Hot
Topic Archive
December
2004
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Social
Enterprise or sitting ducks?
by
Andy Fryar
Director
& Founder, OzVPM
This
month's hot topic comes by way of a warning.
I
believe there's a growing corporate trend occurring
that threatens to change the way that many volunteer
programs operate - forever, particularly those in
organisations such as hospitals, museums and aged
care facilities where volunteers have for many years
successfully operated business ventures to support
the work of the organisation in which they work.
Traditional
volunteer ventures of this kind (such as kiosks, gift
shops and coffee carts) appear to be increasingly
at the mercy of corporate giants, and the realisation
by multi-national companies that these relatively
untapped marketplaces are far more lucrative than
once thought - after all, where else do you go when
you already have a Subway on every street corner?
Having
just returned from an overseas trip which included
both the USA and Canada , I again saw first-hand a
number of hospital foyers regaled not in the logo
of some local volunteer group, but rather adorned
with the all-too-familiar colours of Pizza Hut, McDonalds,
Subway, Burger King and Starbucks. This is nothing
new and an observation I have been making from visits
to North American hospitals for nearly a decade now.
In
fact a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald
revealed some already frightening statistics. It cited
figures that indicated that more than 20 per cent
of American hospitals already include a fast food
restaurant. Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney includes
a Subway and Gloria Jean's Coffee store while other
public health ventures such as the Westmead Children's
Hospital features a Starbucks.
Increasingly,
the trend appears to be one that is affecting more
than just the provision of food services - and technology
appears to be one of the other growing enemies for
many of us in the voluntary sector.
For
instance, in many health facilities volunteer groups
for many years have operated TV hire services for
clients of the facility as a means of generating funds,
however with the advent of digital TV and even more
advanced bedside 'information kiosks' the writing
is on the wall! These newly proposed 'all-in-one'
systems not only allow patients to watch TV, but also
give internet access and pay on demand movies. They
also have the added benefit of allowing doctors to
access a patient's medical records on the same system
and patients themselves can even choose their next
day's menu via the same technology.
What
hospital Board and CEO wouldn't want this cutting
edge technology?
But
where does that leave traditional volunteer groups
who have for many years provided these services as
the cost of this new technology is usually so prohibitive
that only large multi-nationals will have an ability
to install it - and with that outlay comes the provision
of needing to run it, in order to recoup their costs.
As you can imagine this leaves volunteer groups scratching
their heads and wondering just what the heck happened!
The
point I wish to make (regardless of the setting you
work in), is that we all need to be aware of the impact
that multi-national companies might make on our volunteer
programs, and I believe we are only now scratching
the surface of what may be to come.
Sadly
we are not altogether blameless in this emerging scenario.
I wonder how many volunteer groups have fallen victim
to this emerging trend simply through a lack of foresight
and an inability to properly plan for future?
In
the same way that many traditional volunteer groups
today struggle to recruit new volunteers we all need
to be thinking now about how the infiltration of corporations
into volunteer run business ventures might change
forever, unless we head them off at the pass with
some sound planning and pro-active measures of our
own.
Let's
hear your thoughts
- Why not share your own stories
about this topic?
- Do you agree that this trend is
likely to emerge in Australia (and grow elsewhere)?
- What can we do about it?
It's
not too late to...
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- 04 OzVPM.
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