The New Volunteer Workforce

By David Eisner, Robert T. Grimm Jr., Shannon Maynard, &

Susannah Washburn

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Winter 2009
Copyright © 2009 by Leland Stanford Jr. University
All Rights Reserved

Stanford Social Innovation Review

518 Memorial Way, Stanford, CA 94305-5015
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Email: [email protected], www.ssireview.com
The
The New
New
Volunteer
Volunteer
Workforce
Workforce
By David Eisner, Robert T. Grimm Jr.,
Shannon Maynard, & Susannah Washburn
By David Eisner, Robert T. Grimm Jr., Shannon Maynard, & Susannah Washburn
Illustration by Thomas Fuchs
| Illustration by Thomas Fuchs
Nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers, but most
CEOs do a poor job of managing them. As a re-
sult, more than one-third of those who volunteer
one year do not donate their time the next year—at
any nonprofit. That adds up to an estimated $38 bil-
daughter, Beth, raised $3,000 over two years through the
lion in lost labor. To remedy this situation, nonprofit March of Dimes’ March for Babies walkathon, and Beth’s
leaders must develop a more strategic approach to 12-year-old son is now forming his own walking team. Al-
managing this overlooked and undervalued talent pool. ready into their third year of service, Jim and his family are
The good news is that new waves of retiring baby boom- creating a large amount of value for the March of Dimes.

M
ers and energetic young people are ready to fill the gap. And the March of Dimes is just one of the organizations
where they volunteer.
As Jim and Sari illustrate, volunteering, when
channeled correctly, can be a highly valuable asset.
ost nonprofit CEOs would The March of Dimes, however, is one of the few or-
love to have a person like Jim ganizations that use volunteers effectively. Sadly,
working for them. Jim has most nonprofits do not view their volunteers as
13 years of financial experi- strategic assets and have not developed ways
ence at General Electric Co. and to take full advantage of them. In fact, most
28 years at J.P. Morgan, and he currently works for the March nonprofits are losing staggering numbers
of Dimes Foundation doing strategic planning, marketing, in- of volunteers every year. Of the 61.2 mil-
formation technology, training, and research. Jim is not, how- lion people who volunteered in 2006, 21.7
ever, a full-time employee. Rather, Jim is a 77-year-old volunteer.1 million—more than one-third—did not
Jim enjoyed his volunteer work at the March of Dimes so much that donate any time to a charitable cause
his wife, Sari, joined him. Her volunteer position includes recruiting the following year.3 Because these vol-
other volunteers—and she’s pretty good at it. In 2007, she helped recruit unteers gave about 1.9 billion hours in
42 volunteers who donated a total of more than 11,000 hours (valued at 2006, and the value of their donated
an estimated $200,000 of in-kind services).2 In addition to volunteering,
Jim and Sari are donors—members of the March of Dimes’ President’s
Society—and have convinced the rest of their family to participate. Their

32 STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW • Winter 2009

Winter 2008 • STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW 33
time was about $20 per hour4 —that calculates to about $38 billion
in lost volunteer time in one year.
Mismanaging Volunteers
As impressive as the $38 billion figure is, the actual lost value might Most nonprofits do not manage their volunteers effectively.
be even greater. If a nonprofit were paying someone to handle the jobs Here is how often nonprofits that have volunteers use good volunteer
management practices.
that Jim and Sari do, the cost would be much more than $20 an hour.
Volunteers can do much more than stuff envelopes. Good volunteer Percentage of nonprofits
A few nonprofits have grasped this concept and are taking what management practices that use practice regularly
we call a talent management approach—investing in the infrastruc- Matching volunteers’ skills with 45%
ture to recruit, develop, place, recognize, and retain volunteer tal- appropriate assignments
ent. These are the savvy managers who recognize that there is a Recognizing the contributions 35%
new national momentum and opportunity to engage more Ameri- of volunteers
cans to help solve America’s intensifying social and environmental Measuring the impact of 30%
problems. Despite the recent national attention generated by the volunteers annually
first-ever ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum, a new bi- Providing volunteers with training 25%
partisan legislative proposal to expand support for volunteering and and professional development
service, and the emergence of cabinet-level positions on volunteer- Training paid staff to work 19%
ing in two states, most nonprofits are still letting volunteer talent with volunteers
slip away like water through a leaky bucket. Source: Volunteer Management Capacity in America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004

nonprofits need more talent

The nonprofit sector desperately needs the professional skills offered by predict that their next job will not be at a nonprofit. These young
volunteers. The nation’s nonprofits are under strain from the current staffers cited burnout among the top reasons for leaving.
economic crisis, a leadership drain as older executives retire, and high To alleviate staff burnout, nonprofits can bring in older, expe-
turnover among younger nonprofit staff. Volunteers are an underval- rienced volunteers. Retired baby boomer volunteers can mentor
ued and underused resource for tackling these challenges. young nonprofit professionals, leading to improved staff morale
Volunteers, for example, can help nonprofits save money by providing and lower turnover. Volunteers can also take on leadership roles
technology services, developing programs, training staff, and conduct- formerly performed by paid staff. In some instances, volunteers can
ing strategic planning, all without being paid a salary. Volunteers can even manage paid staff.
also ease financial pressures by helping nonprofits raise money. Volun- Some work is simply best performed by volunteers. Local volun-
teers are effective fundraisers because their personal commitment to teers may know their community’s assets, important players, and
the organization’s mission makes them convincing advocates for the underlying challenges better than any paid staff person, helping the
cause. In addition, volunteers are likely to donate to the organization nonprofit stay connected to the community. Volunteers can also
at which they serve. Despite these benefits, few nonprofits use wide- serve as evangelists to the larger community, helping to promote
scale volunteer mobilization as a principal funding strategy. the nonprofit and its mission.
And it’s not just money that’s tight. The nonprofit sector is also
facing a leadership crisis. Research has found that nonprofits can why volunteer talent leaves
expect to lose more than 50 percent of their current leadership by National volunteer rates are declining. Between 2005 and 2006, the
2010.5 Nonprofits also face high turnover rates among mid-level and percent of volunteers who did not do any volunteering the following
entry-level professional staff. A 2007 study by the Young Nonprofit year increased from 32 percent to 36 percent. Although nonprofits
Professionals Network found that 45 percent of nonprofit workers can expect, and in some cases even desire, some attrition, losing
more than one out of three volunteers from one year to the next is
David Eisner is CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service
clearly a problem.
(CNCS), the independent federal agency that administers AmeriCorps VISTA, Na-
tional Civilian Community Corps, Senior Corps, Learn and Serve America, Martin Why are volunteers opting out? The 2003 Volunteer Management
Luther King Jr. Day of Service, and other national service programs. He was previ- Capacity Study conducted by the Corporation for National and Com-
ously an executive with AOL and AOL Time Warner.
munity Service (CNCS, the organization we are affiliated with), the
Robert T. Grimm Jr. is the director of research and policy development and
senior counselor to the CEO of CNCS. Grimm previously taught at the Center on
Urban Institute, and the UPS Foundation provides some clues. The
Philanthropy at Indiana University, where he continues to teach in the executive study concludes that fewer than half of nonprofits that manage vol-
education program. His research has been featured on NPR, CNN, and Fox News, unteers have adopted a significant number of important volunteer
and in numerous national newspapers.
management practices. (See “Mismanaging Volunteers,” above.) Here
Shannon Maynard is the executive director of the President’s Council on Ser-
vice and Civic Participation and the special assistant to the CEO for strategic ini-
are five of the main reasons why volunteers are not returning.
tiatives at CNCS. She previously managed an AmeriCorps program in Florida City, Not Matching Volunteers’ Skills with Assignments. Volunteers
Fla., and directed outreach and communications for Youth Service America. with valuable and specialized skills are often dispatched to do
Susannah Washburn is the senior advisor at CNCS, where she has held posi- manual labor rather than tasks that use their professional talents.
tions in program, policy, and management for 10 years. She was previously an ex-
ecutive policy fellow (specializing in community service) for California Governor The prime goals of corporate volunteer programs, for example,
Pete Wilson and a field specialist at Youth Service America. are building teams and increasing morale, which are most easily

34 STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW • Winter 2009

accomplished by groups of people doing manual labor. For example, It is often assumed that something free is not valuable. Maybe we
every spring in cities across the country, hundreds of professionals should use different words—like fundraiser, project manager, or
turn out to paint walls and plant flowers at local schools. Although legal counsel—that describe the work performed and help erode
this has its time and place, most community organizations really outdated ideas about the value of the volunteer workforce.
need an ongoing involvement that taps volunteers’ professional Volunteerism also suffers from being thought of as something
skills rather than a onetime project that uses their manual labor. that is nice, but not necessary. When people think of volunteers, they
Volunteers often don’t get much out of the experience, either. Many often envision people spending a day cleaning up trash or planting
of these volunteers get an empty feeling when they know that the flowers—projects that are helpful, but not essential. If the volunteer
job they’ve been given is make-work or a photo op. had not planted those flowers, would the nonprofit have paid some-
Failing to Recognize Volunteers’ Contributions. Nonprofits need one else to do it? When nonprofit leaders see that volunteers can do
to recognize volunteers both through an organizational culture that highly skilled work that the organization would have otherwise paid
values them and through specific appreciation ceremonies and events. for, volunteering will begin to get some respect.
In their annual reports, most nonprofits list all individual donors
categorized by the amount of money they have donated. Very few capitalizing on volunteer talent
nonprofits, however, do the same for people who donate their time. To capitalize on the opportunity presented by volunteer talent, non-
Naming individual volunteers with the number of hours they have profit leaders need to expand their vision of volunteering, integrate
contributed (and perhaps the dollar value) is one way to demonstrate volunteers into their strategic planning, and reinvent the way that
a culture that values volunteers. The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas their organizations support and manage volunteer talent.
does this and also profiles individual volunteers in its annual report. If nonprofit leaders want highly skilled volunteers to come and stay,
Not Measuring the Value of Volunteers. Most nonprofits do they need to expand their vision of volunteering by creating an experi-
not measure the dollar value that volunteers provide to their or- ence that is meaningful for the volunteer, develops skills, demonstrates
ganization. This reflects the lack of seri-
ousness with which many organizations
view volunteers and tends to compound If nonprofit leaders want highly skilled volunteers to come and
the problem. If nonprofit leaders had hard stay, they need to expand their vision of volunteering by creating
data demonstrating the value of volunteers, an experience that is meaningful, develops skills, demonstrates
as the March of Dimes does, they would be impact, and taps into volunteers’ abilities and interests.
more likely to invest more time and money in
developing volunteer talent.
Failing to Train and Invest in Volunteers and Staff. Volunteers impact, and taps into volunteers’ abilities and interests. More people
need training to understand the organizations with which they are need to understand that people will make time to volunteer if they are
working, and employees need to be trained to work with volunteers. stimulated and engaged. Our research shows that the primary differ-
Nonprofits rarely invest substantial amounts of time or money in ence between volunteers and non-volunteers, when measuring what
volunteer recruiters and managers. For example, a youth service they do with their time, is the amount of television they watch. People
organization in Florida reported that at one time it had a busy re- who do not volunteer watch hundreds of hours of additional TV a year
ceptionist managing several hundred volunteers. Unfortunately, compared to people who do volunteer. It’s not that people don’t have
the receptionist model of volunteer management is all too common. enough time to volunteer. People do not volunteer because nonprofits
Nationally, one-third of paid nonprofit staff who manage volunteers do not provide them with volunteer opportunities that interest them
have never had “any formal training in volunteer administration, enough to pull them away from their television sets.
such as coursework, workshops, or attendance at conferences that Rethinking Work Roles. To create compelling opportunities for
focus on volunteer management.”6 volunteers, a nonprofit’s management team should begin by evalu-
Failing to Provide Strong Leadership. Most nonprofit leaders ating the degree to which important roles could be performed by
are simply not taking the time to develop or support volunteer tal- volunteers. Some organizations are elevating the roles of volunteers
ent adequately—resulting in a poor or bland experience that leads and blurring the distinctions between paid and nonpaid staff. (See
to an unmotivated volunteer who has little reason to return. Most “Filling Important Roles” on p. 36.) At the American Red Cross, for
nonprofit leaders do not place a high value on volunteer talent. If they example, a volunteer chairperson runs the volunteer division and
did, they would dedicate more resources to the task—not assign it to supervises paid staff. At the March of Dimes, people often move back
a receptionist. When told of this article, the CEO of a large national and forth from senior paid positions to volunteer positions. Non-
youth service organization said, “I think you’re on to something: 90 profits also need to explore hybrid models of work and volunteering
percent of our labor is performed by volunteers, yet our strategic such as Experience Corps and ReServe. In these programs, people
plan makes no mention of them.” receive a modest stipend for their sustained and high-impact service,
Why isn’t volunteering more respected? Why aren’t more or- ensuring that people of varying income levels can participate.
ganizations investing in volunteering? One problem may lie with Assigning Appropriate Tasks. Nonprofits must assign volun-
the term itself. The word “volunteer” doesn’t say anything about teers jobs that make the most of their skills and talents. For exam-
the nature of the service provided, except implying that it is free. ple, marketing experts from the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche

Winter 2009 • STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW 35

were preparing for a traditional volunteer project—taking stock of communicate with volunteers inexpensively and to build social
donated inventory at a thrift store operated by Catholic Charities networks that connect volunteers with one another and with the
USA. But the Deloitte workers saw ways the thrift store could employ nonprofit. Organizations like VolunteerMatch and Zazengo have
new merchandising techniques and offered pro bono consulting ser- developed technology that makes it easy for volunteers to find op-
vices to help make the changes. The changes the Deloitte volunteers portunities based on their needs, interests, and skills. With this
suggested produced strong results: Average monthly revenue at the technology, volunteers no longer need to go to a Web site to search
store rose 20 percent.7 Catholic Charities was planning to use Delo- for opportunities; the right ones come to them. Technology also al-
itte employees to sort pants and shirts, which would have returned lows people to volunteer without having to leave their homes. One
a value close to minimum wage. Instead, Deloitte employees put of our colleagues, for example, develops and maintains Web sites
their analytic and consulting skills to work and returned a value of pro bono without leaving her home.
approximately $150 per hour. Not only do nonprofits get more value Developing Strategic Plans. To make effective use of volunteer
from using highly skilled volunteers to perform highly skilled func- talent, nonprofit leaders must integrate volunteers into their strategic
tions, but these volunteers are also more likely to offer their servicesplans. In 2007, the leaders of 11 major nonprofit organizations and
again. CNCS research found that volunteers who engage in less chal- the authors of this article met to discuss ways to engage volunteers
and laid out the ingredients for this
process. Nonprofit participants such
Nonprofits can also use religious organizations to expand as Goodwill Industries, United Way of
their reach into the African-American, Hispanic, America, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of
and Asian communities. Each group does more than one- America zeroed in on strategic planning as
third of all their volunteering with religious groups. the most critical and neglected step in man-
aging volunteers. (See “Creating a Strategic
Volunteer Plan” on p. 37.) By treating volunteers
lenging activities tend to be less likely to continue volunteering the as the valuable resource they are, nonprofits get more challenging work
following year. Only 53 percent of volunteers who did “general labor” done, reap the benefit of more volunteer hours, and incur fewer costs
activities or supplied transportation continued volunteering the fol- associated with having to replace lost volunteers each year.
lowing year. By contrast, 74 percent of volunteers performing profes-
sional or management activities continued volunteering. attracting a new wave of volunteer talent
Creating Bonding Experiences. One of the best ways that non- Even with the best planning and management, nonprofits will al-
profits can engage volunteers is to create experiences that develop ways need to recruit new volunteers to support new or expanded
strong attachments between the volunteer and the organization. The programs and to replace those volunteers who inevitably stop
March of Dimes, for example, is constantly thinking about how to coming. The most promising places for nonprofits to recruit new
channel the interest of a onetime volunteer into a more sustained volunteer talent are among retired baby boomers, young people
commitment. A volunteer might walk in the March for Babies two (millennials), businesses, and religious organizations.
years in a row and then drop out. That person has not necessarily Retiring baby boomers offer nonprofits experience, management
lost her passion for helping babies, she just needs a new challenge skills, and vast numbers. Older American volunteers will increase 50
and more opportunities to stay involved. To keep her engaged, the percent by 2020. Boomers are also healthier and more educated, and
March of Dimes might ask her to speak with groups of expectant they are predicted to live longer than their parents. Perhaps half of
moms on the importance of folic acid and prenatal checkups. That these people will continue working into their 70s, which should ulti-
could lead to her managing a local fundraising event or recruiting mately encourage more volunteering later in life. Although one might
corporate sponsors. The March of Dimes has found that by increas- assume that older people with jobs are less likely to volunteer, working
ing responsibility, tailoring assignments to volunteer interests, and appears to encourage people to stay more connected with their com-
providing training and in-person networking opportunities, they munity and maintain social networks that promote volunteering.8
are able to hang on to more volunteers.
Supporting and Training Volunteers. Nonprofits also need to
support their volunteers. The American Cancer Society, for example,
respects and cares for volunteers in the same manner that the or-
Filling Important Roles
ganization cares for its own staff. Their chief talent officer ensures Nonprofits are using volunteers to fill important roles within
their organizations, including the following:
that staff and volunteers participate together in orientation and
training classes and work together on important projects such as QBoard of directors QFinancial management
and accounting
creating curriculum, delivering quality of life programs to cancer QStrategic partnerships
QTechnology and
patients and their families, and serving as community health liai- QFundraising and development information systems
sons. The American Cancer Society also expects its staff to recruit
QOrganizational development QLegal counsel
and work with community volunteers, and it enforces this through and training
performance reviews that measure volunteer engagement. QMarketing and
QAdministrative support

Using New Technology. New technologies allow nonprofits to communications QProgram and service delivery

36 STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW • Winter 2009

 had the kids who need mentoring, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Creating a Strategic Volunteer Plan had the mentoring expertise, the congregations had people who want
to mentor, and VISTA coordinated the collaboration.
1 Nonprofits can also use religious organizations to expand their
Market research
and community reach into the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian communities.
8 needs 2 Each group does more than one-third of all their volunteering with
Measuring assessment
outcomes and
Strategic planning religious groups. It is particularly important for nonprofits to tap
to maximize into these communities, because racial minority populations are
evaluating volunteer impact
the process growing as a percentage of the overall U.S. population.

thriving with volunteer talent

7 3 Sari (the March of Dimes volunteer we profiled at the beginning of
Recognition Recruiting and
and volunteer marketing to this article) helped produce the equivalent of $200,000 worth of
development prospective labor in one year. What was March of Dimes’ investment in Sari?
volunteers
About $13,000 a year. That represents a return of more than 15 times
the organization’s investment. And Sari is just one volunteer in the
March of Dimes’ offices.
6 4
Interviewing, Older, educated volunteers like Sari and Jim have the potential
Ongoing
supervision and screening, and to perform valuable and highly skilled work, donate money, and ac-
management 5 selection of
tivate social networks that multiply the impact of their individual
Orienting volunteers
and training contributions. By 2020, there will be millions more like them, thanks
volunteers to the coming wave of retiring baby boomers. Simultaneously, com-
panies are providing more opportunities for working professionals
to engage in pro bono and volunteer work, as part of the company’s
At the other end of the age spectrum, America’s young people are efforts to recruit and retain the most talented people.
increasingly interested in making a difference. One recent study re- This surge in professional people interested in putting their skills
vealed that 68 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 26 prefer to good use creates a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits. The sec-
to work for a company that provides professional volunteer oppor- tor can’t squander that opportunity by assigning these volunteers to
tunities.9 This trend is likely to continue. The UCLA Higher Educa- nice, but non-mission-critical work. Social entrepreneurs, nonprofit
tion Research Institute reported in 2005 a 25-year high in first-year executives, and other public service leaders need to modernize their
students’ belief that it is “essential or important to help others.”10 understanding of the value of unpaid work and embrace volunteer
Pro bono business services are another emerging source of tal- talent of all ages as an important way to fulfill their mission.
ent. In February 2008, CNCS joined with the President’s Council A new wave of volunteer talent is building. Some nonprofit leaders
on Service and Civic Participation to bring together more than 150 will take advantage of this opportunity and exponentially grow their
business, government, and nonprofit leaders in a summit on pro impact; the rest will be left behind trying to make do the old way. Q
bono services. The summit identified the benefits to companies
of providing pro bono services and sought to expand the pro bono Note s
ethic (typically identified with the legal profession) throughout the 1 Jim and his family are real people and these are their real first names. The family’s
last name has been withheld to protect their privacy.
corporate community. Summit participants kicked off “A Billion + 2 March of Dimes estimate created by multiplying 11,000 hours by Independent Sec-
Change,” a three-year campaign to leverage $1 billion in skilled vol- tor’s 2007 average value of a volunteer’s time, $18.77. Independent Sector, 2007
Value of Volunteer Time.
unteering and pro bono services from the corporate community. To
3 Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) analysis of data from the
date, more than 23 companies have pledged more than $400 million Volunteer Supplement to the Current Population Survey, 2005-2007.
in professional services. 4 Urban Institute with CNCS and UPS Foundation, Volunteer Management Capacity in
America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004. In 2003, this national survey asked non-
Religious partnerships are a largely untapped area of volunteer profit staff who manage volunteers how much they would pay for their typical volun-
talent: 85 percent of nonprofits with secular missions report that teer’s time. They reported a median value of about $20 per hour. The figure is close to
Independent Sector’s frequently cited average hourly value of volunteer time ($18.77).
they do not have one partnership with a religious group.11 This re-
5 Annie E. Casey Foundation, Change Ahead: The 2004 Nonprofit Executive Leadership
ligious-secular divide is all the more troubling when one considers and Transitions Survey, 2004.
the tremendous opportunity religious organizations offer: More 6 The Urban Institute, Volunteer Management Capacity in America’s Charities and
Congregations, 2004.
people volunteer through religious organizations than any other
7 Evan Hochberg, “How to Get an Extra $1 Billion from Business,” The Chronicle of
kind of organization, and religious volunteers often engage in sub- Philanthropy, October 12, 2006.
stantial work outside their congregation. 8 John Foster-Bey, Robert Grimm Jr., and Nathan Dietz, Keeping Baby Boomers Volun-
teering: A Research Brief on Volunteer Retention and Turnover, Corporation for National
Former Philadelphia mayor Reverend W. Wilson Goode Sr.’s and Community Service, March 2007.
Amachi program spearheaded an effective secular-religious partner- 9 Deloitte & Touche, Deloitte Volunteer Impact Survey, 2007.
ship that included Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, AmeriCorps 10 Higher Education Research Institute, The UCLA College Freshman Survey, 2005-2006.
VISTA, and local religious congregations across the country. Amachi 11 Volunteer Management Capacity in America’s Charities and Congregations, 2004.

Winter 2009 • STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW 37