Volunteering magazine article, issue 44, January 1999
Chip Hamer on the implications of some recent research
In last month's issue of this magazine, the 'Pandora' column warned voluntary organisations that they need to be more flexible and responsive to the needs and values of all volunteers. Pandora predicted that this might come as something of a shock 'to those organisations whose idea of volunteering is rooted in the past and whose approach to innovation is a negative one'. Now a new study, by Geoff Nichols and Lindsay King1 highlights the response of the Guide Association to these imperatives.
Questions. . .
A survey suggested that the main difficulties encountered by volunteers were that there were not enough people to do the work, that the work was left to fewer and fewer people and that young member's parents were reluctant to contribute. Significantly, however, the survey also identified that, of those Guiders no longer volunteering, the vast majority did so because of the conflict with both their paid work and family commitments. They just did not have enough time to remain involved.
The character of the organisation was shown to have both a positive and negative impact on volunteers. Whilst the survey identified that a significant number of people stopped their volunteer work with the Association when their own children were no longer involved, there was also a considerable amount of loyalty amongst those volunteers who did remain involved. This loyalty to the Guide Association and its ideals - embodied in the Guide promise taken by all members - as well as to their local units, districts and friends in the movement, has a positive effect in binding volunteers into the organisation and its structures.
The strong ethos of guiding also had its drawbacks, however. The Guide promise, including the vow 'to love my God, to serve the Queen' was seen to be a reason why new, younger volunteers might be discouraged. It was also felt that the Association was demanding a substantial commitment from its volunteers - a commitment that some potential recruits felt that they might not be able to live up to. Also the 'loyalty bonus' to the Association did not seem to cut across local area and district boundaries, a major drawback in an increasingly mobile population.
The study goes on to draw comparisons between the findings of the survey and the rest of the volunteering world (drawing substantially on the work carried out for the National Survey and other studies). It concludes that Guiders face very much the same difficulties as the rest of the voluntary sector; lack of time, lack of enough volunteers, the increased demands for time commitment and specialist skills.
. . .and answers
It is in identifying the answers to these problems that the study is of most interest to the wider volunteering world. The study lists these and goes on to measure their applicability across the sector. Significantly, one of the main changes is to the role of District Commissioner, to enable that role to concentrate on volunteer support and recruitment, in effect creating 'volunteers manager' role.
Increasing access to training courses for volunteers is a fairly obvious (but nonetheless valid) way to encourage volunteers. The creation of pool of volunteers with specialist knowledge (who might give less time but greater expertise) not only helps to fill a skills gap but also enables those with less time to commit an opportunity to contribute. The problem of retaining volunteers in a mobile population has been addressed by setting up a national database, enabling the Association to keep in touch with their volunteers as they move. The study identifies all these innovations as ideas that could be adopted by other organisations.
The difficulties present in constructing solutions whilst retaining the current ethos of the Association, at the same time as ensuring that interest of the younger members was maintained, should not be underestimated. The study does an excellent job of identifying those difficulties and their solutions as well drawing comparisons with the rest of the volunteering world. The only drawback is, that as most of the initiatives are only in the planning or pilot stage, it may be that another study is needed to monitor their efficacy.
What the study does give us, however is an excellent snapshot of a large, national organisation striving to come to terms with the effect that the changing nature of modern society has had upon its voluntary ethos and volunteering strategy. That an organisation such as the Guide Association, which in 1997 was the largest voluntary youth organisation in the UK, with a long history, a conservative image and a strong corporate identity, was prepared to acknowledge that research into its volunteering culture might be of benefit, is a major triumph in itself. That they have taken up some of the improvements suggested by the results of the survey can not only benefit the organisation, its members and its volunteers but can serve as a model of good practice across the sector.
'Volunteers in the Guide Association: Problems and Solutions' by Geoff Nichols and Lindsay King, in Voluntary Action, Volume 1 Number 1 Winter 1998.
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