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The Big Merger:  Many Unanswered Questions

Posted on 18 August 2007 by Nicolette Winner, United Way's Volunteer Connection
Community Volunteer Liaison, Dayton, OH USA
I attended the Philadelphia conference and was excited to learn that the long-anticipated merger was finally happening.

Both Volunteer Centers and Hands On Network affiliates were surveyed multiple times prior to the merger announcement. Representatives from both also have had multiple opportunities to participate in individual interviews with Accenture, the company assisting pro bono with the merger.

As a Volunteer Center director and a former volunteer program administrator who benefited from Hands On activities routinely, I think the field is being represented very well during all of these discussions. I wish the conference had highlighted more information about both groups and the potential this merger has. Rather than boasting about volunteer numbers, I would prefer there to be a concentration on increasing the capacity of local nonprofits to effectively engage volunteers. We have the tools as members of this new organization already.... I think the tools being made available to us are going to be better, stronger and more effective.

The goals announced seem premature. Provide input that will be proactive as the merger details are worked out (it's being heard!), but please give the new staff involved time to work out some of the differences. The wait will be worth it.

Posted on 13 August 2007 by Pam Simmons, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City-Takatof Program Volunteerism Consultant Abu Dhabi Uae
I have heard the audio and read the topic. We are fortunate to have someone like you, Susan, who can distill the issue. I agree on many points:

• A contradiction of missions - absolutely!
• 3 million volunteers? Who has asked for them? I thought we moved beyond the "warm body" method of recruiting. How about recruiting specifically for us?
• It sounds like a huge bureaucracy and sadly, will not be able to respond quickly to those of us who need their help internationally. They are not on the same wave length as those that involve volunteers at the grassroots level.

Thanks for your comments!

Posted on 9 August 2007 by Sarah (Sam) Elliston, SarahElliston Consulting, President
Cincinnati,OH USA
As I posted my comments on the HON website, echoing what Susan wrote about the lack of support for Volunteer Managers, I had another thought:

The Hands On Network (HON) develops projects through team leaders who are volunteers, right? And the Baby Boomers are bringing their instinctive "we'll do it our way," approach into the world of volunteering.

What if, if we don't get our volunteer management act together, they just reinvent our organizations?  I mean, if the local Drop In Shelter has too many rules, a Boomer is going to go start his own, right? So if that Boomer is part of the HON and has a team supporting him, who's to say it won't work?

Are the bureaucracies of our agencies and our volunteer programs inevitable?
Will these structures always develop as an organization grows? Maybe we COULD have a BRAVE NEW WORLD of volunteering where people could do what they wanted without being tied down by the restrictions of the paid staff? Maybe it would work?

I have no idea and I am not sure if it is preferable but what if? isn't it possible?

Posted on 8 August 2007 by Wendy Moluf, The Citizen Advocacy Program / The Arc of New Jersey Coordinator of Volunteer Services, New Jersey, USA
I attended the Points of Light Conference in Philadelphia last month, and as a volunteer coordinator at a small non-profit in southern New Jersey, was both inspired and confused by the workshops, presentations, and especially the announcement of the merger. Many of us who work for smaller organizations and depend on volunteers to provide vital services to our communities know virtually nothing about the work of the National Organizations represented at the Conference who seem to be the powers behind decisions being made which will surely affect all of us in the future. I have been working in the field for over 10 years with little or no contact with either Points of Light or Hands On Network (they do not have an affiliate in our county), therefore it is difficult to even formulate an intelligent question regarding the merger and its future impact on volunteerism. My hope would be that those of us volunteer professionals working in the field (probably hundreds of thousands across the country) will be part of the discussion moving forward as to how the new organization can be a resource that is truly relevant to the work we are doing.

Posted on 5 August 2007 by Margaret Jones, Volunteer Manager, Orlando, FL USAI imagine that much of the detail you are looking for, in terms of what this merger means to the field of volunteer management, will be determined with the input of the volunteer management field itself. It seems reasonable to assume that Volunteer Center and HON Affiliate leadership will work together to redefine the national support they need under the new organization. Obviously, that couldn't occur until a decision to merge was made. Finally, I imagine the field of volunteer centers and HON affiliates were consulted regarding the merger and assume that a merger decision would not have taken place had there not been significant support from that group.

Posted on 3 August 2007 by Jayne Hench, Department of Parks, Volunteer Services Coordinator, Silver Spring, MD USA
"...The merger will also create three million new volunteers over the next two years, generating an additional 90 million volunteer hours and transforming the landscape of the volunteer sector..."

Maybe if we can figure out the technology they're using to create new volunteers (assuming it's not proprietary) we could just share it among ourselves and create as many volunteers as we all need! Then - at last - we could indeed have that freezer full of volunteers ready to defrost that our agencies have always wanted! Think of it - a master race of volunteers set to deploy to whatever "need" the POLF/HON Board wishes to tackle - with a machine like that in the wrong hands - who knows what could happen!

Sorry - couldn't help it. I think Susan is right on - and those of us who work to support the advancement of missions through the deployment of volunteer effort should take note - what supports may we be giving up if attention and $$ are focused more closely on volunteers as a sector rather than on the work that is in need of the support of volunteerism?

Posted on 3 August 2007 by Betty Stallings, Building Better Skills, Trainer, author
Pleasanton, Ca USA
Susan, thank you for taking the painstaking time to put this informative and challenging piece together for us. I, like many, have many questions but am hopeful that this merger will not ONLY attract more people into all forms of volunteering but also keep equal focus on building the capacity of organizations to truly provide excellent opportunities/ experiences for community engagement. I shared the following on the POL invitation for ideas/response:

My challenge for those crafting this significant new organization is to place major focus on building commitment, capacity and competency with organizations/initiatives who partner with volunteers to accomplish their missions. Generating more hours and numbers of volunteers results in further stretching under-resourced organizations, thus often resulting in ineffective volunteer engagement as opposed to the exciting potential of volunteers, effectively engaged.

I would be happy to be involved in creative discussions to address this significant issue/gap. Attracting volunteers is the easy part.

Perhaps the new organization can also look at a partnership with the COVAA (www.covaa.org) movement to regenerate needed support to the profession of volunteer engagement. A representative of that profession should be at the table of merger/vision discussions. They could offer input and creative options/ solutions to the serious organizational capacity gap to tap into the phenomenal potential of volunteerism, at its best.

My best wishes to you (POL and HON) in this most significant task. Volunteerism, worldwide, will be impacted by your decisions.

Posted on 3 August 2007 anonymously, Pennsylvania USA
Over 26 years ago I helped to start a hospice program and have held my positron since then! Hospice is the only organization in the nation that is MANDATED to have volunteers to have a certified program.

Our programs need an organization for guidance and development of the strengths of the individual volunteers who do the work, not an organization as another governmental arm or focus on a building.

Posted on 1 August 2007 by H Roberts, PLNJ, Inc., Pres, Keyport/NJ USA
Without a detailed, well distributed report on how this merger affects American nonprofits and volunteer resource managers, I am stifled. Have VRM's been included so far?

One would think that the largest volunteer association in our country would step up and be the long awaited guidepost of loud and clear concise reporting; inviting discussion and offering excitement to the merger.

Susan, if you are scratching your well traveled, well versed head...what does that say for the rest of us?!  Initial speculation offers little evidence that this merger INCLUDES "us."

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