Thank you, Lindsay for this additional information. It helps clarify and provides alternatives to what we are currently doing, with tweaks.
Our shelter only has 7-8 employees. We do not allow the public to walk through but our K9 volunteers do handle and help socialize and train, as well as work with the fearful/anxious dogs/puppies.
It sounds like you have a wonderful group of volunteers! Hopefully, if I can convince the higher-ups, that at minimum, a P/T Volunteer Coordinator on site, will be very beneficial in building and growing our volunteer programs, as well as community outreach.
Thank you for all of your help!
Have a great day!
Ann
Original Message:
Sent: 3/6/2024 10:38:00 AM
From: Lindsay Packard
Subject: RE: Volunteer Coordinator
We have anywhere between 55 and 70 active volunteers per month, which sounds like a lot to me, but we're a small organization. We have maybe 20 employees.
As for training, most of that is done through the orientation. I take them on a building tour and talk about the tasks they might be involved in as volunteers, introduce the volunteer binder with the sops, talk about soft-cleaning the cat kennels, the sign in and out procedure, what animals are housed where, dress code, our expectations, etc. Volunteers at our shelter do not directly handle dogs, for the most part. We try to reduce the foot traffic in the dog areas because it helps them to be less stressed. We don't allow volunteers or potential adopters to walk through the kennels or get animals out of the kennel. If a dog is going to be with a volunteer for going off property on a walk or for outreach or socialization, a staff will get him out of the kennel and bring them to the volunteer. Volunteers for dog walking or our Running Buddies program will meet with an Animal Care Specialist (those who work directly with animals) for a brief 10 min introduction and run down of where to go, where not to go, what to expect, etc. As for cat handling, there is a page about it in our binder, but not much else. We stress watching for body language and letting the cat live naturally around the cleaning process. We talk about it, model it, answer questions, and have the sheet for reference, but there is not formal training. We also do not have formal volunteer recruitment as we steadily receive new volunteer applications without. If there was a need, we would put out a plea to our social media.
For outreach, I have been reaching out to places in our county that I feel could benefit from a Pet Social Hour, explaining what/why I want to do this and see if they're interested. Mostly this is nursing homes, adult day care, and libraries. I propose to bring a shelter pet to their facility for 30-60 minutes and let their clients interact. With the libraries I try to suggest maybe a collab with a pet theme story hour and our cat/dog/both. We do one-two of these a week. I set them up in advance, then put a plea to our active volunteer group, then sign them up as they respond. If no one were to sign up, I would have to go, so it's important that I keep this in mind when I set them up. So far I have not had to go, I've been lucky to have enough interest. Occasionally schools or cub/girl scout troops will reach out to me for collabs or outreach ideas that they're interested in, maybe once a month or so.
Everything that the other staff have mentioned needing help with, once I ask the volunteer group, I always have someone interested. It's very surprising, pleasantly so. They are very generous and eager to help and get involved. Sometimes all you've got to do is ask :)
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Lindsay Packard
Volunteer Outreach Coordinator
Lenawee Humane Society
MI
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-06-2024 06:34 AM
From: ann traynor-plowman
Subject: Volunteer Coordinator
Good morning, Lindsay!
Thank you so much for replying. This really helps a lot!
You're right, there really needs to be someone on-hand at the shelter for volunteers to get to know, communicate with, and who will assist them. How many volunteers do you typically have?
You mentioned you train the volunteers. Does this mean you train them for both cat and dog handling also? We have Mentors who train our K9 Crew, but they are not always available.
I love the idea of SOPs in a binder for review. Something I'd love to have but I simply cannot find the time to create them (except for the K9 Crew which I completely restructured and developed)
You also mentioned outreach. How does this typically work? Do you reach out to businesses for recruitment or special volunteer projects? How do you go about setting up community presence? How often do you go off-site for recruitment?
We have a Pet Food/Supply Pantry, Low-cost S/N & vaccines, but it's usually just by word of mouth and so far, we have not been able to inspire any of our volunteers to assist with it. Admittedly, a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator could probably change that.
Thankyou again for the information!
Ann
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ann traynor-plowman
Original Message:
Sent: 03-05-2024 01:35 PM
From: Lindsay Packard
Subject: Volunteer Coordinator
Hi there. I'm responding my experience as the volunteer coordinator at our shelter. I am a full time paid volunteer coordinator, but also am responsible for outreach. I work in person at the shelter, 40 hours per week. I think being there in person is important because the volunteers need a face to the contact person, rather than just communicating by email. I think that when there is a person to reach out to it makes their work more valued and personable, not as thankless as it can sometimes come across. You have the opportunity to recognize their work, to get to know them, and to thank them properly. I receive the volunteer applications, process them and background check, respond back to the applicant, set up their orientation, run the orientations. I am the contact person if anyone has questions, concerns, needs additional training in their volunteering. I have put together sops in a binder for anything that volunteers will be doing, even things that might seem remedial, just to make volunteering accessible to all and to be a reference for anyone starting out or with questions. I also do a lot of outreach here, setting up our presence in the community and then finding volunteers who are interested in helping out. Also being in person in the shelter you can help the rest of your team as issues arise and create new volunteer positions to help other shelter employees/animals, then advertise those positions to your current volunteer base. Hope this helps a little :)
------------------------------
Lindsay Packard
Volunteer Outreach Coordinator
Lenawee Humane Society
MI
Original Message:
Sent: 02-28-2024 11:53 AM
From: Anonymous Member
Subject: Volunteer Coordinator
This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
Hi All.
This is for shelters who have a Part-Time PAID Volunteer Coordinator on staff.
We have a small staff, ranging 7-8 and this is not something any of them can take on. We have a small, volunteer program ranging from 45-55ish active volunteers with approx. 20ish who are very dedicated and come weekly.
Currently, I run it. When the previous volunteer- Volunteer Coordinator stepped down in 2019, pre-covid. No one else stepped up and volunteers are so important to a shelter, so I took it on out of necessity.
Previously, there was no standardized training or expectations and no-one was held accountable for their actions. Basically, it was a free for all. When Covid kicked in I had time to completely restructure the program with training, expectations and a handbook. We also utilize online scheduling with Volgistics. I was also able to expand the program to include more volunteer opportunities outside of Cattery/K9 Crew & events. I set up a VSP volunteer program evaluation and implemented some of their recommendations. Overall, I think our volunteers are pretty happy... but I am not.
I enjoy program development, technical writing, grant writing, dog training , working with medical & behavior dogs, and setting up educational opportunities as well as surgery. Managing volunteers is not even on the bottom of the list. It is no where on the list.
We do have some really dedicated volunteers, but none who wish to take this on, although a couple have stepped up to help with orientations, thank gosh. Unfortunately, I have not been able to offload it to anyone.
Bottom line, the burn-out is real. I'm tired. I have to get this off my overflowing plate, so long story (and much whining) I'm trying to figure out what other shelters do regarding a part-time volunteer coordinator. I have to convince the Board of Directors that it's worth it.
Side Note: We are in Texas.
Questions:
- How many hours do they typically work?
- Do they work from home? How do you track time, if so?
- What exactly do you have them do? I'm afraid there isn't really enough to keep a part-time person busy.
- They need to be able to recruit new volunteers for sure
- Engage current volunteers
- Continue to build the program
- We do not have a structured foster program (but we do have some fosters), so my thought is they can create & develop that
- SOPs?
- What experience you look for when you hire someone
- Geez... what else? I know everything that I do, but it's done in bits & pieces throughout my day.
So... any guidance or suggestions will help and yes. I have already looked at MF Library, and ect... Research is my thing, but hearing what others re actually doing helps greatly.
Thank you!
#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)