Would you like to help volunteers find your organization on HandsOn Connect, HandsOn's new volunteer database? We have a few helpful tips that will ensure volunteers can find you based on interest and impact area.
1. Select Your Impact Area and Population Served. If you are the primary contact on our account, login and take a look at the My Organization tab. You will see drop down menus for both impact area and population served. If your organization would like to select more than one item from these lists, send what you would like selected to Melissa. Unfortunately, partners can only select one of each at this time. We hope that will change in the future.
2. Beef up your Organization Description. On top of ensuring volunteers know the population you serve and the impact area you work in, you can also add key works to your organizational description. This section is again under the My Organization tab. It is labeled Mission Statement in the Partner Portal but it is not labeled on the public site so you can put anything you want in there. Include common search words like literacy, environment, at risk youth, etc. This will help volunteers find you when they conduct basic searches on the database.
3. Make sure you have an active opportunity available for sign up. Like many of us, volunteers hate running into a dead end! Imagine finding an organization that fits your values and interests only for it to appear that the organization isn't currently seeking volunteers. Even if you do not have a specific need available, always have at least one general opportunity active. Remember the goal is to make it easy for volunteers to engage with you. Also, organizations who are not active on the database are sometimes hidden from searches. Don't miss out on meeting a great volunteer!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Kids of the World! Pledge it UP! Worth a 100,000 Toys!
Hey Kids! Pledge to volunteer and up to 100,000 toys will be donated through Toys for Tots!
Giving
back during the holidays doesn't have to be complicated. Despite the
hectic nature of the season, we have the perfect solution to engage the
kids and teens in your life in meaningful service.
Turn the spirit of giving into action with the generationOn Holiday Gift Campaign.
From Nov. 29 through Dec. 13, for each pledge made to volunteer during
the holidays or in the new year, Hasbro will donate a toy to a child in
need through Toys for Tots - up to 100,000 toys.
Need
ideas for projects? We've got you covered. Already have a volunteer
activity planned in the new year? Great - you can pledge that, too. Each
pledge to serve puts a toy in the hands of a child in need. Double
your giving and take action during the holidays at our website.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Strategies for Dealing with Unreliable Volunteers
Written by Shawn Kendrick, VolunteerHub.com
As much as we appreciate volunteers, there are always a few, however, that throw a wrench into our plans due to their unreliability. Managing Volunteers You know the ones.... The "over-scheduler" who calls at the last minute to let you know he has a conflict and won't be able to make it. Or the "amnesia victim" whose scheduled time just slipped her mind. The intentions may be good, but these unreliable helpers can really impact the effectiveness of your event or program. The question is how to deal with them. Again, the answer lies in treating volunteers similarly to the way you treat paid employees. There's very little research specific to handling troublesome volunteers, but there is a wealth of human resource data aimed at dealing with regular employees who may be problematic. This can serve as our guiding light in dealing with volunteers. When addressing problems such as unreliability, Dr. Joanne Sujansky, founder of the management consulting firm KeyGroup, suggests the following approach. (Note: where Dr. Sujansky refers to employees in her article, we modify it here to specify volunteers.)
Be specific - Don't exaggerate or make generalized statements statements like "you're never on time." Stick to exact accounts, such as "you've had to cancel the last two times you've been scheduled."
Focus on the requirements of the job - Be clear in explaining how the unreliability affects everyone. It's quite possible that your volunteers don't understand how integral their roles are. With some clarity, they may take matters more seriously.
Consider the needs of the volunteer - Always try to address the situation in the manner you think will get the best results from that volunteer. Keep in mind that some are straight shooters and would prefer you get to the point, while others may seem crushed to hear they aren't doing well. With this in mind, strongly consider how you are going to deliver the message.
Give timely feedback- Don't wait a long time to address a problem situation. Of course, if there is a highly emotional or stressful environment at the time of the poor performance, wait until it has subsided.
Make sure the volunteer understands - Don't ask a bunch of closed-ended questions. If you ask the volunteer if s/he understands, the answer is likely to be yes, whether your point came across or not. So, at the end of the discussion, it's a good idea to ask your volunteer to paraphrase what you just said. From there, you can see if s/he truly gets what you are saying.
Document - Always create a paper trail of your conversations, as well as the behaviors before and after them. The trick here is to be objective and document both good and bad. Many managers fall into the trap of only documenting problematic behavior.
As Dr. Sujansky points out, most people in positions of authority hesitate to confront individuals about poor performance. However, if you do, one of two things will probably happen:
1) the volunteer's track record will improve.
2) the individual will deselect himself/herself from your volunteer pool.
In the long run, either of these two outcomes is likely to result in a more dedicated, cohesive, and productive group of volunteers for your organization.
As much as we appreciate volunteers, there are always a few, however, that throw a wrench into our plans due to their unreliability. Managing Volunteers You know the ones.... The "over-scheduler" who calls at the last minute to let you know he has a conflict and won't be able to make it. Or the "amnesia victim" whose scheduled time just slipped her mind. The intentions may be good, but these unreliable helpers can really impact the effectiveness of your event or program. The question is how to deal with them. Again, the answer lies in treating volunteers similarly to the way you treat paid employees. There's very little research specific to handling troublesome volunteers, but there is a wealth of human resource data aimed at dealing with regular employees who may be problematic. This can serve as our guiding light in dealing with volunteers. When addressing problems such as unreliability, Dr. Joanne Sujansky, founder of the management consulting firm KeyGroup, suggests the following approach. (Note: where Dr. Sujansky refers to employees in her article, we modify it here to specify volunteers.)
Be specific - Don't exaggerate or make generalized statements statements like "you're never on time." Stick to exact accounts, such as "you've had to cancel the last two times you've been scheduled."
Focus on the requirements of the job - Be clear in explaining how the unreliability affects everyone. It's quite possible that your volunteers don't understand how integral their roles are. With some clarity, they may take matters more seriously.
Consider the needs of the volunteer - Always try to address the situation in the manner you think will get the best results from that volunteer. Keep in mind that some are straight shooters and would prefer you get to the point, while others may seem crushed to hear they aren't doing well. With this in mind, strongly consider how you are going to deliver the message.
Give timely feedback- Don't wait a long time to address a problem situation. Of course, if there is a highly emotional or stressful environment at the time of the poor performance, wait until it has subsided.
Make sure the volunteer understands - Don't ask a bunch of closed-ended questions. If you ask the volunteer if s/he understands, the answer is likely to be yes, whether your point came across or not. So, at the end of the discussion, it's a good idea to ask your volunteer to paraphrase what you just said. From there, you can see if s/he truly gets what you are saying.
Document - Always create a paper trail of your conversations, as well as the behaviors before and after them. The trick here is to be objective and document both good and bad. Many managers fall into the trap of only documenting problematic behavior.
As Dr. Sujansky points out, most people in positions of authority hesitate to confront individuals about poor performance. However, if you do, one of two things will probably happen:
1) the volunteer's track record will improve.
2) the individual will deselect himself/herself from your volunteer pool.
In the long run, either of these two outcomes is likely to result in a more dedicated, cohesive, and productive group of volunteers for your organization.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Tools and Tips for Interviewing
From ServiceLeader.org
An interview is a conversation with a purpose. This conversation provides a framework for you to get to know the prospective volunteer and for the volunteer to get to know you and your organization. Information garnered in the interview is invaluable as you look for service placements that fit your volunteers and as you find ways to maximize the volunteer opportunity for all concerned.
Interviews vary based on the complexity of the opportunity. As the service opportunity grows in complexity so too does the interview. As a rule of thumb, interviewing protocols for volunteers parallel those utilized for salaried positions, including securing personal and background reference checks for positions that require this level of scrutiny. Less intensive service opportunities and group projects are generally handled more informally often involving simple record keeping so that you are able to follow-up with volunteers and invite them back for additional service opportunities.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
How Will the Public See you on the HandsOn Website?
The new HandsOn Connect Database continues to grow in popularity with volunteers throughout the community. Have you considered what people might see when they look up your organization on the database?
Remember the content about your organization in Connect is completely controlled by you! We know that some struggle with using the site or prefer to remain less active. However, consider the message you send when volunteers hit a dead end. Even if you do not have or wish to share specific needs on HandsOn Connect please consider maintaining a general volunteer posting so people have a easy way to contact you. You could update that posting as little as once a year. You never know who you might encounter!
Remember the content about your organization in Connect is completely controlled by you! We know that some struggle with using the site or prefer to remain less active. However, consider the message you send when volunteers hit a dead end. Even if you do not have or wish to share specific needs on HandsOn Connect please consider maintaining a general volunteer posting so people have a easy way to contact you. You could update that posting as little as once a year. You never know who you might encounter!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Be Loud! Demand Training!
Our annual partner services survey has been open and available since 8.23.11. Only 6% of our total partner agencies have completed this survey, which informs how we communicate with you and which services we provide. At this point it looks like there is not a need to offer volunteer management trainings as a series for this fiscal year. We will leave the survey open until 11.09.11 to give you an opportunity to have your voice heard if you want specific trainings to be offered. The survey is available on this link.
Volunteer Management Advocacy Kit
As a member of the Oregon state Committee on Volunteerism, the HandsOn team had the opportunity to help craft a Volunteer Management Advocacy Kit. This kit serves to equip volunteer managers to advocate for their profession, offering strategies, tools, resources and connections.
In addition, there are great resource at Reimagining Service, a national coalition of multi-sector representatives whose aim is to convert good intentions into greater impact.
In addition, there are great resource at Reimagining Service, a national coalition of multi-sector representatives whose aim is to convert good intentions into greater impact.
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