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Three Common Volunteer Management Issues—and How to Address Them
Volunteer management is a term that covers a wide range of responsibilities. It involves recruiting volunteers and filling open shifts, but it’s also a never-ending process of building, maintaining, and engaging relationships with your volunteer base.
At its best, managing volunteers is deeply rewarding, cultivating a sense of community among your volunteers and staff while getting help in much-needed areas. But at worst, it can be a constant uphill battle, wrestling with miscommunication, unclear expectations, and low volunteer turnout. While we would love nothing more than to offer a quick solution or band-aid for these issues, these pain points are rarely easy or quick to solve.
However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do. With the right amount of empathy, patience, and creativity, you can address any issue. In this blog, we’ll identify a few common pain points for volunteer management and what you can do to alleviate them–and we’ve brought in expertise from our volunteer management team at UKC!
Issue #1 - Volunteer Role or Paid Position?
If you have a certain volunteer role that’s seeing fewer sign-ups or interested people, it might be a good idea to re-assess the position. What is it that’s preventing that position from getting filled? One common pitfall for many volunteer opportunities lies in the responsibilities and expertise required for the position. Here’s how Julie Jameson, Director of Volunteer Management, explains the problem:
“It’s best practice that volunteers shouldn’t do “jobs” that otherwise would be paid. For example, let’s say you’re asking them to volunteer at a luncheon. They’ll have to wait tables or serve in a server kind of role, and they set up, clean up, that kind of thing. You would normally hire staff to do this, because our volunteers are not experienced at that kind of work, unless they’ve worked in that industry before.[…]
A volunteer can greet people, they can make guests feel welcome, or they can educate them about things. But basic physical labor, and in that regard, is a mismatch. We do have volunteers that strictly provide physical labor, but that’s something that they enjoy doing and something that they want to do.”
To put it more simply, it’s possible the position is simply asking too much for the average unpaid volunteer. Anything with long hours, specialized work, or hard or repetitive labor will draw fewer volunteers both because there are fewer people out there who can do that job, and those who can will want to be compensated for that work.
However, as Jameson says, there are volunteers willing to provide their expertise or skill for a good cause. One great way to recruit volunteers for these more demanding positions is through an internship–this way, you can offer a student experience and academic credit for their efforts, even if you don’t have the available funds to compensate them monetarily.
Issue #2 - DECLINE IN VOLUNTEER SIGNUPS
If you feel like you’ve exhausted every avenue to recruit volunteers and are stil coming up dry, you’re not alone. Everyone needs help these days. Finding volunteers has always been hard, but it’s an especially big challenge these past few years. Partially due to COVID-19, we saw a significant decline in volunteering nationwide. Even years after nation-wide shutdown, organizations are still struggling to recruit and keep volunteers. There are a few ways to address this struggle. Jayden Hicks, UKC’s Volunteer Management Coordinator, chimes in:
“One thing I try to do is reach out to umbrella organizations like local universities and companies and really work at building a relationship with them. A lot of organizations give volunteer time off (VTO), so keeping them in mind has been a strong point in my recruitment,” says Hicks.
Connecting with universities can be especially helpful, notes Hicks, as most schools have their own associations and student-run initiatives, many of whom are actively seeking volunteer opportunities. Another way to try and bring in more volunteers is to offer some type of incentive, notes Jameson.
“Incentives are huge, no matter how small. It can be a sticker, it could be a pin, or any sort of token of appreciation. We’ve had events like races where people will sign up just for the free shirt. […] Some of our nonprofits also offer a stipend, like a grant group option, which really is a great thing in terms of recruitment and getting people out there in larger numbers.”
While reaching out to the right organizations and offering incentives can take you a long way in volunteer recruitment, sometimes you still need that extra push. That’s where bringing on the help of an organization specializing in volunteer recruitment, management, and appreciation—like Uncover KC—can help.
Issue #3 - MISUNDERSTANDINGS, MISFIRE, AND HUMAN ERROR
Volunteer management is a human-centric job—and humans, no matter how well we plan ahead, mess up sometimes. This is especially true in more demanding volunteer roles, such as a course monitor in a race. Uncover KC helps run a number of these races in Kansas City, and course monitors are crucial parts of running the show; they help guide athletes on the right track, direct vehicles away from the race, and ensure the safety of the race.
“There was a volunteer we had at the Hospital Hill run, and she was in a very important position right before the finish line. She was very stressed out with traffic and workers coming and was doing a lot of demanding tasks for that hour and a half. She was getting calls back and forth and had strangers yelling at her and cursing,” recalls Hicks.
Although Hicks couldn’t control the fact that this young volunteer was in a stressful position, he did have control over making her feel appreciated–so she was sent a gift card and personalized note. Small gestures like these are an important way to build and retain relationships with your volunteers. Being empathetic with your volunteers and recognizing when they are in a tough spot goes a long way.
Other issues are harder to remedy, such as when you are over or under-staffed on volunteers. Having too few volunteers to help staff an event is never fun, but it’s just as bad when you have too many and have to send volunteers home. In these situations, it’s best to communicate clearly and apologetically, making sure the volunteer knows you appreciate their efforts.
“It’s almost impossible to do the job really great all the time. You’re gonna have those times where it’s hard, but I really do think that just personal, positive relationships, and open communication has proved wonders for [UKC], especially in recent years as we’ve grown our volunteer management department,” says Hicks.
Volunteer management is tough—and we know that better than anyone. Uncover KC has been connecting volunteers for more than a decade, and we’ve seen our fair share of curveballs. If you’re looking for a way to streamline your volunteer management and solve the unique issues that come with them, we have you covered. Learn more about our volunteer management services and schedule a consultation today!