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Volunteers are the backbone of most faith communities. Without their gift of time, energy and talent, the work of the faith could not be done. It used to be that simply being asked, especially by a faith leader, was enough to motivate volunteers. Today, faith-based volunteering is more complicated than ever. Individuals and families have greater demands on their time and must weigh their choices of volunteer activities carefully. Volunteers must be recruited and may require special training and screening procedures. They are often asked to sign contracts, waivers, or commitment certificates. This transformation in volunteering requires greater attention to volunteer management.
Congregational volunteer management is an organized approach to finding, enabling and supporting members to find meaningful avenues of effective service. Applying sound volunteer management practices to church service:
- Demonstrates sound stewardship in managing the people resources of the congregation
- Facilitates the spiritual growth of individual members
- Helps congregation clearly define ways volunteers can further the mission through rewarding service
- Changes the way members are recruited to volunteer
- Helps your congregation avoid burn-outs and drops-outs
- Provides procedural tools for better programming
- Reminds us that we must plan and care for the people as much as we do the programs and activities.
Unfortunately, congregations often fall short when it comes to managing volunteers. According to the Volunteer Management Capacity Study, congregations in general do not apply known practices of effective volunteer management. Only one out of three congregations with social service outreach activities reported having a paid staff person who worked on volunteer coordination and of these paid volunteer coordinators, one third have not received any training in volunteer management, and about half spend less than 30 percent of their time on volunteer coordination. Less than half of charities and congregations that manage volunteers have adopted volunteer management practices as advocated by the field. (Urban Institute, 2004.)
Common barriers to implementing volunteer management practices in congregations can be found in both infrastructure and attitude. Many congregations have limited staff resources, little training in volunteer management and few policies in place pertaining to volunteers. Volunteer supervisory efforts are spent filling immediate job needs rather than strategically planning activities and carefully matching people to positions. Congregations can be so steeped in tradition that it is hard to import new ideas and practices. Members are viewed as faithful servants rather than volunteers. This perception implies that volunteer management strategies may not be appropriate. To overcome these barriers staff and lay leaders must apply practical techniques to managing volunteers that support volunteers to be successful and show substantial results.
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