Volunteering Activities

Mike Watkins commented on the blogs of group 1 and group 6

Introduction

The mission of our organization is to assist those in need in building suitable homes or repairing homes to make them livable through empowerment and self-sufficiency.  The idea is to help people make their living environment better by making them responsible.  Materials and financing is provided through our program but the work and skills are attained through the owners of the home.  We do not require that participants spend time physically working but it is encouraged.   There is a process by which participants must apply and be accepted into the program.  They must prove need.

            The main goal of our organization is to better the community by creating self-sufficient citizens.  These citizens are better able to care for their families by having long-term housing.  The community also becomes more attractive by taking better care of the building structures that are present.

            Additional goals for our organization revolve around the volunteers we are able to recruit.  We strive to make this a learning experience that is meaningful to all involved.  This is done by finding volunteers, explaining the mission of the program, and then finding an area that is a good fit to each volunteer.  We also want the volunteers to understand why their role is important in the overall mission of the organization.

            We focus, then, on the retention of volunteers.  In order to have committed, hard-working volunteers, we try to work with people who are willing to make a long-term commitment and are interested in helping beyond one project.  This takes a lot of focused effort and time with the volunteers.  We employ a quality administrative team to ensure that they take appropriate time with each volunteer.

            We recruit volunteers within the community in order to find people who have an already established commitment to the location of the building.  We strive to find people who have an interest in seeing the community come together.  Starting at this level makes it easier to find people who are willing to make the long-term commitment.

            Of course it takes more than just that innate wish to see your community bettered.  Once we have a solid group of starter volunteers, we provide them ample and appropriate training.  This training covers what the overall mission of the agency.  It also takes a look at all of the volunteer roles and how each role specifically works to meet the mission.  The training also encourages volunteers to take an active role in the experience.  They are encouraged to offer ideas for improvement and betterment of the program. 

            Volunteers are also recognized at the end of a project.  Individual awards are given out as well as an overall group celebration of the completion of a home.  Individuals are recognized for the talents they each bring to a project.  Genuine appreciation for each one’s efforts and time is shown in front of the whole group.

            We feel these methods, in addition to others, help to keep the same volunteers on board for multiple projects.  We strive to be up front with our expectations and ask our volunteers to do the same.  We work on a schedule and stick to it in order to respect everyone’s individual schedules. With this focus on retention, and intentionally putting plans into place to keep quality volunteers in place, we find success in retention.   We wish to continue to run a program that is loyal to its volunteers and stands behind them with appreciation and respect.

Rationale

When it comes to the rationales for the volunteer plans and strategies, there is a common theme of implementing strategies that increase the rate of retention of volunteers. For each of the various strategies and plans used to increase retention, there is a specific reason for implementation.

            For example, one such strategy for retaining volunteers includes giving volunteers the ability to collaborate with one another. The rationale for this is that by allowing individuals to interact with one another, volunteers will begin to feel a sense of community and togetherness that strengthens their bond to the volunteering organization. In addition, collaboration gives volunteers the opportunity to actively engage with the volunteering effort.

            Another strategy for increasing retention includes providing proper supervision and training for volunteers. The rationale for this plan is that proper training allows individuals to confidently engage in volunteering activities. When volunteers feel confident in the work that they are doing, there is an increased desire to continue volunteering. In addition, the rationale for proper supervision is that volunteers are in constant need of feeling a sense of order, and adequate supervision provides just that.

            With the strategy of increasing retention by illustrating the skills that volunteers obtain from participating in volunteering, the rationale for this is that while volunteers have many reasons for volunteering, obtaining skills that will serve well beyond their time of volunteering is a benefit that increases a person’s odds of being retained. The skills and abilities obtained through volunteering are invaluable assets.

            Another rationale for the strategies and plans utilized to increase retention has to do with the company showing appreciation for its volunteers. In this regard, our group understands that volunteers respond positively to a volunteer organization that shows appreciation for their work. The reasoning behind this is that people as a whole generally feel as if their time and effort in any capacity is largely underappreciated. However a company that recognizes and shows appreciation for their volunteers’ efforts, the meaning goes deeper than any monetary or material value.

            The final rationale for the plans and strategies implemented by our group has to do with obtaining feedback from volunteers once the effort was completed. There are a couple rationales that go along with this type of plan implementation. The first rationale is that by obtaining feedback from past volunteers, our company can continue to do the things that volunteers appreciated as well as the things that need improvement. By addressing any negative concerns, we can seek to increase our chances of retaining volunteers in the future. Secondly, by obtaining feedback from our volunteers, we can show people that we value and appreciate their opinion and work.

Methodology

We chose to look at the volunteer retention programs of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) as the organization serves on the national level and deals with nearly 77,000 volunteers each year. They serve clients across the United States. Our organization will be similar in that we will have a variety of volunteer roles with people coming from, across the country.  CASA see’s the key to volunteer retention as a matter of making volunteers feel good about their assignment and themselves (Lynch). If a volunteer is given a task that is satisfying and rewarding they will be more inclined to continue to volunteer with the organization. The organization sees volunteers a valuable resource and works to promote an environment that fosters a positive environment that encourages people to volunteer.

CASA’s retainment plan stresses the importance of feeling connected. People generally want to build relationships with others and volunteering allows them to do so. Those who lack relationships with others may experience loneliness and dissatisfaction with their life (Lynch). To combat this issue CASA has developed a plan which seeks the input of the volunteer and encourages them to share their opinion. Validation of volunteer efforts and recognizing volunteer contributions are another part of the retention program. Validating volunteer’s statements can be very beneficial in creating a positive environment and go a long way in showing that the organization appreciates volunteers. Recognizing accomplishments should not only be done at the individual level, but in front of the whole organization so that all members can see what has been accomplished.

Other aspects of CASA’s retention plan include keeping volunteers informed and giving them ownership in the mission. CASA works to make sure each volunteer know the mission of their organization and that their work helps to achieve their goal (Lynch). By informing volunteers of the organization’s mission and goals they will have more of a stake in the organization. Most volunteers want to have some sense of ownership within the organization. CASA caters to this by encouraging volunteers to take credit for their work. This helps to affirm that what they are doing is actually making a difference in the organization. In all CASA uses 13 different aspects to encourage volunteer retainment:

·       Creating a mutually validating climate	·       Encouraging volunteer creativity
·       Communicating volunteer contributions	·       Setting high standards.
·       Addressing volunteers by name.	·       Monitoring volunteer regard.
·       Invitations	·       Promoting interaction
·       Keeping volunteers informed.	·       Disseminating volunteer experiences
·       Listen and learn	·       Offering consistent recognition.
·       Giving volunteers ownership in the mission.

            Volunteer Hub was an organization created in 1996 to assist people in registering for University of Michigan’s Habitat for Humanity chapter. Since then the organization has grown exponentially into one that provides volunteer software for different organizations.  Volunteer Hub also provides various resources on volunteer recruitment and retention. For volunteer retention, the organization believes volunteers must be pleased with the environment in which they work and motivated by the tasks to which they are assigned (Litch, 2007). Any plan for retention must look at both what keeps volunteers around and what causes them to leave. Understanding the motives behind the volunteer is the first step in Volunteer Hub’s plan. The organization must understand why each volunteer chooses to volunteer. This will help them cater towards the individual volunteer and provide them with a meaningful task. Next the organization should evaluate the skills of the volunteer and any skills they way want to learn while volunteering. This information should be collected before someone starts volunteering so that the tasks they are given cater toward their current skills and any skills they may wish to learn. The tasks should provide some level of challenge so that the volunteer does not become bored and lose interest, but not so much that they are unable to complete the task. Doing so will help to facilitate personal growth and may open up new opportunities. The final part to Volunteer Hub’s retention plan includes recognizing their service and providing them with awards (Litch, 2007). Providing food and drinks helps show that the organization recognizes the volunteers sacrifice along with having an annual volunteer banquet to recognize their contributions. While volunteers are not giving monetary compensation, they can be given other rewards such as free tickets to events, personal workspace and free giveaways. These are little tokens that help to further recognize their contributions.

Why volunteers Stay	Why volunteers leave
·       Understanding motivation	·       Appearance of office/equipment
·       Skill development	·       Orientation and training
·       Personal growth	·       Communication
·       Challenge	·       Interpersonal relationships
·       Connect with others	·       Working conditions
·       Contact with clients	·       Organization
·       Recognition and rewards	·       Equipment quality

Volunteer Hub’s volunteer retention plan also looks at why volunteers leave so the organization can know what to avoid when dealing with volunteers. An organization is less likely to retain volunteers when the workspace is dirty and unorganized (Litch, 2007). A volunteer’s first impression can greatly affect their decision on whether to stay with an organization. Orientation and training help welcome a volunteer into the organization, without them a volunteer may feel lost and not connected. Volunteers need to know how their contributions benefit the organization’s mission. They also want to feel connected to the organization through communicating with paid employees and the individuals the organization serves (Litch, 2007).  Volunteer Hub is able to increase volunteer retention by not recognizing both the reasons why an individual stays and why they leave.

Volunteer Plan

Volunteer retention was the topic our group chose to evaluate and apply activities to our own program. From the CASA program, we found two methods that we wanted to apply to our own program. The first method CASA utilizes is making sure their volunteers are informed about the mission statement of the organization. This is a method we would like to utilize in our program. Our program has staff members that are in charge of new volunteer orientation. We want our staff members to make sure the new volunteers are aware, and knowledgeable over our mission. We believe if the volunteers are aware of the mission, they can apply a sense of ownership, pride, and value to the work they are doing.

Another method that CASA utilizes is listening and valuing the input from their volunteers. It is a easy method that makes the volunteers feel connected to the organization, but also makes them feel valued. Many of our volunteers are going out and building, or renovating homes in the community. Our program will ask volunteers at the end of a renovation about the experience they had during the renovation. From this input, we can evaluate how job sites are being run, and also find out what is working well and what needs improvements. By listening to the input from our volunteers, we can improve the quality of work being executed and we can make the experience more rewarding for the volunteers.

Volunteer Hub was another organization we evaluated in order to gain retention strategies. One method Volunteer Hub utilized was assessing the volunteer’s skills before they started working at the organization. They also asked what skills they wanted to develop while working at the organization. This method is an outstanding method for our organization to utilize. Our program is building and renovating community member’s houses in order to meet city codes. It is essential for our program to find out what kind of construction experience our volunteers have so they can do the job correctly. Our program will also be able to figure out what kind of construction skills our volunteers want to develop so they can continue their work at our program.

The second method our program is going to use from Volunteer Hub is an assessment for volunteers when they want to leave our program. We have our volunteers separated into short-term and long-term volunteers. By assessing both groups, we can figure out the reasons our short-term volunteers are leaving, and why our long-term volunteers are leaving. This information is very important so we can discover any problems that may be occurring, and fix those problems so we do not lose any more volunteers. Both CASA and Volunteer Hub provided our program with great strategies for volunteer retention. We hope that applying the previously states methods will help with volunteer retention at our program.

Retention Strategies of CASA http://www.casaforchildren.org	Application in our plan	Retention Strategies of Volunteer Hub http://www.volunteerhub.com/	Application in our plan
Volunteers Informed of the Mission Statement	Make sure the staff that provides orientation stresses the mission statement and make sure the volunteers are well informed of it.	Assess the volunteer’s skills and see what skills they want to develop.	Assess the skills of our volunteers prior to start of work to see what kind of construction skills they have.
Listen to the input of the volunteers.	Ask for input after house renovations to see what needs to be improved.	Assessment given to volunteers after they leave the organization.	Assess short-term and long-term volunteers to find out what problems may be occurring.

References

Litch, C. (2007, February). Volunteers, Part I: What Makes Them Stay? Retrieved from Volunteerhub.com.

Lynch, R. (n.d.). Volunteer Retention and Feelings of Connection. CASA for Children.