Recruiting highly-skilled older volunteers for leadership projects
Abstract
Using volunteers with high-level skills to help nonprofits adapt and grow is consistent with what current research describes about volunteering trends, particularly regarding baby boomers. Southern Maine Agency on Aging RSVP had an opportunity to explore this possibility as part of a National Council on Aging’s RepectAbility (NCOA) -sponsored research and demonstration program from 2007-2009. This effective practice was submitted by Ken Murray, Southern Maine Agency on Aging RSVP, in August 2009.
Issue
Nonprofit organizations are severely challenged in meeting their community missions due to economic recession, rising costs, and stagnant or declining public and private funding. However, simultaneously, according to the National Council on Aging's RepectAbility, "Demographic trends point to the continued growth of the healthiest, best-educated, and most financially independent generation of older Americans in the nation's history. This represents a growing resource of time, energy, and talent with the potential to competently address community problems nationwide through volunteer work and employment."
Action
When deciding to involve older adults with high-level skills in any nonprofit organization, take the necessary steps to plan, recruit, and manage them:
- Develop a draft plan by asking the following questions:
- Why is it important to your RSVP or Volunteer Center to undertake a project that seeks to match mature volunteers who have high-level skills with local nonprofits.
- How will it benefit the nonprofit organizations in your community?
- How will it benefit your RSVP or Volunteer Center?
- What would you have to do to get there?
- What outcomes would you like to see?
At this point, it is best to consider your work as a draft plan. Your final plan should have the input of a variety of stakeholders.
2. Identify Partners
Who in your community would be excited by the idea of recruiting mature volunteers with high-level skills to help nonprofits? Make your list broad and comprehensive. Try to think of partners you haven’t worked with before.
3. Create a Steering Committee
This might seem like an unnecessary step, but it can pay big dividends because members of a steering committee:
- Form a good liaison to the community
- Lend importance and credibility to your project
- Bring knowledge and expertise
- Help guide and offer advice
- Bring other key players into the project
- Help publicize your project
- Are champions of the project in the community
4. Refine the Plan
With the steering committee in place, work with them to review your draft plan. Explain your vision and then see if you have been able to make it clear to the members of your steering committee. Let them help you reframe what is not clear. Ask for suggestions for changes, and seek their input on your operational plans. They may have ideas to help you be clear and efficient. Be sincere in welcoming their guidance and support.
5. Publicize Your Plan
Even though you are just getting started, once the basic outline is in place it is good to start publicizing your plan in the community. This can help elicit the interest of new potential partners, possible volunteers, and even likely funding sources. It also lays the groundwork in the public mind so that when you start recruiting in earnest people will already have heard about what you are trying to do.
6. Identify Nonprofits
These would be nonprofits that you think might be receptive to the idea of working with you to recruit a few volunteers with high-level skills to help them with leadership-level volunteer opportunities. Start small with a few nonprofits and aim for one or two volunteers for each. Once you have success with a few, it is easier to expand. It helps if the nonprofits are ones with which you are already familiar — organizations that have a good management team in place and are open to new ideas. It also helps if they have experience working with volunteers.
7. Meet with Senior Management and Board Leaders
Try to meet with the executive director or comparable leader to explain your vision. Clarify the value that mature volunteers with high-level skills can bring. Explain that it because their organization is strong and forward-looking that you are approaching them, and that all project ideas will come from them. Ask for the executive director’s feedback and ideas, and be ready to answer questions. Additionally, be ready to entertain new ideas. Make the meeting a dialogue; ask if the executive director would like to further explore this volunteer possibility. Give the him or her time to talk “in-house” with other staff. Once the executive director is ready to move forward, ask if it would be possible for you to make a presentation to other staff and members of the board — in order to be sure that there is complete “buy-in” before you start.
8. Meet With Staff and Board Members
Repeat the process outlined earlier in your meeting with the executive director. Share your vision. Highlight the strength and forward-looking qualities of their organization. Be ready to answer questions and entertain new ideas. Again emphasize that projects will come from them. Ask them how volunteers with high-level skills could help them in their work; and encourage them to solicit feedback from their staff.
9. Solicit Projects
Ask program management staff to suggest projects with which a skilled volunteer could help them. Ask them to think of those things they have wanted to do to expand or strengthen their programs but have not had the time or funds to accomplish — projects that have been on the back burner.
10. Create Written Project Descriptions
Provide a template to program managers in the nonprofits with which you are working to help them organize information about their projects. This will enable you to offer clear descriptions of the projects when you are talking to prospective volunteers.
11. Compile Project Descriptions
Use this project book as a reference tool for your RSVP or Volunteer Center.
12. Compile a Skills List
The project book might be too overwhelming for someone who is just beginning to have a conversation with you about volunteering. Compile a list of the skills sought by the nonprofits with which you are working. This way, once volunteers “place themselves” on the skills list you can talk about specific projects.
13. Develop Orientation
Volunteers and the staff with whom they will be working should be given orientation to
- The overall vision of the project
- Issues facing nonprofits today
- How volunteers can help
- The structure of relationships and expectations
In addition, the nonprofit staff will provide volunteers with orientation to:
- The nonprofit organization’s mission
- Policies and procedures
- The issue area(s) with which the organization works
- The specific tasks with which the volunteer(s) will be helping
14. Develop Strategies and Materials for Recruitment
This will not be too much different from the recruiting that RSVP’s and Volunteer Centers do on a regular basis. However, you will want to seek out the special venues in your own community where mature adults with high-level skills can be reached. These will include volunteer matching websites, employer retirement planning seminars (where they exist), service clubs and organizations, agencies on aging, senior centers, education centers (especially those geared to older adults) and old fashioned networking. Additionally, develop recruitment materials. Create a consistent look and a slogan that captures what this particular volunteer effort is all about. Make it catchy. Highlight the skills sought for this effort.
15. Begin Recruitment
“Begin recruitment” is listed here in the order of steps so that it comes after you have developed strategies and materials for recruitment. In fact, however, recruitment began way back when you first publicized your project plan. Recruitment will be ongoing and will happen one person at a time.
16. Meet With Potential Volunteers
Meet one-on-one with each potential volunteer for this endeavor. This is important because:
- We are asking these volunteers to serve as leaders within the nonprofit. A perfect match is essential.
- People with these kinds of high-level skills are used to being treated in a professional manner.
- These potential volunteers will want flexibility and the opportunity to help shape their volunteer involvement.
17. Be Flexible
Volunteers with high-level skills are used to shaping their careers and having influence; they will want the same in their volunteer involvement. They may also help envision the project in ways that benefit both them and the nonprofit they are serving.
18. Meet With Volunteers and Staff
If RSVP or Volunteer Center staff can hold an initial meeting with the volunteer and the staff person with whom he or she will be working this can help further shape the project to everyone’s satisfaction. The staff person can be a facilitator to help the volunteer and staff person get to know each other and get “on the same page.”
19. Begin Orientation
Provide a general orientation for the volunteer and staff person as soon as possible. Help broker the agency-specific orientation so that it, too, takes place in a timely manner.
20. Periodic Check-In
Periodic check-in is not always feasible for every placement facilitated by an RSVP or Volunteer Center, but in this case it is especially important. Volunteers with these kinds of backgrounds are used to, and often like, the feeling of being on a team. Periodic check-in fosters that feeling.
21. Collect Outcome Data
Both RSVP’s and Volunteer Centers are mandated to collect outcome data on volunteer activities. In addition to complying with regulations, this data will demonstrate to the community and other nonprofits the value of this volunteer service. It may also help with funding if you can show the “return on investment” that these highly-skilled volunteers bring.
23. Recognition
Accomplishments should be recognized, but traditional forms of recognition may not appeal to this group of volunteers. However, having their accomplishments noted and publicized will appeal to them. You can do this through local websites, nonprofit newsletters, and public media. The more creative the better.
23. Rewards
Going into the NCOA Models of Significant Service there was some thought that volunteers with high-level skills would need to have some monetary reward in order to be interested in serving. We did not find that to be true. Nevertheless, finding creative ways to “reward” volunteers by including them in activities of your RSVP or Volunteer Center, inviting them to special events, and other non-monetary ways of saying thanks are to be encouraged.
24. Keep On Going
Remember, you started this project with just a few nonprofits. As you get experience, you will develop a system for recruiting these volunteers. Then you can use your system to develop new relationships and find additional volunteers. This is a very rewarding kind of volunteer recruitment and placement: it harnesses really important skills; it greatly benefits the community; and it builds the reputation of your RSVP or Volunteer Center. And, it’s fun!
Context
In early 2007, the National Council on Aging’s RepectAbility Initiative issued a request for proposals for their Models of Significant Service Project. They were seeking 12 organizations from around the country to test different models for involving older adults with high-level skills in leadership service to nonprofits. The kinds of skills that these volunteers might share with nonprofits include, but are not limited to strategic planning, financial planning, marketing, public relations, business planning, information technology, emergency planning, development and fundraising.
In response to this request, Southern Maine Agency on Aging developed a model to be part of its RSVP program — the Capacity Corps — and after submitting a proposal was selected to be part of their Models of Significant Service Program.
They decided to test their model “in house” by seeking volunteers with high-level skills to help Southern Maine Agency on Aging with leadership projects. Agency program managers identified projects in their program areas that would help develop their programs but for which they did not have staff or time. When they found interested people with high-level skills appropriate to the projects, they reviewed the projects with them —allowing for program flexibility so that the volunteers could help shape the projects. These volunteers were then matched with the appropriate program managers. Although program managers directed the projects with their volunteers, many of the volunteers were able to work quite independently.
Outcome
Agency clients benefitted through changes in program operation — such as a new Meals on Wheels program design and emergency plan.
During the two-year demonstration period (2007-2009), 17 Capacity Corps volunteers were recruited to help Southern Maine Agency on Aging with leadership projects. Of those, 12 volunteers made significant accomplishments, including the following:
Volunteer A, with a background as an administrator in long-term care, performed market research to find out what the people who refer clients to the Southern Maine Agency on Aging Nutrition Program wanted to see us do differently.
Volunteer B, with a background in marketing and sales in the corporate sector, also gathered information from people who referred clients to our Nutrition Program, as well as from users of this service. Taking his information, as well as information from Volunteer A, he helped redesign the Nutrition Program and its marketing.
Volunteer C, with a background in business planning, gathered information and helped our Board of Directors and senior staff develop a new five-year strategic plan for the Agency.
Volunteer D, who had a long career in public service and had recently retired from a position in emergency management, helped us develop a business continuity plan for the agency.
Volunteer E, with a strong interest in fundraising, helped our development director work on a planned giving program.
Volunteer F, who was transitioning from one professional accounting position to another, used the interim period to help us design an accounting manual to explain the many funding sources that support Southern Maine Agency on Aging and how they are used in terms that could be easily understood by the Board of Directors and the general public.
Volunteer G, with a background in social work, is helping expand the capacity of the social workers in our Information and Advocacy Program to link clients to resources that can assist them.
Volunteer H, with a background in local community services, is also working in Information and Advocacy, along with Volunteer G.
Volunteer I, with both ministerial and paralegal experience, has trained to be an agency ambassador to speak to groups and represent us at meetings in her community.
Volunteer J, with a background in marketing and community relations, is interviewing subjects and writing articles for the agency’s bi-monthly newspaper, Senior News.
Volunteer K, who has a background in writing, is also writing for the Senior News. In addition, he is helping write pieces for the agency’s Development Program.
Volunteer L, a former director of a nonprofit organization, is working with the Agency’s Healthy Aging Programs to identify possible new institutional partners for our outreach to seniors.
From our experience and these results, we reached the following conclusions:
- There are older adults with significant management and professional skills who have some available time.
- Some of these older adults are willing to consider volunteering to use those skills to help a nonprofit increase its capacity to serve the community.
- By and large these older volunteers like project-based volunteer roles, as opposed to ongoing volunteer roles.
- Older volunteers with these kinds of backgrounds like to see that their efforts made a difference.
- The skills these volunteers developed over a lifetime, often in the corporate sector, are transferable and valuable within the nonprofit sector.
- Important work was done at Southern Maine Agency on Aging by Capacity Corps volunteers — work that most likely would not have been accomplished without them.
Evidence
NCOA’s research preceding the start of the Models of Significant Service research and demonstration project noted that some nonprofit leaders were not sure the investment they would have to make to manage volunteers with professional and management experience to help in leadership roles would be “worth it.” So, as part of this program, NCOA decided to look into this question.
All twelve participants, including Southern Maine Agency on Aging, were asked to track the time that went into recruiting and managing these volunteers. We were asked to track other direct costs as well.
We were also asked to track what the volunteers did within our organizations and using a Department of Labor guide supplied by NCOA, assign the closest job category to what they were actually doing for us. We were asked to track the number of hours that the leadership volunteers we recruited put in on their projects.
Then, once a quarter, all the Models of Significant Service sites entered this information into a web-based tracking system, which then used the data to calculate the return on investment (ROI).
The ROI for all 12 participating sites was over 3 to 1. In other words, for every dollar in staff time that the participating organizations devoted to the project plus every dollar in direct expenses, the organizations received over three dollars worth of high-level volunteer service that helped them do important work in building their capacity to serve their communities.
Posted On
September 16, 2009For More Information
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