Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations

126 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations

attracting volunteers, agencies must be creative. For certain positions in

the State of Alaska state park system, volunteers are provided with hous-

ing and an expense allotment (Brudney, 1990, 2001; Mergenbagen, 1991;

Watts & Edwards, 1984; State of Alaska, 2008).

Managing Volunteers

Within organizations that use volunteers, there are two or even three

hierarchies: volunteers, paid staff, and professionals (Anderson & Baroody,

1992; Fisher & Cole, 1993; Selby, 1978). Volunteers must understand their

roles relative to the paid and professional staff. Farr (1983, p. 18) states,

“ There are two aspects of the staffi ng issue — who will oversee and coor-

dinate the volunteer effort and how other staff will be involved in working

with volunteers. ” The effectiveness of volunteers depends on how they are

integrated into the organization.

Fisher and Cole (1993) recommend that volunteer programs and

positions be developed that directly relate to the organization ’ s mission,

and the organization ’ s mission should refl ect a commitment to volunteers.

They provide the following example of a program mission statement (p. 28):

The agency ’ s volunteer program promotes quality involvement in the

delivery of agency services to families based on the following beliefs:

1. Volunteers bring unique contributions to the delivery of services
   to families; areas such as prevention, education, and support
   are best served by their involvement.


2. Volunteers allow the agency to expand its resources and reach
   more families than it could with paid staff alone.


3. Volunteers bring a useful community perspective to program
   planning, implementation, and evaluation.


4. Volunteers are strong representatives of the agency throughout
   the community.
   Employee relationships with volunteers are critical. Often there is
   tension between employees and volunteers. To eliminate this, the plans
   for volunteer staffi ng should be developed in two distinct phases. First,
   the organization should examine the tasks that might best be performed
   by volunteer staff in the light of the organization ’ s mission, structure,
   and personnel policies. Second, specifi c volunteer positions and position
   guides need to be developed. This step should involve the participation of
   board members, union leaders, paid staff, direct service volunteers, and