{"id":141,"date":"2012-02-22T16:00:27","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coyoteblog.posterous.com\/im-a-frustrated-volunteer"},"modified":"2017-04-04T17:41:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T00:41:46","slug":"im-a-frustrated-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2012\/02\/im-a-frustrated-volunteer\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m a Frustrated Volunteer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My last blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2012\/02\/21\/im-a-volunteer-you-should-just-be-grateful-im\/\">I&#8217;m a volunteer &amp; you should just be GRATEFUL I&#8217;m here!<\/a>, talked about the <em>entitlement volunteer<\/em>, that person who feels he or she shouldn&#8217;t have to go through an orientation for new volunteers, shouldn&#8217;t have to be screened at all or his or her credentials confirmed, and shouldn&#8217;t have his or her volunteer or pro bono work supervised nor held to any standards.<\/p>\n<p>But there&#8217;s also another volunteer: <strong><em>the frustrated volunteer wannabe<\/em><\/strong>. He or she is the person who is happy to go through all the orientation and training required to be a volunteer, and would really love feedback on what he or she is doing as a volunteer &#8211; the feedback is more valuable than a pin or a coffee mug <em>thank you<\/em>. So why is this person frustrated?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He or she can&#8217;t find information about volunteering &#8211; at least not easily &#8211; on an organization&#8217;s web site<\/li>\n<li>Organizations this volunteer contacts because of postings on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.volunteermatch.org\" target=\"_blank\">VolunteerMatch<\/a> or other <a href=\"http:\/\/www.coyotecommunications.com\/stuff\/volunteeringsites.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">volunteer-matching site or volunteer centers<\/a> never get back to him or her, despite the posting that said the organization needed\/wanted volunteers<\/li>\n<li>Organizations this volunteer contacts, by filling out their volunteer applications through their web sites or even going onsite, never get back to him or her<\/li>\n<li>Organizations have orientations and trainings on a day and time this volunteer could never attend, and the organizations offer no alternatives that would better fit the volunteers&#8217; schedule<\/li>\n<li>The volunteer isn&#8217;t certain what he or she is supposed to be doing, and receives little direction or support when showing up for a project, an event or for a shift, or workig on a project from home<\/li>\n<li>A staff person at an organization claiming to need highly-skilled volunteers puts the kabash on involving a volunteer he or she fears, because of the volunteer&#8217;s skills or experience, or because the volunteer asks questions that makes a staff person uncomfortable about his or her own job performance or skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And I have a confession to make: since I&#8217;ve been back in the USA, for more than two years, <strong>that frustrated volunteer wannabe has been ME<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>I have tried to volunteer sooo many times since September 2009, when I moved to Oregon. Key word on <em>tried<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2013\/08\/20\/notwanted\/\" target=\"_blank\">Same for my husband, who has also tried to volunteer<\/a> since coming to the USA. And then there are my friends, who have frequently expressed frustration to me at their attempts to volunteer &#8211; for instance, I got this in an email from a friend just last week:<\/p>\n<p><em>I once tried to volunteer at some big music event that NAMEOFORGDELETED was putting on. I showed up at the assigned spot, and no one was there to tell me what to do, so I left. I volunteered again during their pledge drive, but generally found it unsatisfying. Never went back.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A benefit of my own attempts to volunteer, as well as the experiences that have been shared with me by others, has been the inspiration to write a <em>lot<\/em> of blog entries and web pages over the last two years, which I hope might help organizations who want to do a better job of involving and supporting volunteers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/10\/06\/how-to-get-rid-of-volunteers\/\">How to get rid of volunteers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/09\/16\/no-excuses-for-not-having-the-word-volunteer\/\">No excuses for not having the word &#8220;volunteer&#8221; on your home page!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/05\/26\/what-is-impressive-what-is-not\/\">What is impressive, what is not<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2012\/04\/24\/the-volunteer-as-bully-the-toxic-volunteer\/\" target=\"_self\">The volunteer as bully = the toxic volunteer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2013\/08\/20\/notwanted\/\">A fire station turns away volunteers &#8211; and how it could be different<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2012\/01\/12\/a-missed-opportunity-with-volunteers\/\">A missed opportunity with volunteers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/07\/12\/latest-moment-of-volunteer-management-madness\/\">latest moment of volunteer management madness<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.forumer.com\/jcravens\/43790\/When+the+volunteer+coordinator+needs+an+improvement+plan.html\">When the volunteer coordinator needs an improvement plan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.coyotecommunications.com\/outreach\/critics.html\" target=\"_blank\">How to handle online criticism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.coyotecommunications.com\/tech\/walkthetalk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Walk the Talk<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/05\/13\/is-your-organization-a-buzz-kill\/\">Is your organization a buzz kill?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/04\/14\/what-you-say-vs-what-you-do-re-volunteers\/\">What you say vs. what you do re: volunteers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/03\/16\/what-is-too-much-from-an-online-contributor\/\">What is &#8220;too much&#8221; from an online contributor?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2011\/03\/10\/how-do-i-get-to-you-sans-car\/\">How do I get to you sans car?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2012\/02\/08\/can-potential-volunteers-find-you\/\">How easy is it to volunteer at your organization?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2012\/02\/24\/what-really-happens-when-someone-wants-to-vol\/\">What really happens when someone wants to volunteer with you<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I doubt any of the organizations I&#8217;ve tried to volunteer with know that these blogs are about, or inspired by, my experiences with them &#8211; it would never dawn on those organizations to follow their volunteers on Twitter or Facebook, or subscribe to a blog &#8211; even a volunteer who wrote on her volunteer application that she&#8217;s a trainer and researcher regarding volunteer management &#8211; or married to such.<\/p>\n<p>But let me add that, on the rare ocassion when volunteering has worked out for me, it&#8217;s REALLY worked out &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/coyoteblog.posterous.com\/best-volunteer-thank-you-gift-ever\">thank you, BPeace<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trying to volunteer over the last two years has taught me more about volunteer management than any book, any workshop or any conference I&#8217;ve ever attended. I believe it&#8217;s made me a much better trainer and writer regarding volunteer management and community engagement. It&#8217;s also shown me, more than ever, why there has never been a greater need for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.coyotecommunications.com\/me\/consult.html\" target=\"_blank\">volunteer management consultants<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Also see: a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.coyotecommunications.com\/volunteer\/asavol.html\" target=\"_blank\">listing of what I have done as a volunteer<\/a> (and why I volunteer).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My last blog, I&#8217;m a volunteer &amp; you should just be GRATEFUL I&#8217;m here!, talked about the entitlement volunteer, that person who feels he or she shouldn&#8217;t have to go through an orientation for new volunteers, shouldn&#8217;t have to be screened at all or &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[176,289,404,416,417,529,530,532],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-volunteer-engagement","tag-engagement","tag-management","tag-recruitment","tag-retaining","tag-retainment","tag-volunteer","tag-volunteering","tag-volunteers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3fFJB-2h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":760,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions\/760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}