Volunteer Program/Resources Manager, Role of

Technology tools designed to lighten our workload abound online, but the options can be overwhelming. Some productivity tools may be specifically intended for nonprofit leaders. Others, while aimed at broader audiences, may also be useful for those working with volunteers. 

When every day is packed with demands, who has time to explore all the resources available to determine which are most useful? How can you know which will actually help you become more productive and be worth the time investment to master the learning curve?

In this Along the Web column, Faye C. Roberts helps answer these questions by exploring popular tech tools that can ease the time crunch for volunteer managers. And in keeping with the limited budgets of groups that depend on volunteers, most of the tools Roberts discusses are free or low in cost.

Vicar Fraser Dyer of St. Anne and All Saints, an Anglican Church in South London, believes that the “whole business of volunteer management in churches is somewhat tricky.” And he should know. Before Vicar Dyer became ordained, he was an active and passionate secular volunteer manager.

For starters, he writes, “there are no volunteers in church.” Though some churches do run proper volunteer programs for such projects as food banks and charity shops, Vicar Dyer notes that the rest of church life requires the active participation of those who hand out hymn books, drive elderly to church, arrange flowers, usher, take up and count the collection, and serve at the altar, to name but a few critically needed functions. And while these people are technically volunteering their help, they mostly do not self-identify as ‘volunteers.’

In this e-Volunteerism feature, Vicar Dyer argues that many of the strategic approaches to volunteer management don’t automatically apply in churches. He offers advice and guidance to clergy and volunteer managers in religious settings, and explains why “it is vital to understand which roles will benefit from more conventional approaches to volunteer management (such as office holders or those volunteering for a discrete church programme), and those for which a more relationship-based and collaborative approach will work better.” Above all, he believes, “individualisation rather than standardisation is the key.”

Loyal readers of e-Volunteerism will remember Ivan Scheier as part of the journal’s advisory team and frequent contributor until his death in 2008. He was a pioneer and mentor to many of us and we devoted an entire issue in 2009 in tribute to him. He was also a prolific writer. In this Voices, we reprint one of Scheier's article on values that evolved in various stages between 1975 and 1998. It does not surprise us that the challenges Scheier laid down more than 40 years ago remain pointed today.

Here is part of Scheier's introduction to the topic:

I believe volunteerism has the potential to integrate with the best and most powerful values in our society today. We can draw more fully on that power if only we will understand, appreciate, and publicize values. This means raising our own consciousness first, launching dialogue and debate, reaching some decision on what the main values are, then announcing them.  The first announcement should be to ourselves – volunteer leaders and volunteers. Then announcements should be made to the world. The purpose is to buttress our case for fundamental, rather than ornamental, status in the world of work and caring, to place us more securely in the mainstream of society. This article attempts to stimulate dialogue.

Imagine teen volunteers in a healthcare setting. Admit it: Your first impression probably centered on teenagers pushing carts, delivering flowers or books, or escorting therapy dogs to patients’ rooms. But in the Medical Center Health System in Odessa, Texas, teenagers did more than push carts – they pushed the proverbial teen volunteer envelope to help develop an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) or Electronic Health Record (EHR) volunteer interdisciplinary team within the health care system.

In this feature story, Patricia Q. Garcia, Director of Volunteer Services and Community Relations Coordinator at the health system, highlights how teens became involved in developing the EMR and EHR systems. She explains the benefits derived from this youth volunteer initiative, and why the administration supported this volunteer-driven program. According to Garcia, this initiative was not only a success, “it serves as a best practice for future volunteer-led programs.” And it helps illustrate how to engage, value, and retain tomorrow’s leaders by working with teen volunteers.

Sustaining volunteer engagement is ultimately a balancing act. Volunteer management must utilise resources in the most effective way to address organisational needs while supporting volunteers in meaningful roles that allow them to not only flourish but to also have positive and rewarding volunteering experiences. Success happens when this win-win ratio is achieved.

As leaders of volunteers, we typically try to achieve a great deal with limited resources, tight budgets, and unforgiving timelines coupled with a lack of understanding about our role. So how can we achieve more with less and simultaneously increase the engagement of our volunteers? In this feature article, Christine Stankowski presents an option to do just that by applying what the business world calls a “process improvement framework” to the volunteer management process. This fresh approach, Stankowski believes, will increase volunteer retention, boost satisfaction and engagement, increase productivity, and improve problem solving. 

In this e-Volunteerism feature, author Jill Jukes from the March of Dimes Canada’s Western Region argues that it’s time to update how organizations plan and prepare for volunteer involvement. Taking a close look at what she calls the traditional “Volunteer Engagement Cycle,” Jukes outlines why the current sequence of planning, recruitment, intake/onboard/screening, placement, training and supervision, recognition and retention, and evaluation does not always reflect current trends and realities. The remedy? Jukes proposes an entirely new Volunteer Engagement Cycle, one that that she calls Version 2.0. “This isn’t a monumental change to the traditional cycle,” Jukes writes, but one that renames and reimagines how organizations plan and prepare for volunteer engagement. Is it better? Will it work? Has Jukes merely proposed new words for the same things? In the end, Jukes asks you to decide.

Much has been written about the differences between paid staff and volunteers and the need to develop a management style for volunteers that takes into account their unique characteristics. But to date much volunteer practice has lagged behind the research, with many organisations continuing to adopt a traditional ‘workplace’ model for involving volunteers drawn from standard HR practice that treats volunteers as unpaid members of staff.

In this issue of Research to Practice, internationally known British researcher Justin Davis Smith looks at a new study from Switzerland that examines probable elements in a distinctive volunteer management approach. The focus is specifically on the need to treat volunteers as a unique group within an organization, and to manage their relationship with other key stakeholders such as paid staff, senior leadership, and members. The study has important practical implications for the way we think about involving and managing volunteers in our organisations.