Encouraging volunteers

star gazer

It is getting harder to sustain the numbers of volunteers in Ireland today than it was when the traffic levels were a little less and the pressures on people were different. Encouraging volunteers and retaining volunteers is becoming more and more difficult according to submissions to the Oireachtas committee on community (as Reported in the Irish independent today) from various voluntary organisations. The difficulties of bureaucracy, with increased government funding, and various power struggles in organisations turning people off and driving them away. Time pressures in the modern day like longer working hours and longer journey times and an increasingly strong entertainment industry and leaving cert pressures taking the attention away from young people potentially in a position to volunteer.

Recognition of the work of volunteers is of primary importance now in a materialistic age when young people have learned the value of money and can judge the career value of activity they undertake. The community spirit so strong in previous times has dissipated somewhat so there needs to be another type of personnal benefit to the individual that volunteers. The question is how you do that without paying people which would defeat the purpose?

star gazer

It is good to hear the President Mary macAleese talking about volunteerism recently and she has had a very open door to voluntary groups. I take it from the low response rate that people took my question above to be rhetorical, which i can assure you it wasn't.
Community spirit is important but because it can be an intangible thing it's value is hard to judge. Having a support structure as a parent is important, having a range of activities that don't cost money can be important to those who don't have a lot of money and helping people do things that they are not able to do themselves can be a life saver. Whether it's training the local school football team or helping to provide a meal to a person who might not otherwise get it, there is a benefit in sustaining the community and broadening the development prospects of the football team who might otherwise sit at home at the TV. If the State ends up having to pick up the tab for all the social work that is necessary it will take a lot of tax increases to keep the status quo. It can be hard to siphon off a couple of hours a week but maybe it could be worth it.

star gazer

Sorry for bringing up some old threads but i bet there are people out there who would have much to contribute to these topics. So...
"Recognition of the work of volunteers is of primary importance now in a materialistic age when young people have learned the value of money and can judge the career value of activity they undertake. The community spirit so strong in previous times has dissipated somewhat so there needs to be another type of personnal benefit to the individual that volunteers. The question is how you do that without paying people which would defeat the purpose?"

the_syco

star gazer wrote:

The question is how you do that without paying people which would defeat the purpose?"

When I had a 9 to 5 job/ was still in college, I used to be taught how to swim/be a lifeguard. When I finished, I taught others to swim. Every once in a while, after teaching, and the kids went home, we the teachers would have a swim. Since most of us didn't get the time, or have the money to join a gym with a pool, this would be out "payment" for teaching the kids. We rented the pool out from a boarding school, with money payed by the kids (I think it was €15 per kid per term, before xmas, after xmas, school time only, not during the summer).

My point is, if the pool wasn't there, we proberly wouldn't have taught. If something is there, there's more of a chance for the people to volunteer to do stuff. All the goverment has to do is provide the pitch, pool court, and some type of regional adminsration, and as the naked indian dude said to Wayne, "build it, and they will come".

Supercell

In Civil Defense its the weekends down the country etc that are payment enough. Sure the hotels and barracks that we are put up in are very basic , but the food, accomodation and transport are free and the craic is great, makes it all worth while imho.

the_syco

Longfield wrote:

In Civil Defense its the weekends down the country etc that are payment enough. Sure the hotels and barracks that we are put up in are very basic , but the food, accomodation and transport are free and the craic is great, makes it all worth while imho.

Is civil defense like the FCA? As in, would I have to pass a hearing test to join (thats the reason I'm not a soldier now:()?

Supercell

the_syco wrote:

Is civil defense like the FCA? As in, would I have to pass a hearing test to join (thats the reason I'm not a soldier now:()?

No, not at all, there are various branches - best thing to do is visit http://www.civildefence.ie and click "FAQs" for information about the various types of sections you can join (the site doesnt seem too Firefox friendly has to be said)

If you are willing and able to give a few hours of your time per week then you can join and help out ,and have a lot of fun doing so too!

nollaig

Well, I'd love to volunteer seomwhere but there seems to be very few places that actually need volunteers

renmorescout

nollaig wrote:

Well, I'd love to volunteer seomwhere but there seems to be very few places that actually need volunteers

You could always become a scout leader, check out WWW.scouts.ie
for your local group. They are always looking for new leaders.

6th

Jeez i didnt notice this forum before. Perfect timing as I'm looking for volunteers to sit in observation tents at a festival in Tullamore. Its a music/art thing on the weekend of the 10th june.

BOHS

Special Olympics groups are also always looking for volunteers

Bam Bam

Army / Naval Reserve are always recruiting.

star gazer

This is a good resource to help encourage volunteers and organise voluntary activity well. It's important that volunteers feel appreciated and that their talents are being used in an effective, meaningful way.
Forty ways to give recognition to volunteers link.

The first five
1) Smile when you see your volunteers

2) Know your volunteer’s name

3) Acknowledge the presence of your volunteer

4) Always remember to say ‘thank you’

5) Give volunteers meangingful work

Managing volunteers from volunteeringireland.ie

Becoming inclusive
Frequently, all-volunteer groups are perceived by outsiders as small cliques which cannot be entered, whereas the people on the inside of the organisation are feeling lonely and desperately in need of more volunteers. Unfortunately, some groups get much of their sense of identity from being exclusive, instead of inclusive. Whilst it is entirely appropriate to have certain criteria for membership - for example, a women’s group not including men - make sure you are not being counterproductive by deliberately excluding people who could be helping you. Before looking for new members, assess whether members who are currently inactive could be persuaded to get more involved. If you still need more people, try and encourage new volunteers to come forward, doing so in a targeted and equality-driven way (for more details see our fact sheet on volunteer recruitment).

The carmichael centre help support smaller voluntary groups from providing a home for them to giving a management training program to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the work done by voluntary groups.

edanto

Would you still feel that the numbers volunteering has fallen off, as reported in that old Indo article or have you read anything lately with new figures?

I'm working in a charity and we've got no trouble getting people to volunteer - in fact, we often have to have application processes because we have more interested people than our capacity to accommodate them (which, of course, we're working hard on!). But that's just my experience and I don't know anyone personally that would have a braod overview of the situation nationwide.

star gazer

While no doubt there will be variations for some voluntary groups and/or sectors the numbers have improved: volunteeringireland

In 2006 responding organisations to the Hidden Landscape survey reported having a total 1,570,408 volunteers, almost nine per cent of whom (8.7%) were non – Ireland based, which suggests that volunteer numbers were relatively high. Based on the 2006 census figures this represents 37.1% of the total population (4,234,925) volunteer, which is up 4.1% from the last figures.

It looks like there is recognition of the issues surrounding volunteerism and the active citizenship efforts show an understanding that community spirit is important to the fabric of society. There are still the time pressures on people in modern life particularly the long cummutes for a large number of people but people themselves have a need to feel a part of the community and help out where they can and there is a lot to be gotten out of being part of a voluntary activity which makes a difference for the community or a community less well off than your own. Encouraging volunteers is a two sided thing with voluntary organisations needing to meet the volunteering spirit in the individual with a system that's fulfilling to the volunteer and fulfills the function they are there for.

Report on the Practice and Scale of Charitable Fundraising from the Public in Ireland

Predicted future directions in fundraising include:
increasing professionalism; fundraising can no
longer be an add-on responsibility if smaller to
medium-sized charities wish to remain financially
viable
smaller organisations may have to pursue
fundraising alliances and joint initiatives in
an increasingly-competitive environment, or
they may possibly have to merge with similar organisations

With some more agressive fundraisers on the streets over the past while with some of them paid, it can be difficult to get volunteers for street collections but the principle of giving something to get something helps to find other ways to raise money like the activities in a to z or more substantial symbols in return for donations on the street. But often people dont volunteer to raise money but to be involved in the hands on primary voluntary activity and it's important not to turn off volunteers with too much pressure to raise funds.
A useful link and another surrounding organising volunteers.