Nonprofit Organizations–Pay Attention to Motivation

I’m on the tail end of a project examining communication in nonprofit organizations (Click here for other findings).  The project connected several variables to volunteers’ communication with paid staff.  The idea was that, just as employees have valuable feedback to give supervisors, volunteers may be able to provide useful information to paid staff.  One finding had to do with when volunteers will speak up about problems in constructive way.  The volunteer’s motivation for volunteering had a lot to do with speaking up.  Volunteers who volunteered to gain a better understanding of life and to advance their careers (résumé building and networking) were more likely to voice problems in constructive ways than volunteers motivated by other things.  Those motivated by their careers were also likely to engage in behavior that was not so positive, suggesting that volunteer managers would do well to recruit those people looking to gain understanding.

Nonprofit Organizations–Take Care of Your Volunteers

I recently finished a research project looking at how volunteers and paid staff communicate with each other at nonprofit organizations.  One part of that was measuring how satisfied volunteers were, and I considered four types of satisfaction—satisfaction with the way the organization supports me, satisfaction with my ability to make a difference, satisfaction with the way the organization empowers me to do the tasks I’m doing, and satisfaction with the relationships I have because of my volunteer work (Galindo-Kuhn & Guzley, 2001).  Interestingly, volunteers in the study rated satisfaction with the organization’s support lower than the other three.  That is, volunteers were least satisfied about the way the organization supports them, which included things like getting help or information when needed.  This is a problem because satisfaction with organizational support was the only type of satisfaction linked with a number of positive communication variables, which means that other satisfaction may be important, but satisfaction with support is the only type of satisfaction that improves communication.  Nonprofit workers—let volunteers know you appreciate them and provide the support they need in terms of information and assistance.

 

Reference:

Galindo-Kuhn, R., & Guzley, R. M. (2001). The volunteer satisfaction index: Construct definition, measurement, development, and validation. Journal of Social Service Research, 28, 45-68.

NonProfit Edition–Communicating with Volunteers

I’m submitting a research paper to a conference this week that reports the results of a study examining communication between volunteers and paid staff in a nonprofit organization.  Volunteers are the lifeblood of many nonprofits, but they are also often on the periphery of the organization’s communication.  The study compared volunteer satisfaction to what volunteers do when they encounter problems in their organization.  The results of that study indicate that volunteers who are dissatisfied are more likely to leave, to vent or make problems appear more negative, and to neglect their duties.  The problem is that volunteers may have important feedback to share, but that feedback doesn’t reach the people that need to hear it when volunteers are dissatisfied.  The study did not establish any causality—I’m not able to say whether dissatisfaction caused the poor communication or poor communication caused the dissatisfaction, but the results are clear.  If you work in a nonprofit organization, listen to your volunteers and encourage them to share their thoughts on what they do.

Reduce Burnout–Connect to the Mission

I was speaking at a nonprofit last week, and I wanted to share one of the things that I shared with them.  Burnout is a serious problem in nonprofit organizations, just as it is in for-profit businesses.  Burnout reduces productivity, efficiency, and overall satisfaction, in addition to creating stress and anxiety.  One important way of reducing burnout is to reconnect to the mission of the organization.  Why do you work there?  This is especially important in departments that are more distant from the organization’s mission.  In nonprofits, IT divisions and development divisions may have little contact with the people that the organization helps, which means these people may be in greater danger of burnout.  Whatever your position, whatever type of organization you are in, connect back to the mission of the organization and think about why the organization exists and why you work there.  Remember, you want to be fired up about your job, not burned out.