The Three Rs of Managing Voluteers
Managing volunteers involves three ‘R’s:
- Recruit
- Retain
- Reward
1. Recruit
Defining positions and developing position descriptions prior to recruiting to your organisation is essential. The right position description may just attract the volunteer with the right skills.
Positions in Your Organisation
Have you ever defined the roles of volunteers in your organisation? From committee members to ticket sellers and toilet scrubbers, it is important to define the roles of these volunteers to give them a sense of ownership within your organisation. Give them a position title and a badge. It is a low cost way of acknowledging their role in the organisation. Volunteers are effectively unpaid employees. A position description gives them and other volunteers or staff members a clear outline of what is expected of them in their role.
Incentives
Why would someone want to volunteer for your organisation? Aside from the importance of contributing to the arts and cultural development of your region, it is ideal to offer other incentives. These could be low cost or they could be larger scale requiring sponsorship. Some ideas are:
- Social networking opportunities such as morning teas or bus trips
- Offers to reimburse out of pocket expenses including travel to and from their volunteer commitment
- Professional and skills development opportunities
Have these clearly outlined before you begin recruiting.
Attracting Volunteers
Arts organisations often struggle to attract volunteers. Volunteer bases, particularly in small communities, are usually consumed by emergency service, social action and sporting organisations. Essential services and charities are always going to be the first port of call for many looking to volunteer.
So how do we attract volunteers to our arts organisations? We need to take the same approach that we would when we are developing a marketing campaign for an event:
Why is my organisation important to my community?
- Who are my target audiences?
- What is my message to those target audiences?
- How do I get my campaign to those audiences?
Only you and your community can define why your organisation is vital to your region. The arts provide a framework to build social, economic, environmental and cultural cohesion and to tell those joint stories. Stand on that platform and give examples of how your organisation has built the capacity of your community.
The most obvious target audiences for arts organisation volunteering are:
- artists and artsworkers in your region
- art supporters/ patrons/ ticket buyers
- Silent Generation; Baby Boomers; Generation X; Generation Y
Baby Boomers are the generation that is now starting to retire/semi-retire. Once they have satisfied their initial desires to travel, there will be a large, skilled volunteer workforce to tap into. All volunteers tend to have a desire to improve something about their community and to contribute to the building of the capacity of their community. However, there are some more explicit needs and desires for each audience. The marketing tools used need to communicate a message that connects to these needs and desires to attract those people to your organisation.
Follow this link to download a Volunteer Target Marketing Material table that you may find useful.
Application process
To formalise the process you can distribute Application Forms to those wishing to volunteer with your organisation. This can help you with a record of:
- contact information
- the applicant’s qualifications, interests and skills
- any health issues to be aware of
- the applicant’s preferences for the work options available in your organisation.
A formal application process shows potential volunteers that you are well-organised and that you take volunteering seriously.
Interviewing Volunteers
Interviewing is a process that benefits both the organisation and the volunteer. You do not want to sign up a volunteer who is not a match for your organisation. They need to be committed to the mission of your organisation and likewise, you need to be offering something that interests and benefits them as an individual. Run through the different positions offered by your organisation to find the right match of skills, experience and volunteer needs.
Be prepared to say no to a volunteer that doesn’t seem to be the right match by having other places to refer them to that are more appropriate for their needs and interests. Be generous about guiding them to the right path for volunteering. Other organisations just might do the same for you.
Appointing Volunteers
When you and the volunteers have found the right place for them within your organisation, you need to formalise this. A Volunteer Agreement is advised to ensure that both parties acknowledge the rights and responsibilities of volunteers. It also needs to outline your policy stances and reinforce any relevant legal and legislative issues. For example, if your organisation works with children, you need to outline your process for ensuring that your volunteers have a current Working with Children Blue Card from the Queensland Government.
A Volunteer Agreement would contain the following:
- A description of the arrangement between . . . (the organisation) and . . . (the individual)
- A statement of appreciation of the services about to be rendered
- Nature of the task
- Benefit of this task to the organisation
- Time to be committed
- Induction to be provided and Volunteer Handbook or other printed information
- What the organisation will commit to do for the volunteer
- Standards expected
- Person to whom the volunteer will be reporting
- In-service or other training opportunities that will be offered including health & safety
- Any expenses that will be covered, or that the volunteer will need to cover
- Any specialist clothing
- What to do if there is a dispute
- A statement of commitment that the volunteer is undertaking
- Space for signatures of the organisation’s representative and the volunteer and the date
It is important to get the nuts and bolts of a volunteer management system right. We don’t need to do all of the work ourselves. Many experienced organisations are willing to share resources. A system that effectively attracts volunteers to your organisation and in turn supports and nurtures these important people who carry our organisations is certainly one well worth putting the time into. Happy volunteers lead to a healthy organisation.
Follow these links to the next of the Three Rs of Managing Volunteers:
- Retain
- Reward