Opinion Sur Joven

Among non-governmental organizations (NGOs), maintaining their volunteers’ motivation is a constant issue, because they are essential for these organizations’ survival. We can’t imagine this sector without volunteers. But how can they be constantly motivated?

Volunteers have two different roles. On the one hand, they can be part of the organization’s government (for instance, they can be members of the board of directors). On the other hand, others work at the operational core of the NGO, and are in charge of coordinating everyday activities, getting donations, organizing meetings, handing out flyers, etc. Both groups have different motivations to participate, but in this article we will refer to the second group. Within this sector, there are three volunteering methods: occasional, periodic or permanent.

There are different types of motivation as well. We can divide them into three general categories depending on each volunteer’s incentive to participate: motivation though achievement, belongingness or participation; and, last but not least, the ability to influence the organization by participating in decision-making.

Permanent volunteers’ motivation partly begins with their selection and incorporation. In a work called “La Gestión del Desempeño en las OSFL” (Performance Management in Non-Profit Organizations), Ariel Kievsky and Ruth Szvarc talk about the “function agreement”, where all expectations shared between the future volunteers and their employers are settled.

At that moment, the NGO must publish the description of the volunteers’ functions, specific goals and required qualifications. Volunteers must know what the NGOs expect from them and what their role will be within them, in order to know whether there’s solid motivation. Thus volunteers will know whether their values, goals and missions match the organizations’. Skipping this step is like building a house on sand.

We suggest those in charge of recruiting volunteers that, after introducing the “function agreement”, they offer a reflection period to the possible volunteers to let them consider whether this is what they really want and, therefore, if they are really willing to put their effort, time and work on it. This leaves the decision completely on their hands; they will be the ones who’ll decide whether to work for the organization or not.

It is important to have not only a formal agreement, but mainly a psychological agreement, which is the usual implicit contract between the organization and its people. Said agreement involves expectations related to reality and others related to ideals. The psychological agreement is constantly built and rebuilt based on experience and throughout time.

Creating a volunteer staff with personal abilities and skills to develop throughout time is a challenge for the organization. Those volunteers must suit their functions and, as the organization gains experiences, their skills must be maintained and become organizational abilities.

Basically, the relationship between the organization and its people is complex, and multiple aspects are involved. Organizations with high-performance human team management enhance their workers’ contributions and build long-term relationships with them.

An organization can only achieve what its human team can reach. Although many times several difficulties may appear regarding human resource management and volunteer participation appreciation, we must remember that, in organizations, people are “strategic assets”.

Salaries tend to represent an important variable for people’s motivation. Since in this case said incentives don’t exist, other aspects must be strengthened to generate commitment and challenges. Therefore, it’s good to remember why people volunteer; though they offer their work, their time and their skills, they don’t do it entirely for free. They want something back, something we may call “emotional remuneration”. In “Volunteers in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors”, specialist Joan Pynes says there’s no specific reason why individuals volunteers, but that “both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards motivate volunteers”. Intrinsic rewards are mainly related to personal satisfaction, and extrinsic rewards are benefits the organizations grant to their volunteers (such as access to their services, free T-shirts, etc). [1] This is emotional remuneration, which may be represented by different incentives depending on the volunteer and the NGO.

According to the document “La importancia de un proceso integral de gestión del personal voluntario” (the importance of an integrative process of volunteer staff management) by Villarreal, Furge and Del Río, motivation doesn’t appear automatically, but it needs to be planned, taken care of and fed. [2]

Planning implies providing a clear agreement. Taking care of it implies a process we call “follow-up”. Villarreal, Furge and Del Río assure the meaning of what we’re doing must be emphasized, since many times the lack of fluid communication makes volunteers forget (or ignore) the organization’s overall vision. It’s important that they know why their work is vital to reach the goals. The progress of the tasks must be discussed every day -and in groups- to make sure all volunteers understand their roles and haw they affect the organization. If they can’t see the meaning of their work, volunteers tend to be demotivated.

The necessity to feed and take care of motivation must be built on solid ground. The previously mentioned text talks about the necessity to periodically evaluate the motivation level. Said evaluation avoids misunderstandings and demotivation to grow until it’s too late.

Pynes points out the importance of acknowledging the volunteers’ work as a genuine source of motivation, because it brings them satisfaction and appreciation: they feel what they do is important for the organization. Recognition is part of the emotional or intrinsic compensation we mentioned before.

Therefore, three essential steps are to be followed to motivate permanent volunteers: selection, function follow-up and performance evaluation at the end of specific periods. These three moments are some of the answers we propose to generate motivation. Social organizations must carefully plan these steps to make their voluntary human resources work efficiently. As Sara Shaw de Critto says, it’s necessary to gradually professionalize volunteer work to make it effective. The greater the efficiency, the greater the impact. This generates a positive image that, at the same time, encourages collaboration and motivation. A virtuous circle instead of a vicious one. [3]