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| This study of the role and responsibilities of volunteer co-ordinators was undertaken in 1996-97. Information was collected from two Scottish local authority areas reflecting both urban and rural localities. |
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| Main Findings |
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- The term Volunteer Co-ordinator covers a wide range of activities including recruiting, placing, supporting and managing volunteers. The size of organisation in which volunteer co-ordinators work varies considerably.
- Differences between the rural and the urban area did emerge, for example, in relation to volunteer motivation. In rural areas volunteer co-ordinators thought that social contact was a major element of the motivation to volunteer. In urban areas they said that a more important motivation was the use of volunteer work as employment preparation.
- Volunteer co-ordinators said that since the introduction of Care in the Community their organisations were working with frailer, more dependent clients. Other changes noted were increased accountability and more formal arrangements for training and management of volunteers, as well as the impact of funding cuts.
- Formal organisations were more likely to be located in the urban area. Differences between formal and informal organisations were more important in identifying good practice than differences between urban and rural location.
- Formal organisations were more likely than informal organisations: to be affiliated to national organisations with national policies and guidelines; to use formal recruitment methods; and to offer training and support.
- The research found tension between widening access to volunteering and the use of formal rigorous selection methods, in order to prevent the potential abuse of users by volunteers.
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| Introduction to the study |
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| This research explored volunteer co-ordinators perspectives on: |
- their practice, policies, roles and function in relation to the recruitment, engagement, deployment, organisation and retention of volunteers;
- stability and change in volunteering and its co-ordination;
- similarities and differences in volunteering practice and policy in an urban and a rural area;
- good practice in recruitment, engagement, deployment, organisation and retention of volunteers in providing Care in the Community.
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| The research involved a telephone survey of voluntary and statutory organisations; analysis of documentary material about the organisations surveyed and semi-structural interviews with a sample of 72 volunteer co-ordinators. These were from organisations in Edinburgh and Highland where volunteers contributed to services in the community for older people and for adults with learning difficulties, physical disabilities and mental health problems. Edinburgh and Highland were chosen as the geographical locations to provide a potential comparison between volunteering and its co-ordination in an urban and rural area. The sample also allowed comparisons to be drawn between informal and formal organisations. |
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| Volunteer co-ordinators and their organisations |
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| The term 'volunteer co-ordinator' is ill defined. In this study 19 titles were identified for individuals who recruited, placed, supported and managed volunteers. The size of the organisations using co-ordinators varied from one to over 400 volunteers and from two to over 1000 registered clients. Volunteer co-ordinators were likely to be aged between 50-54 years, to work in formal organisations and to have had previous experience of management. |
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| In addition the findings highlighted a range of policies and practice which reflected the formality of organisations. At the informal end of the spectrum, organisations did not use references, police checks, interviews, trial periods, supervision, contracts or expenses. In contrast formal organisations required references, police checks, interviews and a trial period and offered training, support, supervision, feedback, contracts and expenses. |
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| Engaging volunteers |
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| Adequate recruitment of volunteers is necessary to maintain supply and was achieved in a variety of ways both formal (e.g. volunteer bureaux) and informal (e.g. word of mouth). Formal methods were more likely to be used in formal organisations. Recruitment methods in part reflected the potential market of volunteers. For example, informal methods, such as invitation, were effective in recruiting volunteers motivated by social factors. |
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| Selection |
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| Selection of volunteers involved a tension between maintaining supply and widening access, and ensuring suitability for the task. While the recruitment of increasing numbers of volunteers is a crucial component of current policy ( Millennium Volunteers, 1997), issues of suitability and motivation have been highlighted, for example, by the Dunblane tragedy (Bond, 1996). Given that volunteers are increasingly working with vulnerable people, assessing their suitability and motivation is an essential component of the selection process. |
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| Selection procedures varied. The provision of detailed information and the opportunity for applicants to withdraw was used as one way of discouraging unsuitable or unmotivated potential volunteers. Three-quarters of volunteer co-ordinators asked for references and most volunteer co-ordinators interviewed volunteers. Police checks were not used widely because of their cost. |
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| Supply of volunteers |
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| Two-thirds of volunteer co-ordinators expressed concerns about maintaining the current supply of volunteers. However, difficulty in recruiting and retaining volunteers was less likely in Highland, where co-ordinators believed their organisations' reputation helped them to attract volunteers. Volunteering appeals to people from a wider range of age, gender and class than previous stereotypes of volunteers (middle-class, middle-aged, female and white) have suggested. Volunteer co-ordinators reported that informal methods of recruitment were more successful in attracting older volunteers and formal methods tended to attract younger people. |
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| Supporting volunteers |
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| Training |
| Training available was related to the task (84%), client group (77%), practical issues such as first aid (42%) and confidentiality (16%). Training was offered by 80% of co-ordinators: where volunteers did not receive training it was because the task did not require it or the volunteer was experienced in the task. Training was more likely to be offered in formal organisations, where it was also more likely to be requested by volunteers. |
| Support |
| Support involved enabling and helping volunteers to undertake their tasks. It was provided on a demand led basis by 43% of the co-ordinators and in a more structured way (e.g. monthly) by 34% of co-ordinators. The necessity of support for volunteers was universally acknowledged especially in the light of increased volunteer involvement in direct service provision. Co-ordinators recognised that volunteers had different support needs according to the complexity and responsibility of their role but the support given was based on resources available. |
| Supervision |
| Supervision, while enabling and helping volunteers, was also concerned with the volunteers' performance and accountability. Around half of the co-ordinators provided supervision, although its frequency varied considerably. There appeared to be some ambivalence about the use of supervision with its formal emphasis on accountability, and a managerial approach to volunteers, a style considered inappropriate by some volunteer co-ordinators. |
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| Co-ordinating volunteers |
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| In general tasks were assigned to volunteers on the basis of suitability, including the volunteer's motivation (39%), experience (57%) and match with a particular client (12%). |
| Commitment |
| Most volunteers were recruited subject to a trial period and all volunteer co-ordinators were prepared to take action if a volunteer was unsuitable. Volunteer co-ordinators in general found the trial period useful for volunteers and themselves to review volunteers' accountability and commitment and to decide on suitability. A minimum time commitment was required from volunteers by 60% of co-ordinators (range from 10 hours a year to 5 hours a week). |
| Contracts |
| Written contracts may be used to specify the expectations of the role and performance of the volunteer and what the volunteer may expect from the agency, including training. Such contracts tended to be used by formal organisations. Volunteer co-ordinators reported that use of contracts had increased as volunteers increasingly provided services as part of service agreements. The resistance of some co-ordinators to adopt written contracts highlighted the tension between the concept of volunteering, freely offering service to the community, and the legal and policy requirements of service delivery in community care. |
| Expenses |
| The majority of volunteer co-ordinators offered expenses to volunteers covering mainly travel and meals although volunteers did not necessarily claim them. The importance of prompt payment of expenses was seen as relevant to widening access to volunteering in particular in relation to people who were low paid or unemployed. |
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| Change and stability |
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| According to volunteer co-ordinators interviewed, the main changes in volunteer co-ordination since implementation of Care in the Community were: |
- increased working with frail and more dependent clients;
- increased use of interviews in selection of volunteers;
- the introduction of formal training;
- clearer role definition for volunteers, including the introduction of written contracts;
- increased accountability and the formalisation of management practice.
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| Conclusion |
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| While acknowledging the value of informal organisations the good practice identified in this research is more relevant to formal organisations. |
| Good practice in volunteer co-ordination and management identified included the use of: |
- volunteer information packs;
- rigorous selection procedures, including references, initial contact with a potential volunteer and the use of a trial period;
- clear definition of the role and responsibility of the volunteer and the use of a written contract;
- induction training and specific training where relevant;
- individual or group support and provision of feedback to the volunteer;
- paid expenses covering all reasonable expenses and promptly paid.
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| Volunteering is not cost-free. It was found to be essential for volunteer co-ordinators to identify and sustain the motivation of volunteers, whether this was purely social or to gain experience and that policy and practice should reflect this. |
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| The study was carried out by Joyce Lishman and Fiona Wardell, researchers from the School of Applied Social Studies, The Robert Gordon University. It was funded by the Social Work Services Group of The Scottish Office. |
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