Vaccinated Volunteers, Volunteer Program Revolutionizing, and Social Media For Volunteer Programs | Track It Forward

Vaccinated Volunteers, Volunteer Program Revolutionizing, and Social Media For Volunteer Programs

Written by Kasey Murphy

Topics Discussed: Vaccinated Volunteers, Volunteer Program Revolutionizing, and Social Media For Volunteer Programs

The looming vaccination transition period is hitting everyone hard. Something that everyone has been waiting for is a bit complex to handle. For volunteer programs, this is especially hard. As a volunteer program, you are responsible for volunteer safety. But, with COVID vaccines not required or mandated, it might be hard to regulate from volunteers who have been vaccinated and those who have not. 

Vaccinated volunteers and non-vaccinated volunteers both want to come back and volunteer - so how can your volunteer program make this happen, while still being safe for protecting volunteers from COVID-19 complications. 

Every volunteer program is different - especially where they are located and the CDC or WHO guidelines for COVID-19 vaccinations! But, it might be easy to see what other programs are thinking when it comes to regulating vaccinated volunteers to spark how your program will operate! 

As more and more of our volunteers are getting vaccinated, there will be a time in the not toooo distant future where COVID safety procedures will be relaxed. What are folks plans and policies around asking or requiring volunteers be vaccinated? In either case, what are your plans for screening? I have yet to hear advice on what % of a group needs to be vaccinated to allow drastically lowered safety procedures. I'm certain these recommendations will be coming out over the spring, but I'm hoping to start discussions internally prior to that - so our staff and key volunteers can feel more prepared.

What the comments had to say about Vaccinated Volunteers: 

  • “We currently don’t plan to ask if people get vaccinated. I think we will follow our city/state’s lead as far as lifting restrictions.”

  • “Given that the vaccine isn't mandatory(in Australia) it's going to be hard to enforce vaccination for current volunteers. New volunteers may be easier but there's certainly going to be a period of adjustment. I think between 75 and 93% of population needs to be vaccinated for herd immunity depending on which vaccines are being used so i would presume you'd need that in workplace too.”

  • “We’ve had volunteers back in our offices since a year ago in May and employees fully staffed with no issues. We fog our offices, maintain good hand washing and only wear masks when we can’t stay 6 foot away. Some of our volunteers have chosen to get the vaccine, others have not.”

  • “At our medical center we will follow all policies and procedures as they would apply to employees. If it becomes mandatory for employees down the road...it would be the same for volunteers. That makes it much easier as opposed to treating volunteers separately. Good luck!”

It would be great if we could make this a full thread of all organizations showcasing how they are considering handling vaccinated volunteers versus nonvaccinated volunteers! 

Comment here! 

Resources For Regulating Vaccines In A Volunteer Program 

 

 

Volunteer programs are often managed very differently, and some programs may have been molded from volunteers previously, or from current volunteers! 

Volunteer satisfaction truly has so much power over how a volunteer program runs in some instances. How volunteers feel about a volunteer program or even different habits that they get into can revolutionize and transform a volunteer program. 

Adaptations and transformations to your volunteer program should not be seen as a fail! If anything, they are inspiration and motivation to do the best you can as a volunteer manager and volunteer program coordinator! 

Anyone willing to share things your vollies do that most people would probably not let vollies do, or ways vollies have taken initiative to revolutionize your program? Over the last 20 years I am always meeting folks all over who say “you can’t trust volunteers to do this” or “it’s illegal to have volunteers do that” or the top of the list “teen volunteers can’t be given complex roles” I’d love to see what contradictions to these statements live in your org, and how do you perpetuate the contradictions? When I worked for a big health system in Michigan, our first vollie role was in the bio repository. The coordinator said she would take teens, so off we went. My boss and vp and others were all concerned that teens couldn’t do this job. But it is the only role still successfully surviving the pandemic. Not me, but a colleague at the same system put volunteers in chemo, and the volunteers created systems for tracking patient and chair flow, cleaning, ect. They now completely manage all of that, and work with the nurses around staffing and flow, as well as inventory management for snacks, and have now trained others to implement the same system in other places in the health system.

It’d be great to reflect on your program and note some changes for all of us to see - here! 

Comments About Volunteer Revolutionizing 

  • “I'd been doing volunteer coordination for a while by the time I took my first class in it from Spark the Change Colorado. It was revolutionary to me how they approached this topic. From their perspective the only barrier to volunteer roles is how much risk an organization is willing to take on-so it becomes a conversation from there.”

  • “We don't currently have volunteers doing anything that unique or that is particularly risky at our food bank right now (other than still volunteering at all!!), but curious to see others perspectives on this!”

  • “My teen volunteers are some of my best! I have a go to group of teens who help me train all new volunteers. I have a teen “intern” who is cleaning out all of our electronic databases, each has 1,000+ contacts.”

  • “At our medical center we will follow all policies and procedures as they would apply to employees. If it becomes mandatory for employees down the road...it would be the same for volunteers. That makes it much easier as opposed to treating volunteers separately. Good luck!”

Resources For Adapting Volunteer Programs 

 

 

Volunteer appreciation is extremely important to helping retain volunteers. And this month is volunteer appreciation month! Many programs do different things to showcase volunteer appreciation, but one of the most popular ways is to show off volunteers on social media! 

Happy National Volunteer Appreciation Month!

So, how are you recognizing volunteers on social media? It might be in different ways! We would love to hear it. Let us know here! 

Here are some examples and resources for showing volunteer appreciation through social media: