Category: Opinion

To celebrate Microvolunteering Day 2018 (15^th April), we have a special blog on the little known phenomenon of microvolunteering.

What is microvolunteering?

There are lots of different definitions of microvolunteering but the generally accepted one is ‘bite-sized, on-demand, no commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause’. Microvolunteering is quick and convenient – a microvolunteering opportunity might take less than two minutes to complete and in some cases can be done from the comfort of your couch in your pyjamas.

A great example of microvolunteering in Ireland took place during the 1916 centenary celebrations. The organisers had hundreds of letters written during the time which had been scanned onto a digital archive. Unfortunately, they were still quite hard to read – that’s where volunteers came in! Volunteers were able log on in their own time and transcribe the letters into typed documents. This meant that the letters could then be widely shared and read. You could give 5 minutes or 5 hours – either way you were giving back to a good cause.

Why microvolunteering?

If you ask someone if they’d like to volunteer, more than likely they’d say yes but that doesn’t mean they always have the time. As people lead increasingly busy lives, they are finding it harder to take time out to volunteer. Nowadays, people are looking for short term, flexible volunteering opportunities and that’s where microvolunteering comes in.

Being able to give back in bite sized chunks of time or at a time that suits your schedule makes volunteering accessible to even more people. It also serves as a great ‘taster’ for volunteering to those who would like to volunteer but aren’t sure what’s right for them.

What is Microvolunteering Day?

Microvolunteering Day is an internationally celebrated day that takes place on 15^th April every year. Organised by Help for Home, it is a unique opportunity for dedicated microvolunteering platforms, volunteer-involving organisations and individuals to join together in a synchronised effort to promote their contributions and demonstrate the power and potential of the microvolunteering concept.

Are there any microvolunteering opportunities in Ireland?

While microvolunteering is still a lesser known form of volunteering this side of the water, there are plenty of opportunities to get you started. These are just a few examples:

Help the environment

Take part in Birdwatch Ireland’s Garden Bird Survey. Each year between December and February, Birdwatch Ireland ask the public to take note of the highest number of each bird species visiting their garden every week. Keep a note then simply submit the information online.

Or you could use Inland Fisheries Ireland’s handy app and help them track invasive species. Volunteers can take georeferenced photographs that will immediately be uploaded to the IFI server.

Transcribe stories from your couch

Help digitise and preserve the National Folklore Collection. Dúchas.ie are asking volunteers to help transcribe the Schools Collection – a series of stories collected by primary school children in the 1930’s.

Get cultural and identify photos and manuscripts

The National Library of Ireland use The Commons on Flickr to upload their hundreds of photos, prints and manuscripts. The public are then invited to help date and provide information on the images, helping add to the National Library’s archive.

Ireland has a fantastic culture of volunteering and it’s always heartening to see that no matter what’s going on in the country, that culture remains strong. Over 1 million people in Ireland volunteer each year but there are still a lot of misconceptions about volunteering. In this blog, we’ll tackle the common myths about volunteering.

Myth #1: Volunteering is free

Although volunteering is free in the sense that volunteers contribute their time without payment, it takes time and resources for an organisation to involve volunteers. To engage volunteers effectively, organisations must have someone in place to support and manage volunteers, must develop policies and procedures, go through a recruitment process and provide training and ongoing supervision. So while it may not cost money – bar covering expenses – it takes time and resources for an organisation to provide a meaningful volunteering experience.

Myth #2: Garda vetting is a major barrier to volunteering

Garda vetting is often held up as a reason that people don’t volunteer with people believing that it takes too long and is a lot of work. In reality, now that Garda vetting is processed online, the turnaround time is around 2 weeks and often takes even less time. People also often assume that all volunteers must be vetted when in fact it’s only those volunteering with children or vulnerable persons that need to be vetted.

Myth #3: You have to commit to volunteering at the same time every week for a certain amount of time

It is true that many charities ask for volunteers to commit to giving a certain amount of time. The reason that they do this is because they invest time and resources into training volunteers so they need to ensure a minimum time commitment. They also need to ensure they have the right amount of volunteers in place to deliver the best possible service to their clients. However, there are also many charities that offer flexible opportunities like once off volunteering at events and festivals or online volunteering that can be done in your own time. The important thing is to make sure you choose a role that suits you and the time you have available.

Myth #4: You can start volunteering as soon as you find a suitable role

We often get calls from people who want to start volunteering the very same day. Unfortunately, that’s usually not possible. When organisations involve volunteers they usually go through a recruitment process which can involve an application and an interview stage. Organisations do this to make sure that the volunteer is a good fit for them and matches the requirements of the role but also to give the volunteer more information about the organisation and make sure the volunteer feels it’s a good fit too. There is also often a period of training before volunteers can start their role fully. Generally, organisations try to make sure that the whole process doesn’t take too long. The good news is that if an organisation implements these processes they are much more likely to provide a better volunteering experience in the long run. There are always some volunteering roles that can begin quickly, particularly once off and online opportunities, but they are the exception rather than the norm.

Do you have any myths you’d like us to tackle? Let us know @voluntireland.

Nina Arwitz is CEO of Volunteer Ireland. In advance of Charity Trustees Week, she reminds us that trustees are volunteers too and that we should apply principles of good volunteer management to our vital board members.

Charity trustees are volunteers too. In our experience that’s something that many of us often forget. And not only are they volunteers, but they are pretty important ones – they take on a huge responsibility on behalf of an organisation, they can have a very significant impact on the direction and even survival of an organisation, and they can do a lot of harm as well.

Just like all volunteers, we need to apply good volunteer management practices if we want trustees to stay, thrive and make an effective contribution to our organisation. And you can’t just apply normal “human resources” approaches to volunteers, because they cannot be held accountable in the same way as employees and they can simply walk away or disengage.

So what does that mean? Here’s a list of six key principles of good volunteer management, and what they mean when applied to charity trustees:

Recruitment: You need to make sure you recruit the right person for a volunteer role, and this goes for trustees too. A role description helps you articulate and think through what you’re looking for and the time required – and it can aid with self-screening by the potential trustee. Do you have a role description for your trustees? If so – answer honestly – is it clear and realistic? Do you go through it with new trustees to ensure they understand their role?

Diversity: Diversity among volunteers keeps a volunteer programme alive, brings new perspectives to an organisation, and helps you reflect your beneficiaries. The same goes for trustees, of course – countless studies have demonstrated that a more diverse board is a more effective board. Where do you recruit your trustees? For example, if you want to increase the ethnic diversity of your board you might want to consider spreading the word by an organisation that supports refugees and asylum seekers – who often bring vast skills and new perspectives. You should also look to your organisation’s beneficiaries for possible trustees.

Induction: A good induction is essential to volunteer management. In that induction you should go through a role description or volunteer agreement, clearly articulating what is expected of the volunteer. It’s also good to introduce the volunteer to staff and the fellow board members, and give an overview of the organisation and how their volunteering will contribute to the aim of the organisation. What kind of induction do you provide for trustees?

Training and Development: Training of some form should be part of every volunteer role. Firstly this helps ensure that volunteers are carrying out duties in line with policy and procedures. Secondly it is a way of keeping them engaged and enthusiastic during their time with the organisation. How many of your trustees have been trained at being good board members? Do you provide a budget for board training? Do you proactively encourage board members to attend training?

Performance Appraisal: Regular performance reviews of volunteers are a good way to review if the volunteer’s motivation and expectations are being met. It can also be a helpful way to identify ways you can continue to support a volunteer’s learning. Perhaps most importantly, it allows you to recognise the volunteer’s contributions and skills and say thank you. Annual board appraisals are equally important, as outlined in the Governance Code (A Code of Practice for Good Governance of Community, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations in Ireland; governancecode.ie). It is important that board appraisals are an honest evaluation of performance with peer feedback, rather than a box-ticking exercise.

Ending the relationship: Ending a relationship with a volunteer, especially ending it earlier than one party had expected, can be tricky. But it’s critical to have the courage to ask a volunteer who is not delivering their role, who has become stagnant, or who is presenting other challenges such as difficult behaviours, to leave. The same goes for trustees: do you have clear terms of office for your trustees, and do you feel able to end the relationship early if needed? Exit interviews are a good way to find out what went well and what didn’t go well for a trustee during their time with an organisation, but critical feedback can be difficult to give and take – so only do them if you are going to act on them.

Trustees are critical to an organisation achieving its mission, and probably our most important volunteers. Ironically though, we don’t spend much time at all thinking about the fact that they are volunteers and how to manage them as such. If we want our organisation to have the best possible impact on the cause we are fighting for, then we must ensure that we provide trustees with the best possible support that recognises that fundamentally, they are volunteers.

If you want to get better at managing your trustees as volunteers, check out Volunteer Ireland’s training calendar. We have a suite of courses in volunteer management that you might find useful: https://www.volunteer.ie//services/training-for-vios/.