September 17, 2009 | Read Time: 6 minutes
A few months ago, at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, a moderator asked audience members to raise their hands if they used volunteers. Nearly everyone in the room did. He then asked how many had seen an influx of volunteers recently. A substantial percentage raised their hands again. Finally a third question: How many wanted more volunteers? This time, no hands went up.
To those outside the nonprofit world, that response might seem jarring, if not shocking. To people in the room and many other nonprofit leaders, the response points to a familiar problem: the disconnect between volunteers’ interest and an organization’s ability to use them well.
This fall, as government and business issue new calls to serve, many nonprofit groups are wondering whether they can absorb an influx of volunteers. It’s a very real challenge for groups of all sizes.
Consider the current environment: Congress has passed and is considering how much to spend on the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act; this month, more than a dozen mayors pledged to adopt their own blueprints to spur residents to serve; the Obama administration has made volunteerism a national priority; and in October, major broadcast networks, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and groups including AARP, HandsOn Network, ServiceNation, and several major corporations will join in an ambitious public effort to recruit Americans to serve.
Most important, Americans are telling us they are ready to serve. Research conducted last year for AARP found that four in 10 people ages 44 to 79 expected to volunteer more in the next five years. Though the recession has caused many people to cut back on the amount of time they spend volunteering, as last month’s update of America’s Civic Health Index demonstrated, AARP does not see that reduction as a long-term trend.
If we make the most of it, this moment can help us serve our communities and clients in new and more effective ways. But first we must tackle the question of equipping charities to handle volunteers.
After spending more than 50 years working to involve Americans in service, AARP has found that managing and supporting volunteers effectively can help build our organization’s ability to welcome and deploy new ones.
Success, for us, means taking advantage of the current environment while making use of techniques that AARP has used effectively for many years. While we know that what might work for one organization won’t always be appropriate for another, we see the following as opportunities to help harness the power of this new era of service:
Taking advantage of the Serve America Act provisions. Calls to serve echoing across America must rely on infrastructure as well as inspiration.
The Volunteer Generation Fund, enacted in April as part of the Serve America Act, can provide vital support to expand the capacity of nonprofit groups to recruit and retain more volunteers. The fund will award grants to nonprofit groups not only to recruit but also to manage and support volunteers.
Asking baby boomers to offer their skills. Today millions of boomers with decades of experience are ready and able to help make an important difference, if the right opportunities are available. As one physician volunteer told us, “I’m happy to make sandwiches, but my skills might be better used another way.”
We all can broaden and deepen our organizations’ impact by finding creative ways to involve highly trained and experienced individuals such as nurses, military officers, accountants, educators, clergy, communicators, Web developers, and many others. Their skills can be deployed in direct service work, as well as in managing programs or other volunteers. Consider pro bono Web developers who design better inventory methods for the soup kitchen; human-resources experts who help a local charity recruit and retain volunteers; or nurses promoting better health in a community.
Enlisting volunteers to manage one another for a strong return on investment. Two of our programs have built their success on a traditional foundation of volunteers managing other volunteers: the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program and the AARP Driver Safety Program. Today more than 40,000 volunteers are helping others prepare their taxes and drive safely, and many volunteers have taken on critical leadership roles in all major aspects of managing the programs. More than 80 million people have received help as a result of the two programs.
We have found that success within a traditional volunteer structure comes from keeping people involved in a way that is meaningful to them throughout their volunteer life cycle. Tax-Aide, with a staff-to-volunteer ratio of 1 to more than 3,000, is a very good example of volunteers taking on a variety of substantive management roles such as instructors, trainers, data managers, outreach strategists, and district, state, and regional coordinators.
Certain guiding principles are especially helpful in working with and retaining volunteer managers and leaders:
- Listen to them. Find out why they became volunteer managers and what they like and don’t like about the role. Learn and manage what the key connection is for each of them.
- Treat them as colleagues and recognize their achievements.
- Get their feedback regularly and involve them in decisions.
- Minimize difficulties in their assignment. Don’t require anything that is not absolutely essential.
- Don’t just ask them what they would like to do but also describe how their role is critical in achieving the overall goal. Volunteers need to believe in what they are doing.
Capitalizing on the do-it-yourself trend. Although Americans have reduced the amount of time they spend volunteering, according to the Civic Health Index, 50 percent are stepping in to help others in more self-directed ways — specifically, giving food or money to those in need. This fall AARP and other groups are making available new do-it-yourself kits that people can download and use to help relatives or neighbors organize prescription medicines, arrange a home for safety, avoid fraud, or deal with other needs. Other groups can use this approach to mobilize volunteers to go out on their own and make a difference. For example, last winter in Virginia, volunteers from community colleges, religious groups, and elsewhere used our Operation Energy Save tool kits to help community members weatherize their homes.
Facing up to the problem of why volunteers quit. Almost all nonprofit groups, regardless of their size, budget, or resources, have trouble keeping volunteers. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, more than 30 percent of volunteers drop out after a year. AARP has found that volunteers are more likely to stay if the request comes directly from the organization rather than, say, the volunteer’s employer. We have also learned that it’s best to tailor volunteer pitches to the volunteer’s stage of life. Is the volunteer still working? Does he or she have kids at home? What about duties caring for older family members?
As AARP programs grow, we also are putting greater emphasis on flexibility. We’re connecting our volunteers to tasks that can be done anytime, anywhere.
At the same time, we recognize that we will never keep 100 percent — nor should we. One of the most important things we have learned is that not everyone is the right fit for an organization. And that’s okay.
In striking a balance between the interests of volunteers and the needs of an organization, nonprofit groups must not stray from their fundamental mission.
I am confident that if we come together to take advantage of this important moment, we will emerge eager to attract more people to serve, better able to retain them, and ready to involve new and existing volunteers in advancing our missions and serving the communities in which they live and work. Most importnt, we will emerge with a new sense of what is possible for our organizations to achieve.
Tom Nelson is chief operating officer of AARP.
