Volunteers: human resource or supporter?

posted by htimbrell on Wed, 07/04/2010 - 1:58pm

At the National Trust the issue of whether the staff teams that support volunteering are best placed in Human Resources ("because volunteers are like staff - a resource to be managed") or in it's existing home of Supporter Development ("because volunteers are first and foremost supporters and we should manage our relations with them from that starting point") is something that regularly raises it's head.

I'm interested in experiences of Volunteer Manager colleagues with experience in either one of these areas:  does it matter where we're placed?  What benefits or drawbacks are there to being in either department? 

Let me know what you think - I'm interested in both our theoretical views on this and examples of the practical implications of both options.

Feel free to email me off line if you'd rather respond confidentially:  helen.timbrell@nationaltrust.org.uk

Thank you!

 

Forums: 
Anything Goes

On Fri, 23/04/2010 - 5:40pm

Hi Helen

Here at the RSPB volunteering has always been in the Public Affairs function and never been part of the Human Resources function.  There has on occassions been talk of changing this and moving volunteering into the Human Resources Division (currently we are part of the Public Affairs Division) but it's never progressed beyond that.  Even when it was discussed it would have been with Volunteering being a Department in it's own right the same as Personnel rather than it being a subset of Personnel.

As a general rule I would always recommend keeping volunteering and Human Resources/Personnel seperate as I agree generally volunteers are supporters and we should manage our relationship with them starting from that stand point.

Happy to discuss this further off line if you wish and you have my phone number.

 

By Alan Murray

On Mon, 10/05/2010 - 3:24pm

Hello

Here at the RNLI we are just in the process of developing a volunteering team with in HR.  I have found that it has been a great place to base central volunteering support programmes, as we have the perception of being neutral within the organisation and that we add value to every one of our service delivery departments from fundraising through to coastal operations.

Happy to chat further on this anytime.

Will

By Will Stephens