Managing Volunteers

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

MANAGING VOLUNTEERS

Necva Ozgur M.Ed. MERIT

Muslim Educators’ Resource, InformaDon & Training Center www.meritcenter.org

[email protected]

OUTLINE PART I:

RECRUITING AND MANAGING VOLUNTEERS

PART II:

DOING GOOD TOGETHER

BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES, CARING KIDS, AND A BETTER WORLD

PART I

RECRUITING &

MANAGING VOLUNTEERS

Between September 2006 to September 2007: •  60.8 million people volunteered in the United States •  This amounts to 26.2% of the en@re popula@on of the U.S.

Among these volunteers: •  29.3 % were women •  22.9% were men

Age Range of Volunteers: •  30% of these volunteers were between ages 35-‐54 •  17% of these volunteers were in their early 20’s

RECONNECT THE DIVIDED WORLD

•  The problems faced in today’s world are shared by all of us:

•  Pollu@on •  Poverty •  Crime

•  Hunger •  Diseases

•  When one part of world is sick, it eventually impacts the rest of us

•  Volunteering allows people to reach out and connect with a common mission of finding solu@ons to these problems, amongst others.

A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR VOLUNTEERS

Every volunteer has:

1.  The right to be treated as a co-‐worker

2.  The right to a suitable assignment

3.  The right to know as much about the organiza@on as everyone else

4.  The right to obtain training for the job

A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR VOLUNTEERS

6.  The right to sound guidance and direc@on

7.  The right to a decent designated place to work

8.  The right to enhance skills and knowledge

9.  The right to be heard

10. The right to recogni@on

VOLUNTEERS ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF AMERICAN LIFE

•  Many nonprofit organiza@ons are completely staffed by volunteers (75%)

•  If all volunteers were to walk out tomorrow, as in a Na@onal Volunteer Strike, many of our most important social ins@tu@ons would either close or be forced to drama@cally reduce services.

WHERE DO VOLUNTEERS SERVE ?

• Health and Human Services • Faith-‐based groups • Schools • Workplace

• Environment & Animal Welfare

• Government

• Arts

WHERE DO VOLUNTEERS SERVE?

• Poli@cal Campaigns

• Board of Directors • Professional Organiza@ons • Homeowners Associa@ons

• Spor@ng Events • Disaster Response and Recovery

WHY DO YOU VOLUNTEER ?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

WHY PEOPLE VOLUNTEER  To help others  To give back to the community

 School requirement

 Corporate culture  Peer pressure  To meet new people

  To learn new skills   To feel/be needed

WHY PEOPLE VOLUNTEER

 To influence others  To add to their resume  To impress people  To Network  To be role models  To deal with their own losses  To change the world  To win public recogni@on  To make a difference

PEOPLE VOLUNTEER FOR MANY REASONS

•  Good volunteer management is matching the right people to the right job.

•  Gefng to know your volunteers as individuals is key to understanding what they want to get out of their volunteer experience.

•  Understand your volunteers’ mo@va@ons, whether they are about people, achievements, or power you will have a much beher chance of giving them a meaningful assignment, and retaining them.

A FOUR-‐GOAL ASSESSMENT

1.  Determine the current level of volunteer involvement.

2.  Determine your poten@al for increasing volunteer involvement.

3.  Iden@fy which components of your program need to be enhanced or developed.

4.  Adopt an ac@on plan with @meline for implementa@on.

VOLUNTEER INFRASTRUCTURE INVENTORY 1.  Does our volunteer program have its own mission

statement that explains why volunteers are an integral part of your organiza@on?

2.  Have we set goals for what volunteers will try to accomplish?

3.  Do we have a volunteer recruitment plan?

4.  Do we have an applica@on for prospec@ve volunteers to complete?

5.  Do all of our new volunteers ahend an orienta@on to learn more about our organiza@on and the role of volunteers?

VOLUNTEER INFRASTRUCTURE INVENTORY

6.  Do we have wrihen job descrip@ons for each volunteer func@on?

7.  Have we prepared employees to work effec@vely with volunteers?

8.  Is each volunteer assigned a supervisor to ensure accountability?

9.  Do we have a wrihen policy on confiden@ality?

10.  Do we have a policy manual wrihen down and given to volunteers?


11.  Do volunteers have @me sheets so they can track their hours?

12.  Do volunteers who work on-‐site have a personal work space?

13.  Depending on the volunteer posi@on, do we provide appropriate training?

14.  Do we have a database to keep track of our volunteers?

15.  Do we have individual personnel files for volunteers to keep important documents?


11.  Do we provide annual evalua@ons for each of our volunteers?

12.  Are staff who supervise other volunteers given a training on how to be a beher supervisor?

13.  Do we show apprecia@on to our volunteers on an ongoing basis?

14.  Do we have an annual event to honor volunteers?

15.  Are volunteers who leave given an exit interview?

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION

•  A good orienta@on is about giving new volunteers a thorough overview of your organiza@on and their role in achieving your mission.

•  It also builds a sense of community for new volunteers who all begin their journey together at the same orienta@on.

ORIENTATION AGENDA

When planning your orienta@on agenda, focus on the following 5 areas:

1.  Welcome & Introduc@on

2.  The Cause

3.  The Organiza@on

4.  The Volunteer Program

5.  The Conclusion

ORIENTATION AS A SCREENING TOOL

Things to look for:

•  Were they on @me for orienta@on?

•  How were their communica@on skills with other people in the room?

•  Did they ask good follow-‐up ques@ons?

•  Did they try to dominate the presenta@on?

•  Did they appear unmo@vated and uninvolved?

•  Did they reaffirm, through words or body language, their commitment to your cause?

FROM ORIENTATION TO TRAINING

•  While an orienta@on provides people with all the background informa@on they need to be successful in your organiza@on, training gives them the informa@on and skills they need to be successful doing their job.

•  One of the quickest ways to lose volunteers is to throw them into a situa@on with no training and expect them to magically understand what needs to be done and how to do it.

HOW ADULTS LEARN ANDRAGOGY

1.  Adults have a clearer sense of their own selves, and want to feel like they are ac@ve par@cipants in the training process.

2.  Adults bring life experience to the classroom.

3.  Adults are ready to learn prac@cal things.

4.  As people mature, they change how they approach learning from just acquiring knowledge about a subject to problem solving skills.

5.  As people mature, their desire to learn things becomes an internal mo@va@on.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF LEARNING

•  Visual Learners: See it

•  Auditory Learners: Hear it

•  Kinesthe@c Learners: Experience it

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR VOLUNTEERS

•  Professional development is one of the key reten@on strategies that employers use to keep paid staff mo@vated.

•  It works great for volunteers, too!

•  When developing your training, be sure to think of ongoing training opportuni@es for volunteers that enhance their skills, keep them connected, and lead to promo@ons with increased responsibili@es and pres@ge.

MANAGE THE FLAKE FACTOR

•  99% of the @me people who commit to volunteering for an organiza@on do so with the best of inten@ons.

•  However, only 10-‐15% become effec@ve volunteers. Here are some of the reasons:

–  It just wasn’t the right posi@on.

–  The volunteer job descrip@on didn’t accurately describe the du@es.

–  The volunteer got sick, or was stuck in traffic, or had his car stolen or had family problems.

UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT GENERATIONS

•  The Greatest Genera+on: Born between 1910-‐1930. This group of people lived through the Great depression and then went to WWII.

•  The Silent Genera+on: Born between 1931-‐1945. This post-‐war genera@on is known as one of the most cau@ous people, embarking on a new world with confusion around changing roles.

•  The Baby Boomers: Born between 1946-‐1964. This genera@on benefited from the economic prosperity of the post-‐WWII economy and educa@onal opportuni@es.

•  Genera+on X: Born between 1965-‐1980. This genera@on is concerned more with consumerism than with ac@vism.

•  Genera+on Y (Millennial): Born between 1981-‐2000. They tend to see volunteering as an important social obliga@on.

HOW DIFFERENT GENERATIONS WORK TOGETHER

•  Invite volunteers who represent the different genera@ons to discuss their life experiences and how they view volunteering.

•  If a conflict arises between two individuals from different genera@ons, talk to them individually and ask them to view the experience through the other person’s eyes.

•  Make sure your promo@onal materials show different genera@ons working together.

•  Encourage younger volunteers to be sensi@ve to some of the common aspects of aging, such as hearing loss, decreased vision and memory lapses.

HOW DIFFERENT GENERATIONS WORK TOGETHER

•  Encourage older volunteers to be pa@ent with younger people, to remember what it was like to get stressed out by lihle things, or be short fused.

•  When people complain, listen ahen@vely and acknowledge their frustra@ons. Even if there is nothing that can be done, people will feel beher knowing they’ve been heard.

•  Encourage skill sharing outside of your organiza@on, with volunteers offering training to other volunteers around technology, hobbies, and general life skills.

WHY PEOPLE SABOTAGE VOLUNTEERS

•  The crisis of the control freak

•  “It is easier to do it myself”

•  “You want my job”

•  “I am too busy”

•  Confiden@ality

MANAGING DIFFICULT PERSONALITIES

•  Approximately 98% of volunteers are truly remarkable. Even if they have some challenges they always come through with the spirit of working together.

•  The other 2%, the ones who constantly complain, show up late, break the rules, gossip constantly, harass other people, and think they know all the answers.

•  This 2% usually takes up more than 50% of your @me and irritates other volunteers

THE EIGHT MOST COMMON DIFFICULT BEHAVIORS

1. THE KNOW-‐IT-‐ALLS

•  They can tell you within a few hours what’s not working and how things should be done.

•  Don’t ignore this behavior; it only gets worse with @me. You might say:

•  “Thank you, that’s an interes@ng idea. Now let’s go around the room and see if people have any other opinions or sugges@ons.”

2. THE SABOTEURS

•  Saboteurs feel best when something fails. They begin to undermine other people’s efforts, miss deadlines, do sloppy work, and make promises that they never intend to honor.

•  The best way to to deal with saboteurs is to make the decision to release them from your organiza@on in the first place.

3. THE GOSSIPS •  These volunteers thrive on spreading rumors about others.

•  They par@cularly enjoy it when an organiza@on is in upheaval and going through changes.

•  They usually start their gossip with, “ Did you hear about…?”

•  Stop gossipers in their tracks by making sure informa@on flows freely from your office. Keep volunteers informed about changes in policies, personnel, and situa@ons that may impact their service.

•  Another op@on is to ignore the gossip completely. People who gossip do so to get a reac@on and to make themselves feel more important. If they don’t get the response they want, they usually get the message and let it go.

4. THE RULE BREAKERS

•  These volunteers think that rules are for inexperienced people.

•  They tend to ignore both organiza@onal policies and the du@es in their job descrip@ons.

•  Rule breakers need to be dealt with directly.

•  If they are approached discreetly, directly, and with mutual respect, they usually respond posi@vely to correc@ve measures.

5. NEGATIVE VOLUNTEERS

•  Nothing is ever right with these volunteers, and no maher what you do, it probably “won’t work.”

•  Be careful about pufng these volunteers in public posi@ons where they are the sole face of your organiza@on.

•  Maintain posi@vity with these personali@es. Listen to them but don’t get caught up in their nega@vity.

•  As soon as they start playing the same old record, focus on the future and all the posi@ve things that are happening.

6. THE SOCIAL CLIMBERS

•  As a volunteer, a social climber most likely cares more about her posi@on and what it can do for her status than she does for your cause.

•  Clear job descrip@ons combined with clear policies, including a conflict-‐of-‐interest policy are important to make sure these volunteers understand the limits of their authority and don’t jeopardize the integrity of your organiza@on for their own benefit.

7. THE HARASSERS

•  Harassers will use everything in their power to get their way, from calling people at home, invading personal space, to actually yelling.

•  They are quite aggressive, and can actually in@midate other people with their demands or threats.

•  The kind of behavior exhibited by harassers should never be tolerated.

•  At the first sign of aggressive behavior, pull the volunteer aside and explain to him/her why the behavior is inappropriate.

8. THE PREJUDICED PERSONALITIES

•  People can hold prejudices about many things: race, age, na@onality, gender, social status, even about the neighborhood where someone was born.

•  Make sure your organiza@on has an an@discrimina@on policy in place that protects both your program recipients and your volunteers.

•  Deal with it directly and if they say something like “It was just a joke. What is the big deal?” You will most likely have to explain why it is a big deal and why their volunteer service is no longer needed.

THE LAST RESORT: YES, YOU CAN FIRE A VOLUNTEER

•  Firing a volunteer should be a last resort.

•  You should first exhaust all other possibili@es:

– Talking to volunteers about the problem/issues

– Offering alterna@ve posi@ons if possible

– Providing addi@onal training

IF YOU NEED TO FIRE A VOLUNTEER:

1.  Make sure you have all of your documenta@on in order including any ahempts you made to offer correc@ve feedback and counsel to the volunteer.

2.  Schedule a @me to meet with volunteer face-‐to-‐face. To protect yourself from any false claims, it is best to have a second person with you.

3.  Be clear and direct with the volunteer. Explain that because of their behavior, they are being terminated as a volunteer.

4.  If the volunteer has access to any of the organiza@on’s property, give them a wrihen leher formally asking the property to be returned within 24 hours.

5.  Be professional and respecsul. If at all possible, thank the volunteer for any posi@ve contribu@ons they may have made/wish them success

10 WAYS TO SAY THANKS

1.  Get name badges for your office volunteers.

2.  Have an annual “Design a Volunteer T-‐Shirt” contest and use the winning design as that year’s T-‐shirt.

3.  Ask a local company to pay for having volunteer T-‐shirts printed in exchange.

4.  Have a “Volunteer of the Month” sec@on on your website and post his/her story on your web page to inspire others.

5.  Schedule a monthly potluck for volunteers.

TEN WAYS TO SAY THANKS 6.  Write a leher to the editor of your local newspaper making a statement

of gra@tude to all of your volunteers.

7.  Publish a regular newsleher and in that acknowledge individual volunteers for their outstanding performance.

8.  Plan for an annual recogni@on party to bring everyone in the organiza@on together and make a formal statement as to the importance of volunteers.

9.  Annual volunteer apprecia@on par@es are the perfect occasion to give out awards to volunteers for outstanding individual contribu@ons.

10.  If your budget permits, you may also want to consider handing out small gits that honor your volunteers. They remind the volunteers of how much they are appreciated.

PART II

DOING GOOD TOGETHER FAMILY VOLUNTEERING

BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES, CARING KIDS, AND A BETTER WORLD

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S CALL

•  President Obama has called for “a new era of responsibility”, a call to service for all Americans to help meet the difficult challenges of the 21st century.

•  He was not just speaking to adults.

•  When asked why he and his wife, Michelle, included their young daughters in their volunteer efforts, helping out at a Chicago food pantry, and assis@ng American soldiers.

•  He replied that he wanted the girls "to learn the importance of how fortunate they are and make sure they are giving back.”

•  That is the message of family volunteering.

•  Whether you have five minutes or five hours to give,

•  Whether you have an infant or a teen,

•  Whether you are doing well or only barely gefng by,

•  In these tough economic @mes, your family has a contribu@on to make.

•  In the process, you’ll be teaching your children that compassion mahers, that hope is alive, and that every one of us must be part of the change we want to see.

MISSION

The mission of “Doing Good Together” is to inspire and help families volunteer.

INSPIRE KIDS TO CARE

•  In a culture that so oten appears to reward materialism and greed, volunteering together at a homeless shelter, crisis nursery, nature preserve or animal shelter is a powerful way to pass on the values of caring, compassion and social responsibility to children.

•  Researchers have discovered that children whose parents model helping behaviors and provide opportuni@es to volunteer are more likely to adopt healthy social values and aftudes and to help others when they grow up.

STRENGTHEN FAMILIES •  If you think that with work, school, sports and chores, your family doesn’t have @me to get involved, think again.

•  The @me crunch is actually a great reason to volunteer.

•  Serving together provides a posi@ve way for family members to spend quality @me with one another, brings parents and children closer by inspiring important conversa@ons about values.

•  It encourages posi@ves aftudes and beliefs, and offers the git of intergenera@onal connec@ons.

BUILD COMMUNITIES

•  When families volunteer together, communi@es get more support to meet cri@cal community needs, such as cleaning parks or delivering meals.

•  Studies indicate that children who volunteer are twice as likely to volunteer as adults who did not.

•  When parents nurture their child’s sense of compassion and commitment toward their community, we build a beher world for now and the future.

TEN REASONS TO START DOING GOOD

1. PEOPLE CAN SPEND TIME TOGETHER

It’s a chance for busy parents to spend @me with their kids while giving back to the community.

2. PASS ON KEY VALUES

It enables parents to pass on key values to their children, such as good ci@zenship, community responsibility, compassion and kindness.

3. HELP YOUR KIDS STAY OUT OF TROUBLE

Studies show that children who volunteer just one hour per week are less likely than other kids to get involved in destruc@ve behaviors, such as smoking or drug and alcohol abuse.

Another bonus: Adults who volunteer are happier and healthier than those who do not

4. BRING FAMILY MEMBERS CLOSER

It brings family members closer, gets you all talking to one another, and can spark meaningful discussions about important personal and social issues.

5. VOLUNTEERING MAKES YOU SMARTER

Hos@ng a foreign student can teach you about another culture; working to save the rainforest can teach you about ecology.

Volunteering also teaches you lessons in responsibility and team work.

6. GRATITUDE FOR WHAT WE HAVE

Volunteering makes us grateful for what we have, especially if the volunteer job involves homeless families, lonely seniors or hospitalized children.

There’s nothing like experiencing other situa@ons to put our own problems into perspec@ve.

7. VOLUNTEERING BREEDS A GENERATION OF FUTURE VOLUNTEERS

According to a 2002 report, adults who volunteered as children were two @mes more likely to be involved in community service as adults who didn’t.

8. HELPS CHILDREN APPRECIATE THEIR TALENTS

Volunteering helps children appreciate their own talents, gain self-‐confidence, and feel good about making a contribu@on.

9. HELPS BREAK DOWN STEREOTYPES

Volunteering helps break down stereotypes at a young age, and teaches greater tolerance and understanding.

Through volunteering, children oten meet people from diverse cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, ages, and income levels.

10. GIVING IS FUN!

There can be great joy in serving others, especially when you’re doing it with the ones you love.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” -‐Jean Jacques Rousseau

•  Your family can start a chain of kindness beginning with one generous act.

•  Consider including these acts into daily prac@ce.

•  Promote kindness in your home, school, community and workplace.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS •  Offer your mail carrier a refreshing drink, a kind word, or a

thank you note.

•  Phone or e-‐mail someone who has been going through a tough @me, just to let them know you care.

•  Pick up any liher you see as you go through the day.

•  Leave a bouquet of flowers on someone’s front door step.

•  Buy a balloon bouquet and ask the nurses at a children’s hospital to deliver it to a child.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS •  Shovel the walk of a neighbor who is elderly, sick or busy with small

children.

•  Leave an extra large @p for the waitress the next @me your family goes out for dinner.

•  Talk to your children about generosity.

•  Send a “thinking of you” card to someone you know who is struggling

•  Call a friend or family member and tell them why you love them.

FAMILY VOLUNTEERING: AN ANTIDOTE TO HECTIC LIVES

•  What if you could find a way to spend @me with your children that was free, fun, rewarding, and helpful to others as well?

•  What if that ac@vity also provided a powerful an@dote to our culture's messages of compe@@on, self-‐absorp@on, and materialism?

FAMILY VOLUNTEERING MAY BE THE ANSWER

•  Researchers and parents agree that family volunteering gives you a hands-‐on way to teach children the values of kindness, compassion, tolerance, community responsibility, and good ci@zenship.

•  It may also provide one of the few opportuni@es young people have to interact with people of other backgrounds, breaking down stereotypes of age, class, and race.

•  Children can beher put their own problems in perspec@ve when they see what others struggle with.

•  Engaging together in volunteerism can also be a valuable opportunity for family members to discuss important social issues and to make a real difference in the community while spending @me with loved ones.

“Can you imagine anything more energizing, more unifying, more filled with sa8sfac8on than

working with members of your family to accomplish something that really makes

a difference in the world?”

Stephen Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effec8ve Families

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME

•  Even if you have less than an hour, you and your children can create a gree@ng card for a sick child, clean liher from your local park, write a leher to free a prisoner, or put together a school supply kit or health kit for a disaster survivor.

•  You could even volunteer just one day a year, for example on Mar@n Luther King Day, Family Volunteer Day, or at the holidays.

•  Or you can take an hour or two once a month or once each week to mentor a child, "adopt" a grandparent at your local nursing home, serve a meal at a homeless shelter, or work on an environmental project.

•  Regardless of your schedule, children's ages, or family interests, there's a service opportunity you can weave into your life.

HOW TO GET STARTED

•  First, try to involve all family members in choosing the volunteer project.

•  If everyone feels included, they will be more commihed to making it work.

•  Consider your family's skills, talents, and personality traits, plus how much @me you are able to commit.

ENTHUSIASM IS CONTAGIOUS

•  Once you have picked a project, describe it to your children and make clear why the job is important.

•  Everyone likes to know that they are making a difference, children included!

•  Also explain why you are looking forward to the experience.

REFLECTION •  Make it a point to discuss and reflect on your experiences. This can be one of the most valuable parts of family service.

•  Even before you begin volunteering, try to read books with your children that focus on caring.

•  These books can help you ini@ate conversa@ons about the value of community involvement.

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

Finally, build on the experience so your family will be further enriched by it. Ask ques@ons about the project you've completed.

•  "What did you learn that you didn't know before?”

•  "What would you do differently next @me?”

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

•  Your family can create a scrapbook or photo album of your service experience or write a leher to a friend or rela@ve describing it.

•  Always emphasize to your child what he or she has accomplished and the difference it has made.

•  "The woman was certainly delighted when you handed her the meal and spoke with her. You may have been the only visitor she has had all day.”

VOLUNTEERING CAN BE A TREASURED FAMILY TRADITION

•  Sure, you're busy.

•  Yes, life seems too full for another commitment.

•  But if you begin small and have fun, it will not be long before serving others will be another treasured family ritual.

•  Plus, you will have started a cycle of giving and sharing that's likely to extend for genera@ons.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN!

Please contact us at: www.meritcenter.org

[email protected]

Business

Managing Volunteers