Why blog about managing volunteers?

Well - I've given a few hints in the stories about language.  Here's my list of laments for volunteer management:

• The labels and the language we use can be first-class put-downs. 
• I have been at meetings where a chorus of 'poor-me's' becomes a downward spiral with lots of hang-dog heads.
• I've seen job descriptions that go on for 10 pages, asking the impossible of any one person.
• I've noted how the Manager of Volunteers is sometimes confined to a poky office miles from where the real action is.
• The organisation gives heaps of praise for the work of volunteers and never a nod to the person who makes it all happen.
• There is a 'professional development' policy for paid staff, yet support for sending managing volunteers on training programmes never seems to be included.
• Volunteers and their manager are the soft and fluffy bits of the organisation, and certainly don't need to be included in strategic planning or management decision-making.

This is why I write about managing volunteers. I want something better for volunteers, for their organisations, and most of all for the people responsible for volunteer programmes and services.


Oooh, I hear you say.  You think I have gone to extremes in these examples of exploitation and lack of recognition?  If you have never experienced any of the above then you and your organisation are most fortunate.  Please, share your good news stories.  My future blogs will be accentuating the positive, as well as the heap of helpful resources already available.