November 30, 2007
AWOL Volunteers Are a Major Problem for Some Charities
Crissy Weeks relies on good volunteers.
Without them, her organization, the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, wouldn’t operate.
But Ms. Weeks has a major complaint about the state of volunteering — namely that too many people do not have the courtesy of showing up to help after they have made a commitment.
Ms. Weeks, in a guest post for the blog Tactical Philanthropy, says that flaky volunteers cause problems for her organization and make her look bad.
She writes of one volunteer who told her that she didn’t show up for a scheduled event because she was not sure if she was needed.
“How confusing is: be at this address at 10am. This same ‘volunteer; then proceeded to tell me that I was not coordinating things very well,” Ms. Weeks writes. “Good Lord! People! Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I do not know what else to do but pick you up and take you to things myself.”
Are volunteers becoming less reliable? Does your organization have issues with volunteers who do not follow through? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.
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I’ve been a volunteer leader of a tutor/mentor program while holding down a full time job, and I’ve been the leader of a non profit that depends heavily on volunteers. I’ve done this for more than 30 years.
I’ve learned that the expectations of quality service are the same, regardless of using paid staff or volunteers, but the resources non profits have to use to provide quality services are much fewer, and more inconsistent.
Thus, a key to the success of a volunteer-based organization is the core leadership who can weave together an orchestra of different talents and abilities to provide long term service.
Most volunteers in a tutor/mentor program seldome make their service one of their top three life responsibilities. Family, job, religion, politics, often rate higher. Thus, we’ve got to learn to recruit, delegate, follow up to help people succeed, and provide constant leadership to point volunteers in the direction you want them to take your organization.
It’s not easy. Yet, with financial resources so slim, this is a resource that must be encouraged and developed. Learn more on the http://tutormentor.blogspot.com blog
— Dan Bassill Dec 1, 10:16 AM #
Maybe the problem does not solely rest with the volunteer.
A quote from the book “Let’s Have Lunch Together” sums it up:
“I need to feel like I’m making a difference. When I feel connected and when there are mutual goals, I have the energy and motivation to go the extra mile to make that difference.” This was a comment from a volunteer who was resigning from the board. He was a very busy person who believed in the mission of the organization, yet did not feel engaged or valued.
Maybe what we need to do a better job of is getting to know our volunteers and structure their engagement around how their needs mesh with the organization’s mission.
— J Fundraiser Dec 4, 08:07 AM #
I agree with your comments and think that they are great.
I think that part of our problem may be that we do not get a lot of face time with our volunteers. I have to say that the volunteers who know me well enough for me to recognize them at an event tend to be more reliable.
However another problem I have is that there is one of me and hundreds of them. It can be hard to keep track of people.
I am going to work on my attitude towards the situation. Also we are working on getting a new database, which will help. Having more accurate information about our volunteers will help!
I am glad that I was able to put something out there that Y’all are interested in talking about ;)
Thanks! -Chrissy
— Chrissy Weeks Dec 4, 10:37 AM #
My opinions about volunteering have changed over time. I have been volunteering all my life. Since the beginning, I felt as if the power of the act was good enough in itself, regardless of the other benefits. As my free time has shrunk and I make concerted efforts to share my skills and abilities in order to help others, my enthusiasm at performing a task— because that is what volunteers are doing— wanes if I am not given some guidance or recognition (even a friendly hello, thank you, goodbye) for my hard work.
Telling a group of volunteers to be somewhere at a certain time is not necessarily good enough. The writer’s experience demonstrates that. You must talk to each volunteer individually, tell them their individual roles and why what they’re doing will be important to the organization. Otherwise there’s no buy in and no point. They have other things to do with their free time and good will.
I once volunteered for an organization 10 hours a week, several months in a row only to discover they didn’t know my name. Nobody should be buttering a biscuit in that scenario.
Maya Norton
The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy
— Maya Norton Dec 12, 06:20 PM #