March 6, 2008

Volunteerism

Is there a lack of it?

By Jennifer Larsen

News editor

Volunteerism, or the apparent decline of it, is a growing concern for civic organizations across the nation.

Questions plague the skeletal group of volunteers at the heart of these organizations: What happens when we don’t volunteer? Why don’t people volunteer? What are we going to do?

At the February Strengthening Communities Noon Forum – Empowering Volunteers – last week, a handful of area residents addressed volunteerism and the organizations that rely on them.

At the helm of the noon forums is Ann Hennings, from WSU Extension, who serves as a recorder and facilitator.

The topic originated from Ritzville Elementary School Principal Deborah O’Brien at a recent school board meeting where she explained that the number of volunteers aiding administrators and educators in the school system was drastically low.

“Parent volunteers. That topic has been on our LIT (Learning Improvement Team) agenda… It kind of came to the top of the list not really knowing where we’re going with it, but we know we want parents involved in the school,” she said.

According to O’Brien, school volunteers don’t have a lot to do with district success, unlike other organizations.

“It’s a fact that parents, grandparents and community members that have a connection to a kid, whether it’s to toss a football or bring a lunch, that student does academically better,” O’Brien continued. “It’s about humans empowering humans.”

The LIT has identified a three-phase approach to connect youth to community members:

As a district, the first phase is to build the infrastructure to get the volunteer effort underway. One aspect of that is to develop a Web site component where community members can view a ‘warehouse’ of activities needing volunteer help and sign up online.

The second phase is to find a volunteer to coordinate the roster of volunteers and maintain the Web site component.

The final part is bringing volunteers in and launching the effort.

One key to encouraging volunteers to dedicate a portion of their time is working around busy schedules.

The LIT discussed approaching businesses and asking them to offer a small amount of time per week or month to their employees, allowing them time to volunteer.

In return, those businesses would be recognized in the community for their contribution, possibly by advertising the businesses that ‘paid’ for an employee to volunteer during a specific time period.

The first step in identifying the reason for the decline in volunteerism is understanding life stages and what volunteers value.

Last Thursday, the group looked at four distinct generations: depression/war-era – “Parent of Boomers;” 1943-1964 – “Baby Boomers;” 1965-1981 – “Generation X;” and 1982 to current – “Millennium” or “@.”

 “It talks about life stages. It’s not age, it’s the stages of life they’re in,” Hennings said. “We know who our volunteers are… but we are not categorizing our opportunities well.”

According to a wrap-up e-mail from Hennings sent on Feb. 29:

“Participants described attributes of the current volunteers in eight various community organizations – passionate about their work; have discretionary time; mostly retired or semi-retired stage in life; most parented Boomers; one organization almost in its entirety involves Generation X’ers; many driven by value to preserve community; most of the organizations’ work appeals to a personal/professional ego; many also volunteer in multiple organizations; and some are driven to volunteer around their children.

“Organizations in order to thrive will need to appeal to newly retired peoples’ passions, skills and professionalism. Generation @ need choices and flexibility to contribute. Organizations will need to delegate less and catalog possibilities more, giving volunteers choices and flexibility in methods of contributing; encourage work pieces remotely, electronically, on their own time…

“A first action step for groups to take is to raise the community’s awareness of seismic changes in volunteerism. To cause organizations determined to remain viable to determine steps to accommodate and attract rather than expect; empower rather than supervise; tap into skills rather than delegate; allow choice and freedoms in serving.”

That is the message Hennings said needs to be painted for every organization in the changing landscape of potential volunteers.

“Organizations that choose to ignore generations… choose to die,” she said, referring to the different characteristics of each generation.

For most organizations, the volunteer pool includes mostly Parents of Boomers and Baby Boomers.

Generation @ is flexible, on the go 24/7, relies on remote access and uses technology to work, play and communicate.

Organizations must market to their interests and passions to tap into their abilities.

As a whole, Generation X is probably married, with children and works full-time, leaving little time for regular, monthly meetings that last for a couple hours.

Hennings pointed out that although time is a precious commodity to Generation X-ers, “Boomers talk negatively about that generation because they don’t care enough, yet the organization hasn’t asked how it could change to accommodate them.”