Thanks for this! I’ve done a bit of volunteering and these suggestions seem very accurate and applicable. I’ll refer to this if I work with a volunteer program again.
Do you have any thoughts on when organizations benefit most from working with volunteers? When is it a bad idea, what makes the difference?
Thank you for your comment, great to hear that these suggestions seem to be helpful.
And great questions. I don’t have a definitive answer (I might miss some things and the situation can differ a lot between organisations) but I can share some thoughts. Your second question is easier to answer, so I will start with that one.
I think that it’s a bad idea to work with volunteers if:
The organisation does not realise that volunteers aren’t free. They cost time, for coordination, recruitment, training, answering questions, etc. And sometimes the organisation needs to pay for an insurance, the volunteer’s equipment, etc.
The organisation is not willing to invest in the relationship with the volunteer. Even though some volunteers work independently, everybody is still human and would like to have some relation to the organisation. (Or to say it more bluntly: if you are a jerk, don’t work with volunteers (or other people))
The organisation has the resources to pay people for their work. I think that, in general, it is preferable to compensate people for their work. Payment is a strong sign of value and appreciation, and if an organisation has the means to pay for the work, but doesn’t do it, I would question what the additional value of the volunteer’s work is. Besides being a great motivation killer for the volunteer, it seems to be a better use of the volunteer’s time to volunteer somewhere else.
Ok, so when do organisations benefit the most from working with volunteers? I think this question is more complex than the former and depends on several factors. In general I think two components are important: 1. the nature of the work and 2. the available volunteers. If the organisation’s work is not too specialised and there are enough people who fit with your organisation (and are willing to donate their time), then an organisation can benefit from working with volunteers. Otherwise, I think an organisation will struggle and it can become (very) hard to have an impact while working with volunteers.
1. The nature of the work.
Usually volunteers can be very skilled, but they do not have much time to become specialised. There are of course exceptions, but generally volunteers can not spend too much time on their work, therefore getting to know the specific organisation (and the specific work) less well than a staff member. So if your organisation’s work needs a lot of inside knowledge, or is specific, it will be harder to work with volunteers. Of course, volunteers can be trained, but as they tend to spend less time on the job (and the turn-over is sometimes high), it can make the volunteer work so costly that it’s not efficient anymore (for these costs, the organisation can better hire 1 person full-time and train him/her/them). Another factor that plays a role is how easily the work can be coordinated and managed, as all these are costs as well.
As a rule of thumb I think for short-term volunteering the work should be easy and straight forward (if you give somebody a description of the work, they must be able to carry it out without further instructions). For tasks that take longer, the work should contribute towards volunteer satisfaction. That is easier if the work can be carried out autonomous, is flexible, the volunteer is responsible for the whole process, and the work is challenging. If the organisation’s work does not have any of these characteristics I assume it could be hard to retain your volunteers.
2. The available volunteers.
Your question was about when organisations benefit most from working with volunteers, but I think that this question can not be separated from the volunteers themselves. Partly because volunteers have to fit with your organisation, partly because volunteers who donate their time to one organisation, can not do that for another organisation (what is the best way to distribute this resource in the community?), and partly because if there are no qualified people to volunteer, the organisation can not have their intended impact. And as an organisation usually needs more volunteers to carry out the same work as one paid employee (because of the time availability), and it can be hard to find reliable, high-quality volunteers, an organisation can be easily bottlenecked by a lack of volunteers (some people say that good volunteers are power-law distributed).
Another factor is if the volunteering is the best use of the volunteer’s time. Somebody could not only donate their time to another (more effective?) organisation, but also use their time to e.g. skill-up or earn to give. For effective volunteering that means that volunteers often volunteer to learn something, improve a skill, or test out a career option. If your organisation can offer an opportunity for people to do one of these, it could be encouraged (and positive for the community) to create volunteer opportunities. But if the organisation’s work provides an opportunity that people are not looking for, it can be really hard to fill your positions.
Thanks for this! I’ve done a bit of volunteering and these suggestions seem very accurate and applicable. I’ll refer to this if I work with a volunteer program again.
Do you have any thoughts on when organizations benefit most from working with volunteers? When is it a bad idea, what makes the difference?
Thank you for your comment, great to hear that these suggestions seem to be helpful.
And great questions. I don’t have a definitive answer (I might miss some things and the situation can differ a lot between organisations) but I can share some thoughts. Your second question is easier to answer, so I will start with that one.
I think that it’s a bad idea to work with volunteers if:
The organisation does not realise that volunteers aren’t free. They cost time, for coordination, recruitment, training, answering questions, etc. And sometimes the organisation needs to pay for an insurance, the volunteer’s equipment, etc.
The organisation is not willing to invest in the relationship with the volunteer. Even though some volunteers work independently, everybody is still human and would like to have some relation to the organisation. (Or to say it more bluntly: if you are a jerk, don’t work with volunteers (or other people))
The organisation has the resources to pay people for their work. I think that, in general, it is preferable to compensate people for their work. Payment is a strong sign of value and appreciation, and if an organisation has the means to pay for the work, but doesn’t do it, I would question what the additional value of the volunteer’s work is. Besides being a great motivation killer for the volunteer, it seems to be a better use of the volunteer’s time to volunteer somewhere else.
Ok, so when do organisations benefit the most from working with volunteers? I think this question is more complex than the former and depends on several factors. In general I think two components are important: 1. the nature of the work and 2. the available volunteers. If the organisation’s work is not too specialised and there are enough people who fit with your organisation (and are willing to donate their time), then an organisation can benefit from working with volunteers. Otherwise, I think an organisation will struggle and it can become (very) hard to have an impact while working with volunteers.
1. The nature of the work.
Usually volunteers can be very skilled, but they do not have much time to become specialised. There are of course exceptions, but generally volunteers can not spend too much time on their work, therefore getting to know the specific organisation (and the specific work) less well than a staff member. So if your organisation’s work needs a lot of inside knowledge, or is specific, it will be harder to work with volunteers. Of course, volunteers can be trained, but as they tend to spend less time on the job (and the turn-over is sometimes high), it can make the volunteer work so costly that it’s not efficient anymore (for these costs, the organisation can better hire 1 person full-time and train him/her/them). Another factor that plays a role is how easily the work can be coordinated and managed, as all these are costs as well.
As a rule of thumb I think for short-term volunteering the work should be easy and straight forward (if you give somebody a description of the work, they must be able to carry it out without further instructions). For tasks that take longer, the work should contribute towards volunteer satisfaction. That is easier if the work can be carried out autonomous, is flexible, the volunteer is responsible for the whole process, and the work is challenging. If the organisation’s work does not have any of these characteristics I assume it could be hard to retain your volunteers.
2. The available volunteers.
Your question was about when organisations benefit most from working with volunteers, but I think that this question can not be separated from the volunteers themselves. Partly because volunteers have to fit with your organisation, partly because volunteers who donate their time to one organisation, can not do that for another organisation (what is the best way to distribute this resource in the community?), and partly because if there are no qualified people to volunteer, the organisation can not have their intended impact. And as an organisation usually needs more volunteers to carry out the same work as one paid employee (because of the time availability), and it can be hard to find reliable, high-quality volunteers, an organisation can be easily bottlenecked by a lack of volunteers (some people say that good volunteers are power-law distributed).
Another factor is if the volunteering is the best use of the volunteer’s time. Somebody could not only donate their time to another (more effective?) organisation, but also use their time to e.g. skill-up or earn to give. For effective volunteering that means that volunteers often volunteer to learn something, improve a skill, or test out a career option. If your organisation can offer an opportunity for people to do one of these, it could be encouraged (and positive for the community) to create volunteer opportunities. But if the organisation’s work provides an opportunity that people are not looking for, it can be really hard to fill your positions.