This blog post is a part of our "Reading Notes" series - where we read an article, post a summary, and our comments on it.
Article Title: The New Volunteer Workforce
Url: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_new_volunteer_workforce/
Date: 12/02/08
Notes:
A tremendous read about volunteering, packed full with stats and
research tidbits. The article makes the case that volunteering is
severely
undervalued by nonprofits, corporations, and the laity in general. The
result is that nonprofits are leaving billions (that's billions) of
dollars on the table.
Despite Hillary Clinton's claim that 'words don't matter,' the authors make the case that part of the problem may lay in the term "volunteer" itself. The term implies "free" which connotes something that is not valuable (see quote below). You know who's already figured this out?
Coders.
What is the most efficient and value producing volunteer workforce in existence today? It's the open source movement. And being an "open source coder" is a synonym for "software development volunteer." So there's one condor-sized feather in the cap of the authors' hypothesis.
I've blogged about volunteer terminology before (http://blog.mobilevoter.org/2008/07/new-name-for-vo.html) - it's the reason that we changed the name of our endeavor from "Volunteer Now" to "The Extraordinaries." I'm convinced that volunteerism of the 2010s will look nothing like we've ever seen and that it will go by a different name. And you won't think of it as "donating your time." You'll think of it as something fun, social, and good for you. You may even think of it as entertainment for a cause.
This article calls for a more structured and dedicated approach to volunteer program management. The result of which will be taking some of that $36billion off the table and into the pockets of nonprofits. But can we do better? Can we envision that which does not go by the name "volunteerism." Because, frankly, even if nonprofits do a much better job at recruiting, retaining, and managing talent, there's still a lot of value left on the table. And its value that's not even being measured right now. We're looking at one specific table, but there's a whole range of Arizonian mesas in the distance.
To see them, we need only look to the example of the open source software movement. It shifted not only the terminology, but the business model. For one, it shows us that volunteerism doesn't necessarily have to be focused around the (nonprofit) corporation. Social good *and* economic value can be generated by loosely organized communities of individuals. For two, the product that results from this group may actually be of higher quality than that produced by any given corporation. And if you're wondering where that leaves nonprofits, well, they gain too because software is cheaper, better, and more widely available than ever before - and in our information economy, software is how nonprofits do business.
But software production is only one area of expertise. How do we apply this business-model-busting approach to the rest of that which should not be called "volunteerism?"
Pithy Quotes:
* "most nonprofits do not view their volunteers as strategic assets"
* "most nonprofits are losing staggering numbers of volunteers every year. Of the 61.2 million people who volunteered in 2006, 21.7 million—more than one-third—did not donate any time to a charitable cause the following year.3 Because these volunteers gave about 1.9 billion hours in 2006, and the value of their donated time was about $20 per hour4—that calculates to about $38 billion in lost volunteer time in one year."
* "A few nonprofits have grasped this concept [that volunteers can generate a tremendous amount of value] and are taking what we call a talent management approach—investing in the infrastructure to recruit, develop, place, recognize, and retain volunteer talent."
* "Five of the main reasons why more than 1 in 3 volunteers don't re-volunteer
1.
Not Matching Volunteers’ Skills with Assignments. Volunteers with
valuable and specialized skills are often dispatched to do manual labor
rather than tasks that use their professional talents."
2. "Failing to Recognize Volunteers’ Contributions"
3. "Not Measuring the Value of Volunteers. "
4. "Failing to Train and Invest in Volunteers and Staff."
5. "Failing to Provide Strong Leadership."
* "Why isn’t volunteering more respected? Why aren’t more organizations investing in volunteering? One problem may lie with the term itself. The word “volunteer” doesn’t say anything about the nature of the service provided, except implying that it is free. It is often assumed that something free is not valuable. Maybe we should use different words—like fundraiser, project manager, or legal counsel—that describe the work performed and help erode outdated ideas about the value of the volunteer workforce."
* "If nonprofit leaders want highly skilled volunteers to come and stay, they need to expand their vision of volunteering by creating an experience that is meaningful for the volunteer, develops skills, demonstrates impact, and taps into volunteers’ abilities and interests."
* Their research showed that the primary difference between volunteers
and non volunteers is the amount of TV watched! Back to quote: "People
do not volunteer because nonprofits do not provide them with volunteer
opportunities that interest them enough to pull them away from their
television sets."
* need to rethink the role of volunteer and make it more hybrid with "worker"
CAPITALIZING ON VOLUNTEER TALENT
* Rethinking Work Roles.
* Assigning Appropriate Tasks.
"CNCS research found that volunteers who engage in less challenging
activities tend to be less likely to continue volunteering the
following year. Only 53 percent of volunteers who did “general labor”
activities or supplied transportation continued volunteering the
following year. By contrast, 74 percent of volunteers performing
professional or management activities continued volunteering."
* "Creating Bonding Experiences. "
* "Supporting and Training Volunteers"
* "Using New Technology"
* "Developing Strategic Plans"
* "America’s young people are increasingly interested in making a difference. One recent study revealed that 68 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 26 prefer to work for a company that provides professional volunteer opportunities....The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute reported in 2005 a 25-year high in first-year students’ belief that it is “essential or important to help others.”
* "Nonprofits can also use religious organizations to expand their reach into the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian communities. Each group does more than one-third of all their volunteering with religious groups."
* A "surge in professional people interested in putting their skills to good use creates a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits."
CrossPosted at: www.theextraordinaries.org
