Week 5 Discussion 2 Felicia Withers

THIS IS ONLY AN INTERPRETATION, FIVE SENTENCES AND A QUESTION IS ALL I NEED. TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS, HAVE REFERENCES! ASK PROBING QUESTIONS AND MAKE STATEMENTS BASED OFF WHAT THEY WROTE

Classroom
Central’s mission is to equip students living in poverty to effectively
learn by collecting and distributing free school supplies (About Us:
Who We Are: Classroom Central, 2017). They live up to their mission
through the four programs they have established to put supplies in the
hands of teachers and students at highly impoverished or title one
schools. Classroom Central services Mecklenburg county schools and six
other surrounding school districts. They have an actual store where
teachers can come in and shop for the supplies they need for their
classroom. There is the backpack program that provides backpacks filled
with supply kits and needed items to be successful in the classroom.
Classroom central has a mobile free store that makes supply deliveries
to those teachers at schools that are located further from the store.
Lastly, they have online ordering where teachers can order online and
the supplies are delivered to them. This organization is able to
provide this service to teachers through a variety of avenues like
supply drives, volunteering, online monetary donations, and attendance
of fundraising events.

The Role of Volunteers

As
government funding for non-profit agencies decreases the need for
highly skilled volunteers increases. Volunteers save agencies millions
of dollars each year in labor cost. They serve many purposes for
non-profit agencies such as providing a specialized skill set, ability
to be more attentive than paid staff, and they can step in during times
of emergencies or heavy workloads. Many for-profit organizations use
their employee volunteers as a means of having a presence in the
communities they serve. Employee volunteers put in sweat equity on
behalf of the organization that helps to build the company’s brand and
sets them in a positive light. Volunteers serve as human capital to
organizations.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Volunteers

Volunteerism
like with all other resources has its advantages and disadvantages. An
advantage to using volunteers is the increase in man hours to
organizations with decreased funding. It also helps to motivate the
community by witnessing others making a difference in the community.
Some advantages for those who volunteer include increased self-worth,
network opportunities, self healing, and ability to learn a new skill
set. A disadvantage to using volunteers is the increased liability and
the necessity to provide human resource management to volunteers. There
is also the inability to recruit and retain volunteers.

Recruitment and Training of Volunteers

The
biggest key to recruiting volunteers is communication. Volunteer
managers must find creative ways to promote volunteerism such as virtual
volunteering. Successful recruitment of volunteers seeks to link
volunteers with their personal needs like building confidence and
networking skills. Volunteer managers must also be able to recognize
what type of volunteers are attracted to their agency and create
volunteer opportunities that meet the needs of their volunteers be it
temporary, interim, or occasional.

Formalized
training and orientation lead to less volunteer turnover for
organizations. Training should include policies, procedures, and best
practices for working with the organization. Volunteers should be made
aware of the history, mission, strategic plan, and accomplishments of
the organizations they are volunteering with. Organizations should
provide on the job training for volunteers to answer any questions they
have and provide instructions for the task they will be performing.

About Us: Who We Are: Classroom Central. (2017, December 26). Retrieved from Classroom Central: https://www.classroomcentral.org/about/who-we-are/

Pynes, J. E. (2013). Human Resources Management for Public and NonProfit Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.