Doing Well by Doing Good Part III

In my last two posts, I shared some insights from the Main Line Chamber of Commerce’s panel discussion Doing Well by Doing Good.  A member of the audience asked the question-“ how do you decide which charity to invest in?”  The answer from Jay Coen Gilbert the Co-Founder of B-Lab was right in line with many of these blog postings—measure!   He looks for nonprofits who relentlessly measure their performance.  An organization that demonstrates measurable results attracts more support.

Doing Well by Doing Good Part II

In my last post, I talked about the great panel discussion Doing Well by Doing Good presented by the Main Line Chamber of Commerce.   In a previous post here I had discussed why I am not in favor of paid time off for employees to volunteer.   I was pleased to hear Mandy Cabot, the CEO of Dansko discuss their employee volunteer plan.  Dansko will accumulate the time that an employee volunteers and then donate the value of that time to the charity of the employee’s choice.  This program preserves the true spirit of volunteerism and still provides the employer a way to financially support an employee’s charity.

Doing Well by Doing Good

Thank you to Susan Bishop with Wells Fargo Bank for inviting me to the Main Line Chamber of Commerce panel discussion Doing Well by Doing Good.    The panel of corporate leaders inspired the audience with ways they serve both their community and their employees.     Kevin Nolan President of Nolan Painting, Inc. strongly encourages all employees to be involved in the community.  It is one of the interview questions at the hiring stage and it become part of their life.  

Volunteering impacts the life of the volunteer probably as much as it impacts the charity.  Statistics show that volunteers are generally healthier, report greater job satisfaction, and develop new skills.  They are able to meet more diverse people and build satisfying relationships.     Encouraging your employees to serve the community actually serves your employees by enriching their lives.

Volunteer?

Last night I was reading an article about companies who invest in the community around them. It was a great article about great companies that have made a difference in their communities by their involvement with nonprofits. The article noted one company that provided paid time off to its employees to volunteer (my italics) in the community up to 2,080 hours in total—the cost of a full time person. I have seen variations of this from various businesses. While I applaud this benefit and recognize the financial donation of the company, I wrestle with the use of the word “volunteer”.

Dictionary.com defines volunteer as:

1. a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking.
2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.

Perhaps under definition 1 it is ok if the volunteer is paid by their company. However under definition 2, a volunteer is not paid.

Why this concerns me—
1. Are people really volunteering if their company is paying them?
2. Does it diminish the sacrifice of those who volunteer without pay?
3. Will people who were involved in the community when their company paid them, continue with community involvement if they went to another company where they did not have this benefit?
4. Over time would this trend change the concept of volunteerism?

That said, I recognize that—
1. Many employees are making a sacrifice even when they take a day with pay due to a heavy workload that they will need to catch up on later.
2. This growing trend in business has been a boost to the nonprofit sector and more and more people are encouraged to be involved in the community.
3. The business is truly making a financial sacrifice that benefits the community.

Businesses and individuals could consider—
1. Renaming the benefit from “paid time off to volunteer” to “paid time off for community service”
2. In lieu of paid time off a business could offer to donate the dollar amount of the time that a volunteer donates—essentially matching time donated with dollars donated. This could be an option presented in the employment policy.
3. The employee could consider donating the pay they receive for the time to the organization. This would be another option that could be presented in the employment policy.

It is hard to criticize a trend that has been so beneficial to the nonprofit sector and perhaps the benefits outweigh any downside to diminishing the concept of volunteerism. Maybe adding to the paid time off policies, options to donate dollars, would expand the benefit to the sector and still preserve the concept of volunteerism.

A Whole New Meaning to Summer Camp

I spent 3 days last week with a group of families who set aside one week a year to do maintenance and construction projects at a camp. Last week the group worked at Mt. Gilead Camp and Conference Center in the Pocono’s. The families replaced the kitchen and dining hall floor; constructed benches for a fire pit; dug trenches and spread gravel to help with the water flow; and numerous other tasks. There were about 80 people involved including the children and I have to include the children because I watched a 3 year old spend two hours removing rocks from an area so grass could be planted and children ages 7 to 12 work from 7 to 5 each day on various tasks. A number of teens helped too but it was especially impressive watching how hard the younger ones worked. At the end of the week they figured out that it would have taken the camp director a year to do all the things they did.

Most of the families had been involved with this for an average of nine years though some people had been involved from the beginning in 1974. An 82 year old man and his wife handled the plumbing tasks. There were carpenters, electricians, and other professional contractors but probably half of the group were not professional contractors.

The costs for the camp—materials for the projects. The cost for the families--$30 per person for food for the week. The camp provides the facilities at no cost. Different camps vary as far as amenities, but at Mt. Gilead, we swam in the pool at the end of each day; and slept in very comfortable, clean cabins.

There was no need to ask the families why they did this. They enjoyed working together; spending time together at meals and around the campfire; reconnecting a year later; and meeting new people who had joined. It was exciting seeing how much could be accomplished so quickly. And it was rewarding for parents to watch how hard and how enthusiastically their kids worked. I know that there was a lot of work prior to the week from the participants and the camp director but an endeavor like this makes volunteering fun.

The Personal Contact

I was talking with a high school senior who was working on a project. She would make brightly colored quilts and then hand deliver them to children at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Although it was time consuming work she loved seeing the children’s excited faces as they accepted the quilts. Even in the midst of senior activities, applying for college scholarships, and studies she still devoted time to this charity. This student probably would have still made the quilts if she didn’t meet the children, but meeting the children energized her.

As much as possible, we need to provide our volunteers with touch points and contacts with those our organization serves. It will keep their enthusiasm ignited.

Headline News

The day after my last post extolling the benefits of volunteering I was thrilled to see the front page headline in our local paper The Intelligencer—Locals Touch Lives a World Away.

Following was a series of four articles that profiled four area residents who traveled to different countries to help AIDS orphans, provide cleft palate surgery through Operation Smile, teach at a school in Tanzania, and work in Japan’s rural countryside. The articles were full of inspiring messages that will hopefully encourage readers to volunteer locally and overseas.

There were great quotes like this one from 23 year old Lisa Talley who taught in a Tanzanian school—

This changes your opinion of people, life, everything….Volunteering is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.

And this one from Barbara Kroberger of Jamison, who worked with AIDS orphans in Uganda—

Sometimes it is just one child at a time, but we all can do something.

I know that I’m “preaching to the choir” here. Most people reading non profit blogs are already enthusiastic about volunteering. But how can we spread this energy? Frequent feature articles like this in local newspapers publicize the rewards of community service. Thanks and kudos to the Intelligencer for making this “Headline News”.

Making Friends in Montreal

A few years ago we went on a mission trip to Montreal with the youth group from our church, Faith Community Church. A ministry called Christian Outreach International organized the trip for us. Our group met for training for several months prior to the trip. We weren’t sure exactly what we would be doing when we got there, but we each prioritized what we would most like to do—work with children, teens, college students, the homeless, etc. We were to rank the categories from 1 to 3—with 3 being the group we would most like to work with. I am embarrassed to say that I ranked working with the homeless a zero. I had a number of prejudices against the homeless. I was adamantly against working with them.

Well, needless to say, we spent most of the week working with the homeless—serving food at a shelter; making sandwiches and handing out the food at a park (we did this twice); as well as handing out food to random homeless people on the street. We sorted clothes that had been donated to a homeless mission and was available for the men and also sold in their thrift store.

We also did some ministry on the campus of McGill University and some street ministry—but our main work was with the homeless.

A young man with long hair in braids who reaches out to homeless teens with his wife, explained the situation in Montreal like this—

No one in Canada lacks food or shelter, what they are really starving for is relationships.

Indeed we saw this was the case. Many, who came for food, actually lived in nearby subsidized apartments. Some of them spoke to friends on cell phones, while they lined up for sandwiches. We saw a few familiar faces at the different sites where we handed out food.

I won’t digress on the effectiveness of this system. However, what this young man said was true—it was all about the relationships. What the people we met valued and appreciated more than the sandwiches or hot meals, was listening to our youth group sing, watching the skit they did, playing Frisbee with them, and just sitting on the park benches talking to them.

This broke down the prejudices that I had. Regardless of why or how these people got where they were, they were people—“precious in His sight” as the children’s song goes. Our group, teens and adults, saw the homeless in a different light. We were able to see beyond the glazed eyes of drug use or the confused look of the mentally ill and see the person underneath. It was a life changing experience. I would not have believed it, if I had not experienced it myself.

That’s what volunteering does—it stretches you. It leads you to do things you never thought possible. And it leads you to think things you never would have imagined.

A Most Curious Answer

In the last post I shared my husband’s answer as to what he thought about community service. In a nutshell, it was for people who had a heart for what they do, better for people with time on their hands, like retired people, and something most people were too busy to do. If someone who did not know my husband heard his explanation they would assume that he had decided that community service was not for him.

Here is why I was surprised at his answer. My husband works about 45 hours a week; he plays softball in the summer, and rarely misses my son’s baseball games. He is pretty decent at helping around the house and helps out with getting the kids where they need to be at different times. He is a typical busy father in the 21st century. He also volunteers anywhere from 6 to 20 hours a week as a youth leader with our church’s youth ministry. He goes on overnight trips; drives the 15 passenger van hundreds of miles to conferences, camps, amusement parks, ski trips, etc. He spends time taking individual students out to pizza, movies, or ice cream. He is involves in three group meetings a week, one of which is a college age discussion group that he leads.

I told him his answer surprised me, since he spends so much time in youth ministry. “That’s not community service” he said. “That’s something I enjoy doing.”

Research observation: Pair someone with something they really enjoy (in my husband’s words—something they have a heart for). Volunteer service should not end up being a chore. It should be something someone loves to do. It seems obvious but it’s a key component of the volunteer process.

The remaining question: How do you find people who love doing what you need them to do in your non profit?

Why People Volunteer- A Family's Perspective

Recently I have spent some time thinking more intentionally about why people volunteer. Why people give is a close second in this line of questioning. I have heard of the recently published book Who Really Cares, by Arthur C. Brooks. I plan to order this from Amazon as soon as I have time to browse for another book to get my order total into the “free shipping” realm. I imagine that why people volunteer will be addressed in this book, as it is probably linked to why people give.

However, I have been thinking about the question for some time, on and off—especially when Boards or organizations that I am part of are looking for volunteers. Recently I decided to do my own research and just ask people what they think about community service.

I figured since charity begins at home, research should begin at home too. So I asked my family. I’ll discuss my children’s answers in a later post but here is my husband’s answer.

Some people have a heart for it. Some people have extra time on their hands, like retired people. If you can get a group together, like a church youth group, it usually works, as its more fun for the people doing community service. People don’t have enough time. They barely have enough time to take care of their own families. Many people work late or work on Saturday’s to take care of job responsibilities or to make ends meet.

I was surprised at his answer for reasons I’ll discuss in the next post.