Sacred Service: Volunteers Create Value

Volunteers in nonprofit organizations need to be heard and valued. Here are five things you can do to inspire and support your sacred servers:

1. Succession leadership is necessary for your lead volunteers. Volunteers who are in leadership positions must not be so important to the organization that if they leave, the organization is at a loss. Lead volunteers should assist the organization with grooming the next leader. Succession planning is a must!

2. Volunteers should not be overused so that they become burned out. New volunteers bring a fresh sort of excitement and commitment to the organization. This commitment should be used justly and evenly. Coordinating volunteers and staff is critical for the organizational responsibilities – and to sustain the momentum of your volunteer base.

3. Nonprofit organizations should have job descriptions for their volunteers. In my organization, I wrote my own volunteer job description. Who better knows the volunteer job they do? As always, job descriptions should align with the organization’s mission, and be simple and clear.

4. Create value around sacred service. The current rate for a volunteer is $22.00 per hour. Indeed, volunteers bring a wealth of assistance to organizations that it would not have otherwise. Organizations should take stock in the immense value of volunteers and continually create and acknowledge the value of their volunteers.

5. Leaders in organization can create training manuals for volunteers based on the various roles available within an organization. But, training can also be created from the questions that volunteers ask on a daily or weekly basis. A great way to create a training manual for volunteers is to collect their questions and use them as a foundation for the volunteer manual.

Sacred service is a value creating, empowering act. It creates long-term sustainable wealth for nonprofit organizations. Happy volunteering!