‘Is this right for me?’ activity
In the next activity, the focus is on what you can do to help a person decide if your group or organisation, and the potential volunteering roles on offer, will be right for them.
Activity 2
Potential volunteers rely on how clearly you can communicate what volunteers can expect so they are able to decide whether this might fit with their own expectations. It’s the step that gets them from the idea of volunteering to the decision to contact your group or organisation.
Some things to consider might be:
- How would a potential volunteer find out what to expect from you?
- How would they ask questions if they had specific needs?
- Are there written policies and procedures about volunteering?
You might want to discuss these questions with others. Don’t forget to record your reflections in your learning journal.
Discussion
Many groups and organisations make use of a Volunteer Policy and Volunteer Agreement, which set out the organisation’s approach to involving volunteers and what both the volunteer and the group or organisation can expect.
In the Prince’s Trust’s Volunteer Policy [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (available on their website), you can see that they’ve introduced why they involve volunteers (discussed in Activity 1) and then gone on to outline under key headings what a volunteer can expect.
You can see some further examples of volunteer policies on these websites:
At its simplest, the volunteer agreement could be a conversation between the volunteer and the person supporting their involvement. Ideally, each agreement will be unique for each volunteer. You can find out more about writing a Volunteer Agreement in the Good Practice Guide on the Volunteer Scotland website.
As you speak to more potential volunteers you will begin to build a picture of what expectations are typical and you can then make sure that you communicate these to potential volunteers. This will help them make that important decision about choosing to contact your group or organisation.
2.2 ‘Is this right for me?’