Hot
Topic Archive
May
2007
Garage
Sales and other things of importance!
By OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
This
week I had occasion to attend the funeral service
of Vic, a dedicated volunteer I had known for the
last three years, where I was asked to deliver a Eulogy.
As
I sat and waited for my turn to speak, I listened
in amazement to his family and closest friends who
were also invited to share their thoughts of our recently
departed friend.
Amongst
the tributes were many references to what appear to
have been Vic's greatest love outside of his family
- the simple joy of attending weekend garage sales.
From what I can gather, rain, hail or shine, he would
jump in his car every Saturday morning at 9am and
do the 'rounds' of the sales that were advertised
that day. He would collect old time memorabilia that
he would then sit and talk about with elderly citizens
in nursing homes. He would also collect other odds
and ends he would fashion into pieces of artwork.
Well
that's all very interesting I hear you think, but
not really the stuff a Hot Topic column is made of!
.or is it?
Well
let me just confess that as I listened, I felt somewhat
embarrassed that through all the application processes
Vic had been through when he first applied to be a
volunteer (which incidentally included a section asking
about skills and interests), and through the many
hours my team and I had spent with him, none of us
ever had any inkling of this great passion of his.
This is especially ironic in that our organisation
has been trying to identify volunteers within our
midst who could help us run some large fundraisers
- and I bet that in a flash, Vic would have loved
to run a giant garage sale with our support had we
only known and asked!
It's
an opportunity that was missed. For us to have been
able to utilise the passion and skills of a team member
to run a project that would have been of benefit to
us all, would have been the greatest volunteer job
possible.
This
is not the first time this has happened to me, and
I remember having had the conversation several times
in the past with volunteer management colleagues about
the fact that you never really get to know about a
person until you go to their funeral. How sad!
Following
the funeral, I got to thinking again about just how
well we really do tap into the interests, hobbies
and life skills that volunteers bring with them into
our agencies and how we might be able to do this better?
Amongst
the questions I asked myself were:
- It is one thing to ask a
generic question about skills and hobbies on an
application form, but how much should we 'dig' to
learn those special skills a person can bring?
- How do new volunteers interpret
what it is we are really asking?
- If someone asked you to
list your 'skills and interests' what would you
list?
- More importantly, what would
you leave out?
- What is it we (an as agency)
really want to learn about this aspect of our volunteers?
- Do we think far enough ahead
and do we have a database that will allow us to
extract information about a volunteer's hobbies
at a later stage when a new opportunity arises that
requires the use of different skills?
Most
significantly, how 'willing and able' are we to actually
do something with this knowledge once we have it?
In
an age when we hear endless discussions about volunteers
becoming more specific about the types of volunteer
work they will undertake, it seems to me that learning
about the very things that excite a volunteer outside
of their work and everyday life, or the connections
a volunteer can bring - those things a volunteer is
most passionate about - is just about the most important
thing we can do!
Outside
of skills and hobbies, let's also not forget to try
and gather other information that may benefit your
program.
For
instance, does your new volunteer:
. Have
a relative or friend who is a sporting identity or
political figure? How could these contacts be utilised
to raise funds or gather support for your cause?
. Have
a partner or contacts in the business world? Can these
be harnessed as sponsors for your program?
. Have
a military history? Is there a way they can tap into
the veteran's community as a source of other new potential
volunteers? . Have any specific qualifications that
you can tap into? For instance, a projectionist licence
may enable you to run movie nights at a local cinema
at a reduced cost or a volunteer who is also a qualified
architect may be able to provide free advice to your
Board about your agencies pending building options.
. Speak
other languages? Can they assist you in translating
your volunteer program's promotional materials?
I am sure
that amongst you, there are some really creative ways
you have been able to learn about these personal traits
within your volunteers and then develop and encourage
the utilisation of these interests directly into their
volunteer work.
So let's
hear about them:
. What
are some of the ways you gather this information about
your team?
. What
do you do with this information once you have it
. Are
there real life success stories you can share?
It's
not too late to...
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