Do you have a strategic volunteer program, or an operational one? I worked with a hospice a few years ago and found quite a difference in what they said publicly about the volunteers serving with them and what seemed to be the reality. The public statement on their website, like so many out there, was along the lines of “we couldn’t do it without our fantastic volunteers.” In my interviews with staff and board members, though, the comments I heard were that volunteers “are nice to have,” “save us a bit of time,” and “are helpful, but not really essential” to delivering the programs. These comments came even from the program areas that were directly supported by volunteers.
It was obvious that many staff saw volunteers as operational tools, rather than strategic assets. In the US, hospices are required to have at least 5% of hours be volunteer hours, so in many cases involving volunteers is simply an item on a checklist. Do we have our 5%? Okay, we’re good.
This mindset isn’t unusual. It’s the norm. So let’s look at what actually separates a strategic volunteer program from an operational one, and what it takes to make the shift.
What’s the difference?
An operational approach to volunteerism looks something like this: volunteers fill gaps in the schedule, complete defined tasks, and are counted by hours logged or shifts covered. Decisions about their engagement are made at the program level, by whoever happens to be managing that day’s shift. Success is “did the shift get covered.”
A strategic volunteer program is different. Volunteer engagement is tied closely to organisational goals. It comes up in planning and budgeting conversations. Volunteers are treated as partners that extend the organisation’s capacity and impact, not simply as free labour that saves staff time.
It’s kind of like the way a corporation thinks about temporary staff versus a talent pipeline. Temp staff cover a shift and then they’re gone; the board never considers them. A talent pipeline, on the other hand, is built with the organisation’s future needs in mind, and leadership pays close attention to it. Most nonprofits treat volunteers like temp staff.
Is nurturing volunteers ever discussed during strategic planning sessions at your organisation? If not, chances are they’re seen as operational tools.
So how do you change that mindset?
Shifting from operational to strategic starts with how volunteer engagement is resourced, measured and talked about. It means volunteer roles need to be directly connected to organisational outcomes. It means the person leading volunteer engagement needs to be involved in strategic planning. And it means changing how success for the program is defined, from hours logged to capacity built and impact delivered.
Hager and Brudney’s 2021 benchmark study of US nonprofits, found that the benefits received by involving volunteers varies directly with how well prepared the organisation is to work with them. Their conclusion was blunt: the more resources you invest, the greater the return. Duh!
Worryingly, of the eighteen volunteer management practices the study measured, assessment practices (things like measuring impact and calculating return on investment) were among the least used. Few organisations had any real understanding about what their volunteers were actually delivering.
And that’s the strategic gap in a nutshell. If you can say how many volunteer hours were logged last month but can’t say what those hours accomplished, don’t be surprised when your executive keep treating volunteers as a “nice to have.”
So building a strategic mindset starts with data: what outcomes are volunteers driving, and can you show it? It continues with ensuring that the data is considered during strategic planning sessions. And it’s reinforced by talking about volunteers in terms of capacity and impact, rather than hours.
I understand. It’s hard. But it’s doable.
There are two distinct areas to consider: the internal one (the volunteers and the program itself) and the external one (the mindset of executive, board and other staff).
Internally, expect some resistance even within your own volunteer team. People get comfortable with how things have always worked, and changing roles or tasks can upset them. You may resist it a bit yourself. A strategic leader of volunteer needs some fluency in data, planning, and influencing upward; skills that not every volunteer engagement professional has been given the chance to develop.
Externally, you’re up against years of staff seeing volunteers as manual labour rather than partners in delivering the mission. Boards and executives often only think about volunteers at annual report time or when a completing a grant application. Changing that takes more than a few stories. You need to provide real data. And it helps enormously to find one executive champion who gets it and is willing to advocate inside rooms you’re not in.
None of this happens quickly, and none of it happens by accident.
The gap between “we couldn’t do it without our fantastic volunteers” and “nice to have, but not essential” illustrates the disconnect between where volunteer engagement could be, and where it currently sits in people’s minds. The public language states what a strategic volunteer program should be. The internal reality hasn’t always caught up.
Strategic volunteer engagement is about earning a say in how your organisation plans, measures, and talks about its future. And that’s a mindset shift we all need.
