Benefits of Volunteering
From Volunteer to New Career
It is often said that volunteering is a great way to test-drive a career. But that premise is only as good as the opportunities we make available to volunteers. And with an increasing number of thirty- and forty-somethings expressing disaffection with their present careers, it is no longer only young people who could use volunteering opportunities to help them change track. Fraser Dyer first outlines the factors that cause career disaffection in workers today and then looks at what agencies will need to think about to attract this potential source of volunteer recruits. What does the not-for-profit sector have to offer career-changers anyway? And is your volunteer program up to the job of becoming a shop window for the next generation of employees?
Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
Steve and Susan react to recent news stories and observations that perpetuate some frustrating thinking about volunteers. Volunteering is either undervalued or over-valued, elevated to selfless sainthood or seen as a means to the end of teaching the middle class to love others. Some excerpts from this essay:
From Steve:
…Now I suspect that Mr. Roy came to his conclusion following a great deal more thinking that Mr. Sanders brought to his, but I’m not sure that his conclusion is any more rational. Each distorts a realistic look at volunteering, one by undervaluing it and the other by over-valuing it. Each seems struck in the interesting mindset that what a person does can only be valued by what they are paid to do it. People who have this mindset have a hard time thinking reasonably about volunteering, and they generally end up either putting it on a pedestal or else treating it like a momentary aberration of the slightly deranged – one that should be tactfully ignored in a politely capitalistic society.
From Susan:
I realize that I am now in danger of alienating some readers, but I honestly have never understood the goal of selflessness. It makes me wonder:
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Given the conscious intention to be selfless, isn’t there the danger of selfishly using the person in need for the volunteer to feel spiritually holy? Thereby ending up as the opposite?
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Why is it necessary to “leave one’s ego at the door” in order to serve? Isn’t it more genuine to bring yourself fully into the relationship with the person to be served? To share your skills and talents generously?
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Steve and Susan then start a list of Suggested Universal Principles of Volunteering, to which readers can feel free to add their own Pet Peeves.
Involvement in Civil Society Groups: Is It Good for Your Health?
It seems counter-intuitive for most people working in volunteering that such participation should be bad for your health. A new research paper in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health claims just this, flying in the face of much other evidence. Is volunteering bad for you, or should we pay more attention to the way in which we involve volunteers and acknowledge that bad (or no) volunteer management may offset the positive impacts of volunteering? This Research-to-Practice looks at a new survey and asks whether it is volunteering or the organisation of volunteering that the authors found problematic.
VQ Sustainable Training Scheme
Hong Kong has a long history of developing volunteer services. People from all walks of life are familiar with the concept of volunteerism while a wide variety of specific volunteer opportunities have been opening up, ranging from management roles to the execution of specific projects and tasks. The quality of volunteers and the sustainability of volunteer participation have become significant concerns within many volunteer organizations. It is expected that volunteers shall be well trained and equipped with adequate knowledge and appropriate skills to serve the needy. Further, it is believed that the enhancement of volunteer competencies and increased job satisfaction will lead to a higher commitment to volunteering.
The Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS) maintains a pool of over 10,000 volunteers and, in order to address some of these issues, established its Volunteer Training and Development Centre in 2003. A new initiative of the Centre is the “VQ Sustainable Training Scheme,“ promoting “Volunteer Quotient towards Volunteer Quality” – an attempt to provide progressive training to enhance the quality of AVS volunteers as well as to sustain their commitment to and aspiration of helping others.
This article provides an overview of what VQ is, how the training is structured, the three levels of achievement, who is being trained and who is doing the training, and other elements of the pilot project underway.
Working with Youth Volunteers
One of the fastest growing areas of volunteer involvement is that of the participation of youth. This area, however, has its differences from traditional management of adults. In this issue of Along the Web we'll look at studies on what motivates youth to volunteer, how to work effectively with youth volunteers, and some innovative programs offering models and support for youth volunteer involvement.
Connecting Volunteers with the Community: A Research Project for Volunteer Victoria
Victoria is a fascinating city nestled in the westernmost portion of British Columbia. It is a city which is known for being “more English than the English” and a great place to have afternoon tea in the old style.
You wouldn’t think they’d be producing material on the cutting edge of volunteer involvement, but this is the second research project I’ve seen from them in the past ten years that takes a very interesting and in-depth look at some area in volunteer management -- in this case, using volunteering as a way to connect isolated individuals back with society.