Volunteer.      Meet new people.      Connect to community.  

I had no idea there were this many different ways to find volunteers. Thank you very much for your help.

Tammy

Traditionally the roles of volunteers have been limited to staff assistant duties. Rather than using specific skills or developing new positions that help expand services and programs, volunteers are often relegated to assisting staff with paid staff work, which can bring on a host of issues.

 

According to Ellis, the sharing of work between staff and volunteers can lead to questions of responsibility—if the volunteer does not provide quality work, is the staff member accountable, or vice versa? Job-sharing can also lead to recruiting volunteers with similar qualifications as staff, which can result in organizations feeling less inclined to hire staff if volunteers are there to do the same kind of work.

 

Ellis believes volunteer involvement should require creative thinking to help place volunteers in more meaningful positions—both for the volunteer and for the organization. The benefits of using volunteer potential can create a big impact on the organization’s services and programs.

 

Unlikely matches can prove to be successful as Ellis proves in her real-life example of incorporating volunteers with a specialty in geography with family court. The benefits of recruiting those with different skill sets allow organizations to use unique skills that may not be found in staff who share similar qualifications. In fact, because of this difference staff and volunteers may have a better working relationship because staff may not feel as threatened by a volunteer with their qualifications or job skills.

 

To read the full article, visit Energize Inc.