There are certainly many dos and don’ts when it comes to managing volunteers, and frankly, some things volunteers really can’t stand. My own biggest pet peeve as a volunteer? Not being needed.
If you ask for my help, make sure you really have a job for me. I really hope we don't have five volunteers to man the admissions table when we only need two. When I do carve out the time to volunteer, I hope you use my time and talents really well, maybe even overuse them. But if you don't need me, like all busy parents, there are plenty of other things I could be doing.
These days time is our most valuable currency. I love it when organizations I support understand that and value my time as much or more as I do. When you're working on recruiting and keeping volunteers, I hope you'll keep these things in mind.
