Trends and Issues

Back in September, the BBC in the UK ran a series of news stories and articles looking at the development of robotics. They were following up on a study by researchers at Oxford University and Deloitte, a study predicting that about 35 percent of current jobs in the UK are at high risk of computerization over the next 20 years. The BBC wanted to know whether the advances meant that certain jobs could be done in the future not by humans but by robots. As a bit of fun the BBC asked, “Will a robot take your job?” and provided and online to help answer this question.

Though “volunteer manager” does not appear on the list of jobs in this online tool, Points of View writers Rob Jackson and Susan J. Ellis reviewed the notion and then considered the question, “Could volunteer management be done by robots?” Read this article to see if they embrace the concept – or scare off the robot notion once and for all. 

“People just don’t commit like they used to!” is a common complaint of leaders of volunteer engagement who find themselves confronting the new trend of shorter-term volunteers. Many of us struggle these days with recruiting volunteers – or, at least, the kind of long-term volunteers we used to find.

Despite the shared experiences of volunteer managers facing this trend, there is little documentation of these changes and few resources on how to deal with an increase in the rising number of volunteers who seek shorter commitments to fit busier lifestyles. Is this trend a tidal wave where most volunteers are only making one-time or few-month commitments, or are organizations still seeing a balance of volunteers interested in different time commitments? What strategies are helpful when thinking about engaging individuals in shorter-term roles? Are there any pitfalls to avoid?

In a two-year initiative that began in 2014, the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) set out to answer these questions, learn more about the trend, and gather strategies that have successfully addressed the issue. MAVA authors share the results of their research in this e-Volunteerism feature, and conclude that the sky is not falling in . . . yet. They also provide 10 proactive strategies to address the trend, including how to: design position descriptions specifically for shorter-term volunteers; use technology to be more efficient; and avoid caving into pressure to involve shorter-term volunteers if this does not stay true to mission and policies.

Volunteer for four hours and get a free concert ticket. Volunteer for 100 hours and get a tax rebate. Or volunteer for 500 hours to organize a gala fundraising dinner, but pay for your own admission ticket to eat.

Do we need to offer incentives to people to get them to volunteer? Are incentives simply a nice form of recognition or do they corrode the fundamental importance of volunteering as altruism? When do we ignore the money volunteers spend on top of giving time?

There has long been debate about the effectiveness of offering money, significant gifts, and other perks to stimulate volunteer recruitment. After outlining the problem,  Susan J. Ellis and Rob Jackson return to the original Points of View format of “She says/He says” to highlight both sides of the issue.

“Yes!” argues Ellis. “Incentives sometimes make sense.”
 “No!” counters Jackson.  “We should not incentivize volunteering.”

In presenting their arguments, the authors highlight some difficult gray areas concerning the  issue. And they both agree to keep in mind that “empowered, self-confident volunteers” deserve respect when the subject of incentivizing bubbles to the top. 

Local volunteer centers exist in many countries around the world. Granted, they operate under different names and reflect regional differences in the specific things they do, but all volunteer centers have a surprising number of things in common, such as matching volunteers with organizations or working to develop and promote volunteer opportunities.

While one can find effective and creative volunteer centers in scattered places, authors Rob Jackson and Susan J. Ellis argue, however, that the majority of volunteer centers face an uncertain future. They note that most of these centers have never lived up to their potential, never received adequate funding and staffing, and never developed much visibility in their communities. The big question, the authors wonder, is “Why?”

In this Points of View, Jackson and Ellis look closely at the uncertain future of local volunteer centers, officially opening the debate on the issues and quandaries now confronting this part of the volunteer world.

There was a time when the word “intern” was used mainly for doctors-in-training. Over the last 50 years, however, the concept has widened to include many different experiences in nonprofit, government and for-profit settings. Some internships are formal requirements through university courses, while others are totally individual to the intern and the host organization. Some are paid (medical interns are considered staff), others are remunerated through stipends or living expenses, and many are totally volunteer and unpaid.

Right now there is growing opposition to unpaid internships in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere. Opponents are quite vocal and have gained allies among labor unions and some politicians, taking their cause to the courts in an attempt to control internships or ban them outright. Among other things, these opponents state that internships: exploit the young adults seeking them; do not provide the training or professional development often promised; exclude those from low-income backgrounds who cannot afford to volunteer and forgo compensation; and benefit the recipient sponsors in ways that skirt labor and tax laws.

At the same, the volunteer field has grabbed onto the concept of internships as a great way to attract a wide range of new volunteers into roles with status and co-worker respect.

Which side is right? What – if anything – is clear cut and what is muddied or muddled? In this Points of View, authors Rob Jackson and Susan J. Ellis debate the issues and nuances of the internship dilemma.