Save the Date for the 2027 Points of Light Conference!

3 Ways Nonprofits and NGOs Can Build Resilience in the Face of Disaster

Climate change, along natural and human-made disaster, are revealing the pressing need for communities to become adaptable and innovative. Their growing frequency and intensity are going to demand that the role of nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) evolve so that a disaster recovery plan f becomes best practice for every organization. And that ideal holds true, even for organizations with missions that don’t center on disaster preparedness or response. These organizations are being increasingly confronted with the need to pivot and incorporate comprehensive disaster response and recovery considerations into their work, regardless of whether disaster management was initially meant to be a focus or not. This blog, the final installment in our series around

National Preparedness Month

, explores the interconnectedness of climate change, natural and human-made disasters, and nonprofit and NGO disaster preparedness and response. It sheds light on the urgency of transformation and the far-reaching implications adaptability holds for our collective future, both for communities and the nonprofits and NGOs that serve them.

Climate Change: A Driving Force for Adaptation

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of disasters worldwide. Between 2030 and 2050, the

World Health Organization

says climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria and heat stress alone. Areas with weak health infrastructure will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond. Recently, wildfires have ravaged Canada and Hawaii, and a 6.8 magnitude earthquake has devastated Morrocco, taking the lives of thousands and leaving survivors and local NGOs to pick up the pieces. In the wake of this devastation, the beacon of hope remains responders whether volunteers or advocates who are focused on rebuilding communities. Lori Shinton, president and CEO of HandsOn Nashville, remembers her first experience as a new leader with no disaster response experience and the lessons she learned along the way. Nashville had spent 10 years relatively free of large-scale disaster. HandsOn Nashville recognized that it would be expected to respond if disaster struck, but planning around preparedness and response was on the back burner. And then on March 3, 2020, a tornado struck the city and left widespread damage.

“Our team responded, but we built the plane while we were flying it,” she said. “The result? Staff worked long hours, they were frustrated with the confusion of figuring out what we should be doing, and we were learning in real time about secondary trauma of responding to the disaster.”

A few weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the U.S. followed many parts of the world that were already shut down. HandsOn Nashville continued to respond, along with other NGOs in the community. And while the world was learning to live with mitigation measures around COVID, HandsOn Nashville was still actively responding to the tornado. Then, in December, a bomb was set off in downtown Nashville, prompting the necessity of further yet differing responses needed. A few months later, a flash flood struck the city and impacted nearly the same number homes as the tornado. Finally, another tornado wrought localized damage.

“We learned that focusing on preparedness and developing a well-defined emergency response plan was the only way to care for our team and have them prepared for whatever may happen,” recalled Shinton. “We focus on training — quarterly at least — and we have been able to test it in exercises and feel as prepared as we can.”

Being prepared now ensures the community the best services possible while protecting responders from burnout.

Prepare Now: Download the Disaster Planning Guide

Building Sustainable Communities: A Guide to Disaster and the Civic Circle

®

, is a resource that offers insights and strategies to empower you to take action before, during and after a disaster. You’ll also learn how to be an advocate for those affected by disasters.

Download the guide today

made possible in partnership with The Allstate Foundation, and created by Points of Light.

Beyond Core Mission: Tailoring Services

Nonprofit and NGO leaders know that being adaptable is a key component of success. As natural and human-made disasters become more commonplace, it’s increasingly important to tailor services to address immediate community needs as disasters unfold. For community leaders who want to find ways to tailor their organization’s response to community needs during disaster, start small by assessing your organization’s strengths. Develop a written plan leveraging those strengths, recognizing that it’s easier to change a plan than to create one in the midst of responding to disaster. Use existing data from trusted sources, like

FEMA

, the

NAACP

and the

CDC

, to understand the vulnerabilities in your local community. Often, the most valuable input comes from the community itself. For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the

Louisiana Children’s Museum

was forced to shut its doors. Overnight, it went from a buzzing community gathering space to empty and whisper quiet. Its mission had always centered on providing access to safe, innovative, learning and play experiences, but now that it couldn’t deliver on in-person experiences, the pivot had to be quick and decisive. By being willing to shift its mission and prioritize the community’s needs, leadership moved immediately to supporting children and families by providing engaging virtual play activities and mental health resources. They partnered with

Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health

to offer a series of webinars and

web content

that addressed the mental health of parents, caregivers and children through the lens of trauma caused by a pandemic.

“As a nonprofit that prioritizes working alongside the community, it is valuable for us to be nimble and be able to move quickly. We did this during the pandemic by having an overall objective to give parents and caregivers support during very uncertain times,” said Tifferney White, CEO of Louisiana Children’s Museum. “While many places were shuttered, we were able to provide no-cost, easily accessible resources, including early learning play opportunities, ideas that parents and caregivers could do at home, and nature walks to name a few.”

The museum also experimented with using its 8.5 acres of indoor and outdoor space in collaboration with a local public school, allowing the school to move its prekindergarten and kindergarten classes to their facility. The school was able to continue in-person learning while having the space it needed to socially distance students in a safe and engaging environment. The result was that the museum furthered its mission of having memorable and valuable learning experiences in safe spaces for children while serving its community in new and innovative ways.

Collaborative Partnerships for Effective Response

Disaster preparedness and response experts understand the power of collaboration. Capacity grows exponentially when foundations, faith-based organizations and nonprofits join forces. That’s a big reason why, in the U.S., Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) are such an integral part of disaster response. VOADs are a collective of faith-based, community-based and other non-profit organizations that band together to form a cooperative that centralizes communication, coordination and collaboration. By centralizing these efforts, VOADs foster more effective delivery of services to communities affected by disaster.

Every state

has its own. National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster was established in 1970 in response to Hurricane Camille, a category 5 storm that hit the Gulf Coast in August of 1969. At the time, private sector and nonprofit organizations served disaster survivors independently of one another. As a result, the way survivors received help was decentralized and inconsistent. Since then, the organization has facilitated 48,129,263 volunteer hours from 9,907,071 volunteers and fielded $1.3 billion in donated labor to response and recovery efforts across the United States in 2019 alone.

“Every community does indeed need to be prepared,” said Chris Cameron, executive director of HandsOn New Orleans. “It looks like preparedness at every single level, with elected government officials, corporate partners, it’s going to require faith-based institutions.”

All disasters begin and end locally, and disasters exacerbate preexisting conditions during a time when typical operating policies and procedures are overwhelmed and communities may be traumatized. Taking a whole-community approach underscores why partnering leads to better, safer and faster outcomes.

Building a Comprehensive Disaster Response Approach

When they Ukraine war broke out in February of 2022, many NGOs in surrounding countries had little to no experience in disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Agnieszka Lissowska-Lewkowicz, president of Polish NGO

Centrum Wolontariatu

, and Points of

Light Global Network

affiliate remembers a steep learning curve in figuring out how to best support the 1.5 million people displaced by the war, streaming across the border to safety.

“Refugee work is definitely long-term approach. It requires money, administration, specialists, space,” said Agnieszka. “We had to decide, ‘Are we able to make this effort. Are we able to start a new type of work, activities, help, projects to our organization and manage it [long term]?’ Our decision has to be wise, serving not only the refugees, but first of all our organization. And it has to be realistic. And we see the very deep sense of this.”

Centrum Wolontariatu recognized that, for Ukrainians who stayed in Poland, the organization would need to offer long-term, comprehensive support. Effective help would have to extend beyond basic needs, like food, shelter and clothing, to include assimilation into the new environment through work, education and psychological support. That comprehensive approach required cooperation between different organizations, and the most important resources were people and time.

“People to organize help, to do extra work. Time to get knowledge, to organize help, time to get additional funds,” she explained. “When the war began no one expected it, no one was prepared to host hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, and only few Polish organizations were working with migrants before. It was shock for all of us, but we all did our best.”

Calling Social Impact Leaders

The 2024 Global Summit on Social Impact is a premier event taking place in Warsaw, Poland, February 7, 2024. It brings together companies, nonprofits and NGO’s from around the world that are passionate about volunteerism, civic engagement and social change.

Learn more and register to attend

.

The interplay between climate change, natural and human-made disasters underscores the critical need for nonprofit and NGO organizations to embrace a holistic disaster response approach. Disasters can strike at any time, demanding adaptability and innovation from even those whose missions don’t initially revolve around disaster preparedness. Whether responding to human-made disaster, like war, or natural events, like wildfires, flash floods and hurricanes, nonprofits and NGOs will need to remain flexible in how they respond. They’re being called upon to begin to prioritize disaster preparedness and community response strategies, from investing in training to forming partnerships to tailoring services to meet immediate needs. By shoring up preparedness and response planning, organizations will become more nimble and be best positioned to contribute to the resilience and rebuilding of the communities they serve.

Who Is in Your COAD? Increase Your Resiliency Factor Before Disaster Strikes

So often, nonprofits and NGOs play a key role in disaster volunteerism strategy. Maybe your organization is the backbone for the Emergency Volunteer Reception Center. You may be a member of the local Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD), or your organization is the sole entity cited to lead volunteer and community engagement efforts by your local Emergency Management Agency. Whatever role your organization plays, operating as a Service Enterprise and having Service Enterprise organizations by your side will help you prepare for, respond to and recover from the next disaster. Relationships are key when it comes to disaster, and the stronger they are before a disaster strikes, the more collaborative and asset-based approach your community can have immediately following a disaster. Imagine that you and the other organizations in your COAD go through a cohort-based change management program that helps each organization strategically engage volunteers to deliver their mission. It will help each of you have a more diverse pool of human capital, transition to an organization culture that embraces volunteers throughout the whole organization, and leverage the skills, talents and experience of the community to meet your mission. Not only will each organization benefit, but together you will create a stronger, more synergistic relationship as you all learn and evolve as a cohort. Service Enterprises are more adaptable and capable of going to scale than their peers because they have embodied the three domains of Service Enterprise:

  1. Establish a Strong Foundation: Organizations have a strong foundation of leadership involvement, resource allocation and intentional planning for strategically engaging the community as volunteers. When the whole organization embraces volunteers, it can quickly adapt to meet the needs of the community.
  2. Galvanize Organization Best Practices for Volunteer Engagement: Recruitment, onboarding, training and supervision are not led or done by a solo department or individual. The organizations’ policies and procedure ensure the effective engagement of volunteers and community partners.
  3. Focus on Impact & Outcomes: Organizations regularly create and sustain relationships by telling their story, listening to stakeholders and measuring success against the mission and objectives.

Service Enterprise Trainer and President of VQ Volunteer Strategies Beth Steinhorn sat down with Aimee Kane of the City of Boulder five years after the catastrophic floods destroyed 1500 homes, rendering roads impassable and killing eight people. When Steinhorn asked why volunteer engagement identified as a key to recovery and resiliency planning, Kane’s response mirrored that of other NGO’s and municipalities.

“In our organization, a lot of people didn’t even know we could engage community members as volunteers, despite having community members serve on the city’s numerous boards, commissions and working groups,” she explained. “There was a misconception that, since the community pays our salary, they wouldn’t want to help us achieve city goals.”

Kane went on to say that sometimes, in government, there is an “us vs. them” attitude between staff and the community, with staff thinking it’s up to the communities to solve issues at hand. The flood presented an opportunity to embrace collective action for the greater good, showcasing how collaboration can have a much bigger impact. Now, Boulder operates as a Service Enterprise and proactively invites the community to engage, share resources and build a more resilient community together.

“It’s not about getting a seat at the leadership table,” said Kane. “It’s about inviting leadership to your table.”

To learn more about how you and your Community Organizations Active in Disaster can leverage the Service Enterprise Program to increase community resiliency before disaster strikes, contact

[email protected]

or visit

volunteeralive.org/serviceenterprise

.

Leverage These 10 Research-based Facts and Stories of Inspiration to Drive Change

Content Warning: Points of Light is proud to share the following information; however, we acknowledge that these issues may be difficult for some readers. We encourage you to please care for your own well-being above all.

Mental health, COVID-19, gun safety and domestic violence have all come to the forefront of

conversations

about overall health. These cause areas affect everyone, from students and employees in workplaces to professional athletes and entertainers to healthcare workers themselves. When cause areas like these come into focus, equipping social impact professionals and everyday people with research is one impactful way Points of Light can honor our commitment to civic engagement. Research can help you understand the current needs and concerns of people in your community so you can develop an action plan to meet those needs. Here are 10 research-based facts about mental health, safety and issues related to both, along with stories of everyday people driving change in their communities around these causes. With this compelling research and these inspiring stories, we hope you’ll feel equipped to drive real and sustained change in your own community.

10 Research-Based Facts about Mental Health, Domestic Violence, Gun Safety, and COVID-19

1. Thirty-nine percent of people are concerned about MENTAL HEALTH when compared to other issue areas.

Of the respondents, Gen Z showed the highest concern about mental health issues at 44%, with Millennials following closely at 42%, Gen X at 40% and Baby Boomers at 31%. This generational breakdown may reflect the increase in conversation and education around mental health over the past few decades, becoming a less taboo topic for younger generations.

2. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they have been personally impacted by mental health issues.

Typically, people are most moved to action when they experience the impacts of a specific issue. While this might mean a personal lived experience, often people can access empathy when a loved one has been impacted.

3. Eighty-three percent of people chose to respond to this issue through VOLUNTEERING.

Volunteering is one of nine elements of the

Points of Light Civic Circle

®

and represents one of the most powerful ways to lend hands-on support for a cause. Nonprofit organizations rely on their volunteers to help drive their missions forward and stretch donor funds as far as possible. When it comes to mental health, respondents said they volunteered their time and talent either by intentionally helping someone else or volunteering with an organization, whether in-person or online.

See how servicewoman Michaela White is advocating for mental health in the military.

4. Fifteen percent of people are concerned about GUN SAFETY when compared to other issue areas.

This statistic reflects a drastically lower level of interest when compared to the broader topic of mental health. This could reflect the fact that fewer people are personally impacted by gun violence when compared to mental health, but it could also reflect the charged political nature of conversations around gun safety. Interestingly, men and women showed equal concern about this issue at 15%.

5. Sixty percent of respondents took the time to learn about gun safety.

Listening and learning

is another element of the Civic Circle and, for gun safety, is perhaps the most critical. Learning about a social issue can help educate you about the many nuances rather than having a “blanket” perspective on it. It can also help you make more thoughtful and informed decisions about how to approach solutions. People believe that some of the most helpful actions related to gun safety involve individual effort, like personal education on the issue and

voting

.

Read about high school student Yating “Tina” Tang who is lifting up the marginalized and combating gun violence through activism and art.

6. Thirty-two percent of women said DOMESTIC VIOLENCE was one of their top areas of concern, compared to 22% of men.

Domestic violence is another cause area with interest being driven by those most commonly affected by the issue – in this case, women. While men are certainly not exempt from domestic violence, women are considerably more likely to experience it. Thirty-four percent of respondents reported that a close friend or family member had been impacted by domestic violence, a statistic that could lend itself to increasing empathy and concern among all people, regardless of gender.

7. Sixty-eight percent of individuals took time to post and share content on their social media channels around the issue of domestic violence, while 63% intentionally helped someone affected by domestic violence.

See how Air Force member Matthew Storer is helping families escaping domestic violence to start anew.

8. Fifty-five percent of people are concerned about COVID-19 when compared to other issue areas.

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 was one of the top-ranked issue areas in terms of concern. Since the COVID-19 virus, and the ensuing pandemic, affected every single person across the globe, it’s no wonder that many people showed the most interest in this issue.

9. Sixty-three percent of Baby Boomers cited COVID-19 as a top concern.

Since people over the age of 65 are more at risk of severe illness from COVID-19, it is clear why Baby Boomers, among all the generations, would be the most concerned about this issue. In contrast, 49% of Gen Z cited COVID-19 as a top concern, while Millennials and Gen X showed interest at 51% and 58%, respectively.

10. Seventy-nine percent of respondents made a donation to a COVID-related cause or organization.

Donate

is another element of the Civic Circle, and encompasses contributions of money, services or goods to a cause. Since the landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic has largely moved from disaster response to recovery, it makes sense that individuals are choosing to donate to organizations responding to the crisis.

Read about public health employee Alyssa Antczak’s efforts to set up mass vaccination clinics and organize COVID-19 testing sites during the pandemic.

Want to keep diving? Take a look at these topics to find out how you can leverage our research to take civic action in your own community:

Transform Your Volunteer Appreciation: Become a Service Enterprise Organization

Often organizations that I have worked with and supported pre-COVID had a big volunteer appreciation event, but during the pandemic those events had to be put on pause, so organizations began to ask volunteers how they really wanted to be appreciated. Many said a simple and genuine thank you, to use their time well and to include them in the organization. What better way to show volunteer appreciation than to invest in improving how your organization engages and supports them? During

Global Volunteer Month

, I encourage you to take a moment, pause and reflect on how your organization is engaging the skills, talents and time that volunteers are giving.

  • Do you have opportunities for volunteers to serve throughout your departments or service lines your organization offers?
  • Do you have volunteers and pro-bono services sprinkled throughout the organization chart?
  • Does your organization’s culture embrace volunteers as a key resource for realizing your mission?

If your organization’s culture doesn’t yet have answers to these questions, start by exploring how your organization can participate in Points of Light’s

Service Enterprise Program

, run by

AL!VE

(Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement). In addition to giving your volunteers a token gift and/or celebratory event, you can showcase all of the work your organization was able to accomplish due to their contributions, assure them that you are investing their time and talents in the most impactful ways, and that the organization recognizes and appreciates all that volunteers bring to the organization. This transformation doesn’t happen overnight, but with the help of our Service Enterprise Program, you can begin to evolve the organization’s culture through this change management process that helps nonprofit organizations effectively and efficiently leverage the time and talent of volunteers to help deliver their social mission. We realize that you may have a great

volunteer engagement

program, but to take it to the next level, to truly integrate volunteer engagement into the organization culture, you are going to need more. Service Enterprise helps your organization through this change management process. First, we facilitate a self-assessment research-based diagnostic and offer a debrief that will help your organization recognize the strengths and areas of opportunity that currently exist. Together, we select a team that will carry the organization through the change management process and bring together leadership, volunteer engagement professionals and more. The team attends training and has dedicated time and activities to focus on better engaging and supporting volunteers (and often all human capital) at the organization. You will also join a network of peers working toward operating as a Service Enterprise. This network often shares resources and helps each other along the journey. Your Service Enterprise Trainer will provide you with additional coaching and support to meet unique needs and address challenges within your organization. Imagine, at your next volunteer appreciation event or in your April 2024 newsletter, you’ll be able to tell your volunteers that you not only appreciate the way that they continue to lean in and fight for your cause by sharing their time and talents, but your organization has achieved the national volunteer engagement accreditation of Service Enterprise. As a Service Enterprise certified organization, they’ll know that their time is well invested when they spend it advocating for your mission. To learn more about Service Enterprise or how to connect with volunteer engagement professionals across the country contact Kayla Paulson at

[email protected]

or (319) 310-0901.

Volunteer Engagement Professionals: Take Your Program to the Next Level

Service Enterprise

 is now being operated by 

Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE)

. As this program changes hands, Points of Light is partnering with AL!VE to ensure a smooth transition. This is part of a series of updates from AL!VE. This one comes from Service Enterprise Administrator Kayla Paulson and highlights the organization’s work with Service Enterprise.

 

There is something about the change of a calendar year that helps us reset, refocus and reflect on goals. That’s why

Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE)

is excited to be leading

Service Enterprise

— because it gives us the opportunity to help

Points of Light Global Network

affiliates, volunteer centers, commissions, nonprofits and community organizations maximize their

social impact

. This change management program empowers organizations to reach new heights in leveraging volunteers and their skills throughout the organization to achieve their social mission. Almost 10 years ago, when I was part of the team piloting the national rollout of Service Enterprise by Points of Light one of the volunteer engagement professionals in my cohort reflected on the amazing improvements that she made at her previous organization and how things were on a positive trend when she left, but in her absence, they reverted to the old way. Her realization was that she changed her processes, policies and perspectives on volunteer engagement, but she didn’t get the organization to change its culture and the collective way it engaged volunteers. As volunteer engagement professionals we know how to reach volunteers, but sometimes we may try to convince ourselves otherwise — that no organization can have a highly effective and efficient volunteer engagement strategy if it’s solely the volunteer engagement professionals who believe in the power of volunteers. Service Enterprise is that catalyst for fundamental organizational culture change. It brings together a cross-functional team that is committed to your organization’s mission and maximizing the human capital of the organization. To kickstart the effort, organizations take a multi-person independent self-assessment and debrief the results with a coach to help identify strengths and areas of opportunity, which shines a light on the areas most ripe for change. As a cross-functional team, which includes leadership and volunteer engagement professionals, you attend a multisession cohort-based training program that guides you through conversations and activities that are dedicated to changing the volunteer engagement culture within your organization. During the training and up to a year after, an accountability coach provides support in creating and completing an action plan that will ensure your organization follows through on the changes needed to influence the culture. Change isn’t easy, but with research-based strategic improvements in your organization’s approach to volunteer engagement, you can have an impact that extends well beyond this calendar year and will have an exponential effect on your organization’s ability to deliver its social mission. If you want to learn more or even add Service Enterprise to your 2023 goals, check out

AL!VE’s website

or

watch this five-minute introductory video

that dives into the research behind the work as well as the 12 characteristics of organizations that operate as Service Enterprises. You’ll have the opportunity to connect with Service Enterprise Certified organizations, trainers and hubs at the ASC regional conferences this spring and the

Points of Light Conference

in Chicago this summer. You’re welcome to join an AL!VE social and informative sessions, or stop by the information booth. When you are networking at conferences, look for Service Enterprise stickers on name badges so that you can connect with top-tier volunteer engagement organizations. If you can’t make it to a conference, check out our map to find a training hub or certified organizations near you, and make 2023 the year you take your volunteer management program to the next level.

Volunteer Management Best Practices: Tips for Your Nonprofit

Your

nonprofit organization

may see tens, hundreds or thousands of

volunteers

come through your doors. Depending on the number of paid staff members you have, managing volunteers can become tricky. After all, you’re juggling different schedules, personalities and needs, all while trying to increase volunteer turnout at your organized events. Points of Light is here to help. That’s why we’ve put together these volunteer management best practices to

equip your nonprofit

with tips and tools for managing volunteers efficiently and effectively. 

 

Lead Volunteers Through Challenges 

Whether you’re addressing volunteers one-on-one or in groups, as a leader you’ll need to know how to well…lead, whether you’re navigating different

personalities

or situations. In times of crisis or

disaster response

, this skill is particularly crucial because your volunteers are champions of your mission and want to know how to support your efforts.

 

Empower Your Volunteers 

Empower those volunteers who have

leadership potential

. Many of these individuals may be looking for ways to spread their wings and use their skills. Recognizing the qualities of “

social intrapreneurs

” can help you identify which volunteers you’d like to spend a little more time mentoring and offering new opportunities to grow at your organization.

 

Leverage Social Networking 

Rallying volunteers for your planned events and encouraging donors to use their

purchase power

for good takes a lot of effort. In these times, when

social media

reigns supreme, nonprofit marketing doesn’t have to rely on internal staff alone. Call on your supporters and volunteers to spread your message, like promoting your annual toy drive or

Family Volunteer Day

.

 

Look to Skills-based Volunteers 

For clear, consistent marketing, you’ll need to take the time to

establish your mission,

find your voice

and hone all of your external communication into a cohesive and unified effort. If you don’t yet have a marketing liaison or team to strategize around your content, consider establishing positions for this effort alone. And if you don’t have the capacity or budget, consider engaging a

skills-based volunteer

to take on this responsibility.

 

Recognize Your Volunteers 

Feeling appreciated is integral to volunteer engagement, so make a plan for how to

show your volunteers some love

. Nominate them for a

Daily Point of Light Award,

which honors volunteers who are driving real and sustained change in their communities, or become a certified organization that offers the

President’s Volunteer Service Award

to help recognize your most exceptional volunteers based on annual hours served.

 

Build Trust Among Volunteers, Communities and Donors 

Finally, your organization’s efforts amount to little if you don’t receive buy-in from all parties involved. Whether you’re working with

families

who want to volunteer together,

communities

that rely on your organization’s people power or

donors

who help keep your lights on, you’ll need to build trust among your stakeholders.

 

Two key activities can help with this effort:

listening and learning

from your stakeholders and communicating openly with them. First, you’ll need to understand the interests, challenges and values of each group, then address them with authenticity and transparency. Ensure that you have ongoing dialogue with all parties involved in your organization. Seek to understand where they’re coming from, and consider how you can bridge any gaps in trust through communication about your efforts.

 

Family Volunteering Insights for Small Organizations

We interviewed 1,000 participants of organizations with under $1 million in revenue

 to understand how to encourage schools and

nonprofits

to engage families in

volunteer activities

. We wanted to know how to create programs that work for families, how to recruit families to participate and how to make it easy – and fun – for them to volunteer.

Here’s what we heard from project coordinators we surveyed about how to engage families and young people in volunteer efforts:

Include Youth Voices When Planning Family Volunteering Opportunities 

Talk to young people about why volunteering matters. Let their excitement help make it a family priority. Let them describe what they’re doing, and explain how they’re having an impact.

Communicate Via Multiple Methods Well in Advance With Reminders

Send an email and a text. Remind volunteer families several weeks before, a week before, a day before and the day of. People are busy, and reminders help ensure they fulfill their intention and their commitment to volunteer. If you can, keep your events at the same time of year to make it easy for families to plan and stay engaged year after year.

Create a Family-friendly Environment

Ensure families know that children of all ages are welcome. Make plenty of age-appropriate activities available and create opportunities for little ones to help. Provide kid-friendly refreshments, too.

Reward Volunteers

Create incentives for your volunteers to want to come back, and share the impact they’re having. Offer student volunteers extra hours if they bring parents, or feature students with families who volunteer on social media.

Start Early, Plan and Be Organized

Make sure people feel as if their time is being used well. If they have a great experience, they’re more likely to return. Some organizations don’t have a lot of success doing several small family volunteer events throughout the year in cities where there are so many competing interests. However, doing an “end of the year” project, for example, where students get to show off their work and win prizes, combined with the group volunteering experience, often results in higher attendance and participation each year. 

Family and youth volunteer projects are so impactful, and getting them right makes a huge difference for families and for the people and organizations who benefit from their service.

Download the full

Small Organization Family Volunteer Insights

.

15 Volunteer Management Strategies for Times of Disaster

Most nonprofit organizations aren’t solely focused on disaster relief as part of their missions so may not have the dedicated staff or resources for enacting a disaster-response volunteer strategy. However, depending on the nature of a disaster, your organization may be called upon to address community needs or how your constituents, assets, etc., are impacted when a disaster strikes. Before you jump headfirst into disaster relief efforts, consider the following 15 volunteer management strategies in times of natural and human-made crises.

 

1. Develop Position Descriptions 

Create a position description for each volunteer activity. Keep them short and simple. Be sure that everyone has a position description, regardless of the position they fill. Each volunteer should be provided a copy of their position description to set clear expectations for their role.

 

2. Identify Volunteer Leaders 

Make sure you identify volunteers who have the skill set and the drive to manage tasks, processes and fellow volunteers. You cannot be everywhere all the time, so

leverage the talents of your volunteers

and create a communication system that allows you to delegate tasks.

 

3. Protect Your Organization and Be Proactive About Risk 

  • Check with your insurance agent to be sure your organization is fully covered during periods of emergency. You may want to consider adding a rider to your policy.  
  • Make sure volunteers sign waiver and liability forms as well as any other organizational documentation. Volunteers should also sign in and out of their shifts.  
  • Document the orientation and training given to each volunteer. Ensuring the safety of life and property is critical. By reviewing the volunteer activities for possible hazards and educating volunteers about safety, you will reduce the chance of someone getting hurt. 
  • Keep a first aid kit and automated external defibrillators (AED’s) on hand if possible. 

4. Create a Call List 

Exchange cell phone numbers with all key contacts and update it regularly. Set up redundancies in communications in case cell phones are ineffective. Some suggestions of numbers to have on your call list include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

  • Emergency contacts 
  • Volunteer leader contacts 
  • Volunteer reception center contacts 
  • Disaster response organization contacts 
  • Contacts for organizations that accept donations 
  • Media relations contacts 
  • Mental health service contacts 

5. Identify and Schedule Shifts 

Identify and schedule appropriate shifts for each position. It is effective practice to identify shifts in two- to four-hour increments. To prevent burnout and fatigue, you should strongly discourage volunteers from filling more than two consecutive shifts. Also, make sure you have at least one volunteer leader (clearly identified) scheduled during each shift.

 

6. Inform Volunteers of Logistics 

Communicate important logistics to volunteers prior to their shift. In addition to directions and shift times, volunteers may need to bring photo ID, gear and protective clothing.

 

7. Meet Basic Volunteer Needs  

Make sure volunteers have access to food, water and restrooms. Remind volunteers to take breaks, eat, hydrate and call family. Oftentimes adrenaline will take over in disaster situations, and volunteers (and your staff) may need to be reminded to take care of themselves and their families. Ensure that standards of health and hygiene are maintained during long shifts and in any public facility. Arrange for sufficient supplies to sustain these standards.

 

8. Orient and Train Volunteers 

Be sure to take time to orient and train the volunteers to their position duties and roles, and to the situation. Volunteers could be in situations in which they may view and/or experience traumatic situations. Volunteers must be oriented not only to their tasks, but also to potentially negative experiences. During particularly active periods, volunteer leader should give frequent updates to keep all volunteers informed of the most current situations.

 

9. Protect Your Volunteers 

Make sure your volunteers are only engaged in work in which they are trained. If the scope of work changes, training should be provided to support the development of necessary skills and knowledge. Volunteers should be properly identified for ease of recognition by the public and by each other. Make sure that each volunteer has the equipment and tools needed to do their job.

 

10. Plan for Knowledge Transfer 

Every position description should include an end-of-shift debrief/orientation process whereby the volunteer leaving his or her shift should communicate important information to the incoming volunteer (i.e., what is working well and what is not working, etc.). Volunteer leaders during each shift should ensure that this transfer of knowledge occurs in a timely and clear fashion.

 

11. Provide Ongoing Support 

Monitor and support volunteer activities. Thank volunteers for giving their time. If you see volunteers who seem tired and worn out, encourage them to take a break. Remember that disasters may take a heavy toll on the physical and emotional well-being of volunteers and staff alike. Provide resources to volunteers to help take care of their health, such as access to mental health practitioners.

 

12. Establish and Maintain Standards of Conduct 

Instill pride in performance but don’t hesitate to correct behavior that is counterproductive or injurious to the reputation of your organization or the best interests of the public. On rare occasions, it might even be necessary to relieve a volunteer of duty. Ensure at the outset that all of your volunteers know their terms of service. Keep handy a printed copy of your Volunteer Policy Manual.

 

13. Recognize Volunteers 

Volunteers should be consistently thanked. You may not get a chance to formally thank your volunteers until after the disaster response is over, so take every chance you get to remind the volunteers that you appreciate them and their efforts to respond to the disaster. After the disaster response efforts have subsided, you can plan a more formal way to recognize them (examples include recognition event, formal email or letter, phone call, etc.) Recognize outstanding and dedicated volunteers by nominating them to be a

Daily Point of Light

or become a certifying organization for the

President’s Volunteer Service Award

.

 

14. Conduct an Event Debriefing 

Plan for a debriefing for all staff and volunteers at the conclusion of each shift, as well as the end of the disaster operation. Acknowledge the many positives and identify lessons learned that can be addressed for upcoming shifts and future disasters. Capture recommendations in your After Action Report for future reference and development of next steps for your program. Follow through on the key steps.

 

15. Track Your Efforts 

Always be mindful of organizational reporting requirements and develop processes to capture appropriate data. Tracking volunteer data in times of disaster may assist jurisdictions with in-kind matches for federal reimbursement. Capturing data is also important to tell your story to future funders, to your community and to your volunteers. Ideas for types of data to capture could include:

 

  • Number of volunteer hours 
  • Number of volunteers 
  • Number of meals served 
  • Number of houses worked on or re-built 
  • Number of people or families served 

3 Ways to Leverage Volunteer Leaders to Build Capacity

There are many factors that influence the number of volunteers you should plan to have involved with your organization’s service projects, including budget, supplies and space. However, if the barrier to hosting a larger project is staffing, it’s time to think differently about how you manage projects.

Leveraging volunteer leaders is a great way to increase the size and scale of your projects while also building your organization’s capacity and community impact. As you explore adding volunteer leaders to your projects, consider these three ways to make the most of volunteers who want to impact their communities as well as your own organization’s capacity opportunities: .

1. Create a Position Description

It’s important to know what you’re looking for in a volunteer leader and which role you want them to play. What experience do they need to have? Do they need to be comfortable with public speaking? Should they have a specific skill or certification? Be clear on the profile you’re targeting when searching for volunteer leaders, as well as their roles and responsibilities, and then capture the details in a position description.

2. Recruit Volunteer Leaders Strategically

Sometimes you need to look no further than your existing network of volunteers to find great leaders. Most of us have that group of rock star volunteers who bring a lot of energy to projects, demonstrate great leadership and are dependable. Let these volunteers know that you recognize their contributions to your organization by sharing the opportunity with them.

Consider other ways to recruit volunteer leaders:

  • Post the position on your website.
  • Promote the position on your organization’s social media channels.
  • Reach new potential volunteers by posting the position on Points of Light’s volunteer database.
  • Share the position with local professional groups, civic engagement organizations and community service clubs of local universities.
  • Ask those rock star volunteers to share the position with those they think would be a good fit.

3. Offer Training and Support for Volunteer Leaders

Volunteer leaders are still volunteers, and it’s important to maintain a personal connection with them. After orientation and training, you will still want to coach and mentor them to help individual leaders grow their thinking and capacity to lead. 

Provide clear guidelines, due dates, reminders and clarification of requirements. More importantly, know your their strengths, as well as opportunities for growth, so that you can better help them develop their skills. If you foster their development as you do for staff, your organization is more likely to retain a strong and growing body of committed, qualified volunteer leaders.

Decide whether you want to support volunteer leaders formally or informally. Formal support can include regularly scheduled meetings and task-specific training. Informal support occurs as it is needed rather than at scheduled times and can include calls or emails to check in. 

Provide opportunities for volunteer leaders to share best practices and learn from each other, such as casual gatherings at a coffee shop or a virtual meetup. Recognize outstanding and dedicated volunteers by nominating them to be a Daily Point of Light or become a certifying organization for the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

Through this continued support, you are preparing volunteer leaders to take greater responsibility, and in doing so, engage even more volunteers.