Disaster Volunteer Management - Trends & Opportunities

Disaster Volunteer Management : Trends & Opportunities May 2011

Today’s Volunteers
Interested in domestic & international opportunities
Seeking project-based and skills-based opportunities
Want to feel that their time was effectively utilized (less bureaucracy, more professionalism)
Freedom to research volunteer options and connect online
Expect fast response times
Trends - General

Developing a Strategy
Identify your agency’s volunteer needs
Be creative
Be mindful of current trends – What are you doing to appeal to today’s volunteers?
Go where the volunteers are
In your community
Online

Affiliated Volunteers
NGOs seeking resources for "best practices" for volunteer management
Keeping volunteers engaged during all phases of disaster
Increased need for Long-Term Recovery volunteers
Avoiding volunteer burn-out
Trends - Affiliated

Unaffiliated Volunteers
Volunteer Reception Centers
Current model of managing unaffiliated volunteers during the response and short-term recovery phases
Situations in which a different model is needed
Trends - Unaffiliated

Volunteer Reception Centers
Video ( http://volunteerhoward.org/2010/09/volunteer-mobilization-center-regional-exercise/ )
Incorporating technology into VRC Model
Preparing local nonprofit and governmental agencies to receive unaffiliated volunteers
Virtual VRC
Trends - Spontaneous

There are situations in which a VRC may not be the best model to manage disaster volunteers:
Can you name situations in which this model might not work? Why?
What are some alternatives?
Opportunities

Opportunities – Heavy Snowfall
Volunteers may not be able to get out to help
If they could, do you want them going to a VRC?

Social distancing or quarantine situations
Safety of volunteers and safety of those being served – what protections are in place?
Attribution Noncommercial Some rights reserved by TheKarenD Opportunities – Health Emergency

Opportunities – Social Media

Trends – Social Media
Sharing via social networks
Decrease of online privacy
Geo-location
Storytelling (videos & photos)
Call to action (as opposed to “awareness”)
Monitoring messaging

Opportunities – Social Media
Establish your organization as a trusted voice prior to disaster
Consider using social media to keep volunteers informed and engaged
Promote successes and stories via video and photos
Make it easy for folks to share content via their social networks

Information storage and accessibility
Volunteer updates & notification using technology (text messaging, social media, etc.)
Volunteers sharing opportunities and experiences with their social networks
Opportunities - Technology Photo Credit: Nokton, Creative Commons some rights reserved: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nokton/4621778766/

Mobile-friendly websites
Mobile Apps for volunteer recruitment and management
Opportunities – Mobile Technology Attribution: Noncommercial Some rights reserved by Nationwide Insurance

Resources – Volunteer Management
National VOAD Volunteer Management Committee:
Documents: http://www.nvoad.org/index.php/resource-library/documents/cat_view/46-volunteer-management-.html
Volunteer Bill of Rights
HandsOn Network & Points of Light Institute:
http://www.handsonnetwork.org/
http://www.pointsoflight.org/
Others?

Resources – Tech & Social Media NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network): http://www.nten.org/ Tech Soup : http://www.techsoup.org/ We Are Media : http://www.wearemedia.org/Tool+Box Change.org : http://nonprofits.change.org/ John Haydon – Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits: http://www.johnhaydon.com/ Beth’s Blog - How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change : http://www.bethkanter.org/

Questions?
Thanks!
Mickey Gomez
Volunteer Center Serving Howard County
Maryland VOAD
410.715.3176
[email_address]
Questions & Thank You

Disaster Volunteer Management - Trends & Opportunities

by Volunteer Center Serving Howard County

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