How Janet Focused on the Volunteer Experience to Create a Better Program   

Janet: I work for a homeless shelter in upstate New York, and we have a shelter for men, women, and children, and some housing for people who have chronic housing issues. These are mostly folks who lived on the streets a long time and who have disabling conditions. Mostly mental health conditions and addictions.  

We have long-term relationships with some families who also are struggling, and we do outreach to those sleeping outside in two local counties.  

So, we have volunteers help both in the shelters and on that outreach van, which is a fabulous opportunity for volunteers because volunteers want to do something that directly touches those we serve. 

Nothing’s better than going to bed at night, knowing there’s a hungry person and you fed them, there was a cold person and you gave them a blanket, there was a lonely person and you said, hello. 

And we have about 200 and 250 volunteers.   

Valerie: So, I’m curious … how the last year has affected your organization. Have you seen an increase in need for your services? 

Janet: The number of people served did go up particularly in the very early days of the pandemic. Other shelters could not hold as many people, they had to create distance between clients, so that meant some people went back onto the street.  

Also, many of the people who we help actually feel quite safe on the streets, they socially distance by nature, they keep to themselves. Although it was March and it was still bitter cold in the Northeast, we had a huge increase at that point. And, it’s been somewhat steady since then, but rising as Summer nears which we expect.   

So, volunteers were able to continue doing the outreach work, but most of them felt it wasn’t safe. They were older or had conditions that made it not safe.  

Janet’s Challenge: Learning How to Create an Amazing Volunteer Experience 

Valerie: I know you have been a VolunteerPro member for a couple of years now. Was there a specific challenge you were trying to solve when you joined?  

Janet: I have been a volunteer for 60 years. I’ve had some great experiences. I’ve had a lot of okay experiences, and I’ve had a few really terrible, horrible, nasty experiences.  

Also, I’ve managed volunteers in some way in for decades. But this is the first time I had a job with volunteer coordinator in my title. And if I’m going to do this job, I want to not give anyone else one of those horrendous experiences. 

And I knew about the horrendous experience I’d had, but I thought, I bet you there’s some I don’t know about. So, this was about seven years ago when I first found out about Tobi and started to watch occasional webinars and then joined VolunteerPro.  

I appreciate the work that goes into a lot of what Tobi teaches. She goes into the data. And when you change a volunteer program you need to have data!  

The people at the top don’t want to be bothered because, hey, they’re “just volunteers.” Unfortunately, it’s the attitude we often face. If you can go with data, you can say, “no, this is really this the way to go forward because…”, and suddenly it’s not just you saying it. There is this body of knowledge behind you and it just gives you that extra little bit of influence to start making changes. 

Then, I think of those organizations that I had bad experiences with. How, when I talked about volunteering to people, they were the ones I talked about.  So, if you’re going to have volunteers and you’re not actually putting effort into making sure that that volunteer program runs well, you risk giving your organization a bad name.  

Valerie: So very true. You’re really relying on the goodwill of the people who are listening to that volunteer who had a bad experience, and just hoping that they will continue to support you regardless of that terrible volunteer experience.  

Janet: And when you live in a world where there are so many nonprofits, people can volunteer in lots of ways. They don’t have to volunteer for you.  

Janet’s Objective: Putting all the Pieces into Place 

Valerie: So, would you say that learning how to create amazing volunteer experiences was your specific goal or objective for joining VolunteerPro membership? 

Janet: I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t doing a bad job. I’ve got all this experience, but it was just kind of haphazard experience. It was, this happened and then that happened. I learned things along the way.  

What I wanted was somebody who was going to be able to spread it all out and say, this is everything your job includes. And here’s a way of basically rebuilding what was a very broken volunteer system at the time. 

There are all these disparate skills you need. You might have to do budgeting, but you also need people skills. You have to be able to do the administrative work, and you have to be aware of the legal side, which I think many people aren’t.  

And so having somebody who’s got the basics prepared for you in each of those areas is incredibly valuable because you can start to see what you need to work on.  

So, I think I was trying to understand the breadth of the task and to helping people in the organization understand both what it is and what it can be. And, just trying to expand people’s understanding of volunteers and volunteering and helping staff and management appreciate volunteers.  

When I started there was no process, there was nothing like that. And Tobi is a process nut. She has a way of putting it all into a very organized plan, this is where you start, this is what next.  

Janet’s Results: Being an Advocate for Volunteerism  

Valerie: So, what do you think changed at your organization over the past year? Do you think that attitudes towards volunteers changed after you put all of these pieces into place? 

Janet: The biggest difference is that I can say, “this is what I want to do, and I can show you some research that suggests this might be the best way to go.” And that immediately changed how the board and staff looked at me because they know I am now just saying I want to change something for the sake of making it different.  

Now they know there is a reason for doing this and it means that people take you seriously. And they take volunteers seriously as a result.  

I think if you’re really wanting to do this job well, then you want to make sure everybody understands that what you’re telling them (…) is legitimate. It’s authenticated. It works.  

And what I think is a benefit going forward for my organization is I have now created a process. So, somebody else can jump into my position and see how things are done versus just coming in and starting from scratch.  

And I think it’s incumbent upon us to make sure the person who comes along afterwards has the best information they can to grow.  

There are still things to improve. Absolutely.  

And that’s part of what happens when you join VolunteerPro. You make those first changes, those things that are the emergency things to take care of and then there’s all the information for further improving. 

So, it’s an ongoing process, but at every point, I’ve created something that is transferable and, and long-lasting, so it really is an investment in the future.  

Every time you can improve your process so that people have good experiences, you are doing something for the future of your agency and your organization. That’s very important. 

Valerie: I love that. It’s very important to tailor your volunteer program, to volunteer needs and emotions. And provide those amazing volunteer experiences so that they keep coming back. And then they refer other people to come to you because that’s the only way you’re going to grow and sustain your volunteer program. 

What Janet Wants You to Know 

Valerie: So you’ve had a lot of great insight into like how to systematize volunteer programs and, you know, keep volunteers happy and coming back. Is there anything else that you’d like to add today? 

Janet: Please just don’t allow yourself to be minimized. Volunteer coordinators do an amazing job and they need a lot of support to do it well, but there’s support out there.  

I’ve lived my life volunteering and working with volunteers, and I do anything I can to support the wellbeing of volunteers. We need a lot of kindness in the world right now. We always have, and we always will. Kindness never goes out of style and volunteers are kind people. 

 I always say to people, I work with the best people in the world. I work with people who do what they do for no other reason than they want to do it. That’s fabulous. Most people can’t say that! 

And so, I have to do my job well. l, I owe it to the agency I work for. I owe it to myself.