Last Friday, I attended a conference on higher education and community partnerships. The day was meant to bring together faculty, staff, and students from higher education institutions with the communities they serve. In one of the panels I listened to volunteers from successful partnerships talk about their experiences and what various successes and challenges they encountered.
One of the volunteers discussed her successful ventures in early childhood education. Another volunteer talked about starting an after-school youth mentoring program in Chinatown. One of the most interesting questions that the panelists received was from a community organization leader. The gentleman asked the panelists, "What can community organizations, universities and volunteer leaders do about retaining student volunteers?"
Retention of volunteers is a big problem for many community organizations and socially beneficial initiatives. Volunteers tend to be very excited about novel causes but often lose interest as the causes become more established. The unsuccessful social ventures lose volunteers and don't develop a way of coping with retention issues. Thus, how do successful community organizations deal with retaining their volunteers and keeping them excited about a group's mission? They provide incentives for volunteers to keep on coming back.
In almost all of the successful community partnerships that I can think of, community organizations provide incentives for retention of volunteers. For example, just recently work-study students have been able to use their work study money at off-campus non-profit organizations. During the school year, organizations pay one-quarter of a student's hourly wage and the federal work study program pays for the remaining three-quarters of the wage.
This is a great relationship that creates incentives for community organizations, students and universities. First, community organizations get top quality labor and high and consistent retention of student "volunteers." Because students are getting paid for their work, college students take their jobs in the community more seriously: missing a day of "volunteering" means not getting paid.
Secondly, students get to work for a good social cause, gain experience and get paid all at the same time. Before, when students could use work study money to work at off-campus non-profits, students often had to make the choice between volunteering and working. Off-campus work study lifts the financial constraints of volunteering. Students can now find a worthy cause and volunteer unhindered by the requirement of having to make money.
Lastly, colleges benefit from off-campus work-study. Having students work in the community fosters better relationships between colleges and the communities they are in. Medford and Somerville residents will look upon Tufts University in a more positive light if they see that Tufts students are having a positive impact in their community.
Financial incentives are only one way that community organizations can create incentives. Another important incentive is resume-building and career networking. Student volunteers should not be relegated to just paper-pushing jobs. College students have many talents and much experience that could help an organization greatly. Students should be given meaningful work that will help their careers. If a student has a meaningful project to work on, community organizations will get more meaningful results in terms of retaining volunteers and receiving valuable help.
A volunteer opportunity could be more appealing if it helps a student's career network. As college students we have heard time and time again about the importance of "networking" when trying to find a job. Working or volunteering at community organizations provides valuable career networking opportunities. If a student is given a chance to get to know the "big wigs" of an organization, the organization will attain and retain more volunteers. The higher-ups of organizations provide valuable insight not only because of their extensive experience in a subject but because of the people they know.
So what is the point of all of this? What does this mean to community organizations, students, and universities? Well, if you are a community organization, I say you should create incentives for volunteers. Community organizations should look for innovative ways to increase the financial and career-building incentives to retain volunteers. Students should look for ways to create these incentives for themselves.
For instance, using off- campus work study is a valuable way to get work experience and increase the balance of your bank account simultaneously. Universities should make students aware of the availability of these incentives. Students should know that they can use work study money to work at a non-profit organizations. Creating incentives for volunteers will make things better for everyone involved.
Loi To is a junior majoring in political science and Russian. He can be reached at loi.to@tufts.edu.
