Potential of Volunteerism

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3 years in volunteer management and I am beginning to see the real potential of having a good volunteer programme especially for non-profit organisations:

1. Strategy to Fulfill Mission - Provides the organisation with an platform to fulfill its mission through the engagement of volunteers in helping to contribute to, extend and enrich the care of their clients
   
2. Access to Skills & Giftings - Allows the organisation access to all the possible skills available in the community
3. Volunteers as Beneficiaries - Through the past few years of working as a volunteer programme manager, I have also seen how volunteers' lives have been changed, even though indirectly and how volunteering has helped them to not only spend their time meaningfully, find meaning in life, make friends, learn skills, find their life partners, gain a different perspective to life, feel good as they see others give, gain experience for work in the non-profit sector, fulfill voluntary hours, beef up their resumes etc
4. Volunteers as potential donors & supporters - The statistics are in and the IPC study by NVPC confirms that volunteers are more likely to donate than non-volunteers maybe because they are "getting their hands dirty" and have a chance to see and experience the work of the organisation they are supporting. The volunteer programme also provides current donors with the be involved in an non-financial manner. Many vounteers who helped us with our fundraisers expressed that they better appreciate how difficult it is to fundraise.
   
5. Volunteerism as potential staff - I have also come to realise how volunteers are also potential staff especially after many volunteers enquiring about career opportunities after a recent fundraising project. Come to think about it, with former volunteers being staff, there might also be more committment at work since they would have already know the organisation they are joining as staff and volunteerism would also give the organisation the opportunity to observe potential staff at work.
   
6. Volunteerism helping to maintain transparency - In a way, the volunteer programme may also indicate the openness of an organisation; the more volunteers an organisation engages seems to also show that they have nothing to fear and how the organisation is open to members of public to come not only to partner them but also to observe them at work.
7. Volunteers as ambassadors and recruiters - Maintain a good volunteer programme and ensuring proper partnership with volunteers will also increase ambassadors and recruiters so the next time the organisation needs volunteers, current volunteers will help in getting their friends in.
8. Volunteers as potential leaders both in the organisation and outside the organisation

I have come to appreciate how when organisations invest in their human resources and their volunteer programmes, will go a long way...