A Little Handbook for Volunteers

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
--Albert Schweitzer

Lesson 1: Every Board needs a clear mission, purpose, history, and vision
Before you raise your hand to serve on the board, ask to see its mission statement. Look for it on the first page of the organization’s bylaws or website. If it doesn’t have a mission statement, abandon all hope for this board. If it has one, then find out if it’s being followed. Ask a few board members if they know what it says. If they can’t articulate the mission or purpose, then very likely they’re not following it. Don’t even think of joining a board if the organization doesn’t know why it exists, where it’s been, or worse, doesn’t care where it’s going! The leaders are likely to have a “hidden agenda” or vision that differs from your own. Find another place to volunteer.

Case 1A: Shooting for the Stars
When I was in my 20s, I was hired as a part-time English instructor at my alma mater, the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, formerly Mary College. One day Sister Gwendolyn, the newly appointed Alumni Director, called me into her office to ask if I’d like to help establish the college’s first-ever Alumni Association. It needed bylaws, a mission statement, policies, procedures, and officers, of course. It needed someone to help plan, organize, and develop these documents. It was her next question which surprised me, “Would you please serve as Acting President until the board gets established?” How could I refuse a nun? How could I refuse the pediatric nurse who knew my parents and the Schneider family, the one with “all those children”? Answer: I could not.

For several months, we worked on drafts of the documents. At each meeting, Sister Gwendolyn lit a votive candle and said a prayer for guidance. I’m sure she had no idea how much influence she was having on my life, yet alone in helping to formulate my understanding of and appreciation for volunteers. It was Sister Gwendolyn who showed me that volunteering really was holy work, and it set the tone for all my future volunteer activities.

By spring, we had drafted all the documents we needed to launch our new Alumni Association. By summer, the Board officially elected me President, and we were holding our first Alumni Reunions. Through all of it, Sister Gwendolyn demonstrated several qualities I admire in leaders of volunteer organizations:

• She understood that there is enormous, untapped kindness available from well-meaning, would-be volunteers who yearn for greater fulfillment through helping others.
• She knew how to tap the talents of these well-meaning volunteers without exploiting them. To do this, I noticed how she praised her volunteers publicly and often. She also wrote them personal “thank you notes,” handwritten on note cards inscribed with this motivational quote from Robert Browning: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Like Browning, Sister Gwendolyn believed that our fledgling organization should shoot for the stars, soar, and tackle the unknown, regardless of fear. The eagle on the front of the card was an apt image for what we were doing.
• She acknowledged every donation with a personal note and never let a good deed go unnoticed―from the kitchen help at alumni events to the cleanup crew. She demonstrated that if you want to motivate volunteers, you’ve got to know their individual talents, engage them in meaningful ways, and let them know their gifts of time, talent, and treasure are sincerely appreciated, no matter how insignificant they may think their contributions are.
• She understood that organizations and their structures must adapt to changes in membership. Currently, the University of Mary Alumni Committee is the organization's advisory board. It evolved by a process of expansion from a seven-member Executive Board to a fifteen-member alumni council in November 1977. In December 1980, the membership was changed from fifteen to twelve, and in September 1991, the by-laws were again changed so that the membership consists of twelve to fifteen members. In 2011, the structure of the council was revised to its current advisory committee status.
According to the present website: “The goals of the Alumni Committee are to promote the interest and welfare of the alumni association; to foster the welfare and growth of the University of Mary; and to establish mutually beneficial relations between the university, students, faculty, parents, friends and its alumni.”

Not only does the organization have a clear statement of purpose, mission, and vision, but it also has a history of its evolution, including key dates, milestones, and even the names of every former Council Member, including mine. Why is this important? Answer: Because an organization (or an individual for that matter) cannot know who they are unless they know where they’ve been. Clearly, Sister Gwendolyn and her successors understood this and kept good records. The importance of keeping records becomes obvious when you start trying to raise funds or establish credibility for your organization in the community. Your past affects your present. If your organization hasn’t at least written down key milestones, get on it. Keywords [TBD]
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