Volunteers in Leadership
19
By Jim Entwood
One of the strategies I admire most about the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program (VLMP), where I work, is the involvement of volunteers in every level of the organization. Not only are volunteers responsible for the core tasks of our mission but we try to optimize volunteer participation in administration and management.
Before I describe some of the ways volunteers help extend our capacity, I want to ask what roles do volunteers play in administering your programs? And what strategy would you use to create new volunteer positions? Please post a reply below.
At the VLMP we have 800 volunteers scattered throughout Maine keeping an eye on the health of their lakes. In order to manage those volunteers with limited resources the VLMP has split up the state into 20 regions each with a Regional Coordinator, who is also a volunteer. The Regional Coordinators are responsible for organizing volunteers, scheduling training workshops, and tracking down reports from volunteers. Recently we have had Regional Coordinators also ask for additional tasks, such as training other volunteers. We also have Data Coordinators for each region that are responsible for computer entry of the data.
Our volunteer Board of Directors, volunteer sub-committees, and others who volunteer to do parts of my job round out the picture.
As other blog posts have mentioned, the retiring baby boomers will potentially be a great pool of new and skilled volunteers. They will be looking for more self-directed volunteer opportunities and a sense of ownership in the organizations they belong to. Organizations can benefit from the experience of these volunteers and extend their capacity by engaging them in program administration and management. There may be challenges as well from redefining responsibilities for volunteers to rethinking the role of staff from directing volunteers to enabling and supporting volunteers.
Limited resources and growing number of skilled volunteers can lead to creative new approaches for engaging volunteers. I look forward to sharing our ideas here to optimize our mission effectiveness and strengthen the volunteer experience.
Jim Entwood is a Program Coordinator with the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program and a guest blogger.