Disaster Volunteer Management:Trends & Opportunities

May 2011

Today’s Volunteers•Interested in domestic & international opportunities

•Seeking project-based and skills-based opportunities

•Want to feel that their time was effectively utilized (less bureaucracy, more professionalism)

•Freedom to research volunteer options and connect online

•Expect fast response times

Trends - General

Developing a Strategy

Identify your agency’s volunteer needs• Be creative• Be mindful of current trends – What are you

doing to appeal to today’s volunteers?

Go where the volunteers are • In your community• Online

Affiliated Volunteers

• NGOs seeking resources for "best practices" for volunteer management

• Keeping volunteers engaged during all phases of disaster

• Increased need for Long-Term Recovery volunteers

• Avoiding volunteer burn-out

Trends - Affiliated

Unaffiliated Volunteers

• Volunteer Reception Centers– Current model of managing unaffiliated

volunteers during the response and short-term recovery phases

• Situations in which a different model is needed

Trends - Unaffiliated

Volunteer Reception Centers

•Video (http://volunteerhoward.org/2010/09/volunteer-mobilization-center-regional-exercise/)

•Incorporating technology into VRC Model

•Preparing local nonprofit and governmental agencies to receive unaffiliated volunteers

•Virtual VRC

Trends - Spontaneous

There are situations in which a VRC may not be the best model to manage disaster volunteers:

•Can you name situations in which this model might not work? Why?

•What are some alternatives?

Opportunities

Opportunities – Heavy Snowfall

• Volunteers may not be able to get out to help

• If they could, do you want them going to a VRC?

• Social distancing or quarantine situations

• Safety of volunteers and safety of those being served – what protections are in place?

Attribution Noncommercial Some rights reserved by TheKarenD

Opportunities – Health Emergency

Opportunities – Social Media

Trends – Social Media

• Sharing via social networks• Decrease of online privacy• Geo-location• Storytelling (videos & photos)• Call to action (as opposed to “awareness”)• Monitoring messaging

Opportunities – Social Media

• Establish your organization as a trusted voice prior to disaster

• Consider using social media to keep volunteers informed and engaged

• Promote successes and stories via video and photos

• Make it easy for folks to share content via their social networks

• Information storage and accessibility

• Volunteer updates & notification using technology (text messaging, social media, etc.)

• Volunteers sharing opportunities and experiences with their social networks

Opportunities - Technology

Photo Credit: Nokton, Creative Commons some rights reserved: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nokton/4621778766/

• Mobile-friendly websites

• Mobile Apps for volunteer recruitment and management

Attribution: Noncommercial Some rights reserved by Nationwide Insurance

Opportunities – Mobile Technology

Resources – Volunteer Management

• National VOAD Volunteer Management Committee:

• Documents: http://www.nvoad.org/index.php/resource-library/documents/cat_view/46-volunteer-management-.html

• Volunteer Bill of Rights

• HandsOn Network & Points of Light Institute:• http://www.handsonnetwork.org/ • http://www.pointsoflight.org/

• Others?

NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network): http://www.nten.org/

Tech Soup: http://www.techsoup.org/

We Are Media: http://www.wearemedia.org/Tool+Box

Change.org: http://nonprofits.change.org/

John Haydon – Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits: http://www.johnhaydon.com/

Beth’s Blog - How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change: http://www.bethkanter.org/

Resources – Tech & Social Media

• Questions?

• Thanks!

Mickey GomezVolunteer Center Serving Howard County

Maryland VOAD410.715.3176

mickey@volunteerhoward.org

Questions & Thank You