Are you counting all the volunteer support your organization receives? Are you sure? In the course of a year, it is common for agencies to benefit from what might be called "bootleg" (hidden) volunteers who come to the agency in a roundabout way, bypassing the procedures of the volunteer resources office. For example:
- Graduate students doing professional internships, if university faculty independently contact the relevant department heads directly. Those managers see supporting "interns" as a professional obligation and may resist treating them as "volunteers."
- The individual members of groups who help the organization seasonally, such as at holiday events or for garden clean-ups. The group's service is treated as a special visit and the individual members are often not differentiated from the collective action.
- Clergy who visit under various types of chaplaincy programs, even if they, in turn, recruit others from their congregation to provide additional personal services. This is most often viewed as service to the client, rather than as service to the organization.
- Children of staff and board members who may be brought to the agency by their parents to "help out" after school or during long school holidays (usually doing whatever menial jobs mom or dad can find). Even more frequent is bringing along one's family members (of any age) to help at a special event.
- Advisers or consultants with special expertise who donate their professional services, generally directly to the board of directors or to the executive staff (and therefore never seen by the volunteer office).
It doesn't really matter if these time donors think of themselves as "volunteers," nor is it necessary to use that word to describe them. But here is what they have in common-with each other and with the more traditional concept of a volunteer. They:
- Receive no financial remuneration from the agency for their services
- Come to the facility for short periods of time on diverse schedules
- Generally have no real understanding of how your organization functions prior to coming in to help
- Need basic instructions about your facility to do their assignments properly
If none of this impresses you, consider this: They have the same risk potential as anyone else and, should anything happen to them or because of them during their time on site with you, your organization is liable.
Missed Opportunities
If the volunteer resources office is not tracking these time donors, who does keep track of them? Does anyone? Without a process for integrating such service providers into the organization, you don't screen them, have a record of their service, report their contributions, or even thank them properly. They miss out on support and appreciation, while the agency doesn't get all the benefits of such important community involvement.
Everyone who spends time, even briefly, in your organization becomes a potential ambassador for you. So it makes sense to pay attention to how all members of the community are treated when they are on site. This is a chance to orient and educate ever-widening spheres of influence, as different people come and go.
Here's a final thought about all those relatives of staff and volunteers who are dragged into helping at a special event. Slap a button on them that says "official volunteer," record their names, and give them some choice as to what they'd like to do (rather than being a go-fer for their relative). Afterwards, say thank you to them. You might end up recruiting some genuinely willing new volunteers!