Staffing the Volunteer Program for Success

By Susan J. Ellis
From From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success

Decisions regarding the staffing of the volunteer program deserve careful consideration. How you go about designating or hiring the leadership of the program will be influenced by the goals you have for the utilization of volunteers. While it should be obvious that your staffing plan must fit the number and functions of volunteers you anticipate, it may not be obvious how to develop a "formula" to determine the right "fit."

Identifying a Leader
The vast majority of people who direct volunteer programs do not do so as a full-time job. Rather, they work part-time at volunteer management while actually primarily filling a different function in the organization; they have been asked to assume leadership of the volunteer program in addition to their other responsibilities. In many cases they were "anointed" into the leadership of volunteers; they did not seek the extra responsibility and felt they had little or no option when their administrator offered it to them. Additionally, they continue to view their original job description as their priority and try to "squeeze in" the volunteer program as a secondary set of tasks. In terms of career goals, most of these part-timers have no interest in pursuing the volunteer management field. They see themselves rather as "social workers," "park rangers," "occupational therapists," or "probation officers" and consider the volunteerism "piece" of their jobs as something they will escape when they move up.

Logically, someone who sees volunteer leadership as secondary (perhaps even as distracting) will rarely give the type of direction to the program that will make it achieve its true potential. So why "anoint" a reluctant director of volunteers?

The first step is to decide whether or not you are able (or willing) to create a new budget line for a volunteer program staff member. Since the dollar value of volunteer services far exceeds the actual funds expended (see Chapter 11), it may be worthwhile to wait in creating or expanding your volunteer component until funds can be found. A special fundraising event or a special grant request might create the first year's salary, especially if you plan to begin with a part-time staff member. At least this part-timer will devote all of his or her on-site time to the subject of volunteers. And the time will be devoted willingly and enthusiastically because it will be this person's primary job responsibility. The difference in possible achievement of goals because of this factor of primary responsibility cannot be overestimated and outweighs even the time limitations of a shorter work schedule.

If a new budget line is absolutely not possible, then you should begin by discovering who on staff might actually want to learn about volunteer management. Even if the interested staff member functions in a work area that seems tangential to what you plan for volunteers, the factor of free choice should weigh heavily in favor of giving that staff member the responsibility for volunteers.

When I conduct workshops for people who are part-time directors of volunteers in addition to carrying other agency job responsibilities, I always ask whether they tried to clarify the following important points at the time they accepted their volunteer-related tasks:

• What exactly does "part time" mean? How many hours of the day or week will I be allowed to devote to volunteer management?
• In what ways will my present workload be decreased in order to "make room" for my new volunteer program responsibilities?
• At what level of program growth will my part-time status be reviewed to determine whether more time is needed for volunteer management or if the agency is ready for a full-time director of volunteers (not necessarily me)?
• What other agency resources will be made available to me in support of the new volunteer program?
• Does my immediate supervisor understand and completely accept the fact that my previous work patterns will now have to change, especially in terms of decreasing my former output in my primary area of service?

In all too many cases, these questions are not raised by either the new leader of volunteers or the CEO. Because so many of these issues require decision-making authority, it would be helpful for the executive to consider these and other questions before selecting an existing staff member to take on the added responsibility of the volunteer program. Otherwise, volunteer management becomes nothing more than an addendum to an already busy schedule and, in fact, produces stress and tension among the staff as a whole.

It is probably just as pertinent to consider some of these issues even if a brand new employee will be hired to focus on leading the volunteer program as a sole responsibility, but on a part-time schedule. For example, at what point will you start thinking about increasing the number of work hours for the director of volunteers? Or, if you do not want to expand this position, at what level of growth will you consider the volunteer program "capped"?

Whether you delegate volunteer management to an existing staff member or hire a new part-time employee, also assign specific responsibilities for supporting the volunteer program to other agency staff. This makes it clear that volunteers will be part of everyone's job because they are now part of the organization's delivery of services. For example, the public relations staff should help with recruitment, the bookkeeper with recordkeeping, and the clerical pool with correspondence. It is up to you to distribute the work where it logically belongs and to specify the chain of command between the new head of the volunteer program and those other staff members working on behalf of the volunteer program.

Even when you are ready and able to designate a full-time director of volunteers, other organizational personnel will continue to have support roles to play in assuring that the volunteers become part of the team.

From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success

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Excerpted from From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success, by Susan J. Ellis  © 1996, Energize, Inc.

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