Volunteer, Process Development, and Non Profits

One of the big mistakes made about non profits is that they are a different animal from for profit businesses. It almost becomes comical after a while, since board members (and even staff) think that it is a problem when they make a substantial net profit in their operations for the year. There are explanations about settings in which a non profit needs to be careful or else they will run the risk of losing their non profit status; however, those are out of the scope of this article.

Yes, non profits are a different animal, but in many ways they overlap with for profit entities. In the realm of accounting, they need to break even, and in many cases, ending the year in the black will help the organization to possess added cash reserves that will help buttress it against lean years where it finishes in the red. There are times and places where it is important for non profits to focus on their distinctives, but in many areas, it is critical that they be viewed as a business and not as something else.

Having clear processes is crucial for non profits, especially because of the likelihood that much of what they do will be done using volunteers. Volunteers, while giving of their time (which is always commendable), will not be coming with the professional expertise or commitment than someone who is salaried would be bringing to the table. They believe in the mission, and they want to do their best. 

Therefore, when crafting processes, it is important to always identify which ones will be done with paid staff, and which ones you will have volunteers participate in executing. Paid staff processes will look like the processes found in for profit businesses. However, processes involving volunteers need to have a delicate balance, or else you run the risk of high turnover and frustration. The two extremes that result in high turnover are as follows:

Professional Viewpoint: the expectation of professional caliber work

Pointless Viewpoint: work that is so watered down (or has so many participants), that the question: “What is the point?” gets asked by everyone.

The balance that needs to be met, then, is for volunteers to be able to do work that they view as accomplishing something while not being given expectations that one would feel appropriate to a skilled professional. This is a big challenge, and what makes things even harder on this point is that not all volunteers are the same. Some can do a tremendous amount of work (they may actually be professionals who are donating their time), while others want to help, but they lack the skills.

Therefore, the best balance to strike here would be focusing on developing the process thoroughly, but allowing for some flexibility. Make sure everything is covered with the process, but allow the volunteers to do what they can and/or want to do. Satisfaction and proper deployment of volunteers is pivotal, since satisfied volunteers will be repeat volunteers, and volunteer hours are a precious commodity.

One final point that would be worth mentioning is that process integrity is important. Volunteers will likely drop the ball at some point (either intentionally or unintentionally). It is important that things are done right, but at the same time, care needs to be taken in handling the situation. Most likely, these situations will be handled on a case by case basis, as well as need to be conducted in a discreet manner.