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Responses to:
A Great New Report to Praise, Criticize, and Use

News Update, 11 June 2004, from Susan:

See the new From Research to Action: A unified national response to the 2004 Volunteer Management Capacity Study that has just been released "for distribution to the field for review and reaction."  This updated set of eight proposed national strategies indeed integrates many of the suggestions made by the field.  You can continue to submit comments at: www.volunteerinput.org/ – influence the next stage, too!

Submitted on 11 May 2004 by Derreth Duncan, Manager, Volunteer Services, Thirteen/WNE, New York, NY 10001

Clear Speech and Best Practices…. Where Are They?
I was particularly interested in the Challenge and Benefit Indices, others as well. But, to be truthful, I didn’t really understand them. Maybe a pass through a clear speech decoder might help. There’s a good metric in there somewhere and we could use it.

Along with plain language, best practices are also missing in this report. Excellent, in-depth analyses of volunteers have been offered elsewhere by Independent Sector, AARP, Points of Light and previously by UPS but none of the relevant literature is reflected in the narrative. With two footnotes and a few selected sponsor cites, you would think that this was the first time the issue of volunteer management capacity had been raised. We know that’s not true.

Get Me Re-Write
Call me picky but I also felt that the “Volunteer Management Capacity Study” was edited badly. The same sentence is repeated on pages 4 and 5. Facts were not checked and sources were glossed over. For example, they quote from the 1998 UPS report (I assume they mean “Managing Volunteers – A Report from United Parcel Service”) that “volunteers do not always feel their volunteer experiences make best use of their skills and interests.” This was mentioned in the 1998 report but it ranked third on the UPS scale of poor volunteer management practices well behind “not well managed” at 26% and “not good use of time” at 23%. I think that’s important to know. This was an incredible research effort but with editing like this a great deal of the complexity of the study must have been left on the cutting room floor.

Breaking news update! Submitted on 5March2004 by Susan:

The USA Freedom Corps has just posted President Bush's Executive Order National and Community Service Programs , executed at the White House on February 27th:  http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/about_usafc/whats_new/
announcements/20040227-1_A.asp

Readers of this Hot Topic are especially directed to Sec. 2 (a):  

"National and community service programs should support and encourage greater engagement of Americans in volunteering"

and the subsequent Sec. 3 (c) ii and iii:

ii) National and community service programs should leverage Federal resources to enable the recruitment and effective management of a larger number of volunteers than is currently possible;

(iii) National and community service programs should increase efforts to expand opportunities for, and strengthen the capacity of, faith-based and other community organizations in building and strengthening an infrastructure to support volunteers that meet community needs;

The "use" of the Urban Institute/UPS Report by the President and the Corporation has begun!

Submitted on 5March2004 by Femida Handy, Assoc. Prof, York University, Ontario, Canada
Please check out a recent study we did on cost benefit analysis of hospital volunteers in Canada.

The use of volunteers in hospitals has been an age-old practice. This non-market community involvement is a distinctive aspect of North American life. Hospitals may be attracted to increase the use of volunteers, both to provide increased quality of care and to contain costs. Hospitals rely on the use of professional administrators to use the donated time of volunteers efficiently. In this study we examine the benefits and costs of volunteer programs to hospitals and derive an estimate of the net value for the use of volunteers in hospitals that accrue to the hospitals and the volunteers. In particular, the costs and benefits to hospitals are detailed. Using 31 hospitals in and around Toronto (Canada), and surveying hospital volunteer administrators, hospital clinical staff and volunteers themselves, we find a striking payoff for hospitals: an average of $6.84 in value from volunteers for every dollar spent, i.e. a return on investment of 684%. Civic and community participation is indeed valuable.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Handy, F. and N. Srinivasan. “Valuing Volunteers: An Economic Evaluation of the Net Benefits of Hospital Volunteers” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, March 2004 vol 33, 1 pp28-54

Submitted on 5March2004 by Rosanna Tarsiero, VPM, Bipolar Dream, Web-based organization
I think we have to make an extra effort so to understand why people working as VPMs are not trained. And by that I mean, what is the reason (or bias) that makes this kind of training to be thought as "unnecessary" in so many cases. If a person has to be hired as a typist, training or experience are required. But this is not the case with VPMs. Why?

I think the big big big bias that is responsible of this lack of training is that "everybody has enough social and communication skills to manage human relationships". But this is not true. Also, these "soft skills" involve mainly anger and conflict managements, which typically are culturally different. Therefore, if we have a different range of volunteers, we need training, no matter how good we are with respect to our own culture.

Therefore, the next step is: how to convince them that managing volunteer is a job that need training because the "normal" social/communication skills are not enough, especially in setting like online volunteering and international NGOs?

Submitted on 3March2004 by Hillary Roberts, President, NJ
W ill these reports ever address solutions? It would be far more interesting to read that a funded "NP Think Tank" and/or "Nonprofit Consulting Network" was opening doors to help create policies and procedures that address varied needs among NPO's. A small biz administration specifically for the NP owner & their team.

As much as we can learn from surveys, it's putting these lessons into practice, sharing the resources and offering managers at every level SKILLS that's missing for me.

I find it profoundly frustrating that leaders continue to spend dollars reassessing what's wrong and not nearly enough on how to solve issues NPO's continue to face.

Doesn't this lack of focus on resolution continue a misdirection for all! Where's the beef?

Submitted on 3March2004 by Jackie Norris, Executive Director, Metro Volunteers, Denver, CO, USA
As always, Susan, you are SO RIGHT ON TARGET! I just read the study this past weekend, and had exactly the same reaction. While there is good information in the study, and no real surprises for any of us, it seemed very self-serving to me...even though I greatly admire and appreciate what Americorps has done, and continues to do. It left me, once again, totally frustrated at our profession being overlooked by every level of the administration. I think your article should be published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy!!!!

Submitted on 3March2004 by Karen Knaub, Volunteer Coordinator Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod, MA
Thank you for addressing issues of interest to professional volunteer managers written about in the Urban Institute Report. I highlighted pertinent sections and sent a copy to my supervisor as part of my annual appeal to make my position full time.

Needless to say, the promotion of AmeriCorps volunteers as the solution to understaffed and underfunded volunteer departments in nonprofit agencies doesn't help my case. Putting personal interests aside, I would say it is like sticking a bandaid on a hemorrhage.

The Report emphasized the correlation between staff time dedicated solely to volunteers and the number of volunteers recruited. The use of full-time stipended people encourages the philosophy that any warm body is better than none. Is that the way we accept volunteers into our programs? Hopefully, not. It is not a solution with any depth of understanding about the level of management needed to do the job. We already have too much employee turnover in our field. More should be done to increase the importance and value of volunteer management within all organizations that incorporate volunteers into their staffs.Toward that goal, the first thing that needs to happen is to convince ourselves that we are a valuable management asset to our organization. This discrepancy might have been noticed, if, as you point out, Susan, a professional manager of volunteers had been at the table.

Submitted on 2March2004 by Claudia Collier, Program Assistant - VINE Faith in Action, Minnesota
Susan, I knew we could depend on you to help us look at this report from all sides. Though like you I was glad to see the survey was taken,I came away uncomfortable with some its conclusions.

First, the very blatant, supposedly overwhelming support for AmeriCorps members. Don't get me wrong, AmeriCorps and other National Service programs have their place. But really, our organization does not want or need annual turnover in their volunteer coordination area. By the time an AmeriCorps member can get into the job, they're usually finished with the program.

My other concern is the report did not address funding/funders well enough. My frustration comes since I am the former director of a now closed Volunteer Center. Let's be blunt...dollars for Volunteer Centers or recruiting, training and retaining volunteers is not "sexy". It's not direct enough.

My last concern is more personal regarding the church setting. As an active church MEMBER involved through my congregation I am NOT a volunteer...I am a servant, with a theology and motivation that is not addressed in this report...with good reason. Thanks for a great summary.

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