Volunteers leave organizations for various reasons. It’s like a revolving door that has been an age-old problem and concern for many nonprofits. There are many reasons why volunteers quit.
After years of working with volunteers and being a volunteer myself, I was able to make a list of the top reasons behind volunteers quitting.
The Top 12 Reasons Why Volunteers Quit
Volunteers are not inspired nor motivated by leaders. Leadership needs to see volunteers as a valuable part of their entity. Staff, program managers, as well as the executive team need to meet with volunteers on a regular basis. By doing this, volunteers will, in turn, be motivated and inspired by leaders. Volunteers need to see the organization’s leadership.
They are not treated as a part of the team or organization. Volunteers are not treated as staff members. Most organizations separate their staff and volunteers in many project activities. Volunteers need to feel as though they are a part of the team.
Volunteers are not trained. Organizations train their staff members, but they do not see the need to train their volunteers. Volunteers must feel they have the required knowledge and skills, and are adequately prepared for their assignments. In addition to providing training for their assignments, volunteers must receive ongoing training year round. This keeps them sharp and up to date on the most proficient ways to complete their task.
They are not celebrated. Volunteers are not honored or recognized for what talents they bring to the organization. Volunteers need recognition on a regular basis, not just once a year.
Volunteers are not contacted on a regular basis. Volunteers to be communicated with and contacted on a regular and ongoing basis. I would suggest using multiple ways of communication with volunteers, not just your typical email once a month.
They are not given clear expectations. They are not given specific roles, responsibilities, shift requirements, and boundaries. Volunteers need as much structure as possible. Don’t assume that all volunteers know what your organization expects of volunteers. It may be clear to you, but not to the volunteers. Just like employees and paid staff are given these things, volunteers should be given the same thing. They are able to do a better job when you provide specific expectations.
They are not given a voice. Volunteers are not given a voice in the organization. Their ideas may not be welcomed by the leaders. Agencies need to provide a platform where the volunteers can voice their opinions and ideas. You may be astounded at what they can bring to the table. This adds value to the volunteer program and to the volunteers.
They are not given organizational support. They are not getting the help when needed, and are not given feedback on their work performance. Volunteers need to given job performance reviews where their skills task performance is evaluated. In this review, the volunteers are also able to review their managers and the organization as a whole. The review helps the agency know what the volunteer needs are.
They are not given a job description. This goes along with providing clear expectations. Organizations give their paid staff members descriptions, so why shouldn’t volunteers have one as well. This allows the volunteer to see what they are required to do, just like a paid staff person. In turn, they feel as though they are a part of the team, and they know what the job entails.
Their skills are not maximized. Volunteers should not just be seen as manual laborers. They bring many talents and skills to an organization. Many times they are asked to do a task that does not fit their skill level, so they get bored and leave. Volunteers need to feel they are challenged and that their skill set is appreciated.
They feel alone and isolated. They need to feel as though they are a part of the team. Staff and leaders should connect with their volunteers at a deeper level. Volunteer meetings should include staff as well, as it’s an organizational leadership team. Volunteers should receive phone calls on a regular basis by its leadership team. Volunteers should not only be contacted when there is a project, but called just to say “Hi, how are you?” This makes the volunteer feel like they are appreciated as a human being, not as a set of hands that can complete a task.
They get burned out. Some organizations only use and rely on using a select few volunteers. In turn, those selected few get burned out quickly. The workload needs to be spread out evenly if possible. The work also will need to be exciting to the volunteers. They should not only be given a mundane task, but give them something they enjoy doing as well.
Results
By correcting these areas, you are more likely to see 3 things take place within your organization:
Increased participation of volunteers
Increased productivity of your volunteers
Increased number of volunteers
Remember, happy volunteers are helpful volunteers!
Written by Marquetta Smith, Executive Director of Safe Harbor International Ministries
As we all have seen on the news the flooding in North Carolina, our hearts go out to the communities that have been affected by this terrible ordeal. Many are trying to make sense of what has happened and are trying to deal with the stress of the situation.
To the individuals who have been affected by these events, we know how they can create a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety for those directly and indirectly affected. Here are some things to look for in the days and weeks following the disaster, you may begin to have some of these common reactions.
Common Reactions
Disbelief and shock
Fear and anxiety about the future
Disorientation; difficulty making decisions or concentrating
Apathy and emotional numbing
Nightmares and recurring thoughts about the event
Irritability and anger
Sadness and depression
Feeling powerless
Changes in eating patterns; loss of appetite or overeating
Crying for “no apparent reason”
Headaches, back pains, and stomach problems
Difficulty sleeping or falling asleep
Increased use of alcohol and drugs
Tips for Coping
It is normal to have difficulty managing your feelings after major traumatic events. However, if you don’t deal with the stress, it can be harmful to your mental and physical health. Coping with these feelings and getting help when you need it will help you, your family, and your community recovers from a disaster. Here are some tips for coping in these difficult times:
Talk about it. By talking with others about the event, you can relieve stress and realize that others share your feelings.
Spend time with friends and family. They can help you through this tough time. If your family lives outside the area, stay in touch by phone. If you have any children, encourage them to share their concerns and feelings about the disaster with you.
Take care of yourself. Get plenty of rest and exercise, and eat properly. If you smoke or drink coffee, try to limit your intake, since nicotine and caffeine can also add to your stress.
Limit exposure to images of the disaster. Watching or reading news about the event over and over again will only increase your stress.
Find time for activities you enjoy. Read a book, go for a walk, catch a movie, or do something else you find enjoyable. These healthy activities can help you get your mind off the disaster and keep the stress in check.
Take one thing at a time. For people under stress, an ordinary workload can sometimes seem unbearable. Pick one urgent task and work on it. Once you accomplish that task, choose the next one. Checking off tasks will give you a sense of accomplishment and make things feel less overwhelming.
Do something positive. Give blood, prepare care packages for people who have lost relatives or their homes or jobs, or volunteer in a rebuilding effort. Helping other people can give you a sense of purpose in a situation that feels out of your control.
Avoid drugs and excessive drinking. Drugs and alcohol may temporarily seem to remove stress, but in the long run, they generally create additional problems that compound the stress you were already feeling.
Ask for help when you need it. If your feelings do not go away, or are so intense that they interfere with your ability to function in daily life, talk with a trusted relative, friend, doctor or spiritual advisor about getting help. Make an appointment with a mental health professional to discuss how well you are coping with the recent events. You could also join a support group. Don’t try to cope alone. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness.
Seek spiritual help. This goes along with asking for help when you need it. But sometimes, people may not know that they are in need of help until it is too late. You could go to a pastor, church clergy, or someone who can help you pray during this time. It is very common to blame God for the disaster and turn away from Him, but God is such a big God that He can handle your anger and frustration towards Him. He so longs to hear from you, even if it is to vent and scream. He is ready and willing to hear your prayers. A spiritual counselor will be able to help you navigate those feelings and help you along the road to recovery of spiritual health.
Remember this childhood rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Some of us used to say this little one-liner of a rhyme when growing up to prove to the bully that their words had no power, and those negative words that were thrown at us can never hurt us. Wow, how wrong! This article will help you understand how words can hurt and also give you simple steps on how to overcome emotional abuse.
How many times have you heard the words “you are stupid,” “you are so dumb,” “you can’t do anything right,” “you are a waste of space,” or better yet, how many times have we told our children these same words? These very hurtful words become engrained in their hearts and spirits, and eventually our children will believe these daunting words and soon start living out these words.
Did you know that emotional abuse can be one of the most deadliest forms of abuse? However, societies around the world have made us believe that physical abuse is the most harmful of all of the types of abuses a person can suffer from. They have also implied that physical abuse is the only type of abuse that can cause victims their lives. Well, I say that they are wrong!
Emotional/verbal abuse within itself can be the silent killer of all of the forms of abuse. Why? It is so subtle, and the effects are not easily seen at first, but over time, the effects can be deadly because the negative words spoken to someone are being engrained into their heart and spirit, which is the silent killer.
When victims of verbal abuse are subjected to this type of abuse, the individual silently submits to the voices of rejection, doubt, fear, intimidation and so on.
These words that are spoken over and over again to the victim can eventually become a part of their core beliefs. To simply put it: Whatever a person believes, they become, and begin to live out. They become the very negative words that were once spoken over them.
If these negative words are believed by the victim, they can, in turn, pass this same thought process and negativity on to their children, especially if the children are subject to this type of abuse as well, thus repeating the cycle of verbal abuse to the next generation.
Try this simple, yet effective exercise if you have been a victim of emotional abuse: start out by speaking positive words over your life and your children’s life 3 times a day for one whole month. While doing this, you must fight the urge to speak any negative over your life. Here are some words you can speak to help you get started:
I am smart and intelligent
I am beautiful
My life has meaning
I have a purpose in life
I am wanted
I am loved
Feel free to continue adding only positive phrases to this list, and watch how your life will be transformed right before your very eyes. You will soon believe what you say, and you will become the words that you speak over yourself. In the end, this will become a habit of speaking positive things. The key here is to be consistent…don’t stop!
Also, an individual who has been subject to this type of emotional abuse is strongly encouraged to seek counseling along with their children. Counseling will assist the individual to develop a more positive self-worth and combat the effects of this type of abuse.
By Marquetta Smith, MSSW, Executive Director of Safe Harbor International Ministries
Have you ever wondered how individuals are introduced to church and to God? I have concluded that family is our first introduction to church, and this is where beliefs, whether good, bad or indifferent, are not only taught in the home, but lived. I have friends that, at a very early age, believed that God was a God of bondage, lack, poverty, toiling, hard labor, sickness, and no peace. They grew up in homes where God was seen as a king, carrying a big stick, ready to hit you over the head if you messed up, and someone you could never talk to. What an awful view of God. Can you relate?
Their image of God was tainted at a very early age. They were taught that God only loved a select few people, and everyone else was not worthy. This defined love for them. Some were even told that their denomination was the only one that was going to heaven, and that everyone else who did not believe what they believed would go to an ever-burning hell.
These false truths have been taught to many at a very early age, and it causes us to look at God as a mean, heartless God who was ever so ready to send everyone to hell if they got out of line.
You see, as parents define who God is, they are setting the stage for how their children will know God. Looking back at how they were introduced to God and church, I can see how a child could have a false notion of God, magnified x 100. They were told to never question what they believed, because it showed signs of disobedience. They were shown in the Bible that children are to obey their parents.
One of my friends told me of how her parents secluded themselves and their children from society. It was further drilled into her head that everyone else was wrong in their beliefs, and they were right. “They didn’t want us tainted by the world,” she told me. Children learn not only by what we say, but also by what we do. As the saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.” After hearing some of my friends’ stories, I began to acknowledge my own upbringing and introduction to “the Church.” I had to admit that I too had to search for the truth of who God is and come to terms with some false teaching that was taught to me.
Not until years later, when I was an adult, did I begin my search for the truth, and I learned the truth about God and how much he loves each of us, no matter what we believe, no matter the denomination, no matter what religion we have. God is a God of love and compassion. He is always looking for ways to bless us and have mercy on us.
We have to be very careful how we share the truth of who God really is and what He is like to our children. Children get their first real introduction to “the Church” and “God” from us. Therefore, it is our responsibility to provide a nurturing environment where healthy conversations about church and God are encouraged. They should not be told, “do as I say, and not as I do.” This fosters confusion and resentment, which can lead to children believing that God does not want us coming to Him and asking Him questions. God welcomes us to come to Him to seek the truth.
Question: What kind of God are you introducing your children and your family to?
The article was written by Marquetta Smith, Executive Director of Safe Harbor International Ministries
I believe there comes a “moment” in time when a person decides they don’t want to live a certain way anymore, they want more freedom, and then the vision and journey begin for something greater. It’s in that moment that we discover how much we are willing to sacrifice and risk for not only ourselves, but our entire families.
And it’s only when the journey is underway do we truly realize how much in bondage we were in. If, for no other reason, the desperate need for a new start of freedom is the very foundation of why America was formed. Right?
“Independence: How Soon We Forget”
Today is July 4, 2018, Independence Day for Americans. This is the anniversary of the publication of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776. Can you imagine what the founding fathers were thinking when they fled Great Britain to take over a land that was already occupied? They were desperate for a fresh start, without the persecution for their religious beliefs. Imagine the mindset and desperation they must have had, to move away from everything they knew with the belief that things had to be better on this land that was already occupied. This land is founded on the principles of freedom and opportunity for all. Shouldn’t this apply to all?
“The Land of Opportunity”
I can’t help but pay attention to the state of our nation and the turmoil it is in. Now, there isn’t a problem spoken of today that started today. But one that is glaringly obvious and is deeply rooted in the fabric of this nation is immigration.
Let’s first define the word immigrant: “a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.”
So, anyone not born in America is classified as an immigrant, including the founding fathers of this nation. Regardless of your view of the topic, the fact will always remain that what we call America today was stolen from a group of people already established here. So why are we so hypocritical and harsh to any group of people who are simply seeking freedom, which was what our country was founded on? Right? This is the land of opportunity, and one of the top nations in the world that people flock to for a better life.
A Different Kind of Freedom
I was speaking to my best friend recently about the current immigration order (before it was reversed), where children had been separated from their parents, siblings, and everything they knew, some for months at a time. Imagine being 6 years old and losing all connection to everybody you knew, including your safe, warm environment, all due to an “illegal” status.
My friend reminded me of the desperation these families had for a better life in America. I couldn’t imagine the fear I would have every day, knowing that at any moment, I could be picked up and deported. No matter where you stand on the issue of undocumented immigrants, I think we can all agree that there has been a blatant lack of empathy for families, illegal or not, in recent months. No child should ever be separated from their parents and tossed aside into a camp or detention center, alone, while the government “works out the details” of reuniting families that it forced to be apart in the first place. Oh, how soon we forget this country’s foundation.
But then again, we a have a history of breaking up families in this country. I think about the African-American heritage in America. So many didn’t get to choose to come over here. Let’s think back to those who were forcibly shipped, beaten, raped, and killed with no thought of freedom in sight. We were only to be valued as cheap labor and human breeders on plantations.
There were so many families ripped apart to the highest bidder, forever traumatized. We are still seeing the lasting effects from that time in younger generations today. Looking back through this country’s history, there is a clear distinction of freedom and how it varies depending on your family’s backstory in this great land.
And yet through it all, I can see God’s hand in so many ways.
“God Bless America”
I truly believe God has a greater plan and purpose for America, despite our colorful past. The continued issues such as race and immigration that continuously keep rising must come to the surface and be dealt with. No problem can be changed if it is not acknowledged and then dealt with.
We must re-set the foundation of this land and instill in it the love, compassion, and purpose that God originally designed it for. Only then will we all truly be free.
Many times, God allows us to go through things which will better prepare us with the empathy needed to handle others who will one day walk through our humbling and trying times.
But our inability to see the irony in celebrating independence today, when we have so many people in turmoil over freedom and simple rights, grieves me. Now, I understand that law is law, and illegal is illegal. But a nation that conveniently quotes “One Nation Under God” has an obligation to love and care for the very people in the way God would. This is the same God that deals with us all with grace and mercy, along with His rules and regulations.
As you are enjoying your loved ones today (or this weekend), please remember those who can’t celebrate freedom yet. Remember the ones who are seeking asylum. Remember the ones who are in hiding, hoping to never be caught and sent back from where they once fled. Remember the ones who are desperately trying to find their children in the very nation they fled to, for freedom.
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Not until years later, when I was an adult, did I begin my search for the truth, and I learned the truth about God and how much he loves each of us, no matter what we believe, no matter the denomination, no matter what religion we have. God is a God of love and compassion. He is always looking for ways to bless us and have mercy on us. 
I was speaking to my best friend recently about the current immigration order (before it was reversed), where children had been separated from their parents, siblings, and everything they knew, some for months at a time. Imagine being 6 years old and losing all connection to everybody you knew, including your safe, warm environment, all due to an “illegal” status.
So many didn’t get to choose to come over here. Let’s think back to those who were forcibly shipped, beaten, raped, and killed with no thought of freedom in sight. We were only to be valued as cheap labor and human breeders on plantations. 