A free resource for nonprofit
organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based
agencies
by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com
& coyoteboard.com (same
web site)
Effective Volunteer Engagement:
Ethics in Volunteerism & Court-Ordered Community Service
If your organizations involves volunteers, you should also be thinking
regularly about the ethics of such. Involving people who are not
financially compensated for work that they do carries with it regular
questions and criticisms. Not many consultants regarding volunteerism,
managers of volunteers or researchers regarding volunteerism are willing
to explore the many controversial issues regarding volunteer engagement,
because it's not easy and can attract a lot of negative attention.
Exploring ethics in volunteerism has not won me many friends.
Exploring ethics in volunteerism can help you avoid public relations
disasters later.
Ethics in Volunteerism & Court-Ordered
Community Service
- Court-ordered
community service
I have blogged about this regularly over the years, more than any
other consultant or practitioner regarding volunteer engagement. I
feel rather alone in talking about this, in fact - there seems to be
a reluctance by organizations that promote volunteerism, by
associations of managers of volunteers and by managers themselves to
talk about people who undertake volunteer - UNPAID - service for
nonprofits and charities. I explore the volunteering opportunities
available to people sentenced to community service by the court, if
virtual volunteering can be an option for them (it can), and how to
best supervise and support people online in virtual volunteering
roles.
- Ethics
in volunteer engagement
The only volunteer management consultant I ever heard address ethics
in volunteer engagement in years' past was Mary Merrill. When we
lost Mary, we lost a hugely important voice to discuss this topic.
I've tried to start instigating discussions about ethics in
volunteer engagement on my blog and on various online communities in
which I participate. In addition, there are certain kinds of
activities branded as “volunteering” that I find unethical and that
I regularly research, blog about and talk about on social media:
- Voluntourism, where unskilled Westerners go abroad to
“volunteer” – usually for a fee – and do work that either isn’t
something local people see as a priority or is something local
people would like to be paid for, and there is no screening for
the volunteers: whoever can pay the fee gets to go.
- Paying to volunteer in any capacity in a program that seems to
be more about giving an individual money than about actually
serving a community or cause.
- Companies that charge a fee for a letter that says a person
engaged in volunteering that the person uses to fulfill
court-ordered volunteering.
- Volunteer
Bill of Rights – a commitment by a host organization to
volunteers
Should organizations put their commitment to the volunteers they
involve in writing? Should they have a written statement that says
they believe that volunteers have the right to work in a safe
environment, to be treated with respect by all staff members, to be
told what impact volunteer service has had on the community, to be
trusted with confidential information necessary to carry out an
assignment, to be kept informed about relevant matters within the
organization, to expect that their time will not be wasted because
of poor planning or poor coordination by the organization, etc.? Why
wouldn't an organization make such a commitment? This blog explores
reasons behind creating such a document at your organization and
provides examples of such.
- I
won't help you recruit a receptionist/volunteer coordinator
Yes, I was asked to help do this. I refused.
- Learning From The 'Not-So-Nice'
Volunteers: we have a lot to learn from the "not-so-nice
volunteers", the people who are putting their time and energy into
defending human rights, addressing social ills, and battling
institutions who they feel are attacking their quality of life or an
element of their community that they treasure. And we have a lot to
learn from the people who manage such volunteers.
- Why Should the Poor
Volunteer? It's Time To Re-Think the Answer
Editorial: When volunteering is so often presented just one
way -- as a state-sanctioned free labor activity -- reluctance and
even hostility by the unemployed, the cash-strapped and the
disenfranchised are completely justified. If governments and donors
want volunteerism campaigns in poor communities to lead to more
volunteering, they must radically update their message.
- The Value of Volunteers
Involving volunteers because of a belief that they are cheaper than
paying staff is an old-fashioned idea that's time should
long-be-gone. It's an idea that makes those who are unemployed
outraged, and that justifies labor union objections to volunteer
engagement. This kind of valuation of volunteer service is called
"replacement value of labor costs" - literally, volunteer service
replacing the need to pay employees or consultants (labor). It's a
misguided model fully embraced and promoted by the Points of Light
Foundation and the United Nations.
- Ethics
of paying to volunteer online
It is not unusual, nor automatically unethical, for a program to
charge people who want to participate as a volunteer in a program.
This blog explores some of the reasons nonprofits ask volunteers to
pay a fee - but it also explores what unreasonable fees look like
and warns against nonprofits that are more concerned with making
money that engaging volunteers for the right reasons.
- Initiatives opposed to some or
all volunteering (unpaid work), & online & print
articles about or addressing controversies regarding volunteers
replacing paid staff
This is a list of organizations and initiatives opposed to some
kinds of volunteering (unpaid work), or ALL kinds of volunteering,
including unpaid internships at nonprofit organizations / charities.
It is also a list of online and print articles about or addressing
controversies regarding volunteers replacing paid staff. Most of the
links are to initiatives or actions in Europe or the USA. It is not
a comprehensive list, but it's meant to show just how pervasive -
and, perhaps growing - the push back against volunteer engagement
is. This list has been compiled to help researchers regarding
volunteerism, as well as for policy makers and volunteerism
advocates who want to avoid these kinds of controversies at
nonprofit organizations and government agencies. This list is also
compiled to refute those who believe that there are no such
controversies (believe it or not, those people DO exist)..
- Nonprofits &
governments programs rejecting staff per social media activities
In 2006 and 2008, there was a thread on the TechSoup Community forum
that I think is worth saving. It took a while to find on
archive.org, but I did! The original subject for this discussion was
rejecting a volunteer per online activity/online profile, but it
grew into talking about employees and candidates for employment as
well. Here's most of
the thread.
- The Pitfalls of Having a Program
Sponsor
(and suggestions for mission-based organizations on how to avoid
them)
For-profit companies, particularly large corporations, often sponsor
specific programs at mission-based organizations (non-profit
organizations, non-governmental organizations/NGOs, civil society,
school, etc.), providing funding, donated staff time, and in-kind
equipment and services to help launch and maintain a program. In
most ways, this is a blessing for the mission-based organization.
But there are often hidden costs that lead to frustrations for
everyone involved. This is a list of some
of those hidden costs, and ways they can be avoided.
- Magical
paychecks
How paychecks don't somehow improve safety and confidentiality - in
other words, employees aren't automatically safer, more responsible
or better at adhering to confidentiality than volunteers.
- When
to NOT pay interns
The title is purposely provocative - read it before you write me to
complain that I don't think interns should be paid.
You can see all
of my blogs related to ethics here, including blogs
regarding voluntourism. This includes:
Also see my opinion-pieces and observations
about volunteerism and volunteer engagement.
Return to this web
site's index of volunteer engagement-related
resources
And also have a look at:
The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook:
Fully Integrating Online Service Into Volunteer Involvement.
A comprehensive guide to using online tools for supporting
& engaging ALL volunteers, & for creating online roles &
online tasks for volunteers.
The Ultimate Guide to Setting Up Virtual Volunteering At Any Organization.
Here's how to order
(includes table of contents and reviews).
Discuss
this
web page, or comment on it, here.
Quick Links
my home
page
my
consulting services & my workshops
& presentations
my
credentials & expertise
My book: The
Last Virtual
Volunteering Guidebook
contact me
or see my
schedule
Free Resources: Community Outreach, With & Without Tech
Free Resources: On
Community Engagement, Volunteering & Volunteerism
Free Resources: Technology
Tips for Non-Techies
Free Resources:
Nonprofit, NGO & other mission-based management resources
Free Resources: Web
Development, Maintenance, Marketing for non-Web designers
Free Resources: Corporate
philanthropy / social responsibility programs
Free Resources: For people
& groups that want to volunteer
linking to
or from my web site
The
Coyote Helps Foundation
me on
social media (follow me, like me, put me in a circle,
subscribe to my newsletter)
how to
support my work
To know when I have developed a new
resource related to the above subjects, found a great
resource by someone else, published
a
new blog or a new Tech4Impact email newsletter,
uploaded a new
video,
or to when & where I'm training or presenting, use any
of the following social media apps to follow me on any of
these social media platforms:
Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by
the poster/distributor of the materials on this web site.
This material is provided as is, with no expressed or implied
warranty or liability.
See my web site's privacy
policy.
Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited
amount of material from my web site without charge if
the information is kept intact and without alteration, and is
credited to:
Otherwise, please contact me
for permission to reprint, present or distribute these materials
(for instance, in a class or book or online event for which you
intend to charge).
The art work and material on
this site was created and is copyrighted 1996-2023
by Jayne Cravens, all rights reserved
(unless noted otherwise, or the art comes from a link to
another web site).