How to Motivate, Nurture, and Organize Volunteers

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How to Motivate, Nurture, and Organize Volunteers
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Well be your guides in this video
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Instructions

• As you view this training video, develop a sample
  project for using volunteers.
• Choose a project that interests you.

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More Instructions

• When you see the message Project Application,
  pause the video, read the instructions, and then
  follow the little signal in the corner to the
  next instruction screens.
• When you see Stop the Video, work on your
  project until you are ready for the next segment.

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What will we learn in this seminar?

• What is volunteering all about?
• How to take care of volunteers.
• How to set up a volunteer system.
• How to set up volunteer ministries.

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Volunteers

• What is a volunteer?
• Some characteristics of volunteerism.
• The biblical basis for volunteerism.

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Whats a volunteer?

• Lets ask our friend Stewart Ship

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• A volunteer is a person who works in some way to
  help others with no monetary pay.

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What is volunteerism?

• Giving some time to the human community.
• Home.
• Church.
• Larger community.

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Characteristics of volunteerism
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• Based mostly on time, not money.

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• Most people would rather give money than time.

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• A volunteer is also a steward and disciple,
  responsible for taking care of that under his or
  her care.

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Whats a disciple?

• Lets ask Mrs. Stewart Ship.

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Whats a disciple?

• A disciple is a person who has accepted a role
  compatible with his or her interests and
  abilities, and is committed to fulfilling that
  role without continual external motivation.

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Principle 2
Volunteerism is based on internal motivation, not
external pressure.
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• Volunteerism is based on time management

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Who volunteers?

• ?

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Who volunteers?

• Most single people do not give much time to
  volunteering.
• Young adults aged 18-24 are less active as
  volunteers.
• People aged 35-49 are most likely to spend time
  volunteering.

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Who volunteers?

• Volunteers give most of their time to
  religious organizations.
• Informal volunteers dont work for any
  organized group.

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Who volunteers?

• Education, literacy programs, etc.
• Fund raising.
• Recreation.

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Believe it or not!
90 of all fire departments in the U.S. are run
by volunteers.
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The fivers

• Volunteers who give 5 of their income or 5 of
  their time to volunteer work.

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• The fivers are the key group that makes
  volunteerism work.

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Volunteering is influenced by society

• Whats in?
• During the 1950s, helping in hospitals was in.
• In the 1980s, helping in famine relief and drug
  abuse was in.
• In the 1990s, helping the homeless and street
  people is in.
• Building low-cost housing is also in.

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Volunteers and money
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Principle 4

• Volunteers work for free, but volunteer programs
  cost money!

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Volunteers and money

• Volunteer organizations spend a lot of time fund
  raising and collecting dues and pledges.

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The biblical mandate for volunteerism
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Whats the biblical mandate for volunteers?

• Stewardship.
• Discipleship.
• Spiritual discipline.
• The mission of the church.
• Spiritual gifts

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Volunteers and spiritual gifts.

• All Christians are given spiritual gifts. These
  gifts are used to advance the Kingdom of God.
• Christian volunteers work best within the borders
  of their spiritual gifts.

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How to be a successful volunteer

• Shop around.
• Know your skills and schedule.
• Start small and work up to a more time consuming
  commitment.
• Be prepared.
• Expect respect.
• Be sure you make a difference.

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• The most famous volunteer poster of all time

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Project application

• 1. Define what a volunteer is.
• 2. List four characteristics of volunteerism.
• 3. What is a fiver and why is he or she
  important.
• 4. Why do volunteers often spend time raising
  money?

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Project application

• 5. Write out a description of the type of
  volunteers you need for your project.
• 6. How many will you need?
• 7. How will you fund the project?
• 8. Who are the fivers you already know?

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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The care and feeding of volunteers

• What todays volunteers want.
• Problems faced by volunteers.

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Basics What volunteers want

• Clear, limited tasks.

• Short terms in office.

• Plenty of people power.

• Simple, direct feedback.

• Lots of affirmation.

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1. What do you want me to do?

• Clear, limited tasks.
• A clear job description.
• What is the expected outcome?

.
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Principle 5
It is better to negotiate a series of short terms
than ask for a single long term.
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2. How long do I have to serve?

• Exactly how long will the assignment last?
• Will I have to do something more when I finish?

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3. Plenty of people power.

• Will I have to do this alone?
• Will I have a team to work with?

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Principle 6
It is better to have five people do one job than
to have 1 person do five jobs.
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4. Simple, direct feedback

• Most church leaders report that they do not get
  much feedback from anyone once they accept an
  assignment.
• Many report they are complimented, but get no
  evaluation or review of how they are doing.

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4. Simple, direct feedback?
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Evaluation questions

• What was the most difficult aspect of the role?
• What was most enjoyable?
• What were the major accomplishments?
• What initial hopes and aspirations did you have
  to give up?
• What are the issues your successor will face?
• If you did the job over again, what would you do
  differently?

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5. Lots of affirmation

• Many volunteers feel that no one really cares
  about what they are doing.
• Many feel that the job is not very important
  because no one knows about it, and if they do,
  they dont care.

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Spotlight volunteers and their accomplishments as
often as possible
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Spotlight volunteers
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Negative recognition doesnt work!
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Project Application

• 1. Review the five things todays volunteers
  want.
• 2. Outline in some detail how you can include
  these five elements in your project.

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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Problems faced by volunteers.
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No. 1 complaint of volunteers in the church.

• Sitting through frustrating meetings!

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Main complaints of volunteers in the church.

• Lack of definite job descriptions.
• Expectation that they will do the same job over
  and over again for years.
• The majority say they dont have enough resources
  to do the job, mostly lack of finances.

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Main complaints of volunteers in the church.

• Many feel overloaded because they have to do it
  all themselves.
• This is called burn out, and is very common.

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• When one out of four key lay leaders is
  exhausted, cynical, disillusioned, and
  self-deprecating, it has a profound effect on
  congregational life.

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Main complaints of volunteers in the church.

• Parish life and attitudes.
• Many volunteers in the church say they become
  cynical because of the attitudes and lack of
  commitment of other church members.

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Main complaints of volunteers in the church.

• No training
• Most volunteers receive little or no training or
  orientation about the task they are doing.

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Summary
No training.
No agenda.
No thanks.
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Project Application

• 1. Review the major complaints of volunteers.
• 2. As part of your project, outline how you
  will take care of these complaints.
• (Many of the details on how to do this will be
  studied in Unit 3. For now, just figure out a
  way to include these elements in your plan so
  they are not lost or left out).

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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• How to set up an effective volunteer system in
  the church

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• Enabling volunteers.
• How to organize volunteers.
• How to train volunteers.

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Enabling Volunteers
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Essential elements

• A chance for personal growth and development.
• Participation by volunteers in problem solving
  and significant decision-making.

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• Volunteers do not have to be officially elected
  to anything, only approved. Use people according
  to their gifts and abilities, not only according
  to a hierarchy system.

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Enabling volunteers

• Choosing from involvement alternatives related to
  individual interests and needs.
• Opportunity to help set goals.
• Meaningful orientation and training activities.

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Use a form

• Job title
• Responsible to
• Job description
• Time required
• In-service training provided
• Qualifications and special skills
• Comments

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Avoid two fatal flaws

• Expecting too little from the volunteer.
• Simplistic, boring tasks.
• Lack of recognition of professional expertise.

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Avoid two fatal flaws

• Requiring too much time from the pastor or the
  person in charge of volunteers or the
  project.
• Slow start because of so much pastoral time
  involvement.
• The major reason such programs are not put to
  greater use in the church is because of the slow
  start necessitated by the commitment of so much
  pastoral time.

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How many people will volunteer for any project?

2 Innovators
18Early adopters
60 Middle adopters
18Late adopters
2 Laggards
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Kinds of audiences who will volunteer

• Relational people who want to take time for
  fellowship.
• Planners take time to analyze, plan, and work out
  details.
• Doers want to get going. They have little
  patience with planners or relational people.

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Project Application

• 1. Build into your project a plan for
  enabling the volunteers you will use.
• 2. What is the difference between an elected
  person and a task force member?

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Project Application

• 3. How can you avoid the two fatal flaws in your
  plan of action?
• 4. Make a list of people that you know fit the
  five categories on the time line. Who are the
  first ones you will probably recruit for your
  project?

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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How to Organize Volunteers
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How to organize just about anything

• Use task forces or ad. hoc. committees.
• Keep it simple.
• The more complicated the organization, the more
  difficult it is to manage.

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How to organize just about anything

• What are we going to do?
• Who is in charge?
• Who are the people involved?
• How much will it cost?
• Where will we get the money?
• When will we meet?
• Where will we meet?

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• It doesnt matter whether committees are large
  or small. What matters is their purpose and how
  they are conducted.

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How to hold a meeting

• The main reason meetings are unproductive is
  because one person dominates and wastes time on
  non-essentials.
• The second main reason is because the same
  unresolved issues come up repeatedly.

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How to hold a meeting

• A specific time frame.
• Specific agenda.
• Go over the agenda. The chairperson should read
  through the agenda at the beginning of the
  meeting so everyone has in mind what will be
  considered.

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How to hold a meeting

• Place new items on the agenda for the next
  committee.
• If items not on the agenda are essential, get
  everyones consensus on when they will be dealt
  with.
• Develop a follow up system.

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How to hold a meeting

• Whatever item you take up first will always take
  most of the time, whether it is a small or large
  issue.

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Project Application

• 1. How many committees will you need for your
  project?
• 2. Design an agenda form, and make up a sample
  agenda.
• 3. Write out a statement of how you will plan
  for committees and follow up on the actions
  taken.

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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How to Train Volunteers
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• The more trained leaders you have, the easier it
  is to run a volunteer program.

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Leadership training system

• I do it - and you watch.
• You and I do it together.
• You do it - and I watch.
• You do it - and someone else watches.

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• The leadership groups must meet regularly for
  training and evaluation or your volunteer program
  will fail.

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The training cycle
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Project Application

• 1. Design a training system for your project.
• 2. Included a time frame for the training cycle,
  and decide on where the retreat should be held.

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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• How to Set up an Effective Ministry or Project

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Five building blocks

• Define the need.
• Target the ministry.
• Build the ministry team.
• Design a specific action plan.
• Develop a plan so the ministry fits the
  overall plan of the church.

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Building block 1 Define the need

• Construct a needs profile
• Review the church membership records and list the
  various group needs.
• Develop a priority list of needs.
• Examples Single parents, overachievers,
  nonmember spouses, etc.

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Building block 2 Target the ministry

• Do a survey of the community.
• Dont generalize. Work through the data until a
  clear picture emerges.
• Design a ministry that will meet the community
  need.

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Example
Ministries based on church interests and assumed
needs
No results
Positive results
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Building block3 Build the ministry team.

• Ministry coordinator.
• Clerical assistant.
• Hospitality coordinator.
• Support liaison.
• Prayer leader.

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Building block 4 Design a specific plan of action

• Write out a description of needs this ministry
  will meet.
• Write out the objectives of the ministry.
• List the team members.
• Write out the program design.
• Where will the ministry meet?

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Building block 4 Design a specific plan of action

• Write out the program design.
• Where will the ministry meet?
• What time of year will it meet?
• List the resources available.
• Develop a budget.
• Decide on the starting date.

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Building block 5

• Develop a plan so the ministry fits the
  overall plan of the church.

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Project Application

• 1. For each building block fill in the names of
  people you think could be volunteers for
  your ministry.

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Stop the Video and work on your project
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Where to get more information

• Seminar-In-A-Box Small Groups Wave of the
  Future
• Monte Sahlin, Sharing Our Faith With Friends
  Without Losing Either. (Review and Herald, 1990).
  
• James Zackrison, From Spectator to Disciple.
  (General Conference Ministerial Association,
  1997).

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Where to get more information

• William H. Brackney, Christian Volunteerism
  Theology and Praxis (Faiths Horizons). (Wm. B.
  Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997).
• Marlene Wilson, How To Mobilize Christian
  Volunteers. (Augsburg Fortress Press, 1990).

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Lets Review the Principles Studied in this
Seminar
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• A volunteer is also a steward and disciple,
  responsible for taking care of that under his or
  her care.

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Principle 2
Volunteerism is based on internal motivation, not
external pressure.
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• The fivers are the key group that makes
  volunteerism work.

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Principle 4

• Volunteers work for free, but volunteer programs
  cost money!

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Principle 5
It is better to negotiate a series of short terms
than ask for a single long term.
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Principle 6
It is better to have five people do one job than
to have 1 person do five jobs.
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Spotlight volunteers and their accomplishments as
often as possible
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• When one out of four key lay leaders is
  exhausted, cynical, disillusioned, and
  self-deprecating, it has a profound effect on
  congregational life.

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• Volunteers do not have to be officially elected
  to anything, only approved. Use people according
  to their gifts and abilities, not only according
  to a hierarchy system.

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• It doesnt matter whether committees are large
  or small. What matters is their purpose and how
  they are conducted.

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• The leadership groups must meet regularly for
  training and evaluation or your volunteer program
  will fail.

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• The more trained leaders you have, the easier it
  is to run a volunteer program.

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So now you know what volunteering is all about,
how to set up ministries, and how to care for
volunteers
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