01/26/2022

How to Lead the New Culture of Volunteers

They seek more from their experience than a sense of belonging

Association leaders can understandably be frustrated by volunteering today. Though volunteers might want a relationship with their organization, today they're less likely to want to make extended, multiyear commitments. There's important committee or task force work to be done, but sometimes progress in those contexts can be so slow that volunteering can sometimes feel like make-work.

For associations feeling that struggle, something needs to change in both how volunteering is structured and how it's sold. Last month, Peggy Hoffman, FASAE, CAE, president of Mariner Management, voiced some of these frustrations on EventGarde's blog, pointing out that many associations are "still wedded to traditional, term-based volunteering."

Organizations that escape that problem, Hoffman writes, tend to do three things. First, they give volunteers a meaningful issue to focus on—DE&I, for instance, or safe industry practices during the pandemic. Second, they’re open to creating short-term opportunities. Third—and perhaps most importantly—they make those opportunities personally meaningful in terms of volunteers’ professional development. Associations often pitch volunteering as a way to have a sense of “belonging” to an organization or industry, and that’s still powerful and important. But people are looking after their own interests, too.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.