A free resource for nonprofit
organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based
agencies
by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com
& coyoteboard.com (same
web site)
Effective Volunteer Engagement:
Support for Volunteers/Management of Volunteers & Safety
Considerations
I am adamant that safety and support policies and procedures for
volunteers MUST be in place BEFORE you start recruiting volunteers.
If you don't, your volunteer recruitment will
- frustrate, even anger, potential and current volunteers.
- create negative public relations.
- become ineffective.
In addition, your retainment of volunteers will plummet if you recruit
before you have fully explored and defined how you will onboard
volunteers, how you will support them, policies and procedures, etc.
All of the resources I have regarding the support for and management of
volunteers, as well as safety in engaging volunteers, are linked from this
one page because I believe they are inextricably linked - it's impossible
to separate these two issues.
Support & Safety for Volunteers
- The Value of Volunteers
Involving volunteers because of a belief that they are cheaper than
paying staff is an old-fashioned idea that's time should long-be-gone.
It's an idea that makes those who are unemployed outraged, that
justifies labor union objections to volunteer engagement, and enrages
your very hard-working employees who don't make anywhere near the hourly
rate organization's like the Independent Sector claim is the hourly
value of a volunteer's time. How to talk about the value of volunteers?
This resource gives you a long, long list of ideas.
- Resources
re: labor laws and volunteering.
- Supervising
online volunteers in court-ordered settings
There are many ways to a nonprofit can supervise online volunteers to
ensure the work is getting done, that the quality of the work is
up-to-snuff, and that the volunteer is getting the support he or she
needs, and these methods can be used to supervise online volunteers in
court-ordered settings.
- Using video
to support online volunteers/remote volunteers.
This is a very short video on the basics of using video to work with
volunteers.
- Virtual Volunteering: Now,
It's Essential (& still oh-so-personal). 36:17 (this was
prepared for the Points of Light Foundation 2020 Conference in June).
This is a How to / Introduction / 101 course in how and why to involve
online volunteers.
- Diagnosing
the causes of volunteer recruitment problems
Before you hire a consultant, even me,
to see what the problem is regarding why you don't have enough
volunteers, or the kinds of volunteers you want most, you might be able
to diagnosis the problem yourself - this blog is meant to help you do
that. The only catch is that you MUST be honest as you answer the
questions listed here. Also, answering these questions is rarely a
one-person exercise; you may think you know the answer, but you need to
ask other staff members, including volunteers themselves, what their
answers are to these assessment questions. This is one of the most
popular blogs I've ever written.
- Using Video to Support Online
Volunteers/Remote Volunteers.
Video is a great way to further support volunteers, and your computer
probably already has all of the tools you need to make a video, or to
engage in a live video conversation with others. Video isn't something
to use only with online volunteers or remote volunteers (those providing
onsite service at a different location than yours). It's also a tool you
can use with new and current volunteers. In addition to an organization
producing videos for volunteers, it can also work the other way around:
volunteers can produce videos for organizations. This resource provides
information on your options, and links to my own short video on the
subject.
- Online Discussion Groups &
Chat Channels for Volunteers
How an online group via GoogleGroups, Slack, Basecamp, an email-based
client, LinkedIn, What's App, Telegram, Signal or maybe even Facebook
can be used to communicate with volunteers and to allow volunteers to
communicate with each other. Includes examples and links to more
information.
- Building a team culture among
remote workers
Coming together face-to-face, in the same room, does not automatically
create team cohesion and a strong sense of team. Yet, many people think
having online meetings automatically means it’s difficult for staff to
have a strong sense of team. When thinking about creating a sense of
team online, try to get away from that aforementioned belief. People
feel a part of a team if they feel heard and included, whether online or
off. And they will attend meetings and pay attention to those meetings
if they feel the meeting is relevant to their work - on or offline. This
resource offers ideas for live events, asynchronous events &
activities that can build a sense of team among remote workers.
- Virtual
volunteering: it's personal!
A 6:02 video on YouTube by me about how engaging volunteers, whether
online or remotely, is as personal as YOU make it.
- Using Whats App or Similar Direct
Messaging Apps in Volunteer Support & Engagement
Includes examples, how to get started, and evaluating if this is
something you should explore.
- Using the Internet
and smartphone apps to work with volunteers
This workshop is a workshop I did years ago. It's less than an hour.
It's FREE online, viewable at any time via YouTube.
- Recognizing Online Volunteers & Using
the Internet to Honor ALL Volunteers
Recognition helps volunteers stay committed to your organization, and
gets the attention of potential volunteers -- and donors -- as well.
Organizations need to fully recognize the efforts of remote, online
volunteers, as well as those onsite, and not differentiate the value of
these two forms of service. Organizations should also incorporate use of
the Internet to recognize the efforts of ALL volunteers, both online and
onsite. With the Internet, the Cloud, Cyberspace, whatever you want to
call it, it's never been easier to show volunteers -- and the world --
that volunteers are a key part of your organization's successes. This
resource provides a long list of suggestions for both honoring online
volunteers and using the Internet to recognize ALL volunteers that
contribute to your organization.
- Managing
IT volunteers
An online workshop I did for TechSoup. It's less than an hour. This
video is FREE online, viewable at any time via YouTube.
- Online
community and volunteering management
An onsite workshop I did for TechSoup, about how the people in a online
community can be (and should be) considered volunteers - people
contributing time and energy to the organizations. supporting online
community participants as volunteers
- Applying volunteer
management principles to online community management.
Here are the slides
I used for the presentation.
- Keeping
volunteers safe & keeping everyone safe with volunteers
My very favorite resources - books and web sites - to keep volunteers
safe and to keep everyone safe that works with volunteers.
- Safety
in virtual volunteering
It's so wonderful to see virtual volunteering oh-so-mainstream. But I do
have a concern: many of these virtual volunteering initiatives don't
seem to have thought about online safety. Too many, in my opinion, are
focused on creating a really complex, feature-rich web site for
volunteers to use to sign up and contribute their time and skills, but
not thinking about risk management: protecting clients and volunteers. I
also have this very
short video about safety in engaging online volunteers.
- Considerations for ensuring safety in
online service delivery by volunteers, where volunteers are
interacting with members of the client and the public. Not
all of these suggestions are appropriate for every volunteer engagement
scheme. These suggestions are written specifically for NON tech staff -
instead, for the people that manage client programs and manage
volunteers, and the people that manage IT staff, so they can come to
this issue from a human support, human management issue FIRST, rather
than a tech issue.
- Creating
a Speak-up Culture in the Workplace
An essential component of both running a quality volunteer engagement
program and ensuring safety is creating an environment where volunteers,
employees, consultants and clients all feel encourged to speak out if
they see anything that might be inappropriate.
- Why
don't they tell? Would they at your org?
An examination of a very high-profile sex-abuse case in a program where
children were involved, and how lack of a speak-up culture discouraged
people from speaking out.
- Your
organization is NOT immune to sexual harassment
A warning to nonprofits, NGOs, charities, schools, communities of faith
and any organization that thinks it is somehow immune to sexual
harassment.
- Lessons from onlinevolunteering.org
Some key learnings from directing the United Nations Online Volunteering
service from February 2001 to February 2005, including support materials
for those using the service to host online volunteers.
- Keeping Volunteer Information Up-to-Date
Keeping track of volunteer information is a challenge. At minimum, an
organization has to keep track of volunteers' up-to-date email address
and phone number. Organizations also need volunteers to report what they
are doing as volunteers and how many hours they are contributing -- each
day, each week or each month. Having this information for volunteers is
vital to the sustainability of volunteer involvement. This page offers
suggestions on how to keep volunteer information up-to-date, with the
goal of getting the information your organization needs with minimal
effort on your part.
- Using Whats App or Similar Direct
Messaging Apps in Volunteer Support & Engagement
Includes examples, how to get started, and evaluating if this is
something you should explore.
- Survey of software tools
used to track and manage volunteer information
With Rob Jackson.
Published online July 11, 2012. In March and April 2012, Rob and I
drafted a survey, in English, regarding software used to manage
volunteer information. The purpose of the survey was to gather some
basic data that might help organizations that involve volunteers to make
better-informed decisions when choosing software, and to help software
designers to understand the needs of those organizations. We also wanted
to get a sense of what organizations were thinking about volunteer
management software. We chose wording in our messaging that we hoped
would reach those who might not identify as volunteer managers, but who
do recruit and/or support volunteers, such as fundraising staff,
reception staff, office managers, and volunteers themselves. Here
is a blog that summarizes the report.
- Volunteer Management Software
Some of the most frequently-asked questions to me are regarding
volunteer management software: what's available, how different packages
compare with each other, the cost of each, the features of each, and on
and on. I do not have the resources to create a comparison of the
different volunteer management software. I've created this
page to offer criteria to help organizations choose volunteer
management software, and to help someone who might want to create a
comparison of such software, as well as to offer a listing of volunteer
management software I know about (but with no comment or description of
the software -- just links to the producing company's web sites).
- Human
rights, the digital divide & web accessibility
4:40
- Essential/Favorite Resources Regarding
Volunteer Management and Volunteerism
There is a plethora of resources promoting volunteerism, and at long
last, the number of volunteer management resources has grown
significantly. But which are "the best"? This is a list of my
favorite resources relating to volunteerism and volunteer management --
books and online resources from trusted, established people and
organizations that I believe should be required reading of anyone who
recruits and supports volunteers.
UNITeS
The United Nations Information
Technology Service (UNITeS) was an initiative launched by the UN
Secretary General that promotes volunteerism as fundamental to information
and communications technologies for development (ICT4D). Two resources in
particular were developed by me:
- Using Instant Messaging to Work With Volunteers: Benefits and
Suggestions
The advantages of using Instant Messaging (IM) with volunteers, based on
feedback from various online discussion groups, from the staff
experiences of the United Nations Information Technology Service, and
various other resources. Here is the archived
version from November 2002, and here is the
updated version.
- Handheld computer
technologies in community service/volunteering/advocacy
Examples of volunteers/citizens/grass roots advocates using handheld
computer / personal digital assistants (PDAs) or phone devices as part
of community service / volunteering / advocacy, or examples that could
be applied to volunteer settings. Also included is a section on
Advocacy, and a listing of Online Software Directories for Handhelds.
- Volunteers: Essential to ICT
projects in developing countries
Why the UNITeS initiative believed that volunteers are an essential and
fundamental element to the success of information and communications
technology (ICT) efforts in underdeveloped communities.
- Assisting Others As An Expert
Volunteer
This article was part of the online Knowledge Base hosted by UNITeS. It
is an example of the kinds of resources that were a part of the UNITeS
Knowledge Base to help volunteers applying ICT in the developing world,
and to help organizations who wanted to involve such volunteers.
- UNITeS Contributions to
the UNESCO Multimedia Training Kit
The UNV staff managing the UNITeS initiative was invited to prepare a
module on volunteers in telecentres and community media organizations
for the UNESCO Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK). I lead the creation of
the module, which includes a slide show presentation, exercises, case
studies and trainer notes.
Other initiatives
- The Virtual Volunteering Project,
which, when I directed it from December 1996 to January 2001, encouraged
and assisted agencies in the development and success of volunteer
opportunities that can be completed via home or work computers and the
Internet, and helped agencies use the Internet to manage all volunteers
and connect with volunteer management resources. This included the most
comprehensive information available, on or offline, regarding online
mentoring programs and best practices.
- Sanchez Elementary School
Online Mentoring Program
Jayne designed this program, designed the web site, and recruited,
screened and trained the online volunteers who participated in this
program to mentor two classes at Sanchez Elementary School in Austin,
Texas, as part of the Virtual Volunteering
Project. This web site, sans mentor and student information and
interactive functionality, is provided to help others, particularly
schools, to develop their own online mentoring programs.
- AmeriCorps for Community Engagement
and Education Program (ACEE)
VISTA School Volunteer Management Handbook
A resource guide from 1998 for VISTAs in charge of managing school-based
volunteers for Sanchez Elementary School in Austin, Texas through the
ACEE program, and a good model for managing school-based volunteers
anywhere.
- Community Engagement and Volunteerism Resources for Texas K-12
Schools
Part of the Texas Education Network (TENET), this web portal is for
school administrators, teachers, parent/family volunteers, and others
who coordinate volunteer and community partnership activities between
schools and other organizations, including businesses. It has become a
nationally-recognized web site. To view the site, cut and paste http://www.serviceleader.org/old/schools/
into archive.org.
- Part of the Texas Education Network (TENET), this web portal
is for school administrators, teachers, parent/family volunteers, and
others who coordinate volunteer and community partnership activities
between schools and other organizations, including businesses. It has
become a nationally-recognized web site. To view the site, cut and paste
http://www.serviceleader.org/old/schools/ into archive.org.
Also before recruitment, you also have to have foundations
in place (no excuses) and you have to create
roles and tasks for volunteers.
Return to this web
site's index of volunteer engagement-related
resources
And also time to have a look at:
The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook:
Fully Integrating Online Service Into Volunteer Involvement.
A comprehensive guide to using online tools for supporting
& engaging ALL volunteers, & for creating online roles &
online tasks for volunteers.
The Ultimate Guide to Setting Up Virtual Volunteering At Any Organization.
Here's how to order
(includes table of contents and reviews).
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