If you have room left in your 2015 diary, then volunteer. If you feel overwhelmed by work – the main reason UK citizens claim they cannot devote time to a good cause – then volunteer. It will teach you something you can use to improve as a manager and as an employee. 

It sounds counter-intuitive. Some groups run by volunteers are, frankly, a mess. Everyone knows of an amateur sports team held back by disorganised amateur coaches; a choral society torn apart by discord over what to sing and who should sing it; or a local charity bogged down by endless debate about its terms of reference. 

Poor stewardship hurts the people non-profit organisations help. It is also bound to depress their many supporters. In the US, Canada and New Zealand, more than 40 per cent of people devote time to volunteering every month. Those are the highest ranking developed countries in the latest World Giving Index. In the UK nearly one in three volunteer regularly, still an impressive commitment. 

Improving how charities and voluntary groups are managed is therefore critical. Peter Drucker was, as often, ahead of his time in spotting why. He wrote in a 1990 handbook for the sector that non-profits, from Girl Scouts to Bible circles, “know they need management so they can concentrate on their mission”. Rick Wartzman, of the Drucker Institute, says the management writer realised “non-profits are as important for their volunteers, in giving them a sense of purpose and citizenship, as for the people they serve”. As a result of such insights, most big charities are now run more like businesses, drawing on the advice of corporate donors and board members.......

Questions

1. How might volunteering help the employer and the employee? 

2. Why do people volunteer for non-profit-making organisations and what can these organisations do to ensure their volunteers are engaged? 

3. Imagine that, as an employer, you were no longer able to pay your staff. How would you motivate them? 

4. What volunteering have you done and why did you volunteer? If you haven’t volunteered for anything, why haven’t you?