Nonprofit Dilemmas When Working with Volunteers
Written by Victoria Shadle
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the US nonprofit sector. The sector does not work without their passion, energy, and resources; and in the case of volunteers who serve on nonprofits’ boards, they’re required by law. From large to small nonprofits and across every mission area, nonprofits are reliant on volunteers in some form or fashion.
While volunteers are invaluable and a huge asset to the sector, that doesn’t mean that we can write off anything with them as a positive impact. There are drawbacks, problematic practices, and times where nonprofits should proceed with caution, or not proceed at all.
Through this article, I’m going to draw upon my experience and what I learned when interviewing 20 nonprofit professionals from across the country during our “Surveying the Field” series to call attention to two common dilemmas. These issues are nuanced and there are no clear-cut recommendations; the “right” answer can vary depending on the size, scope, and mission of the nonprofit.
I’m raising these problems not to tell nonprofit staff what to do, but to advance the conversation so you can discuss what to do before these issues arise, and not engage with volunteers in a way that ultimately doesn’t align with the organization’s values. And for any volunteers reading, my goal is to provide additional insight that you might not be hearing from nonprofits because of the power dynamics at play.
Now on to the first two scenarios for consideration…
When volunteering requests don’t fit an organization’s need or priorities, but they’re tied to funding…
Many companies see group volunteer opportunities as an employee engagement tool; group volunteering is one way to boost morale and bond teams. These aims, along with a desire to meaningfully support the community and raise the company’s profile, lead companies to reach out to nonprofits to inquire how they can partner for an employee volunteer event. This conversation sometimes includes specific requests from companies, such as participating on a designated service day, requirements for the number of volunteers, time dedicated to volunteering, and even some level of control over the activity.
Additionally, while the employer is treating this volunteer opportunity as a de facto employee engagement event (taking the place of a cooking class, team building workshop, or social event), these requests are usually not explicitly tied to funding as the company sees their employees’ time and skills being the real value add for the nonprofit. Many nonprofits, on the other hand, are hopeful this type of relationship is going to lead to funding from the company in the long term, if not immediately.
When companies approach nonprofits in this way, they offer a type of volunteer support that typically does not actually align with the nonprofit’s top needs or priorities. Using staff time to create and run these events ends up taking away from a nonprofit’s already overextended schedule. But because of the potential for corporate funding, many nonprofits feel pressured to accommodate these requests.
Similarly, well-intentioned individuals with specific ideas about how they can be of service will also approach nonprofits to ask about getting involved in a particular way. While the volunteer might be highly skilled, if their area of expertise falls outside of the nonprofit’s established needs for volunteers, accepting this offer will again require staff going above and beyond in their role when time is already tight. When this person is a donor or connected to a board member, nonprofits again will feel the need to accommodate this request because of the power dynamic at play.
When companies and individuals add to a nonprofit’s volunteer calendar with their own special events or support, this will undoubtedly take time, energy, and resources away from existing programs. Even with the most proactive and thoughtful volunteers, adding to a nonprofit’s planned events with a bespoke event or service still requires those inside the organization to help manage it. For those not exceptionally proactive and thoughtful, it can quickly become a costly and time-intensive project.
And with high levels of positional power between the volunteer with the funding and the nonprofit that is constantly looking for financial resources, there often isn’t the space for meaningful pushback or negotiation.
As nonprofits we’re left to decide if creating new volunteer opportunities to align with external requests will be wasted time and resources that could be better spent advancing work already underway… or if being amenable today will have a greater payoff down the line.
When volunteers interact directly with constituents, especially children and those in vulnerable situations…
Many nonprofits use volunteers as an essential workforce to power their programs, especially social services nonprofits that are chronically underresourced compared to the societal needs they’re trying to address. Whether the organization’s focus is fighting hunger and homelessness or supporting youth development, volunteers can be found working directly with the constituents at nonprofits both large (like the Boy or Girl Scouts) and small (like a local soup kitchen).
In all of these cases, volunteers are providing an essential workforce that allows for constituents to receive more services and personalized attention at a fraction of the cost of hiring a staff large enough to provide the services. Nonprofit organizations benefit greatly from volunteers who can be committed for decades and feel personally compelled by the mission and a desire to give back, often volunteering during their nights and weekends or in place of their traditional workdays if they’re retired.
This can truly be a win-win situation. Community members that want to feel useful and involved can engage in meaningful work for nonprofits that cannot afford to pay people to provide the service.
However, in many of these cases, volunteers are also working directly with people that are in vulnerable positions: those facing homelessness, hunger, or domestic violence, refugees, and any nonprofit where volunteers work directly with children. Even the most well-meaning volunteers in these circumstances can make mistakes that cause additional harm through their words and actions. And then there are individuals with malintent who can also exploit the access to vulnerable people through volunteering to abuse constituents.
No matter the severity, the nonprofit must take accountability for the additional harm done since they were the conduit through which it took place.
To prevent this harm from happening, nonprofits can instill a wide range of protocols including rigorous screening, mandatory training, and policies that are designed to remove the opportunity for abuse to occur. But with each additional step comes additional time and financial investment from the organization in volunteers, a stakeholder group that can not be held accountable the same way that staff can. By default, there is little leverage the nonprofit can use to ensure investments in volunteers are worthwhile, as volunteers are taking part in optional, unpaid work and can stop at any moment when jumping through various hoops becomes too taxing.
Volunteers engaging directly with constituents can provide a much-needed workforce to expand the number of beneficiaries served, but is that worth the environment it can foster for additional harm to be done to people in already vulnerable positions? Nonprofits must carefully balance the exposure volunteers have to constituents, the preventative measures they have in place to protect their beneficiaries, and the resources it takes to manage these programs.
With both of these dilemmas, nonprofits of all sizes and missions must ask themselves if the potential gain in resources outweighs the loss of upfront staff time and control.
These issues are also just two of countless examples of the considerations nonprofits face when working with volunteers. Many more dilemmas come to play when you consider the dynamics of the board of directors, that unique subset of volunteers that are legally required and hold governance powers that superseded even the CEO. Perhaps I’ll write more on that subject another time — or better yet, if you have your own examples from working with or volunteering on a nonprofit board, write to us to let us know what you think!
Do you work with volunteers in your role at a nonprofit, or do you volunteer yourself? What additional problematic practices or challenging scenarios have you seen? Email us at npcollectiveblog@gmail.com to share your perspective. You can also share how you would answer our “Surveying the Field” series question about what you would tell nonprofit volunteers or board members by filling out this survey. Read more about how survey guests responded to that question in the below article.
