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Volunteer Co-ordinators’ Network Issues, Solutions and Support Needs Report of facilitated session held on May 15th 2014

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Content

Summary .................................................................................. 2  1.0 Background and Aims ...................................................... 3  2.0 Methods .............................................................................. 3  3.0 Results – Annual Survey .................................................. 4  4.0 Results - Key Issues for Coordinators ............................ 6  5.0 Issues in detail ................................................................... 7  5.1 Training for coordinators .................................................................................... 7  5.2 Training for volunteers ....................................................................................... 8  5.3 Recruiting from diverse communities ............................................................... 8  5.4 Accessing volunteers/Retaining volunteers/Managing expectations ............ 8  5.5 Time management ............................................................................................... 9  5.6 Funding/Boundaries of volunteering ................................................................. 9  

6.0 Solutions .......................................................................... 10  6.1 Recruitment ........................................................................................................ 11  6.2 Management ....................................................................................................... 11  6.3 Training .............................................................................................................. 12  6.4 Funding .............................................................................................................. 12  

7.0 Support Needs ................................................................. 13  7.1 Recruitment ........................................................................................................ 13  7.2 Management ....................................................................................................... 13  7.3 Training .............................................................................................................. 13  7.4 Funding advice .................................................................................................. 14  

8.0 Summary of Results ........................................................ 14  9.0 Recommendations .......................................................... 15    

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Summary This paper presents the results from a facilitated session with Voluntary Action Leicestershire’s (VAL) Volunteer Coordinators Network in May 15th 2014. The session was run to understand the issues facing volunteer coordinators in Leicestershire, and to adapt available support accordingly.

The key points from the session were as follows:

• VAL’s annual survey questions on volunteering were repeated with members of the forum to ensure that coordinators views were recorded. These produced broadly similar answers to the wider survey. Coordinators were confident recruiting and managing volunteers. Key support needs identified were policy news and advice, recruitment from diverse communities and developing volunteer policies.

• Participants generally agreed with the profile of volunteer coordinators generated through national research, as someone generally doing coordination as part of another job, with experience rather than formal training. A minority of the group were full time volunteer coordinators with formal training.

• Key issues for coordinators are listed below. The content of each topic is explained within the report, but there was a considerable amount of crossover between these issues:

o Funding (for volunteers, training and programmes) o Time o Training (both for volunteers and managers) o Recruiting volunteers from different communities o Managing expectations of volunteers o Accessing volunteers (including retaining commitment and open

communication channels) o Retaining volunteers

• Solutions identified by the groups included suggestions identified under four key

headings – recruitment, management, training, and funding. • The group also identified a number of support needs if they were to overcome the

barriers highlighted. These included measures such training, matching skills to organisational need and funding advice.

• A number of recommendations have been developed based on these findings. These are provided in section 9 of this report.

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1.0 Background and Aims This paper reports the findings of a research exercise conducted with members of the Voluntary Action Leicestershire’s (VAL) Volunteer Coordinators Network in May 15th 2014.

The exercise was conducted to supplement previous VAL consultation on the needs of organisations supporting and coordinating volunteers. The VAL annual survey had reported positive findings relating to groups confidence when recruiting and managing volunteers, and a number of general support needs for the coming year. However, it was felt that this survey might reflect the opinions of chief executives or other officers, rather than volunteer coordinators.

The key aim of the session was to provide in-depth qualitative information about the key issues facing volunteer coordinators, the types of solutions that can help improve support for volunteers, and the support that organisation require to implement effective volunteer.

2.0 Methods The research was carried out in a morning session with 30 participants. Initially a timetable for the session and the actions to follow the session were presented.

The group was asked to answer the same questions on volunteering previously asked in the VAL annual survey, to provide comparative figures on group’s perception of their support needs. The group was given the comparative results to show similarities and differences with the annual survey results.

A presentation was then given to outline some of the main issues highlighted in national research for volunteer coordinators. This was intended to frame the session and provide some material for discussion in the latter parts of the session.

The whole group were then asked for their reaction to this presentation and asked whether these issues highlighted in national research were an issue for their organisation or them personally. A second question related to the issues that the presentation had not identified, but were considered important by volunteer coordinators in Leicester and Leicestershire. The aim of this section of the day was to develop a list of issues for further discussion.

Smaller groups were then asked to choose one of the issues identified for further discussion. These discussions were structured to provide information on three elements of each topic:

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• The main characteristics of the issue. This included the causes of the issue, whether this was a particular problem for particular volunteers and geographies.

• Any solutions relating to the problems highlighted. This could include noting down what had worked for members of the group, or highlighting the things that participants would like to try in the future.

• Support needs for volunteer coordinators. This could include third party support

from funders or infrastructure bodies, or internal changes made within the organisation to remove some of the barriers faced by coordinators.

The same discussions were then repeated with a different topic for each group and key points from the discussions were noted.

3.0 Results – Annual Survey Initially, the result of the repeated annual survey questions from those attending were as follows:

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In relation to both recruitment and management of volunteers the results remained consistent between the annual survey and the volunteer coordinator network. In both cases respondents were confident in their ability to recruit and manage volunteers. Subsequent discussions highlighted a number of issues that affect groups capacity to recruit and manage, this points are documented in section 5.

The other question related to the support needs of volunteer coordinators. The main difference to the annual survey was in the proportion of respondents requesting support for recruitment and Disclosure Barring Service, where volunteer coordinators felt more confident than respondents to the VAL Annual survey. Respondents at the Volunteer Coordinator Network selected fewer options than those completing annual survey, indicating a lower level of support needs.

The table below shows a comparison of the proportion of respondents requesting support in each area. Respondents were allowed to select any number of answers, so the percentage reflects the percentage of the overall group selecting this option.

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4.0 Results - Key Issues for Coordinators Groups generally agreed with the portrait of volunteer coordinators painted by national research, as a member of staff with long experience but little formal training, and juggling responsibility for managing volunteers with other roles within the organisation (only six members of the group were full-time coordinators).

The whole group was then asked to identify the key issues that affected their ability to manage volunteers effectively, whether these were covered in the presentation or not. The main issues raised were:

• Funding (for volunteers, training and programmes) • Time • Training (both for volunteers and managers) • Recruiting volunteers from different communities • Managing expectations of volunteers • Accessing volunteers (including retaining commitment and open communication

channels)

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• Retaining volunteers

A further issue was identified later in the session:

• Boundaries of volunteering in public services (with particular reference to the increasing number of public services looking to use volunteers)

There were a number of cross-cutting issues identified: for example training for volunteers was dependent on funding, commitment of volunteers, the content of roles and a number of other factors. This is reflected in the key words recorded in all discussions, pictured on page 8, in which volunteer’s needs were central.

5.0 Issues in detail

5.1 Training for coordinators

Relatively few coordinators had received formal training – a quick straw poll revealed that seven out of thirty accessed training in volunteer management, mostly provided Voluntary Action LeicesterShire. A number of participants noted that the demands of their role were at odds with the lack formal requirements and support given to coordinators:

“If you went for a job where you were being asked to manage 50 paid staff, wouldn’t you be asked what qualifications you had?”

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Perhaps the main barrier to training identified was the cost incurred by the organisation, and the difficulty in securing funding for staff development costs. It was also noted that it was difficult to find ‘off the shelf’ training packages for coordinators, but that suitable packages should concentrate on ‘people management’ skills, and that overly formal management techniques may not be suitable for volunteer coordination.

5.2 Training for volunteers

One of the issues related to training for volunteers was several coordinators found that their volunteers did not want formal training, particularly if they had been carrying out a role for some time.

A second point was that organisations often did not want to pay to train volunteers, particularly if the organisation had a high turnover of volunteers. This discussion overlapped with some of the issues in the retaining volunteers discussion, as organisations needed to be sure that their volunteers would stay before entering into the cost and time commitments of training.

5.3 Recruiting from diverse communities

Groups discussing this issue noted that some people in BME communities often volunteer, but do not see their activity as volunteering. Equally some coordinators had found that some communities might be suspicious of organisations recruiting volunteers, for example in befriending. A second point was some people would also be put off by the formality of an overly bureaucratic process. A third issue was actually getting access to the communities themselves.

For County organisations, locations can be remote and difficult for volunteers to access without expenses. The issue was partly that people volunteer where they go anyway, so for some organisations the volunteers are not from diverse backgrounds due to the demographics of their beneficiaries.

Other issues for the organisation may be language, age range, dietary needs for people from different cultures, gender or other cultural practices.

5.4 Accessing volunteers/Retaining volunteers/Managing expectations

These three groups highlighted similar issues relating to communication and ensuring that volunteers stayed within an organisation. The discussions noted that volunteers’ often left or lost motivation when their role developed differently to their expectations.

It was felt that volunteers usually have an interest or passion for the service they are doing, but some like the idea of volunteering more than the reality. In these cases it was felt that volunteers could commit themselves to more than they were able to do.

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The group discussing volunteer retention noted that the motivation and circumstance for volunteering was crucial to whether volunteers remained with the organisation in the long term. For example, students are only available for 9 months of the year, and may not be available year on year. Likewise, job seekers need to find work, so they may to give up volunteering if they are successful. They can also come under pressure from job centre or changes to their benefits.

Several coordinators had sent volunteers on training or provided themselves, only to lose the volunteers shortly afterwards reinforcing the consequences of failing to retain volunteers after initial investment.

Finally, a key problem in this area was ensuring motivation and two-way communication, particularly prompt replies to messages, as delays had an impact on the ability of the coordinator to manage their time and tasks.

5.5 Time management

The group discussing this issue felt that the key issue for volunteer coordinators was not time-management, but was that it was extremely difficult to plan due to wide variety of different people that volunteer.

“Some volunteers are very capable and organised, some are leading quite chaotic lives.”

The group felt that volunteers themselves were sometimes unclear about the amount of time they give or the demands of their role, making it more difficult to plan in advance.

5.6 Funding/Boundaries of volunteering

The role of funding for projects and for volunteers has been noted elsewhere, but one group looked specifically at how reduced funding impacts on volunteer coordination.

“(We have the) same staff, but less resources, and same expectations. (We have to supply) volunteers and support for those managing them.”

The group noted that this was particularly an issue for what could be termed ‘generic’ groups, as there was more obvious funding for specialist organisations. For groups providing services at a community level it was difficult to impress upon funder the unique role they had, or find suitable funding opportunities.

The group discussing the increasing demand for volunteers to staff public services and occupy formerly paid positions also identified this lack of funding. In this model, having volunteers in these roles was seen as a cheap option, but this ignored training, recruitment and volunteering costs, which would often be absorbed by organisations.

Equally, this group noted that this practice might lead to tensions between Council and organisational staff, and volunteers. Staff may be worried about their job becoming

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voluntary roles and may not be welcoming to volunteers. In a broader sense, it could be seen as exploitative to ask for something for free that people used to be paid for.

6.0 Solutions

Above is a word cloud from the text of the solutions offered by the group. The word ‘volunteer’ has been removed to show the other terms in more detail.

This section will highlight the solutions identified during the session in relation to four main areas: recruitment, management, training and funding. This is because many of the solutions offered in relation to particular issues had relevance to more than one problem.

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6.1 Recruitment

As seen from the results at the start of the session, volunteer coordinators were generally confident in their ability to recruit. However, a key issue highlighted during the session was the demographic profile of the volunteers they were able to attract, and to a lesser extent the skillset.

A second issue raised by the group related to the ongoing experience of volunteering, and the extent to which volunteers were clear of their role and the organisational expectation of them. This had implications for volunteer retention and the effective management of volunteers.

Promotion

• Raising awareness of how skills are transferable and how volunteers can use them elsewhere.

• Emphasising what volunteers can get out of it (i.e. employability) • Emphasising the difference that volunteers make to the organisation and local

community • Approach community and faith leaders, also doctor’s surgeries, schools and

community centres.

Tailoring roles/Flexibility

• Producing volunteer opportunities with specific requests for particular people/skills. • Take account of individual skills and circumstance when allocating volunteers to

particular roles, to ensure that people are doing something that is relevant to them.

Setting out roles/Induction

• Two-way communication at the induction stage so the organisation can find out what their (the volunteer) motivation is.

• Organisational honesty: letting the volunteers know if we can’t commit long term. • Preparation sessions before volunteers start. • Volunteers need clear pathways and the expectation of regular supervision.

6.2 Management

Issues of on-going management related to ensuring that volunteers remained engaged and satisfied in their role, and that coordinators were not chasing volunteers unnecessarily. Coordinators wanted to ensure that volunteers were supported, but also were easily contactable.

Another area of discussion in this area focused on the start of volunteering opportunities and the importance of clarifying the role and expectations of volunteers from the beginning, and the impact of this would have on day-to-day management.

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Contacting volunteers

• Requesting responses to emails by given dates. • Increasing the number of methods of communication: for example using facebook,

emails, twitter, texts, letters, drop-in sessions for volunteers (offering different times/days to reduce the amount of time dealing with unexpected visits from volunteers). Personalising contact methods to suit volunteers.

• Holding socials or coffee morning for volunteers.

Supervision and Evaluation

• Evaluate what staff and volunteers are doing regularly. • Asking why if volunteers are not responding through supervision. • Exit interviews. Stay in touch with volunteers afterwards and find out how to

improve the programme.

6.3 Training

Training solutions related to the content of courses for both managers and volunteers, in which ensuring that training was relevant was a key issue. Other points included criteria for qualifying for training, as well as some issues relating to who should provide training, which crossed over into the support needs of volunteer coordinators.

Understanding training needs

• Break down individual Volunteer manager job description and access specific training to develop required skills whatever they might be. For example, safeguarding, health and safety, dealing with conflict, time management etc.

• Volunteers need to be accountable for the training they receive. There are selection criteria for training but may need to make these stricter e.g. a set number of hours volunteering before you can access additional training.

Ensuring training informs the role

• Accessing different types of training: for example ‘train the trainer’, peer mentoring, group training, 1 to 1.

• Volunteers to donate time and expertise to carry out training. Could be experienced volunteer to train others, or someone from a local business.

• Shadowing a volunteer manager in another organisation.

6.4 Funding

The groups discussing funding for organisations involving volunteers highlighted the following:

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Funding sources

• (Alternative sources of funding by approaching) local employers, putting payroll giving in place, legacies (as a bonus), being more ‘savvy’.

• Social enterprises may be able to find alternative funding for posts. • Funding different areas of the organisation, releasing cash to others.

Writing volunteers into bids

• Provide fixed term volunteering • Some tasks may not be appropriate for volunteers, so need to set boundaries. • Recognise that staff and volunteers are not interchangeable • Write supervision and training into bids

7.0 Support Needs The groups identified a number of support needs relating to the both the issues identified, and assistance to implement some of the solutions. This included support from VAL, as well as support from their own organisations.

7.1 Recruitment

• Help writing role descriptions to draw in the right people. General information session or fact sheet showing the right questions to ask.

• Awareness courses for potential volunteers in specific areas e.g. befriending. • Frequently Asked Questions about volunteering on website regularly updated with

new questions

7.2 Management

• Help developing policies • Help developing an online forum or discussion group for volunteers • Posting a list of questions the organisation have been asked recently with answers

7.3 Training

• Training around different methods of communicating, including social media for volunteers and coordinators.

• Other training needs identified for volunteer coordinators included: fundraising, Bid writing, identifying and developing opportunities.

• VAL should organise training for volunteers in some subjects, for example customer service.

• VAL to match organisations to others with skills they need, or put organisations in touch with each other if they want the same training and are willing to club together.

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• If businesses or experienced volunteers are carrying out training they would need some support to deliver the training.

7.4 Funding advice

• Sources of information, publications where the issue is being discussed • VAL to raise this issue and put it on local policy agenda (make local authorities

aware that workers can’t necessarily be replaced by volunteers)

8.0 Summary of Results The key points from the session were as follows:

• A repeat of VAL’s annual survey questions produced broadly similar answers. Coordinators were confident recruiting and managing volunteers. Key support needs identified were policy news and advice, recruitment from diverse communities and developing volunteer policies.

• Participants generally agreed with the profile of volunteer coordinators generated through national research, as someone generally doing coordination as part of another job, with experience rather than formal training. A minority of the group were full time volunteer coordinators with formal training.

• Key issues for coordinators are listed below. The content of each topic is explained within the report, but there was a considerable amount of crossover between these issues:

o Funding (for volunteers, training and programmes) o Time o Training (both for volunteers and managers) o Recruiting volunteers from different communities o Managing expectations of volunteers o Accessing volunteers (including retaining commitment and open

communication channels) o Retaining volunteers

• Solutions identified by the groups included suggestions identified under four key

headings – recruitment, management, training, and funding. • The group also identified a number of support needs if they were to overcome the

barriers highlighted. These included measures such training, matching skills to organisational need and funding advice.

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9.0 Recommendations Below are a series of recommended actions based on the findings of the research.

Training

1. The majority of the group had not received formal training in volunteer coordination/management, but some suggested that peer support or a shadowing scheme may be useful. VAL is currently investigating the feasibility of accredited training in volunteer management.

2. Some of the groups suggested that the role of coordinator should be broken down to show the relevance of various parts of the job including safeguarding, health and safety, dealing with conflict, time management, supervision amongst others. In order to show the constituent parts of each area, VAL will produce an organizational standard toolkit for volunteer managers and will bring a draft version to a future forum.

Resources

3. Some of the suggestions for support needs highlighted resources which are currently available, indicating a lack of awareness for some members. It is therefore recommended that VAL’s current resources are promoted at future network meetings, and users asked to feedback any suggestions they have for improvements. For example, existing resources which can helps address some of the needs highlighted in the session include: • Writing a role description – key elements highlighted included clarity of the

commitments required by volunteers in terms of time and contact. • Updating Frequently Asked Questions to reflect recent enquiries and topical

issues. • Existing training courses. Formal courses currently being run by VAL which

meet the needs identified were ‘Digital Fluency’ and ‘Time Management’. These should be promoted at future forums.

News and Policy Updates

4. The need for the forum to receive regular updates on news relating to volunteer management including policy and research was noted. Other crossovers with policy work were identified, such as the practice of using volunteers in public services. It is recommended that any developments in this area are reported back to the volunteering team and can be addressed if necessary at future forums.

Evaluating the forum

5. It is recommended that the research is repeated on a reduced scale annually, to ensure that the forum can continue to meet the needs of volunteer managers.