{"id":1101,"date":"2015-02-26T09:16:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T17:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/?p=1101"},"modified":"2015-02-26T09:27:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T17:27:21","slug":"records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2015\/02\/records\/","title":{"rendered":"keep volunteer info up-to-date or else"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"logo\"<\/a>I really cannot emphasize enough the importance of keeping your records regarding volunteers up-to-date\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAda\u201d was a volunteer for two years with a very-well known national organization\u2019s state affiliate. She was very active with the organization in that time, taking on a number of high-responsibility roles and helping to increase the number of attendees at local events. But a conflict with an employee lead Ada to end her volunteering. There was no dramatic departure: she simply stopped taking on new volunteering tasks, stopped attending volunteer meetings, and let her membership lapse. Not one person from the agency contacted her to say, \u201cHey, where\u2019d you go?!?\u201d Ada always assumed they hadn\u2019t noticed – or were happy that she was gone. A year after she left the organization, she moved to a city almost two hours away.<\/p>\n

Imagine Ada’s\u00a0surprise when, three years after she left the organization, she gets a very friendly email from the director of individual giving from the organization, talking about something that happened in the town where she used to live. The email wasn\u2019t addressed to anyone specifically, such as \u201cDear volunteers in such-and-such town\u201d, but given the informal, chatty nature of the email, it was obvious that that\u2019s who it was supposed to be going to. As Ada had been gone from the organization for three years, didn\u2019t live in the city mentioned anymore, and had never heard of the person that was writing her this oh-so-chatty email, she was shocked. And a bit put off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t even notice when I didn\u2019t renew my membership and I stopped volunteering,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd now, three years later, they write me as though we\u2019re the best of friends?\u201d<\/p>\n

By not noticing the departure of this volunteer, by not updating its database to reflect that she had withdrawn, and by contacting someone who obviously had disengaged with the program for quite a while now with a message that made it seem like they were still involved and happy with the organization, this organization now has an even more entrenched negative reputation as being incompetent and\/or insensitive\u00a0with this volunteer. Ada may bring this up to her Facebook friends. She may bring it up in social gatherings with friends and family. She may bring it up to co-workers. And it\u2019s that kind of word-of-mouth experience that people really, really listen to.<\/p>\n

Also see:<\/p>\n