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A big portion of the volunteer management professional’s time is spent supporting and supervising volunteers. Whether this means direct supervision for high-risk or complex projects, providing support in times of grief or recovery, or doing regular check-ins to make sure volunteers have the resources they need, support and supervision are ongoing responsibilities.

Wherever possible, these tasks should be shared with fellow staff members. Not only does this lessen the burden for the one volunteer manager to take care of several volunteers, but it also ensures that staff members know who volunteers are and are actively engaged in supporting them.

Another reason why support and supervision are so important is retention. Study after study has shown that volunteers stay with organizations where they feel needed, valued, and supported. Most, if not all, of the time, this means that there was a volunteer management professional there - whether they were full-time, part-time, or volunteers themselves.

Also see Resources for Volunteer Management Professionals for population, organization, and volunteer position specific information.

Support and Supervision

Energize, Inc. – Volunteer Supervision

Also Worth Checking Out:

• 7 Deadly Sins of Supervisors – Rick Lynch, VMSystems @ National CASA Association
• Encouraging and Delegating Tasks and Responsibilities – ServiceLeader
• Essential Volunteer Management: Supervision – Rick Lynch and Steve McCurley @ National CASA Association
• Retention – The Resource Center, Corporation for National and Community Service
• Sample Volunteer Management Policies: Volunteer Supervision and Evaluation – Steve McCurley, VM Systems @ National CASA Association
• Supervision – The Resource Center, Corporation for National and Community Service
• Supervision, Delegation and Communication – Merrill Associates
• Support and Supervision – Volunteering England
• Supporting, Recognizing, and Challenging Volunteers – Monika Penner @ Charity Village New to Field
• Supporting Volunteers as Project Leaders – Volunteering in America: Resources for Retention, Corporation for National and Community Service
• Supporting Volunteers through Bereavement in their Role – Volunteering England
• Team-building Exercises – Monika Penner @ Charity Village
• Volunteer Involvement Tips – Steve McCurley @ National CASA Association
• Volunteer Supervision and Consultation – National CASA Association

Retention

• An Analysis of Psychological Contracts in Volunteerism and the Effect of Contract Breach on Volunteer Contributions to the Organization (PDF) – Becky J. Starnes, Ph.D. @ The International Journal of Volunteer Administration
• The Changing and Non-Changing Faces of Volunteering (PDF) – Institute for Volunteering Research
• Keeping Volunteers Engaged: The Keys to Retention (Word Document) – Steve McCurley @ Volunteering in America: Resources for Retention, Corporation for National & Community Service (Also available as PowerPoint)
• Retaining Volunteers – National CASA Association New to Field
• Retaining Volunteers and Keeping Them Motivated – ServiceLeader
• Retention – Volunteering England
• Retention Tip Sheet (PDF) – The Volunteer Center Serving San Francisco and San Mateo Counties

Didn’t find what you were looking for? Let us know and consider checking out the following sites:
Energize, Inc.
The Resource Center (CNCS)
Volunteer Canada
Volunteering Australia
Volunteering England
World Volunteer Web