Understanding the principles of volunteering
In my opinion volunteering is the giving of the person's time freely, the coming together of an organisation and a volunteer is a joint effort, each party will get different things from it, the volunteer will get experience and understanding of a specific job, the organisation will gain the time back that the volunteer has given to the organisation.
Four examples a volunteer does not get paid money just out of pocket expenses, what the actual volunteer gets out of it is.
You may ask what the organisation gains from the volunteer?
So the relationship between a volunteer and an organisation is a symbiosis, one can't exist without the other; if an organisation wants to survive and thrive they need volunteers, as they are the backbone and the blood of an organisation. So if they treat their volunteers well, giving them ways of training gaining new skills, making friendships that organisation is going to get very big. But on the other hand if an organisation treats the volunteers with contempt or as if they were employees and not volunteers the organisation will struggle to keep them, without volunteers there's no organisation, basically. My opinion is as a volunteer and as someone who has worked with volunteers, if you treat them the way you would like to be treated, then the organisation has got more chance of getting itself noticed, because good volunteers is what makes a good organisation. In my humble position as a volunteer and someone that's worked with volunteers I've experienced both sides, the good and bad instance with some organisations, I was treated as if I was just a second-class citizen and given all the not so pleasant jobs to do. In another organisation, I was held with high regard and that shows the point, regardless of what role you are in, you should be appreciated, you would think that an organisation would appreciate your effort, but that unfortunately is not always the case. Volunteer manager I feel that volunteer managers, don't always get a good deal, what I mean by this is they are in the middle they are acting on behalf of not only the volunteer and the organisation and they have to answer to them. On the other hand they're also there to make sure that the volunteers are treated with respect that they deserve after all, they are doing it for free, volunteer managers are basically an office manager but sole lead to organise the roles and the running of volunteers to do their assessments. training etc, etc, it sounds straightforward, it's not there is a lot more to organising volunteers than just assigning a role to a Specific volunteer the first thing you have to do is find out what the volunteers skill set is, then match up that volunteer with a specific role once they are matched you need to do a assessment every 3 to 6 months to find out. To see if the volunteer is doing the role as best they can, secondly to find out if the volunteer is happy within that role, these kinds of checks benefit the organisation also the volunteer. Didn't feel suited Personally the roles that I’ve held as a volunteer I would say there's only one that I didn't feel suited to, but after I was doing it for some time, I found that not only was I suited but I enjoyed it to. Someone that has struggled with dyslexia most of my adult life, I was placed into a role to teach someone computers, the only drawback was the person was partially sighted, which meant ironically that I had to read out newspaper clippings and as you can imagine with dyslexia, I've got to be there reading out of magazines, so in essence it was like the blind leading the blind, but after several months, we worked out a pattern where he helping with the words, I would spell them out if you know what I mean. The role was alien to me, but the point was it, was challenged my perceptions of what I was capable of, knowing this now has really easier for me within my own day-to-day life, with reading so I’ve benefited from it. So did the service user and so did the organisation. I then moved on to another organisation into another role but I took that skill set with me, all because someone took the chance of put me into a position that I didn't feel suited, which turned out to be perfect. Short-sighted Knowing what a volunteer can do is not always possible four example I'm in the position let's say I'm partially dyslexic but I'm fantastic at doing graphics and artistic and creative stuff, but the manager of let’s say a small organisation is short-sighted and can't see that they have left me sitting on the sideline for nine months, Well sadly I moved on. “Now I need to find a new place where I can put my talents to and maybe just maybe I might find something else that I can do.” Rewarding Volunteering is so rewarding not only to you the volunteer but more so to the person or to the organisation that you have devoted your time to, in America they don't use the word very much as volunteering or a volunteer they use the words serving, no I suppose in some respects as a volunteer you're giving your time freely therefore you're services to another person or organisation and you made that choice. you weren't forced to do it, you did it freely and willingly and to me I suppose not only me but to many millions of other volunteers there is the feeling of giving back to your community or just wishing to pass on some good fortune that someone bestowed upon you. By John Carkit September 2018 |