3062 Building A Great Volunteer Team

Barbara Lightheart, Association of UU Administrators (AUUA)

Workshop Handout

“Theology divides, service unites.” – Margaret Fell, Quaker founding mother

“How can we get people into a position of service?” asked Barbara Lightheart, a non-UU professional volunteer management trainer who works at First UU Church in Austin, Texas. “Being of service makes people happy.”

She asked the workshop attendees, “How do you participate as a volunteer? What do you get out of it?” People reported that they like to get things done, get things for free for the church, raising funds for the church, have fun, brainstorm creative ideas, contribute, be a leader, feel ownership, learn new things, and get a sense of belonging.

The workshop addressed these questions: Why will people want to get involved in service for your church? Or, why don’t they seem to want to be involved? How do we invite them, select them, train, lead, thank, and keep them?

Many volunteer managers don’t choose to manage volunteers – it comes as part of another job. Few have read books or taken classes or workshops about managing volunteers, or read a web site about it. Not everyone is happy about doing it and has the skills, but we can learn. Always remember, said Lightheart, that volunteers are staff, even though they aren’t paid staff. Treat them that way, because they want to feel that they belong.

She asked us to think about our churches and who stands in the way of achieving our goals. Who thinks that things are already great because they are in charge of them? Who wants to make change and is with you? Think about what is needed first. Look at who are the leaders, and who is burnt out and might come back as a trainer. Someone needs to have the authorization to coordinate volunteers. Ask for the allies who have the skills you need to bring your idea to the Board or whoever needs to approve it.

Here are steps to follow when organizing a volunteer program.

Preparing: Start at the top, and make sure that your church management supports what you are doing. (Boards like to say yes to well-thought ideas with a clear benefit and that someone else is volunteering to do!) Create a one-sentence job description for each job and put out flyers with the list of jobs – circulate the information widely. Make the jobs limited to make it easier for people to make the time. Also list some skills that you are looking for, with the jobs that someone who already has these skills could do. For individual flyers, include when, where, for how long, what you need to know, what you’ll be doing, and who to contact. Make it positive and specific.

Clarifying: Screen the possible volunteers – don’t accept the first warm body who crosses the doorsill. Wait for the right people with the right skills. Especially when starting a new program, you need good people to make it work.

Ask about time availability and skills. Have lots of different types of time slots; don’t make the schedule too rigid. What kind of promise can they make you? Let them know that you are counting on them. Explore why they want to be involved, to make sure that the job will fulfill that need. Treat these interviews seriously: these people are giving up time to become part of the staff of the church. Also, they will be part of your next sales team for recruiting additional volunteers. Ask them to sign a calendar or shift sheet so they feel committed to the job. Provide an orientation to the church in general, as well as training for the specific job.

How do you turn someone down? Explain what the mismatch is and suggest an alternative job.

Be sure to ask people how they want to be thanked. It differs, and you need to ask them. Some people don’t want applause – they may just want a phone call from the minister. Others want a big certificate.

Make sure that supervisors are happy about the person you are sending them, and explain why you think that these people will work in the job. If there is a valid issue, try to find a better fit.

You may need to run a criminal background check (call 1-800-VOLUNTEER or United Way for information), especially for people who handle money or work with children and youth.

Leading: After the first time they provide service, check in with your volunteers. Call them and ask how it went and thank them, or say that you missed them; this tells them that you care and the job is important. If they didn’t do the job well, clarify what they should have done. Ask questions about what might have gone wrong. This is your chance to do further training.

You can fire volunteers if they aren’t doing the job well and reflecting well on the program. If possible, reassign them to a job that is a better match. If someone isn’t happy with a job, you’re not doing them a favor to keep them there (or those working with them).

You can organize “episodic volunteers,” who come in, do something, and leave, with no ongoing commitment. This type of job works well for young adults and others who don’t have a regular schedule. You may find a group of episodic volunteers, like youth groups or people who need to do community service. UU volunteers often don’t want to work at the church, they want to do things for the neighborhood or social justice. This is great for getting the word out about the church, although not great for getting actual church work done.

Let successful volunteers move on to be leaders, to give them a development path. Don’t let the same people do everything. Tell folks to take a vacation, to maintain themselves, so that they don’t burn out. Ask people to help choose and train their successors before it’s too late. Hope that people are sorry to leave!

Thanking: Recognition must be based on why each volunteer stays on. One way is to give out stuff (cookies, ribbons for nametags, or things with slogans). Most UU congregations don’t all share one motivator, unlike credo-based churches. Most people just file certificates away, although you can make them different and interesting. If you have a favorite place where you eat, you might be able to get donations of food or coupons to hand out to your volunteers. You’ll need a budget for this; if you are a volunteer managing volunteers and you pay for these items yourself, you can write this off on your taxes (along with your mileage).

Or give people events, like recognition in church. Get donated tickets to plays, or rehearsals, and hand them out. Make a party where you show a movie that is about the kinds of things the volunteers have been doing. Most importantly, give people relationship, in the form of paper letters or a phone call from you or your minister. Send birthday cards. Write to their employers to thank them (although some people don’t want people to know what their religion is). Ask people for suggestions – what would make them happier?

After thanking everyone, ask people to bring you people to do this job in the future.

Inviting: When you are getting ready to begin looking for new volunteers, think about where to find the people who you want. Plan when to make the request and what to say. Include children and youth, either with a way to be nearby or with a way to help.

Put in place the room, the furniture, equipment, job descriptions, training, supplies, and support for their success.

Recruitment: Make it clear what you want them to do, and keep your promises about not asking them to do too much. When inviting people to volunteer, you need to overcome the sense of unworthiness. Never say “just a volunteer” – refer to volunteers as indispensable volunteers who get things done!

Job fairs don’t work, said Lightheart. They tend to create frustration in the people who put them on, and don’t result in many volunteers. Instead, put the word out and then ask people one by one.

Lightheart recommended the work of Susan J. Ellis, the founding mother of volunteer management. Ellis wrote “Twelve Elements in the Design of a Successful Volunteer Program”, [handout coming]. She also wrote a book called From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success . The book and hundreds of pages of free information about volunteerism are available at her web site http://www.energizeinc.com .

Reported for the Web by Margy Levine Young, edited by Lisa Presley; Web Design by Julie Albanese