A volunteer coordinator recruits, motivates, and supports volunteers in various organizations. They can work part-time or full-time and have different responsibilities. Volunteer coordinators can be found in charities, government agencies, libraries, hospitals, and other organizations. They may also have overlapping duties in fundraising and publicity. Their job description may evolve as they work with the organization.
A volunteer coordinator works within an agency or organization to recruit, retain, motivate and support volunteers. Volunteer coordinator jobs can be part-time or full-time, and can differ greatly in terms of scope and responsibilities. Volunteer coordinator jobs can be found in charitable organizations, government agencies, libraries and hospitals. Positions are usually available in schools, museums and arts venues, or any organization that relies on unpaid work to fulfill its mission. In many cases, a volunteer coordinator’s job description will evolve as they continue to work with the organization.
While many organizations benefit greatly from the efforts of their volunteers, managing a large volunteer force can be overwhelming, particularly if an organization has few paid staff. By hiring a volunteer coordinator, employees can focus on their jobs instead of managing volunteers. A volunteer coordinator may be hired from within an organization’s volunteer pool, or he may be someone with experience in organizational administration. In some cases, particularly in very small organizations, volunteer coordinator jobs may be performed by a regular employee as part of their responsibilities.
Volunteer coordinator jobs can be found in a wide variety of fields and organization types. Churches and other houses of worship often rely on volunteer work in their various ministries and may even have different volunteer coordinators for each of their ministries and departments. Food banks, homeless shelters and other public charities may rely on a volunteer coordinator to schedule workers to serve meals or make building repairs as well. An understaffed library can also use volunteer coordinators to manage volunteers who perform tasks such as checking in and shelving books, helping patrons with basic reference needs, or folding newsletters and stuffing envelopes.
Some volunteer coordinator jobs require more work experience than others. This is particularly true when a volunteer coordinator is working for an organization that serves a vulnerable population such as the elderly, the developmentally disabled or children. In this type of environment, the volunteer coordinator may be responsible for developing a screening process for volunteers to prevent victimization of an organization’s clients.
Volunteer coordinators may also have overlapping duties in the areas of fundraising or publicity and may need significant training in one or both of these areas. For example, an organization might hold an annual dance or afternoon tea as a fundraising event, and the volunteer coordinator might be responsible for organizing the event and managing its volunteer team. The volunteer coordinator may also need to publicize the event and work with area businesses to encourage event sponsorship and ongoing donations to the organization.
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