44% of them do not focus solely on their members but also reach out to external audiences. Their combined budget remains substantial: 113.3 billion euros, or about 3.3% of France’s GDP, and it is also growing each year, by an average of 1.6% between 2011 and 2017.
Community life relies heavily on the commitment of volunteers, a topic recently examined by the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) during a one-day event titled “Volunteer Engagement: An Essential Factor in Social Cohesion and Citizenship.”
There are nearly 22 million active members in France, representing a workload equivalent to approximately 1,425,000 full-time jobs. Only 10.6% of nonprofit organizations employ staff. Although they are not-for-profit, these organizations are still entities in their own right, with objectives, individual activities that need to be coordinated, and collective initiatives that need to be managed.
Isn’t there, however, a paradox in linking volunteerism and management? The latter term, which comes from the business world, is often conflated with a purely financial and accounting mindset—one focused on cutting costs and boosting profits. Volunteerism, on the other hand, remains a voluntary and unpaid commitment: isn’t it illogical, or even immoral, to try to apply management principles to it?
These issues are addressed in the edited volume Volunteerism and Management: Practices, Paradoxes, and Recommendations, which was recently published and features contributions from 14 faculty members and experts in the nonprofit sector. In particular, it explains that drawing on management science to manage volunteers is not without merit.
How can you attract and recruit volunteers? What tasks should you assign them? How can you keep volunteers satisfied and reward them? How can you build their loyalty? These management questions are just as relevant here as they are for other human resources. No organization can be successful in the long term without effective operational management that enables it to achieve its goals. The same is true for organizations that rely on volunteers.
Many aspects of managing volunteers are not all that different from managing employees. For example, an organization that provides psychological support to people in distress has implemented volunteer recruitment procedures similar to those used by large companies for hiring employees. It publishes recruitment ads in the press and online, and interested individuals undergo several interviews with psychologists before beginning a training and gradual onboarding process.
Even for less sensitive volunteer positions, it is important to ensure a good fit with the role and the organization’s values. The issue of purpose and motivation is important for allowing volunteers the freedom to make choices and exercise autonomy. It is essential to explain as clearly as possible what the organization offers (or does not offer!) to volunteers. The use of formal agreements—such as commitment agreements, civic service contracts, or follow-up interviews—is also becoming increasingly common in large organizations. This has proven beneficial for several of the organizations featured in the book.
Alongside the formal framework, it is important to foster a shared sense of identity among active members. In the case of a major sporting event, for example, camaraderie and a sense of belonging are fostered through evenings set aside for volunteers at the end of each day of the event. Similarly, an organization that assists immigrants organizes biannual social events and outings in the surrounding area.
That said, however, we must not confuse the role of volunteers with that of paid staff. In the book, an organization working in the fields of social services and health care entrusts the task of welcoming beneficiaries to volunteers, but leaves the administrative follow-up to paid staff.
Establishing a specific “hierarchy” for volunteers is a good idea. This allows them to turn to their volunteer coordinator, who is responsible for identifying and defining tasks, organizing any necessary training or on-the-job learning, and answering their questions.
#volunteerism ��
— CESE (@lecese) January 31, 2022
Motivations and challenges, training, recognition...
CESE members have many questions for #volunteers.
They’re meeting with about twenty volunteers tomorrow for a day of#discussions and #networking �� pic.twitter.com/9nCeufHeEz
The clear delineation of roles provides stability for the organization and fosters both volunteer retention and recruitment. When a large nonprofit organization decided to entrust the reorganization of its office to the executive committee, it quickly recognized the need to bring in outside experts to facilitate team-building and ensure there was no ambiguity or imbalance between the respective roles. Disagreements between volunteers and staff on sensitive issues are often attributed solely to differences in skills and level of commitment. However, taking into account the subjective and intersubjective dimensions proves to be a determining factor. It is essential to give meaning to each person’s commitment.
However, the distinction based on status—volunteer or employee—does not always serve as a clear-cut boundary for organizing roles and preventing a sense of competition. This can sometimes pose risks. At a nonprofit organization in the disability sector, management neglected the human resources management of its paid staff and allowed unpaid work hours to accumulate. As a result, the organization drifted toward treating its employees as volunteers, which has negatively impacted their well-being at work and the organization’s reputation as an employer—leading to numerous departures.
Although volunteers are, by definition, unpaid, it is essential to recognize the value of their work. Supporting them—particularly through regular communication—and expressing gratitude, both formally and informally, helps achieve this. After all, while volunteers get involved to find fulfillment, they also do so in search of a certain degree of recognition (including written acknowledgment).
The perception of the “rewards” received depends on the volunteers’ expectations; it is therefore important to ask them about these expectations in advance and to clearly explain the proposed benefits. What was “promised” to them—or what they believe was promised to them—forms what are known as “psychological contracts.” The more realistic these contracts are, the more volunteers will feel that the contract has been “fulfilled,” which will strengthen their satisfaction and commitment. The major sporting event mentioned earlier describes on its website various “packages” in which the duration of volunteer service determines the items and events offered in return.
Managing volunteers requires, in any case, a specific approach—one that involves neither simply applying the same management techniques used for employees nor “doing nothing.” Mobilizing volunteers is not a spontaneous process: their contributions must be organized, prioritized, and encouraged within the organization—in short, they must be managed.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.
