Friends

Okay, okay! We do have volunteer information - but there's so much to do and so little spare time in which to do it!

As we said on the "Friends" page, your volunteers can also be your Friends members, and vice versa. That's the way it works with any organization. One difference is that Friends typically pay dues and hold fundraisers. Volunteers are with you to help with the work you don't have the time to accomplish or the money to pay for.

All this seems simplistic, but we have to get in the basics before we move on.

Many small organizations simply "wing it" in the process of keeping track of their volunteers, their hours, etc. If you only have a few people, that could work. If you have half a dozen or more people volunteering for you, then you should develop a reasonably sophisticated way of keeping track of their hours, their duties, their preferences, their skills, and much more.

Here we go - back to the basic Access program again. If you or someone in your group is familiar with computer programs and can pick up on Access, it's pretty easy to create a volunteer database to keep track of the above information. Actually, you could do it in an Excel program as well. (The difference between Access and Excel is that Excel is used mainly for accounting purposes, and Access is used for more - let's say - alphabetic and numeric record-keeping, running what's known as queries, pulling up convoluted reports, and generally using the information you enter to produce all sorts of versions of that information for all sorts of purposes.

Volunteers also need recognition. It doesn't need to be anything expensive; in fact, that sort of defeats the purpose of having them. They simply like to be shown they're appreciated. You can do that with special brunches, lunches or dinners. Or by having a crafty person make them personalized reminders of their value.

Volunteerism isn't as easy an issue to deal with as you might expect. It involves all sorts of issues - from dealing with difficult people to legal ramifications to how to find volunteers in the first place. You need to get on the web and do some research to get a good handle on the situation. Here's one place to begin:

http://www.nanhawthorne.com/cybervpm_index.htm

Order the free downloadable handbook offered (and let me know if it's no longer available) and don't be overwhelmed by what it has to say. Do, though, look through it and notice the helpful information that could ease your stress level in what's already a stressful organization.

More on volunteerism coming ahead. Meanwhile, check out the volunteer column in the Sanctuary newsletter.