Category Archives: Nonprofit/NGO/Agency Management

Before your nonprofit tries to recruit new board members…

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Board recruitment is volunteer recruitment.

If your nonprofit is needing to recruit volunteers for its organization, then before you start writing up the profile of the perfect board member and all that will be expected of such, your board membership needs to answer this question:

Why is it GREAT to serve on this board of directors?

If your board cannot answer this question, you need to rethink what your board of directors is doing.

Being on the board of a nonprofit is a tremendous responsibility. The board members are fiscally responsible for the organization. Most boards fall into two categories: working boards, where individual members take on different roles with regard to the organization (helping with marketing and outreach, helping to cultivate funding or programming partnerships, working with clients in some capacity, organizing the annual large fundraising event), or funding boards, where each member must give or raise a certain amount of money every year.

You aren’t going to attract board members by saying, “We have all this work to do. Please come help do it.” Or “Here is this desperate need in our community that our nonprofit addresses, and if our nonprofit goes away, it will be a disaster for the community” Or “Here’s how much money you have to give or raise every year.”

You are going to attract people to the board who

  • think the responsibilities of board membership are worth it because of the inspiration they will regularly receive regarding the work of the nonprofit.
  • think membership will be prestigious, something helpful for their profile in the community or within the company where they work, because of all that your nonprofit does in the community.
  • want to do the activities board members are required to do, who look forward to doing those activities, because they look fun, impactful and/or meaningful.

If your board cannot answer the question of why it’s great to be on your organization’s board of directors, it means there’s no good reason for someone to want to join your board.

At a board meeting, have your board members answer this question. Write the question on a white board or flip chart and capture their answers. Ask them to reflect on more answers, or clarify their answers, after the meeting if they wish, and to send their new ideas and clarifications to your board president before the next board meeting. Display all the answers at that meeting and let them discuss them on more time. They may find that there are some things that need to be addressed before new board members are recruited, like the number of board meetings, or how meetings are conducted, or how much the board is or isn’t involved on the front lines of the organization’s work (which can often make the difference between an energized board and one that feels uninspired).

And, of course, it should go without saying, but before your board starts recruiting new members, your organization also needs

  • to make sure everyone understands the bylaws, which note the role of the board, term limits, leadership succession, etc.
  • board duties in writing.
  • a form for nominees to fill out noting both their areas of expertise (event organizing, graphic design, accounting, etc.) as well as what skills they want to offer or develop.
  • a list of board committees.
  • a process for reviewing board nominees, for contacting nominees, for interviewing nominees, etc.

But I think getting your current board to answer that question is CRUCIAL in ensuring your search for new board members is successful – and that your board members complete their terms!

Also see:

Executive Directors & Board Members: Get Out in Your Communities

When Board Members (& other volunteers) Get in the Way of Much-Needed Change

Recruit board members to be board members, nothing more

Recruiting board members with LinkedIn?

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Reflecting on the challenges of a career in nonprofits

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a simplistic drawing of a wizard

I’ve been working for nonprofits, as a professional or as a volunteer, for 47 years, starting when I was 13 and volunteered in the office of a hospice where my mother worked. I’ve always been drawn to nonprofit organizations – to mission-based organizations. It’s more than the charitable nature: nonprofits work to create appreciation for things I hold dear, like the arts or a clean, natural environment or walkable, livable cities. They push for causes that are core to my own values, like human rights. Whether it’s encouraging people to spay and neuter their dogs and cats or encouraging young girls to play sports or providing shelter to people experiencing homelessness or promoting the idea that web sites should be accessible, nonprofits play a crucial role in making life worth living.

But working for nonprofits – or charities, as they are called in the United Kingdom, or non-government organizations (NGOs) in other countries – is not easy, and having devoted most of my professional life to such, I’ve been reflecting on those challenges:

  • Despite our vital, necessary work, despite the level of responsibilities we have, despite the experience and expertise we bring to our work, and despite the expectations for our work, nonprofit professionals are grossly underpaid. I work with employees receiving SNAP benefits because they are paid so little – EMPLOYEES!
  • There are people actively encouraging funders NOT to pay nonprofit professionals competitive salaries. There are people that don’t believe nonprofit professionals should get to be homeowners, or send their children to university, or drive a new car. These people don’t believe a university degree, including higher degrees, are necessary for the complexities of nonprofit work, and therefor they think it’s ridiculous that nonprofit employees have degrees and the debt that comes with such. There are people that believe those that work at nonprofits should never expect to financially prosper from their work.
  • Many from the for-profit world don’t believe nonprofits are experts at anything. They believe that nonprofit staff are people who couldn’t get jobs at corporations or other businesses. They think nonprofit staff don’t know how to do basic business functions, like accounting or project management. They believe they could figure out how to do any job at a nonprofit in just a few minutes (if that). I cannot count how many times someone from the business world has talked down to me because I work at nonprofits.

  • Many from the for-profit world think volunteers are just free labor, and the reason to involve volunteers is because there’s too much work to do for employees, or that it’s a great way to eliminate paid positions. They never see volunteer engagement as a way to reach potential new donors or other supporters, and get angry when they have to work with volunteers. These for-profit business folks also have never taken any course nor read any material on how to work with volunteers and scoff at the idea that they need such.
  • Many from outside our industry think that solving an ongoing community or environmental problem is just a matter of inventing a tool. How many times have I seen yet another design for a simple home for the homeless or for refugees – ignoring the fact that the challenge is WHERE the homes will go, not what they are made of or how quickly they can be assembled? Or all the people that think the challenge to more people volunteering at nonprofits is recruitment, not the reality that most staff have no training in working with volunteers and the resources needed to adequately support volunteers are out of reach for most nonprofits?
  • Too many people ignore what nonprofits are trying to achieve and that most of what we do is NOT charity. Absolutely, people are in need of things like free food, temporary shelter, blankets, etc. But most nonprofits are trying to create and improve community, promote social cohesion, address inequities, improve public health, help more people access education, jobs and more, and on and on. And these activities aren’t just nice; they are necessary. They affect housing prices, property values, the quality of public schools, public safety, crime rates, the profit margins for small margins, and employee recruitment for large corporations.
  • The idea of being a mission-based organization, rather than a profit-focused organization, is completely lost on most of corporate America. Promoting the arts in prisons isn’t meant to be an income-generation activity – it’s meant to teach people how to understand the range of their emotions and their connection to other humans, with the hope that they won’t harm other humans or themselves. That something isn’t financially stable through income-generation doesn’t make it somehow NOT something worth having.
  • Our industry is dominated by women professionals except at the executive level. And most major conferences will have a slew of men as speakers and trainers disproportionate to the number of women who staff nonprofits and NGOs. Women leaders are still seen, primarily, as pushy, not as the innovators and amazing managers that they are.
  • There are people actively trying to disparage and undermine our sector. Some are angry that nonprofits have been successful at curbing business activities that harm the environment or that have been harmful to certain groups of people – and therefore curbing their personal profits. Some are angry that nonprofits have successfully advocated for marginalized people, thereby eating into the power of men, especially white men. Some are angry that nonprofits are advocating for equity – also known as fairness – for all people which, again, eats into the power of men, especially white men, forcing them to work as hard as others.

Nonprofits – mission-based organizations – aren’t without fault, and there are many that could, and should, be run better. But the same is true of many corporations.

I have no regrets at the career I’ve chosen. But I’m sad to see a lot of my work disappear from the web, and a lot of initiatives I’ve been a part of and that were making a difference for certain communities get defunded and abandoned. I am sad to see so many nonprofits fighting to continue to exist and under attack from political and corporate forces.

As nonprofits shrink and their work disappears, the loss will be for everyone, not just for the nonprofits.

What funding volunteer engagement looks like

Disrupting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate employees are often not successful at virtual volunteering. Why?

Are charities “stuck up” – or the corporate volunteers offering help?

Corporate volunteers can be a burden for nonprofits

Corporate Volunteer Programs: What Do Nonprofits Want From Them?

Deriding the monetary value of volunteer hours: my mission in life?

The problem with volunteer matching platforms isn’t a software issue

Donors offering feedback on humanitarian projects & proposals

What some nonprofits ask for in job candidates is ridiculous.

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a simplistic drawing of a wizard

Within one week, I saw three different job announcements at three different mid-size or large nonprofits that, altogether, were what I did part-time at a small nonprofit for the last three years. And much of the activities in each of these roles are, altogether, what I have done at nonprofits for the last thirty years.

What each job listed for qualifications was so specific that the organizations are going to end up excluding MANY qualified people – and, probably, the best person for the job. Despite my extensive professional background, despite being expertly qualified for some positions, I don’t even bother applying because so many people don’t see a journalism degree as something desirable now.

When your small or medium-sized nonprofit is looking for someone to be a videographer or photographer, who you are going to pay a salary FAR below the market rate, what you need from job candidates is work portfolios, not a degree in videography or photography. Same for a web designer or a graphic designer or a communications manager and many other positions. And for education, what you may need most is graduation from a recent certificate program, not a full-fledged BA. You need people who can do the job, and since you cannot afford to pay people with the training and experience you are demanding, you need to adjust your expectations.

There’s a better way to attract and screen candidates for roles where the person will produce communications pieces – and will do the job you need done:

(1) Ask applicants to note in their résumés or applications where (in what professional and volunteer positions) they used the tools or produced the projects or demonstrated the skills you are asking for. If your job involves setting up press conferences, or designing web sites, or managing web sites, or designing brochures, or distributing brochures, etc., ask applicants to note in their résumés or applications where they have experience doing that.

(2) Note that you will be asking later for online portfolios from the top 10 candidates, what you will want in those portfolios, and approximately how many weeks you will contact the top 10 candidates to ask for those portfolios. Note how many people you will choose to interview from those top 10 candidates and approximately when those interviews will take place. If someone doesn’t already have the material for a portfolio, they aren’t going to apply – and if they do, they now know they need to make sure their portfolio is full of fantastic examples of their work.

And if you are going to demand that the person use certain specific software – Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign, Final Cut Pro, etc. – then you had better say what YOU are going to provide the selected candidate. What kind of laptop or desk top are you going to provide? Running what software? What kind of camera are you going to provide? Do you have a quiet room for creatives to create and edit? Are you committed to web accessibility and will give your web designer the tools needed to make that happen?

Be flexible in asking for a degree. I know amazing photographers with English degrees. I know very talented videographers with music degrees. I know kick-ass web designers with philosophy degrees.

And, finally: what you see as an entry-level job may be, particularly for seasoned professional in their 50s or 60s, a way to work for a few more years, work at a pace that is better suited to their life now than the senior and executive positions they held in the past, and apply a vast amount of skills and experience that your organization may be in much more need of than you might think. If you are thinking, “Oh, but what about health problems they might have?”, then also consider that it’s likely that candidates in their 50s or 60s aren’t starting families in the next few years, aren’t going to quit to pursue other, better job opportunities, and aren’t going to move across country to get married. And they are no more likely to have home-care obligations than a 30 something.

If you have benefited from this blog, my other blogs, or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

How to get a variety of staff to create roles for volunteers.

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graphic representing volunteers at work

It’s controversial to say, but here it is: I believe that creating volunteering roles is NOT the primary responsibility of the manager of volunteers and that most volunteers should not be working just the manager of volunteers.

And working from this premise, it’s impossible for the manager of volunteers to create most of the roles for volunteers; it takes program staff and even administration staff, a mix of employees and leadership volunteers, to be the primary generators of volunteer roles.

Consider a community theater that produces live performances: a manager of volunteers at such a nonprofit wouldn’t recruit volunteers to help build sets without first talking to the person in charge of set building and that person defining what volunteers will do. Such a manager at a nonprofit animal shelter wouldn’t recruit volunteers to show up to walk dogs without first talking to the shelter manager and working out what training needs to happen, as well as a schedule.

And if these other staff members, whether employees or volunteers, don’t want to involve volunteers, the work of the manager of volunteers is, quite frankly, doomed to failure.

Now, here’s the kicker: how do you encourage, or even require, staff to involve volunteers in their work?

In more than 25 years of working with volunteers and researching volunteerism, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I finally decided to write it all down – and now I have updated the resource on my web site about how to create volunteering roles to include advice on what it takes to get staff to involve volunteers in their work. Have a look and, if you have more advice, offer it in the comments on this blog or email me directly.

If you have benefited from this blog, my other blogs, or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Is your nonprofit ready for an influx of SNAP recipients needing 80 hours of volunteering each month?

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graphic representing volunteers at work

Effective November 1, veterans, the homeless, recent foster care youth and adults ages 54-64 in the USA are no longer exempt from work requirements to receive food benefits for themselves and their families through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This is a result of the “big, beautiful bill.”  

People in these groups are now going to have to work for pay or volunteer with a credible nonprofit for 80 hours a month in order to receive their SNAP benefits (once they start being funded again). 

It’s likely many USA nonprofits are going to see an increase in requests to volunteer as a result. One of the challenges is that you are going to get people who show up on Monday of the last week of the month and say, “I need to get 80 hours of volunteering this week.” That’s impossible.

Nonprofits: make sure you have information on your web site that notes your LIMITS on volunteering in terms of hours per week. How far in advance does a person need to apply with you to arrange 80 hours of volunteering in a month? And make sure staff know how to diplomatically, compassionately, respond to people desperate for volunteering hours that simply cannot be done in the amount of time requested at your nonprofit.

But please also think about ways you can accommodate at least a few people needing up to 80 hours of volunteering over an entire month.

You should talk to staff about this potential influx of volunteers and what it means for them in terms of supervising volunteers, filling out paperwork, etc.

These folks are going to be people who urgently need these hours and are completely stressed out about it. They need compassion, even if you can’t accommodate them – and especially if you can.

A great idea I heard from the Habitat ReStore in Beaverton, Oregon: put up a white board that says, “Tasks for the Day” and have staff write things that need to be done. A volunteer writes his or her name next to the task they are going to do, and then they go do it. Then they come back to the board when they are done and mark it “done” and move on to the next task.

Of course, the challenge is that staff have to come up with tasks. And be available to provide guidance for those tasks.

I have guidance on how to create tasks for volunteers – as well as ongoing roles for volunteers.

One more thing: if your nonprofit DOES accommodate people required to do community service, whether because of SNAP or the courts or classroom requirements, track how many volunteers you are involving as a result of these programs and find a way to define how much it is COSTING your organization to engage and support these volunteers. And make sure that cost is reported to your board, to your local elected officials and to your donors. Make sure they know that volunteers are never, ever cost free.

Read more about these SNAP requirements from the Kentucky Lantern and from the USDA.

Update Dec. 1, 2025, from CNN.

Why the Verboort Sausage & Kraut Festival is successful as a fundraiser & community event & what you can learn from it

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Verboort is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon. It has less than 500 residents. It also has a very large Catholic Church and an adjacent, small Catholic School.

Back in 1934, the church and school started the Verboort Sausage and Sauerkraut Festival, with proceeds going for the upkeep of the school. It was small and attended by residents, families, and some people from surrounding villages.

Now, the one-day festival attracts about 10,000 people a year. The line for purchasing bulk sausage and sauerkraut starts forming four or five hours before sunrise. The cars that want to pick up ready-made dinners line up five hours before serving begins. The venue where dinner is served (rather than take aways) is continually packed from the moment it opens until it closes in the evening.

I’m just back, rain-soaked from standing in line for a take away meal, and covered in mud from the trek to and from the car parked in a farm field. And I’ve been wondering why this fundraising event is so amazingly successful.

Here’s what I think makes it successful year after year, even during COVID:

  • They’ve kept the festival simple in terms of what it serves. It’s pretty much the exact same meals, every year (pork sausages, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, green beans, apple sauce, coleslaw, a roll and a piece of pie). No variation. They have the formula down – really hearty comfort food you want to eat in November – and they stick with it.
  • The food is incredible. I have never had mass-prepared meals that are this scrumptious. The sauerkraut is to die for – which is why they also sell it by the tub the day of.
  • The community was founded by six Dutch Catholic families, and the festival plays up the Dutch connection HUGELY. Actually, they get a little mixed up and play German Oktoberfest music too, but most people don’t know. The point is, this isn’t like any other festival anywhere else in Oregon. It makes it more than food – it’s an experience.
  • They grew slowly. What started off as maybe 100 people coming to a community feed has slowly blossomed. They didn’t immediately try to do something beyond their resources. People who enjoyed it returned – and told their friends. Then they started putting a sign out on the highway in farmer’s fields. Simple sign, name of the festival, “First Saturday in November.” SO easy to remember. Now, they will have TV crews come out to see the kraut-making process – and the local TV news always comes.
  • They know how to manage the crowd. This is a TINY town with ONE paved street going through it (not kidding). Yet, unless you are in line for a ready-to-take-away meal, you will rarely be in a traffic jam. You get directed to parking and you park quickly, no fuss, no muss. And that’s because…
  • Most of the festival is staffed by volunteers, and plenty of them. They are directing traffic, they are helping people park, they are taking orders, they are helping people find the right line, they are putting the meal trays together, etc. Some are students of the school, some are parents, some are residents, some are church parishioners from Verboort, some are parishioners from elsewhere, and some are people that just love this event and love being a part of it. SO MANY VOLUNTEERS.
  • I really cannot emphasize enough how well organized this event is. The volunteers are juggling orders and food and parking and cars like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s a well oiled machine.
  • Altogether, it feels like something you just have to go to if you live here. It feels like an event, a happening. It feels unique. You go even in crap weather. And I’m not Catholic and I don’t eat pork, but there I am, every year (the secret is that you park in the farm field and bring a wagon or a lot of bags, and you stand in line for the ready made meals – you can be there just 60 minutes before it opens and get all the food you want).

People come from Portland and Salem to this.

And many know it’s a fundraiser, but don’t know for what! I’ve done some informal polling, and people will say they like to support it because it’s a fundraiser, and when I ask for what, they’ll say, “for some school or something?” All that is important to them is that, in addition to the good food and unique experience they are supporting a “good cause” – even if they don’t know what it is.

There is a lot that smaller fundraising events could learn from this festival.

Also see:

If you have benefited from this blog, my other blogs, or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Work & volunteering advice: don’t leave it all on the field every time

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I attended a fantastic workshop on video editing several weeks ago. One of the things the instructor said has haunted me – and not just regarding video editing. He said that you need to NOT fall in love with whatever video you are making. Instead, you have to make the video, do work you can be proud of, post it, and then MOVE ON. But do NOT pour your heart into it and offer it up with the highest of hopes that all of your hard work and artistry is going to be popular or even acknowledged – because more than likely, you will get just a couple of “likes”, if you’re lucky. That’s it.

I pour my heart into my professional work. I do most projects as though I am doing them as a model for others. I relish in anyone acknowledging that they see my determination and skills in my work. In fact, I live for it. And my heart gets broken repeatedly.

Leaving it all on the field or court after every game is something that man fans and sports commentators admire, but it’s not a healthy approach to every day work and volunteering. I’m not sure I’ve experienced any benefits at all from just how much love and care I’ve poured into my work over the years – or even in the work I do now.

A few years ago, hungry to make some community connections and really missing any sorts of arts in my life outside of movies, I decided to apply for a citizens’ advisory group for a local government body regarding the arts. The role was simple: review applications from area arts organizations, very very small groups, entirely amateur, choose who gets what tiny sum of money, and attend a celebration at the end of the year where performing arts grants recipients perform. Perfect! I would get introduced to a big array of various dance, theater, music and fine arts groups and partake in their work. There would probably also be snacks.

I really enjoyed the first year, especially the grants celebration! Yes, there WERE snacks – and some beautiful performances.

I was shocked when one of the members asked me to be the chair for the next year. She said all the longer-term folks had done it already and I was “fresh” and I’d seen how it works, how much fun it was. So, yeah, okay! I said yes. COVID was in full swing, but we were having meetings online, and they were working WAY better than our face-to-face stuff, so I was quite happy to take on this volunteer leadership role.

At the very first meeting I ran came the bombshell, which the person who talked me into serving as chair swears she did NOT know was coming: our little advisory committee was losing its administrative support from the local government, and we had to form an independent 501 (c)(3) in 12 weeks if we were to continue.

I worked 20 hours a week for six months, identifying priorities, keeping track of who was doing what, scheduling meetings, opening a bank account, researching and drafting by-laws, drafting the web site content and then designing the simple site, working with our new fiscal agent, reading over the government requirements, researching grants management software, designing Google forms and spreadsheets for the data generated, and running meetings. I poured my heart into it.

One member of the committee didn’t like how I was doing things and would question every sentence, every detail, every suggestion, all of which came from hours and hours of research – but never offer to take over any task and work on it outside of meeting time. During one particularly horrible meeting, he insulted me during a long speech about how he didn’t like something I had drafted and, at last, I stopped him. I don’t want to get into details, but before the entire group, I calmly but FIRMLY told him he was going to stop that immediately, that his language and accusations were beyond inappropriate, and I wouldn’t continue for one more minute. He backed down. After that meeting, like so many other meetings, I sat at my computer and wept. Yes, I cried. At least two members wrote me to say they were so, so sorry at what I had just experienced. But they didn’t speak up at this or any other meeting.

The whole experience was grueling, degrading and soul-crusing. And I didn’t feel any sort of passion or love for this. Why did I stick with it? Because I have this ridiculous sense of duty and honor and pride when I take on a role: I’m going to see it to an appropriate conclusion and do my absolute best every moment and THEN walk away. Heaven forbid I inconvenience anyone, just because I’m being repeatedly insulted and overworked! At least I’ll have the knowledge that I did what I could and did my best!

Insert eyeroll here.

I wish I’d said, “F*ck ’em.” Because all but maybe one person on that committee, and no one in the government, saw the hours I was spending on what was supposed to be a simple community volunteering job, and that I was doing absolutely all that was necessary, in RECORD time, to see that this committee would get to continue its work and that small arts groups in my area would continue to receive a bit of funding each year.

I told the other members I would not be continuing on the committee once my term was up. I recruited six more board members, all under 45 – something the board said it wanted, since others were resigning at the end of the term as well and a need for younger minds was very much needed. I interviewed them and onboarded them, trying to give them as much support as I got when I first joined. I chaired my last meeting, introducing the new members, and then I walked away.

There was no real thank you and no acknowledgement that I’d undertaken a part-time job, for no pay, for much of the year to preserve funding for small nonprofits and to create a model that would allow the committee to get back to reviewing grant applications, awarding money and celebrating at the end of it all. In fact, what I felt mostly from the others was hostility at how demanding and pushy I’d been – something that was absolutely required to get all this done.

I kept all those emails and drafts and files from this experience. I went back and looked at them this week. The work takes up more storage on my computer than any one consulting job I’ve ever done.

I threw most of it away at last.

This is just one of MANY examples I could offer regarding having my heart broken because I wanted to do the BEST job possible. In fact, I’m doing this again now, professionally, for my one and only client, and I’m realizing that I need to stop. I need to scale back. I’ll always do work that I can be proud of and that a client and employer deserves. But do they deserve my absolute, tireless BEST, every time? Not for this pay.

I know that I am one of the best people out there for small nonprofits regarding leveraging social media, for crisis communications, for general public relations and marketing, and for donor cultivation, let alone volunteer engagement. But there comes a time when you have to say, “I’ll do just this much, and then stop. Because I’m not getting my heart broken at work anymore and the pay certainly is NOT worth it.”

Life’s too short. Time to play some piano.

Also see:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

URGENT: if your USA-based program involves volunteers, you need to create a budget NOW & fight for it when budget cuts are discussed

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image of a panel discussion

Along with the massive slashing of US government budgets, the demand for nonprofit services is going to be even greater than before – and nonprofits, per losing so much government funding (and corporate funding – layoffs abound) are going to have less and less resources.

A lot of boards at nonprofits are going to naively think, “Oh, let’s just get more volunteers – while also cutting the budget of the volunteer program, including firing the volunteer manager.”

If you work with volunteers at your nonprofit, regardless of if your title is manager of volunteers or not, there are three things you need to do RIGHT NOW, urgently, if you want to keep involving volunteers at your nonprofit and be ready to face the severe budget cuts coming.

1) you need to prepare a budget, RIGHT NOW, on what it costs to engage volunteers at your organization. That budget should include:

  • the percentage of staff time, at dollar value, to engage with and support volunteers
  • all expenses related to recruitment (that will include a portion of your web site hosting)
  • all expenses related to training and supervision (any software you pay to use for this)
  • all expenses related to appreciation/recognition (items you give to volunteers, rentals of space for volunteer events, etc.)
  • costs associated with volunteer management software
  • costs associated with background checks
  • advertising costs
  • travel costs
  • office supplies
  • insurance
  • volunteer center membership
  • professional development of those working with volunteers (training, certification, publications, conferences, membership fees, etc.)

2) You also need to create a chart that shows, as simply as possible, what it takes to onboard a new volunteer and to support your new volunteers. It needs to show exactly who does what at each step.

If you don’t do this, and communicate it to senior staff and the board, the budget cuts they make will be arbitrary, and volunteer engagement will plummet (so will individual donations, FYI).

3) And the third thing you must do: you must show the impact of your volunteer program. The number of volunteers you involved and the number of hours they gave IS NOT IMPACT. Testimonials from clients and staff about the impact volunteers made with them is impact. Testimonials from volunteers about how they did not understand fully what your nonprofit was doing before or the issue they were addressing, but now they do, because of their volunteering, is impact. Volunteers themselves can help you gather this data.

Also see:

Your Nonprofit CAN Resist. Here’s how.

Told ya. & I’m still telling you.

Could your nonprofit be the target of an ICE raid? Are you prepared?

What’s the future of international humanitarian development & foreign relations careers?

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Volunteering: not a black & white subject

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In the same day, I’ve been accused by a person of being unfairly opposed to all forms of voluntourism (paying to volunteer abroad) and accused by another of promoting voluntourism.

In the same week, I’ve been accused of pushing an agenda that makes volunteering too difficult for most people to access and also pushing an agenda that makes volunteer involvement too easy and puts clients at risk.

Some people have said I think people paid to do work are better than volunteers, and others have said I want to eliminate paid roles and replace such with unpaid volunteers.

Most people who bother to actually read what I write know exactly where I stand on voluntourism (I do think there is such a thing as ethical voluntourism, but I think such ethical experiences are rare), know exactly where I stand on volunteer engagement (I don’t trust any nonprofit that doesn’t involve volunteers while also believing that organizations have every right NOT to accept every offer to volunteer) and know that I don’t think volunteer engagement should be used as a way for job elimination (but that I DO think some roles are best done by volunteers).

Talks about volunteerism are, and should be, full of nuance. Volunteerism is a complex subject. If you want to see a fight break out, ask a room full of managers of volunteers to define the word volunteer. Which is right? In many ways, they ALL are. There’s nothing simple about this subject – that’s why it’s held my interest for a few decades.

And I do change my mind. Over many years, I went from being okay with voluntourism to being totally opposed to it to being back to being okay with it, with certain qualifications. I change my mind because I’m always reading opinions from other people, testimonials from volunteers and those that involve such, and most importantly, those served by volunteers. I hope you do the same.

But quit trying to put me in a box.

Could your nonprofit be the target of an ICE raid? Are you prepared?

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A cartoonish hand is palm facing the viewer, as if to say stop.

Recently, someone posted to the Reddit community (subreddit) focused on volunteerism to say:

I am a weekly volunteer for a food pantry that serves 800 guests weekly. Many of these guests are immigrants. As a result, the volunters (sic) have had to undergo training in the case that we are raided by ICE and what to do in that scenario. We were told what ICE is allowed to do legally and what we can do legally…

I hadn’t considered that volunteers and staff at so many nonprofits may have to deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent raids, including homeless shelters, food pantries, job training sites, Goodwill program and store sites, Habitat for Humanity ReStores, and youth sports games. Nonprofits that serve farm workers will also likely encounter ICE during raids.

It’s another example of how many nonprofits will have to address the challenges brought on by the current presidential administration, and will have to think about how much they are willing to compromise and what the values at the heart of their organization are. And in cooperating with ICE, if it comes to that, nonprofits will also have to address substantial lack-of-trust issues if we ever reach the other side of this political crisis.

I’ll note that, at one nonprofit where I work, we didn’t receive training, but we did receive an email from the executive director telling us that, if ANYONE showed up claiming to be law enforcement – police, sheriff’s deputy, ICE, the FBI, whatever – no matter what they said or showed, the first thing the staff person was to do was to call the executive director, and to say over and over, “I have to call our boss. I can’t help you.”

How many of you out there are volunteering or working somewhere and have been briefed on what to do if ICE shows up? If you feel comfortable, I would love to hear from you: you can comment below, if you feel safe in doing so, or email me directly and ask for your account to be posted anonymously.

Some things are certain and can be communicated to your staff and volunteers: law enforcement, including ICE, can enter areas open to the general public of a business without permission, BUT that does not give ICE the authority to detain, question, or arrest anyone. Ask to see the identification of any officers or agents and write down the name, contact information, and badge number. If the agent refuses to provide documentation, you should note that as well. Ask if they have a warrant and, if they say yes, look at it and see if it is a SEARCH warrant signed by a judge, that it has the correct address for your workplace, and what areas and items ICE is authorized to search (ICE is not authorized to search areas or inspect items that are not described in the warrant). If they say no, document that.

Executive directors: talk to your volunteers and paid staff, tell them exactly what it is you want them to do if police officers, including ICE, enter your facility, and tell your volunteers and staff that, if anyone has a US passport, they should consider carrying a copy of the ID page in their wallets, since there are so many reports of ICE detaining US citizens they think are immigrants in the USA illegally.

And executive directors, listen to your volunteers and paid staff, and your clients, about their fears. Don’t dismiss those fears as unfounded.

Here are some resources you should review:

ICE Raid Guidance for Homeless Service Providers:
 What to do Before, During, and After a Raid. From the National Homelessness Law Center. Great advice for all nonprofits.

Know Your Rights: If ICE Confronts You. From the ACLU.

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