Studyspark Study Document

Recruiting and Managing Volunteers for Social Impact Organizations Essay

Pages:7 (2046 words)

Sources:7

Subject:Business

Topic:Social Impact Organization

Document Type:Essay

Document:#50131238


Start up and Funding Models for Social Impact Organizations

Introduction

Volunteers are needed for social impact organizations, which have limited funds and require the efforts, participation, and commitment of volunteer personnel in order to meet organizational goals. To recruit and manage volunteers, it is important to communicate a vision and mission of what the organization is doing, what it aims to achieve, why it matters, and what volunteers can do to help achieve the goals. Every volunteer’s role must be clearly defined, and every vision clearly articulated. This paper will describe how to manage, motivate and evaluate volunteers in a social impact organization.

Where Volunteers are Needed

Volunteers are a necessary component of any healthy society and community (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). They are needed because they help to communicate the sense of value in both the community and the organization among stakeholders. Volunteers show that a cause is worthwhile; they show that the vision has meaning; and they show that enough people are willing to believe in it that they will work and dedicate themselves to that vision even without pay. Volunteers are essential workers at every level of the social impact organization because they can bring vital skills, vital manpower, and vital insights and experience.

Recruiting volunteers depends upon the organization’s ability to use technology, such as social media, to get the word out and to connect with potential volunteer candidates. The organization has to be able to communicate the vision and the mission so that volunteers are attracted and inspired to want to help out. There should be clear benefits for volunteers as well, as these can act as incentives for bringing volunteers on board. Their role should be articulated and their passion and impact on the organization recognized routinely (Georgetown University Alumni Career Services, 2016).

Roles They Play

Volunteers are more than mere helpers who stop by in their spare time to lend a hand in some of the more mundane activities of the organization. On the contrary, volunteers can do everything from low level jobs to the actual running of the organization As the US Department of Health and Human Services (2005) points out, “larger organizations, such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross, have survived for more than 100 years due in large part to a strong volunteer commitment” (p. v). Volunteers help with fundraising for organizations; they can help with the distribution of information; they can be active on social media, interacting with the public and engaging in influencing tactics. They can devote time to people at a personal level to facilitate social impact. They can manage groups, direct operations, and engage in strategizing. Volunteers exist at all levels of an organization, from the Board to the room where phone calls are taken. The role they play all depends upon who they are, where they come from and what they bring to the operation (Smith, 1994). Volunteers are vital, for example, in keeping Wikipedia going (The Economist, 2011).

Preparing Them for Work

Preparing volunteers for work is not an easy job and most CEOs fail to adequately prepare and manage volunteers—which is why there is such high turnover among volunteer staff from one year to the next (Eisner, Grimm Jr, Maynard & Washburn, 2009). The key to preparing them for work begins with the manager. The manager must be able to assess what the volunteer brings to the table and give the volunteer meaningful work that keeps the person engaged and enables the person to use his skills. A manager who assumes that all volunteers are low-skilled workers is a major problem for an organization. Many volunteers are actually highly skilled and want to give their time because they are charitable, believe in the vision and mission of the organization and have time to give. The keys to preparing them for work involved the following critical steps:

1. Matching their skills with appropriate…

Some parts of this document are missing

Click here to view full document

…managed.

Plan to Achieve Social Impact Using the Mission Model Canvas as a Framework

A plan to achieve social impact using the Mission Model Canvas as a framework should include a list of each of the following: 1) key partners, 2) key activities, 3) key resources, 4) value proposition, 5) buy-in support, 6) deployment, 7) beneficiaries, 8) the mission budget or cost, and 9) the mission achievement factors.

For this social impact organization, the key partners are going to be local leaders and organizations within the community, who can support the aim of the organization through spreading of the vision/mission, providing donations or funding, and by offering volunteer support. This would be the political capital and the social capital needed. Key activities will involve reaching out to the target group with the message, information and services required; providing access to the target group, and fundraising to supply the financial capital. Key resources will include communication resources, funding operations resources, human resources, infrastructural resources, and mobile resources, who would supply the human and intellectual capital. The value proposition of the organization would be that which states the value that it is bringing to the community. Buy-in support would come from stakeholders who are involved in the decision making process. Deployment would come from volunteers who go into the field to put the mission and vision into practice. Beneficiaries would be the recipients of the organization’s social impact. The mission budget would consist of the amount of funds that can be safely allocated to operations. And the mission achievement factors would consist of the variables that must be addressed in order for the organization to reach its goals. Financial, human, intellectual, social, and political capital are all required.

Conclusion

Volunteers are essential elements of the social impact organization and should be treated as valued stakeholders. They must have their own managers and clearly defined roles; expectations should be made clear, and they should have access to the same training opportunities and professional…


Sample Source(s) Used

References

The Economist. (2011). Wikipedia’s fundraising, free but not easy. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/21536580

Eisner, D., Grimm Jr, R. T., Maynard, S., & Washburn, S. (2009). The new volunteer workforce. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 7(1), 32-37.

Georgetown University Alumni Career Services. (2016). Effective Volunteer Recruitment & Management Strategies for Non-Profits. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6h4Pk47ymE#action=share

Hager, M.A., & Brudney, J.L. (2004). Volunteer management practices and retention of volunteers. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411005_volunteermanagement.pdf

Screwvala, T. (2018). How Volunteering can help Change the World. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGtFvOSmZ8A#action=share

Smith, D. H. (1994). Determinants of voluntary association participation and volunteering: A literature review. Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly, 23(3), 243-263.

US Department of Health and Human Services. (2005). Successful Strategies for Recruiting, Training, and Utilizing Volunteers. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/volunteer_handbook.pdf

Cite this Document

Join thousands of other students and "spark your studies."

Sign Up for FREE
Related Documents

Studyspark Study Document

Organizational Behavior Case Study

Pages: 6 (1948 words) Sources: 6 Subject: Business - Management Document: #6563198

Organizational Behavior Case Study ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Residential care facility's staff plays an important role in the daily lives of residents; unfortunately these facilities are usually faced with organizational obstacles and lack of information that prevents them from taking proper care of residents (Smith, 1998). This organizational behavioral case study is about a residential care facility which is part of a parent company that runs six different residential care facilities. The management of

Studyspark Study Document

Human Resource Management Challenges and Roles

Pages: 12 (3547 words) Sources: 7 Subject: Business - Management Document: #73626207

Public Human Resources Management Challenges facing human resource management Human Resource Management is the element of the organization that deals with the human aspect of the organization. The business world today, is very competitive. Every organization must align its resources to the organizational goals and objectives. According to Gill (2009), the employees of an organization are part of its assets just as capital and technology. Proper utilization of human resource can account

Studyspark Study Document

Women in Management and the

Pages: 10 (3250 words) Sources: 7 Subject: Sports - Women Document: #72632726

On the other hand, women view danger associated wit achievement at the workplace, as being left alone or isolated by other employees (Wirth, 2001). VI. Turning point in history From my point-of-view, I see that much has happened on the changing role of men and women at home. Both women and men can be found doing the dishes, laundry, cleaning (these were regarded as female work by tradition), and it is

Studyspark Study Document

Ethical Values in Nonprofit Organization

Pages: 11 (3288 words) Sources: 8 Subject: Management Document: #73851122

Introduction
The goal of nonprofit organizations vary as it depends on its specific objective, mission and focus. The objective of an NGO can cover from improving human rights to providing education on environmental issues in a geographical area. It can also cover issues related to improving a given state, country or region. All NGOs worldwide share the desire to further their mission and vision. Most individuals that form NGOs usually

Studyspark Study Document

Organization Plan for Red Cross

Pages: 3 (998 words) Sources: 3 Subject: Business - Management Document: #82715288

Conflict in Organizations-Red Cross American Red Cross is a network that runs nationally with 650 chapters as well as 36 regions for blood services aimed at helping people and saving lives through a preparation and response to medical emergencies. There are close to half a million Red Cross volunteers coupled with Americorps and Femacorps members and 30,000 employees who mobilize relief on an annual basis. The focus is targeted to people

Studyspark Study Document

Securities Regulation of Nonprofit Organizations

Pages: 45 (12607 words) Sources: 40 Subject: Business - Management Document: #11212386

Securities Regulation SECURITIES REGULARIZATIONS IN NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS The ensuring of the fact that an organization is working as per regulations and is following the code of conduct, while keeping the interest of the public first, are matters which are becoming more and more complicated with the passage of time. Therefore, it can be said with some emphasis, that today one of the most basic issues of many organizations is the issue of

Join thousands of other students and

"spark your studies".