Introduction

The organizations spend countless hours engaging, recruiting and registering volunteers. The elaborating an effective volunteer training program will help volunteers develop skills and adapt to nonprofit’s culture. It is important to make sure volunteers are the right fit for your organization and are passionate about your cause.

The result of self-initiative and free will, volunteers are not oriented towards material gain. Volunteering is usually a community activity focused on the common good. Volunteering shapes and forms societies and is key to successfully accomplishing certain objectives. People who do volunteer work contribute a range of individual competencies: know-how, social skills and the ability to motivate people. Furthermore, they serve as opinion multipliers within a campaign.

The diversity and creativity of volunteers can add to the value and success of every campaign. The broader the supporter base, the higher the credibility with the target group. People volunteer because they want to contribute to society, because they want to change something or engage with others. They have different expectations of volunteer work. They regard it as very important that the work is fun, that they get to meet likable people, help others through their volunteering and contribute to the common good. They expect long-term planning of their tasks, a clear and well-defined time spending for their assignment, and appreciation and recognition of their contribution. It is important to provide volunteers with regular feedback, and to give them a say in decisions.

Aim and objectives. The chapter aimed at people with responsibility for managing volunteers, specifically those who have limited specialist knowledge in this area, or none at all. In addition, the objectives of the chapter are the following:

• To provide the matter of training volunteers;
• To identify the specificity about training volunteers;
• To determine the methods and technics in order to motivate volunteers and the way it can influence their learning.

If the organization or person is involved in recruiting, training or rostering volunteers, that means that it has a management role. The chapter is an introduction to volunteer management. It works through the sequence of tasks, which would be typical when involving volunteers for the first time. It starts with a volunteer plan and then looks at putting together policies and procedures, recruiting and selecting volunteers, training, day-to-day management of volunteers and dealing with problems that may arise on an on-going basis. While the chapter uses the term ‘volunteer’ involving organization and volunteer manager throughout, it is intended as much for groups with two volunteers as for organisations with two hundred volunteers. Most of the principles and tasks are the same regardless of size and structures. 

It is likely that the chapter describes what many of you are already doing but have not actually got round to putting into words, so in that way it will hopefully give you both a framework to build on and an incentive to get started. This chapter gives background information on how to use the information and briefly answers some of the common questions asked about volunteer management.

1. Why training volunteers matters?

Today, the competence of volunteers is extremely important. Volunteers are integral to the delivery of important services and there are other factors such as securing funding that are tied to the competence of volunteers. Volunteer-involving organisations also have a formal duty of care to clients, paid staff, volunteers and the general public. This means that having competent paid workers and volunteers is critical to the ongoing viability and success of volunteer-involving organisations.

Nurturing an environment which enables an organisation and its volunteers to identify and act on opportunities to derive best advantage from its volunteers is therefore very important. Developing volunteers’ skills and extending volunteer competence not only immediately benefits organisations, but also makes volunteering more attractive, more rewarding and more purposeful for volunteers.

Best aspects of training reported by volunteers include:

• practice techniques;
• accessible supervisors to ask questions of and learn new skills;
• training built on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL);
• ‘on-the-job’ training;
• twinning buddy system / peer training and support;
• courses followed by ongoing training, supervision and support;
• interactive rather than theoretical training.

2. Training for volunteers 

To have highly effective volunteers, your organization needs an orientation and training program. Initial orientation and training prepare volunteers to perform their duties efficiently and effectively. Your policies and procedures form the basis of the orientation, and your position descriptions form the basis of the training.

Develop Your Orientation Program. An orientation to your program will help volunteers see how their position fits within the context of the organization. By seeing how their tasks forward the mission of the organization, volunteers will find meaning in tasks that otherwise might seem menial. In addition, treating volunteers as part of your organization’s staff helps them feel they are part of a team, fosters commitment and retention, and improves the quality of their work and the services your organization provides. Also keep in mind that volunteers represent your agency to the public. The more they know and understand about the nature of your operations and your cause, the more they can contribute to public relations, marketing, and advocacy. Thus, orientation serves multiple purposes. For an effective orientation, you will need to determine who will conduct the orientation, when it will take place, and what materials will be needed.

Assign Orientation Leaders. Usually a staff trainer or the volunteer manager conducts orientation. You also could ask experienced volunteers or staff members to mentor and orient new volunteers, thus giving existing personnel an opportunity to refresh their knowledge about your organization. In addition, lay leaders can conduct volunteer orientation as part of their ongoing tasks.

Schedule Orientation. To minimize the potential for problems, schedule an orientation session with each volunteer before he or she begins working. Orientation can be scheduled in several ways. If you are engaging a large group of volunteers for a major event or an ongoing program, you might want to schedule group orientations. You can offer several dates and times from which volunteers can choose. For smaller projects, you can schedule small group orientations when everyone working on the project is available. For ongoing tasks, you can schedule rolling orientations. A rolling schedule involves orienting volunteers as they join your organization. An orientation leader meets with each volunteer individually at a mutually convenient time.

Develop Materials. To ensure understanding of and compliance with program policies and procedures, provide each volunteer with a written resource. You can create a volunteer handbook, orientation packet, or other reference guides. Provide this written resource during the volunteer’s orientation or during his or her induction into your program.

The resource should include a glossary of terms and an index to codes and abbreviations used by the organization. It should reinforce information presented in training and address questions that arise during volunteer service. It also can be used as a supervisory tool to deal with performance issues. Other contents will depend on your organization. A sample outline follows. 

Conduct the Orientation. During the orientation, introduce the volunteer to staff and other volunteers and provide a tour of the facility. Then, review the volunteer handbook or guide, focusing on the volunteer’s duties and the policies and procedures. Allow ample time for questions. In addition to giving the volunteer the handbook, you also might want to provide him or her with brochures, factsheets, or other helpful information about the work of your organization, as well as a map of the facilities and a phone list. Be sure to review the details regarding any specific projects in which the volunteer may be involved.

Train Your Volunteers. Training gives volunteers the direction and skills they need to carry out their assigned tasks. Typically, training is provided by the staff in the area of the organization in which the volunteer is assigned. In general, training should be:

• Specific to the requirements of the volunteer position
• Geared to the skill level of the volunteer
• Ongoing
• Specific to the needs identified by both the volunteer and supervisor
• Periodically evaluated to determine if it is on track.

Training also is a form of recognition and serves to keep a volunteer motivated and committed and performing the quality of service you expect. Sendinga volunteer to a special class or conference can be a reward for service. The class does not have to be related directly to the volunteer’s assignment but can be of broad interest to your organization, such as CPR training, public speaking, conflict resolution, or team building.

3. How volunteers’ motivations can impact their learning?

The reasons people choose to volunteer are yet another illustration of the diversity of volunteering. Personal values and the motivation to volunteer can vary widely. Some people volunteer to learn new skills and meet people, others because they want to share their skills. Some volunteers have an interest in a particular social cause, others have an interest in their local community. While the knowledge and skill required of a volunteer is the same as would be required of a paid worker performing the same task, volunteers will have different needs, will find different things rewarding, will have varying expectations of their volunteering experience and will value training differently. These factors, together with their different motivations for volunteering, may influence whether a volunteer takes up training and how motivated they are to achieve learning outcomes.

For example. A volunteer may not be seeking career advancement in their role and may not place as much value on achieving a formal qualification as might be the case for a paid worker. Timing, place and effort may have a different impact on the design and delivery of a training program for volunteers than on one for paid trainees. Also, having completed the training, a volunteer may not have the same opportunity as a paid person to fully transfer what they have learned to the workplace and maintain their level of skill.

In your role as a trainer you will be acutely aware of the value of volunteering to the community and, in particular, the contribution your volunteer-involving organisation makes to the community. But your trainees may not be as aware as you, and it may add to their training motivation to more fully recognise what they contribute. Accordingly, drawing upon a volunteer’s current knowledge and skill and presenting your training in the context of how it can enhance the unique contribution each volunteer makes to their community, may add to the incentive to undertake training.

For some volunteers, their ongoing motivation arises from being able to do something that they find personally rewarding. Many people volunteer because they wish to make a contribution to the community and create social change. For example, a volunteer visiting older people in their own homes is probably primarily motivated by the human and caring aspect of being company and keeping an eye out for older people, than by a desire to reduce publicly funded aged-care facility costs.

Beyond broad social and economic outcomes, a volunteer may be even more motivated by the chance to make a contribution in their own special way. In other words, the volunteer is primarily motivated by being able to do something that they value, and that will be of value to others. If this is true, it follows that the contribution which you make as a trainer to a volunteer being competent and confident in carrying out their duties – as they value them – is a significant factor in the volunteer’s ongoing commitment to volunteering. Although the paper does not discuss the training implications of this view, it is reasonable to infer that the quality of training which a volunteer undertakes is an important factor in them finding personal satisfaction in their volunteering role. This is because with your support as a trainer they are more able to make the contribution they envisage and want to make.

Bibliography:

1. A guide for training volunteers (Part A) https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/wp-content/files_mf/1377052716VaGuidetotrainingvolunteerspartA.pdf
2. Successful Strategies for Recruiting, Training, and Utilizing Volunteers. A Guide for Faith- and Community-Based Service Providers https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/volunteer_handbook.pdf