Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Volunteers

Most nonprofit organizations have at least three times as many volunteers as they do staff members. That means that most of your “workforce” is made up of volunteers, who donate their time and resources for the sheer pleasure of giving back to their community. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should be relaxed about managing your volunteers. Just because they aren’t paid doesn’t mean that they should have free-run of your nonprofit organization.

Managing Volunteers: Training

All volunteers, no matter what your nonprofit organization, should go through a training period where they learn the ropes. For some nonprofits, that might mean just a couple of hours of instruction, while other nonprofit organizations might require a full week of training.

During training, volunteers should be taught their role in the nonprofit organization as well as the acceptable and unacceptable behavior of volunteers.

Managing Volunteers: Delegating Duties

In most cases, volunteers are managed directly by paid staff members. Your staff members should be comfortable with delegating duties to volunteers, and your volunteers should be comfortable with taking direction. Establish early on that volunteers are working at your nonprofit for a reason, and that everyone is there for a common goal.

Managing Volunteers: Motivation

Human nature dictates that your paid staff members will probably be more motivated to get their work done than will volunteers, simply because staff members are paid and volunteers are not. However, if you have a group of volunteers who truly care about the goal of your nonprofit, motivation will be high all around.

This means that your hiring process for volunteers should include measuring the motivation of each volunteer. Why do they want to volunteer for your nonprofit? And what can they bring to your organization? It is perfectly okay to want volunteers who are willing to work hard toward a common goal.

Managing Volunteers: Letting Volunteers Go