Plenty of issues stopping volunteers

Publisher

I’m here … and will volunteer.

For those who do not know about me, I have recently moved here (again) from a market that is in year seven of an energy boom, where $15 an hour is the considered minimum wage, finding workers to do most service jobs can be most difficult, and where finding volunteers can be almost impossible.

So as I write this, I find myself now in a unique position — one that is in a position to volunteer.

As I have found already in the week I have been back, many organizations are in need of volunteers. So why the lack of volunteers here?

In January I wrote an editorial for my previous newspaper, and included the following on volunteerism:

You hear it everywhere you go. Just about every community organization, or entity that has an event is facing the same problem. The issue in question is the lack of volunteers.

The reason for lack of volunteers varies. For some organizations, such as day cares or ambulance services, the issue for a potential volunteer may be that there is too much required training, certification or overall government regulation just to volunteer.

For other organizations, such as those that assist in community events, it may be the simple fact that the number of volunteers needed might be too great. Still others, the issue might be that the potential volunteer feels like there are too many activities to be involved in.

The question becomes: What is causing an individual to not want to volunteer? This appears to be a multi-faceted problem.

One reason is lack of time to commit to volunteer. Many working in the community are working more hours than they ever have before either running their own business, having to take on second jobs or additional hours due to the higher cost of living or having added responsibility due to either lack of staffing or repeated turnover in their organization.

A second reason is the number of organizations that current volunteers commit to. It is not uncommon to talk to people in the community that are members of multiple boards or committees, and have in many cases stretched themselves to where they cannot give as much time as might be needed to any one particular organization.

A third reason is the turnover of the community itself. People that may have done some level of volunteering in the past have left the area, while some of those coming into the community either are a) not interested in volunteering, b) not here on a permanent basis and therefore cannot commit to volunteering, c) overwhelmed by the number of organizations that are in need of volunteers or, worse, d) have no idea where to go in order to volunteer.

Finally, at times when a person does volunteer for an organization or project, they end up overused to the point they are burned out and do not want to do it anymore. Get burned out by one organization for being overused or having too much expected of them and it might leave a bad taste in their mouth for volunteering as a whole.

So what are the possible solutions? How do we turn this situation around?

I have some ideas I’ll share in my next column, coming Thursday.

Robert Arrowsmith is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]