your hopes and/or your business, you may be passionate about the mission and willing to work hard as a volunteer. Unfortunately, such multi-faceted volunteers can also be a Hydra – a many-headed monster – if not guided by ethics. People of personal integrity are needed who are willing to abide by organizational values as well.
This article explores the concepts and issues of ethics and conflict of interest as they affect volunteer service on a nonprofit board of directors.
Is All Volunteering Created Equal?
Excerpt from "Steve Says…"
"Diversity Continuum: Indicators of Success"
e-Volunteerism enjoys making discoveries. Periodically we find material that was produced by an organization originally for in-house purposes only, but which is of such quality, uniqueness, or interest to warrant sharing more broadly. We will seek permission to reprint these "Tools You Can Use" to spark the creativity of our readers to adapt great ideas pioneered elsewhere.
In this issue, we present a notable tool for assessing how an organization ranks when it comes to diversity. This "Diversity Continuum" was developed last year by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, whom we thank for permission to publish excerpts. First, we applaud PPFA for integrating standards for volunteer diversity alongside the same standards for employee diversity! Second, we think this grid does an outstanding job of delineating different levels of diversity.
Religious Roots of Service
No ancient holy book mentions "volunteering" by that name, but every religion in the world encourages charity, service to others, and personal risk for one's beliefs. This unique article compares the major religions of the world in terms of charity.
"Supplementing or Supplanting?" The Mystery of "Volunteer" versus "Paid Employee" Right to Work
If there were a Ten Commandments of Volunteer Management, one of them would surely be the statement "volunteers should supplement, not supplant, paid staff." Drilled firmly into the head of every new volunteer manager is the fact that staff support is dependent upon relieving fears of replacement by hordes of unpaid volunteers and accordingly work done by volunteers should never impinge upon or threaten the jobs of paid staff.
Now, neither Steve nor Susan is opposed to paid staff keeping their jobs, so please don't interpret what follows as an attack upon full employment.