Volunteering-should try to reflect community?

[CommunitySpirits]

I live in a very diverse area. One of our services that used to be Council funded is now run by volunteers. I think they have done a great job of providing the core service and they also run additional events. I believe they receive grants for this so although volunteers aren’t paid, the service is at least part-funded by the taxpayer. The issue is that the volunteers are almost all from the same demographic. Great that they are involved, but I’m concerned from my experience that the organisers aren’t making an effort to recruit volunteers that represent the diversity of our community.

I have a long-term (physical) health condition and am of a different age bracket to most of the volunteers. I was open when I applied to volunteer that my physical health means I can’t do long shifts. However, I’m passionate about the service and have relevant skills and experience. They trained me up on the basis I would volunteer to help with the core service and some additional events. However, when it came to it, there weren’t willing to be flexible at all with the shifts or put in place any other adjustments e.g. rest break so that I could volunteer in the core service.

It seems to me that it’s important to have a diversity of volunteers and that by excluding people the offering won’t necessarily reflect what different groups in the community need. I imagine others will also have been put off by this inflexibility.

YABU -it’s voluntary service so suck it up
YANBU-there should be flexibility and inclusivity, especially if the service is taxpayer funded

Interested to gauge views!

How frustrating for you.

Of course they should be diverse. But their hands are pretty tied by the people who come forward to volunteer. It's an ongoing struggle to get all areas of the community to consider volunteering.

And yes, they should be flexible and support your health needs. But it's difficult to be flexible if they have to provide a 1to1 service (for example), they need another volunteer who is available to work around your timings.

Managing a volunteer workforce is so tricky. It should be handled in the same way paid staff are managed. But the balance between meeting the volunteers and the services needs can be very difficult.

Is there a way you can contribute to this cause which you clearly care passionately about? Shorter shifts? A different skill which can be done remotely or at different times?

Yes, I agree it’s a big task to run these sorts of services voluntarily and I understand they can only work with the volunteers they get. I think the issue is they shouldn’t be turning people away who actively want to contribute and represent other groups in the community. In my case I was keen to do shorter shifts, and even said I could be flexible on drop-outs as I live nearby, but this wasn’t accommodated.

I think the problem really arises because what they are willing to do in theory doesn't necessarily correlate with what they can actually do in practice.

They might not have had a need for what you were offering.

Some.places are crying out for volunteers and others can take their pick. It depends on how popular the cause is.

I can understand your frustration though!