The History of Volunteer Involvement in Seven Stages
Stage 7: Someone says: "Do you know what would freshen things up around here? Let's recruit some community
volunteers!"
Yes, the proverbial pendulum swing. Sometimes the motivation for re-discovering volunteers is positive. The
organization might have become more educated about the ways that volunteers expand both perspectives and
the budget, and recognizes that there are unique roles only volunteers can fill in community relations,
friendship to clients, and advocacy. But there are also negative motives such as reluctantly settling for
volunteers to fill budget shortfalls or seeking to window dress community involvement. Regardless, it takes
a conscious effort for a long-established agency to open its doors to the best and most diverse types of
volunteer participation.
Full Circle
Watch the street corners! "The signs of the prophets are written on the subway walls" and new visionaries
are out there agitating for innovation and change. The question is: Will you force them to begin at Stage
1 on their own or can you welcome them into your organization at whatever stage you are in? If you think
of volunteers mainly as assistants to the staff, this won't happen. But if you encourage the volunteer program
to be an in-house think tank, experimenting with new ways of providing service, asking volunteers to be
social entrepreneurs, and harnessing the out-of-the-box vision that the right individuals offer, think of
the possibilities. After all, giving volunteers the freedom to deviate from business as usual might lead
to projects you can then find funding for allowing the historical cycle to spin inside instead of outside.
Originally published as the bi-monthly column "On Volunteers" in The NonProfit Times,© 2001