I’m currently researching a new piece on Canadian volunteerism, which will be available soon. In the meantime, here’s a post I originally wrote in February 2014. 

I was talking with a healthcare sector client recently about the issue of volunteer loyalty. The client, a senior manager of a healthcare service provider, was upset because they felt that a volunteer was showing ‘mixed’ loyalty by speaking directly to the board chair about an issue within the organization.

The question is “where does the volunteer’s loyalty lie?” As I pointed out to the manager, the volunteer is not an employee, they are giving freely of their time, and so the “manager/staff” relationship doesn’t exist. Yes, the volunteer’s time and activities are being managed by a staff member, but this is a community-based organization where everyone knows everyone else and their families. The volunteer wasn’t breaking any confidence, and was keeping the conversation ‘in house’, so what was the real issue? Was it perhaps that the manager was treating the volunteer like an employee, even a direct report, and therefore had expectations of loyalty, discretion and a management hierarchy?

In today’s society, so many not-for-profit organizations rely heavily on volunteers to help accomplish their program and service goals. Although volunteers work alongside or perhaps in some situations replace employees in the delivery of services, administration and other functions, incorporating volunteer labour into an organization’s daily operations can offer unique challenges to any manager.

Volunteer loyalty is an emotional bond to an organization’s values, beliefs, goals, and the community it serves. This loyalty is a leading indicator of how volunteers feel about the organization, and how they feel they are being treated by staff and clients alike.

Volunteer loyalty is to the organisation, to the community, and not to management.

Volunteer loyalty is of increasingly important value to not-for-profit organizations, and managers need to comprehend why volunteers give of their time, how to measure this loyalty, and then how to improve volunteer loyalty, if they wish to retain these important resources.