On October 8, 2024, Spokes board member Liz Summer and CEO Michael Simkins had the opportunity to talk with long-time radio host Dave Congalton on KVEC’s The Dave Congalton Show. Topics that came up included the difficulty nonprofits are having replenishing their pool of volunteers, efforts to help nonprofits diversify their boards, and how people can get involved with board service. Listen below!
“Lack of volunteers” is a common theme lately in our executive director/CEO roundtables at Spokes. Currently volunteers are “aging out” and it’s a struggle to replace them. I decided to ask our friend chatGPT about this issue. As usual, it had lots of ideas.
For openers, it provided the following trends that contribute to the situation:
Next time, I’ll share some of the suggested approaches for countering this trend.
We appreciate our volunteers so much. Most of our nonprofits could not begin to provide services without the help of selfless volunteers. It’s natural to want to reward them. But can you pay them something for their hard work?
Frankly, no. California Labor Code has a strict definition of volunteer. It is someone who “performs work for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons…without promise, expectation, or receipt of any compensation for work performed.”
It is permissible to reimburse volunteers for necessary expenses incurred in their volunteer work for you. You can certainly have a volunteer appreciation party and treat everyone to some refreshments. Likewise, a token of appreciation such as some flowers, a plaque, or a framed certificate of appreciation is fine.
Just not cash or a check (or even a “cash equivalent” such as a gift card). From the IRS’s point of view, that would be income. From California’s point of view, it could make them your “employee.”
Learn more:
In a recent Spokes roundtable, the topic of the “dysfunctional volunteer” came up. Most volunteers are valuable assets for or organizations. We couldn’t do what we do without them. But occasionally, we experience a volunteer who is not contributing, or worse, creating a drain on the organization.
There are various forms of dysfunction. A volunteer may promise but not deliver. He may not have the knowledge or skills to be of help. She may distract staff or other volunteers from what they need to be doing.
As with hiring employees, the best approach to recruiting volunteers is to have a sound system for vetting them, learning about their talents and interests, and matching those to the tasks your organization needs accomplished. Sometimes, though, things just don’t work out. For the benefit of both the organization and the volunteer, it may be time to part company.
The following two resources provide sound advice on how to let a volunteer go in the most respectful and productive manner.
Spokes would like to thank Leslie Jones, Spokes Consultant and promotional marketing consultant for guest-writing this article.
When a local natural disaster, school-related emergency, environmental or health crisis unexpectedly occurs, is your nonprofit ready to be the “voice of expertise” when the media and community start calling? Do you have an effective, written plan in place that can quickly be implemented? Are you prepared to be a reliable source of information?
Delving deeper into our ongoing disaster preparedness theme, we offer a summary of key steps for your nonprofit to build a “community-in-crisis” communications strategy plan.
For a helpful media strategy checklist from nonprofitrisk.org, click here.
By preparing now for an unanticipated crisis, your nonprofit creates an opportunity to receive heightened, credible coverage. Most importantly, your nonprofit is able to effectively support and assist your community when it needs you the most. That is a true success story!
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