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Rejuvena�ngYour Volunteer

Programme

Start by Reviewing Your Volunteer Programme

Is your volunteer programme in need of a nip and tuck? Does it need to be more focused on the needs of the volunteer? Is the culture of your volunteer involving organisa�on likely to a�ract informal volunteers in the future?

What do your current volunteers like or dislike about your volunteer programme? Now would a great opportunity to get their feedback with a survey. The Volunteer Impact Assessment is a great tool to help explore the impact of volunteering on a range of stakeholders. But remember, unless you are going to act on this feedback and make the necessary changes, don’t ask for it.

Some volunteer programmes are not currently opera�ng or have been curtailed, others have fundamentally changed or expanded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Volunteer managers may find it challenging that a programme they successfully delivered for a number of years can no longer operate due to COVID-19.

However, this �me can present an opportunity to reflect on the opera�on of your volunteer programme. Both in Ireland and globally society and culture are fundamentally changing. While formal volunteering has been to the fore in Ireland, informal volunteering makes up 70% of all volunteering globally, and societal changes are leading to an increase in informal volunteering in Ireland. A percentage of these informal volunteers have never engaged in formal volunteering. What can you do now to engage these volunteers in your programme in the future?

If your programme has stopped make sure that you to con�nue to keep your volunteers engaged and communicate with them about the status of your programme. Check out our factsheet “Suspending or Stopping your Volunteer Programme.”

If you want your volunteer programme to exist in 12 or 24 months’ �me your organisa�on must be willing to adapt now to reflect the changes that will take place in society and as a consequence in volunteering.

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Rejuvena�ng Your Volunteer Programme

Organisa�onal percep�on

What is the public’s percep�on of your organisa�on? You may be doing a great job, but do the public perceive your organisa�on as stuffy, old and bureaucra�c? Is that just a percep�on or is it a reality? An online focus group or short online survey circulated externally (e.g.) through Ac�velink’s Community Exchange Email list could help you explore some of the (mis)concep�ons.

Barriers

Are there limita�ons set on new volunteers which may appear to be unrealis�c? Do you insist on volunteers being available at set �mes on set days? 54% of volunteers in Ireland surveyed by NFP Synergy want short term episodic volunteering. Engaging short term volunteers is a great way to introduce new people to your organisa�on.

The Many Forms of Volunteering

Let’s face it, some of us have been stuck in our formal volunteering ways for too long. Have you been cri�cal of informal volunteering, virtual volunteering, microvolunteering, emergency volunteering or slack�vism? Now is the �me to research these forms of volunteering, they aren’t just fads, they are growing trends.

Virtual Insanity

Do you think that Virtual Volunteering is a new idea that won’t go far? Virtual volunteering has been around for close to 30 years, but there has been resistance by some who think it won’t work in their organisa�on. There are a variety of ways to deliver virtual volunteering, check out our training calendar for our “Fundamentals of Virtual Volunteering Course.”

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Rejuvena�ng Your Volunteer Programme

Website Revamp

Review the volunteer recruitment content on your website. How many clicks does it take to get from the front page of your website to your volunteer pages? What does this say to poten�al volunteers about how important volunteering is to your organisa�on? When you get to that page how much informa�on is provided? Update these pages and give the content a refresh. Add a few case studies and up to date pictures ensuring the language and imagery appeals to a broad audience. You could get a virtual volunteer to assist with the design and web development.

Dreaded Databases

Are you s�ll opera�ng off the back of an envelope or from an outdated spreadsheet? Now is the �me to explore some of the online volunteer management tools to help streamline your recruitment and communica�ons processes. Again, a virtual volunteer with IT skills could help you explore the many op�ons and help you set this up.

Policy Review

When was your volunteer policy last updated? Take some �me to review its content, what does the language say about the value your organisa�on places on volunteers? Is there a need to revise the policy to reflect new types of volunteering your organisa�on may start incorpora�ng? Download our useful volunteer policy development tool.

Volunteer Handbook

Does your organisa�on have a volunteer handbook, a go to useful resource for your

volunteers? This might prove a useful addi�on if you start to introduce virtual volunteering or volunteering from home to ensure volunteers act consistently in line with organisa�onal values and ethos while volunteering remotley.

Volunteer Strategy

Where are we going? We aren’t really sure. A volunteer strategy will help give direc�on to your programme over the coming years. Remember it is more than just a numbers game, it’s about developing your volunteers who in turn help to develop your organisa�on.

Research

There are a huge amount of papers wri�en on volunteering globally and a lot of these are freely available. Why not focus on your specific area of volunteer management and see what you can learn from others? There are many volunteer management and leadership specialists globally who write blogs and have informa�ve web sites, have a Google and see what interests you. You can learn a lot from the experience of other countries.

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Rejuvena�ng Your Volunteer Programme

Visit the Volunteer Ireland website for further support and advice on how to adapt and improve your volunteer programme.

Communicate Your Safety Measures

You can’t expect volunteers to return as restric�ons are relaxed unless you tell them about the measures you are taking to ensure their safety and well-being upon their return. Communicate clearly and effec�vely and be aware that if there is a second or subsequent phase of the virus you may need to pause your programme again.

Moving to a Volunteer Leadership Model

For too long we have based our volunteer programmes on volunteer management models, some of these models such as that described by Naylor (1967) are s�ll in place today. There is a need to move a Volunteer Leadership Model, this is explored in our Volunteer Leadership Training and is explained in this factsheet.

Training Review

Now is an ideal opportunity to review your training and orienta�on programme. With physical distancing due to con�nue, online training is a now a viable op�on you should be reviewing. Not sure how to go about this? Why not get a virtual volunteer with some IT knowledge to help you. There are plenty of low cost ways of delivering orienta�on training online. Check out our guide to “Moving Your Training Online.”

Our “Fundamentals of Training Volunteers” and “Fundamentals of Presenta�on Skills” webinars will also prove useful �ps.

Managing Risks

The risks to your volunteers have fundamentally changed. You need to re-assess those risks and iden�fy the measures that will allow volunteers to return to volunteering safely. Use the four risk management techniques of; Avoidance, Modifica�on, Reten�on and Sharing. Our “Fundamentals of Risk Management webinar” will prove very useful and you can find the next course at www.volunteer.ie/training.