The Sparking Controversy about Volunteer Internships
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.
Volunteer-involving organizations – whether nonprofits, government agencies or all-volunteer associations – regularly search for new philosophies and technologies to maximize volunteerism and advance the organization’s purpose. However, implementing the use of personality profiles rarely makes the list of strategic initiatives. But in today’s social world, understanding an individual’s personality is critical to serving up relevant communications and interacting in meaningful ways. In order to succeed, organizations must emotionally engage their volunteers.
Discussions of legal issues involving volunteers are usually conducted philosophically, using generic examples or what-if scenarios. In this feature, Donald W. Kramer, an American lawyer and editor with extensive expertise and experience in nonprofit legal matters, shares actual court cases and reviews their implications for volunteer leaders and volunteers. While all of the examples are from the United States, Kramer's article covers a range of concerns that surface in many countries around the world. If you and your organization tend to want to run and hide when you hear the word “lawsuit,” Kramer’s article, which includes a sample volunteer agreement template, will no doubt prove helpful. 
Pets are therapeutic for people of all ages. But as aging pet owners and their families can attest, age and disability often restrict elderly or seriously-ill pet owners from seeking veterinarian services and general assistance for their pets. Some people even refuse to enter hospitals or residential care facilities if they are worried about their pet's future. In response, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Auburn, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, teamed up with RSPCA NSW (the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, New South Wales) to establish the Pets of Older Persons or POOPs program. Through POOPs, more than 150 volunteers serve as “foster parents” to care for the pets of elderly persons and palliative care patients in the community.
When it comes to professional football in America, most people associate “special teams” with players who take the field for kick-offs, punt returns and kicking an extra point. But for the Miami Dolphins, an American football team based in Florida, “special teams” means so much more. The Miami Dolphins Special Teams, Driven by Chevy, is a new volunteer program that serves as one of the cornerstones of the Miami Dolphins Foundation. Although not the first volunteer initiative in professional sports, it is the first and only full-time volunteer program operated by a professional sports team. Started in 2009, the program is specifically designed to engage episodic volunteers in community service using the unique incentives and branding only available to a professional sports team. To date, the program has attracted 3,204 volunteers who have logged 43,835 hours of community service.
The next time you have a few volunteer program managers together, here’s an interesting exercise question: “How many of you have volunteers working side-by-side with you to do what’s needed for successful volunteer engagement – beyond helping with clerical work?” When we ask this in workshops we run, it always amazes (and dismays) us how few hands go up.
