Managing volunteers: help!

[bagofbits]

I'm almost completely retired after a 30-year-career in advertising, publishing, PR, publicity and marketing. I have qualifications in PR, marketing, typography and graphic design.

Last year I was asked by someone who knows my background to help out a local community group that has traditionally held six events per annum, each of which needs publicising. They'd been struggling to get word out and sell tickets and needed assistance. I could do the work myself quickly and easily: I can create graphics and manage a social media campaign, design and print posters and flyers and programmes — whatever's required, really. The first event I publicised for them sold out and received some regional media coverage. The committee were delighted and so it's gone on.

But... volunteers. There are three main volunteers who'd been doing the publicity before I was asked to help out. They're enthusiastic amateurs and I assumed that they'd have no trouble learning to be a bit more professional and effective and I'd soon be able to hand everything back to them. But it isn't happening. I'm spending hours trying to gently teach them the basics but it's not sinking in. I've just had to explain again why we can't use, say, an iconic Getty image on FB or X unless we pay for it, despite having explained copyright law several times in the past. One of them argues, time and again, that we should always use upper case fonts in all text 'so that's it's easier to read'. He also loves terrible, illegible fonts on posters and flyers. I'm careful never to use words like amateurish in front of them: instead I print a flyer up using the font he wants in UC and we all agree that it's illegible and I suggest something that works better. And next time round, he's back to wanting 125pt Comic Sans and all upper case...

Only a couple of days ago I had to squash their bright idea of publishing what is clearly a libellous meme on the community group's X account. I've told them they can do it under their own IDs and they're really annoyed with me. I know they complain to the committee about what they see as my negativity, but I get results and so far we haven't had to issue an abject apology to a famous person for defaming them or pay a picture library fine.

Does anyone here work with volunteers? How can you encourage people to learn in an environment where there's no real incentive to improve? I regularly remind the publicity team that the only thing that matters for the group is ticket sales and staying within the law and that's how we judge our success. They say they feel straightjacketed and can't use their creativity. I really don't know how this can go on.

This.

People always underestimate people's skills and years of experience though - think about home bakers, or people who have a trade or any particular skill. If it isn't something you have ever done yourself, you have no idea how difficult or easy it is or how much time it takes. That isn't specific to volunteers, and actually, a bit of 'succession planning' sounds like an excellent idea. You are clearly going to bugger off soon, because you struggle to accept other volunteers might not be as capable as you, so once again, they will be left without a professional in that area, so asking what you could teach others, makes a lot of sense to the organisation.

In the small grants does it mention anything to do with any standards or for exmaple 'not bringing the funder into legal disputes'?

My background is both funder and funded and if I'd potentially issues a libellous tweet I'd have been removed from my job, let alone any volunteering posts.

I think most people can make a cake or a sourdough loaf if they follow the recipe and apply themselves. If the recipe is good and you follow the instructions, you should get there. I'm not a massively talented or creative designer, but I understand the recipe for producing an effective flyer or an effective gif.

I thought that if I offered the volunteers the recipe for good basic design and communication they'd want to get baking, as it were. Instead one of them, at least, can't see the difference between what he produces and what I produce. He can't understand why anyone would go to an event as a result of seeing my flyer and why they wouldn't as a result of seeing his.

I think it all depends on whether the enjoyment or reward that you are getting out of it is enough to outweigh the irritation you feel in working with the other volunteers. That is if you can’t re-frame it (or your perceptions of them) in your mind.

Does the man you are working with have good qualities? Good intentions? Could you co-design a flier where he gets his CAPS LOCK Comic Sans title and you get a free hand with the rest of it?

Like a previous poster said, I don’t think the Chair was wrong to ask you to try to teach him what you know in an afternoon. In a workplace context of course that would be insulting and demeaning to your professional skills and experience, but perhaps you are now in a different phase of life and it is about passing on what you know?

(I once had a charity boss turn me down for an employed role but then set up a meeting to ‘pick my brains’ as I had knowledge about a particular topic! 😂)

If you do decide to leave, perhaps offer one final cookery lesson of a half-day seminar on design and comms for all the volunteers? That way you can leave feeling that you have given as much as you can and it is up to them what they do with it.

As other posters have said, there are lots of charities that would love your expertise. Perhaps look at a slightly larger local organisation in the £100-£500k income bracket? They will be a bit more formal but would still really value what you can offer. Reach Volunteering or your local ‘Voluntary Action’ is good for this kind of role.