A free resource for nonprofit
organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other
mission-based agencies
by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com
& coyoteboard.com
(same web site)
Make All Volunteering as Accessible as
Possible:
advantages for your program & how to do it
If you want access to the greatest amount of talent and
resources that volunteers can possibly bring to your program,
you have to make all volunteering as accessible as possible. That
means looking for ways to accommodate a myriad of people who have
different abilities, needs, personality types, work styles and
available times for service.
Accessibility and diversity are about accommodating
everyone, not just people with disabilities or people who are
from minority groups. You want to make volunteering as welcoming
to the widest number of people possible. - Volunteer expert
Susan Ellis.
Designing for inclusivity not only opens up our products and
services to more people, it also reflects how people really are.
All humans grow and adapt to the world around them and we want
our designs to reflect that. -
Microsoft's Inclusive Design web site
(accessed November 26, 2019)
There may be a fantastic web designer out there who would love
to volunteer at your organization, but who also isn't very
talkative and doesn't make much eye-contact and, therefore, might
be seen by some as unfriendly. Is your screening process such that
you would still welcome this candidate into your organization?
There may be a fantastic person with the talents, skills and
time to run your new volunteer orientations, but she doesn't have
a car. Do you have clear guidelines on your web site on how to get
to your agency by mass transit?
There may be a fantastic writer out there who could tell
stories about your organization in such a way as to move new
donors to open their pocketbooks and new volunteers to sign up to
help, but who also legally blind. Is your web site accessible so
that that fantastic writer can read your web site and blog and
online newsletter with an accessibility screen reader?
There may be a fantastic graphic designer out there who could
do amazing work for your organization online and in your print
material, but who also uses a wheel chair for mobility, or has no
transportation to get to your work site. Could that volunteer with
the mobility issues get through your front door for an interview?
Would you be willing to have your mandatory interview online via
Skype? Would you be willing to accommodate the volunteer through
virtual volunteering?
There may be a person with a myriad of amazing skills, but she
can't commit to any of your 20-hour-a-week,
only-during-business-hour roles. Do you have any short-term
projects she could do just one day a week, in the late afternoons?
Of course not every volunteer role can accommodate every
person: a role may absolutely require a person with a clear,
understandable speaking voice. Or may require someone that can
carry a certain amount of weight and walk a certain distance. Or
to interact regularly with other people. Or may require structural
changes to a building that are too expensive for your program to
afford. Or may require a volunteer to be onsite on Friday
mornings. Or may require a volunteer to be calm and thoughtful in
highly stressful situations and to be able to manage anxiety that
can arise from such work. Or may require volunteers to be
welcoming and inclusive to people of a diversity of beliefs and
religions, something some people cannot do because of their own
deeply held religious beliefs. If you are upfront about absolute
requirements, most people will understand and self screen
themselves out of applying to volunteer for those roles. The
easiest way to making your organization as accessible for the
greatest diversity of volunteers as possible is simple: put all of
the requirements for a volunteering assignment in writing,
and let potential volunteers view this complete information on
your accessible web site. Potential applicants know what they can
and cannot do, and most volunteers will search for opportunities
based on their abilities, their schedule and their interests. If
the volunteering assignment is very clear about requirements of
the task, everyone and anyone can self-screen for it.
Accommodations a program can offer for potential and current
volunteers include, but are not limited to: modifying policy and
procedures, redesigning spaces and removing structural barriers
(onsite as well as online), providing assistive devices,
restructuring roles, modifying service schedules and substituting
alternative activities.
Outreach & recognition materials
Your outreach materials will convey your welcoming atmosphere
by incorporating quotes, pictures or descriptions of a diversity
of people. Diversity means people of different ages, ethnicities,
cultures and body types. You don't have to try to represent every
possible human type, but your photos should indicate that you
welcome different kinds of people.
If
all of your photos and messaging imply that
volunteers must be super heroes, selfless, in perfect
health, donating huge amounts of time to be of value to your
organization, you are going to turn a lot of people off to
volunteering with your organization. You need a diversity of
messages to appeal to a diversity of people. You don't want anyone
to think they aren't perfect enough to volunteer with you because
all of your messaging implies that that's what you want.
In addition, your web site needs to be accessible for people
with disabilities. It needs to be designed so that it can be
navigated by someone with a sight impairment, or someone with a
mobility issue. Videos need to be subtitled and podcasts need to
be transcribed for people with hearing impairments. Doing that
will make your web site more accessible for EVERYONE (I often
prefer to read a transcription of a podcast than to listen to it,
for instance). You can
use W3C WAI resources to make your web site
and other digital creations more accessible and usable to
everyone.
Tasks
Do you have a diversity of tasks - some that can be done by
someone sitting at a desk, others that require a lot of movement,
maybe even carrying things and walking a lot? Some that don't
require a volunteer to interact much with others and some that
require a volunteer to regularly interact and help others? Some
that put volunteers together as a group? Some that allow
volunteers to provide service for a few hours on a Saturday,
without any ongoing commitment? Leadership roles? Some that
require expertise, some that don't require any? Some that can be
done during regular work hours and some that can be done on
evenings or weekends?
Consider unpaid internships: these are volunteer roles that are
meant to help a person in their career pursuits, to help them gain
skills and expertise. I have no ethical issue with unpaid
internships, in general, however, because of the time commitment
and schedule of these internships at MANY organizations - say, 20
hours a week, spread over three days a week, only during business
hours - these roles exclude anyone who can't afford to work unpaid
that many hours during traditional working hours, or someone who
needs childcare. I feel very strongly that it's inappropriate to
create onsite roles for volunteers - unpaid people - to work for
more than 10 hours a week in a set role - I find it exploitative
and exclusionary for those that cannot afford to work that many
hours unpaid onsite at an organization. Internships shouldn't be
only for people who can afford it financially.
When writing out roles for volunteers, including unpaid
internships, always ask these types of questions:
- Does this assignment have to happen only during regular
business hours?
- Does this role really require someone to make a three month
(or whatever) commitment that is being asked for?
- Does this role really require a volunteer to provide 20 hours
(or whatever) of service every week? Could two roles be created,
requiring just 10 hours a week each?
- Does this assignment absolutely require the volunteer to work
onsite? Could ANY part of this role be done remotely, from the
volunteers own home or workplace?
Again, not every role can be crafted so that it can accommodate
any person's schedule - some tasks, indeed, MUST be done onsite,
during regularly business hours. Some roles DO require someone to
make a long-term commitment - board membership usually requires a
year-long commitment, at least - otherwise, activities become very
inefficient, institutional knowledge isn't built up, and on and
on. Some roles do require a volunteer to work a four-hour shift,
because of the need for continuity.
But the greater diversity of tasks you have for volunteers, the
greater diversity of volunteers you will have - and the greater
pool of talent, skills and energy you will be able to draw from.
And, again, don't forget to
create virtual volunteering activities!
Work culture
Do you ask about dietary restrictions before ordering food for
employees? Have you offered to provide convenient breaks for all
nursing mothers to pump? Do you remind volunteers that you
encourage them to let you know if they need to take a day off to
acknowledge a religion your organization doesn't get a day off
for? Remind employees and staff that not everyone fits one profile
- it's fine to say you are looking forward to Christmas, but don't
push it if a staff member doesn't seem all that enthusiastic about
it. Baby showers are fine, but staff should remember that someone
that chooses not to participate may have a very personal, painful
reason for opting out.
People with disabilities
Consider people with disabilities as candidates for
volunteering, not just as recipients of service by volunteers.
People with disabilities volunteer for the same reasons as anyone
else: they want to contribute their time and energy and expertise
to improving the quality of life for others, or to promote a cause
they believe in, or to have fun. They want challenging, rewarding,
educational service projects that provide them with outlets for
their enthusiasm and talents, just like anyone else.
For too long, individuals with disabilities have been
viewed as recipients, not providers of service. However, many
are fully capable and willing to provide service to others in
their community. Their desire to become active volunteers should
not be overlooked. Their involvement should not be merely as
token volunteers, but as fully-participating, active, and
responsible partners of the community service team.
-- from the Training Manual for Working With Youth Volunteers
Who Have Disabilities, produced by Youth Volunteer Corps.
Not all individuals with disabilities will require an
accommodation. But just as building designs can help persons in
wheelchairs to navigate doorways, there are ways to accommodate
persons with disabilities to serve in volunteering programs. And
an added bonus: making assignments accessible for people with
disabilities ends up making them more accessible for everyone.
Everyone has abilities, and limits to those abilities.
Designing for people with permanent disabilities actually
results in designs that benefit people universally. - Microsoft's Inclusive Design web site
(accessed November 26, 2019)
As noted earlier, a key to making volunteering accessible is to
put all of the requirements for a volunteering assignment in
writing, and let potential volunteers view this complete
information. If the volunteering assignment is very clear about
requirements of the task, everyone -- with and without
disabilities -- can self-screen for it. A diversity of volunteer
tasks help volunteers with a variety of abilities to participate
in your programs.
Check your application and screening procedures for consistency
with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Your application
process can ask "are there any challenges you face that might
prevent you from fulfilling a volunteer task" or "are there any
accommodations you might need to fulfill a volunteer role", but it
should NOT ask if an applicant has a disability.
If you have meetings offsite from your organization, adopt a
formal written policy that states that no event will be held in an
inaccessible location, regardless of who is invited, and develop a
list of accessible venues for meetings and any events your
organization hosts. An accessible site has a wheel-chair
accessible elevator, has wheelchair accessible bathrooms on the
floor where the event will be held, has wheelchair accessible
parking, has accommodations for those with sight impairments who
would be navigating into the building and to the meeting room on
their own, welcomes service dogs, etc. Researching and making this
list is a GREAT assignment for a volunteer to undertake! Ensure
all staff are aware both of the policy and the list.
A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment to a volunteer role,
the service environment, or the way things are usually done that
allows a qualified individual with a disability to complete the
application process, perform essential service functions, or enjoy
equal access to benefits and privileges of volunteering service.
Providing reasonable accommodations is not a complicated process,
but it does involve taking an honest look at your current
accessibility and systematically eliminating any barriers to
participation.
Ask ALL volunteers regularly to suggest accommodations they might
need to undertake a volunteering task - never limit the question
to only people that you perceive as having disabilities. Ask any
volunteer who suggests something, if it's not clear, how the
recommended accommodations might help the volunteer to complete
essential duties and participate in the program. A request for
reasonable accommodations should be welcomed at any time during
the application process or during service.
Many accommodations cost nothing at all. Providing accommodations
involves eliminating identified barriers, onsite as well as
online, and often only requires creativity and flexibility and a
change in priorities, not buying something. This could be the
modification of an organizational policy (such as the creation of
a flexible schedule option), or simply rearranging furniture, or
getting rid of all non-descriptive links on your web site, like
"read more" and "more information."
Back in 2009, on UKVPMs,
an online discussion group for volunteer managers in the United
Kingdom that I
read regularly, someone posted a message about making the
volunteering opportunities at his organization more accessible for
people with disabilities, childcare needs etc. GREAT IDEA! Not so
great was the idea to put a symbol next to certain volunteering
opportunities so that those who need certain accommodations "can
easily see which opportunities they can participate in." YIKES!
Instead, a volunteer manager might want to include the
accessibility symbol next to a statement before every volunteer
assignment listing that says,
We strive to make our volunteering opportunities
accessible to the largest number of people possible. If you have
accessibility requirements that you aren't sure could be
accommodated in an assignment in which you are interested,
please contact us, so we can work together to accommodate you in
this or another assignment.
If you want to put symbols next to, say, those assignments that
require working during business hours, or that require a volunteer
to use his or her own car, or assignments requiring bi-lingual
speakers, that's fine. But don't brand assignments based on
accessibility. Instead, keep working to make all
assignments as accessible as possible.
The volunteer manager or other program staff and the volunteer
should meet at least once after new accommodations are in place to
review their effectiveness and make any changes necessary to ensure
that volunteers can participate fully in program activities.
Remember that all information about a specific volunteer’s
accommodation(s) is confidential, but you can be open to all
volunteers about accommodations in general. You absolutely can say
to all volunteers, "We have some roles for volunteers who may not
feel comfortable interacting with others, and these include..." or
"Our web site is now fully accessible for people with
disabilities."
Back in 2006, the Corporation for National Service published this
on its web site: "Providing reasonable accommodations for people
with disabilities," written by Elesheva Soloff, then the Training
Specialist with The National Service Inclusion Project at the
University of Massachusetts, Boston. I've reproduced its nine
points below, for those that aren't sure what to do when a
volunteer asks for accommodation or when an organization wants to
address an accommodation issue. According to the Institute for
Community Inclusion, effective practices include:
1. Respond to the request as quickly as possible
The best place to start is with the individual who requested the
accommodation -- often he or she will know exactly what
accommodation is needed.
- Involve the individual with the disability throughout every
stage of the accommodations process. In determining each factor
ensure that you request input and feedback from the individual.
- Often, the proper accommodations will be identified through a
trial and error process guided by a dialogue between the
organization and the individual requesting the accommodation,
and a third party resource if needed.
2. Define the situation
- What is creating the barriers?
- Is documentation needed to support the accommodations?
- What specific service tasks, environments, equipment, or
policies are creating barriers to successful performance?
3. Perform needs assessment
Is it necessary to modify the service position, an organizational
policy, the physical environment, or to obtain a product
(assistive technology)?
4. Choose the accommodation
- Supervisors can choose among varied accommodations as long as
the chosen accommodation is effective.
- If there are two possible accommodations and one costs more
than the other, the supervisor may choose the less burdensome
accommodation as long as it is effective.
5. Redefine the Situation
- The accommodation process may not always end with a successful
outcome; it may be beneficial to redefine the accommodation
situation.
- Supervisors should be sure that accommodation ideas be
exhausted and that a good faith effort has resulted.
6. Ensure confidentiality for the volunteer or service
member
- Requesting an accommodation may be a first time disclosure for
an individual with a disability -- service members and
volunteers may be concerned about disclosing because of myths,
fears, and stereotypes society has about people with
disabilities.
- Supervisors can ease some of the concerns associated with
disclosure by ensuring service members and volunteers that their
requests for accommodations will be considered, and all medical
information will be kept confidential.
7. Explain the accommodation to other volunteers or members
- Supervisors have an obligation to protect the confidentiality
of service members and volunteers medical information.
- Explain that the modification is for legitimate reasons or in
compliance with federal law.
- Programs and organizations can conduct organizational
disability awareness trainings to increase everyone’s knowledge
about accommodations.
8. Monitor and Evaluate Accommodations
- Once an accommodation has been identified and provided it is
crucial to monitor the accommodation to ensure its
effectiveness.
- Check-in with the service member or volunteer to ascertain
whether the accommodation provided is effective and whether any
change has occurred that would alter the current accommodation
needs.
9. Recognize that the need for accommodations may change
over time
- The supervisor is responsible for making sure that effective
accommodations are provided and maintained.
- Supervisors should discuss accommodation maintenance with the
service member or volunteer and determine how and if it should
be monitored.
- A service member or volunteer is not guaranteed a specific
accommodation forever; supervisors can modify or stop the
accommodation for various reasons.
Resources that can help you make your volunteering activities
accessible specifically for people with disabilities:
Also note: creating accommodations for volunteers with
disabilities ends up making your volunteer engagement better for
EVERYONE. Don't be surprised when an accommodation designed for
someone that asks for it ends up being something many other
volunteers value.
Engaging volunteers with Arrest and Conviction Records
Just because someone has an arrest or conviction does NOT mean
someone would be inappropriate for volunteering. And by excluding
everyone with an arrest or a conviction, regardless of the nature
of the offense, nonprofits and schools exclude people with the
education, physical abilities, skills and temperment from their
programs. Schools that have such a blanket prohibition cut off
parents from the classroom, and there is study after study showing
that parental involvement in school has a substantial positive
effect on student grades, class participation and disciplinary
issues. We are all affected when millions of people in the USA —
both men and women, particularly people of color — are locked out
of volunteering opportunities because of an arrest or conviction
record.
Consider:
- 70 million people in the USA have an arrest record. That’s
nearly 1 in 3 of adults.
- 28% of all 2010 arrests were of African Americans, despite
African Americans comprising ONLY 14%of the USA population.
- Nearly half of children in the USA have at least one parent
with a record.
- Only 4.5% of U.S. arrests involved violent crimes in 2014.
- NO research has shown that workplace violence is generally
attributed to employees with arrest records, nor that hiring
ex-offenders is causally linked to increased workplace
violence.
- NO research has shown that people with records are more
unreliable as volunteers or employees than those without
records.
Automatically excluding people as volunteers who have arrest
records does NOT keep your clients, staff and other volunteers
safer than by creating sensible, appropriate, inclusive policies
that allow for the engagement of such volunteers.
As a volunteer-hosting organization, you reduce risks and
improve safety for everyone at your organization by evaluating ALL
applicants - those with and those without arrest records - in
terms of their work history, volunteering history and references.
You absolutely take into account the age of an offense and the
nature of an offense, but for volunteers with records - and for
ALL applicants - you also take into consideration the nature of
the volunteer roles, the degree of supervision by other volunteers
and employees in different roles, your policies and procedures
regarding, for instance, two volunteers being alone together, or a
volunteer being alone with a client and so forth. If you don't
want to involve a volunteer with a record in any role where that
person would work one-on-one with another volunteer or a client,
or have access to a database with credit card info, or to handle
money, fine - but why would you exclude someone who is a great web
designer from redoing your web site because, when he was 18, he
was arrested for a non-violent crime?
Please see
Keeping
volunteers safe – & keeping everyone safe with volunteers
for a list of my favorite resources regarding safety in programs
that involve volunteers and/or children; I consider many of these
resources mandatory reading for managers of volunteers. If you are
truly committed to safety at your organization, these are the
resources, by respected experts, that provide meaningful guidance
- and none recommend excluding everyone with an arrest record from
volunteering.
Sources for bulleted statistics:
Is there accountability for improper behavior with
volunteers?
If your executive director says something that could be seen as
a violation of your policies and procedures, does he or she
apologize to staff and talk about what was learned? Or do you just
pretend it didn't happen? Does your HR department just log
complaints without investigating, or without being perceived as
doing anything? Create a fair, well-communicated process for
investigating these complaints - you do not have to violate
anyone's confidentiality, but staff should see that you're trying
to solve the issues they've brought up.
There is actually an urgent need for inclusion &
accessibility
Nonprofits, NGOs, charities and others MUST take a leadership
role in creating
community cohesion, especially in the face of the rise of
violent extremism all over the world, including the USA, and the
increasing belief in demonizing the "other" - people of a
particular religion (or no religion at all), people of a
particular ethnicity, immigrants, people with mental illness,
people with different economic power, and more. It is a bold,
vital statement in the face of these movements to make your
program's volunteer engagement as inclusive as possible, as
representative of everyone in your community as possible. It's a
practice that affirms to everyone - board members, consultants,
EVERYONE - that your organization makes inclusion and
accessibility a priority.
If you don't already have such, create an official policy
regarding your belief in inclusion and accessibility that makes
it clear what your organization values. For instance:
We work to create a welcoming, accessible environment where
all clients, volunteers, staff and anyone involved with our
organization can feel safe, valued and given an opportunity to
engage in meaningful activities working toward our mission. We
cherish the diversity of humanity, a diversity which includes
differences in religions/value systems, sex, age, race,
ethnicity, and national origin, range of abilities, sexual
orientation, gender identity, financial means, education, and
political perspective.
Here's one from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of
Poughkeepsie, New York, a community of faith, that I really
love:
Systems of power, privilege, and oppression have
traditionally created barriers for persons and groups with
particular identities, ages, abilities, and histories. We
pledge to do all we can to replace such barriers with
ever-widening circles of solidarity and mutual respect. We
strive to be a congregation that truly welcomes all persons
and commits to structuring congregational life in ways that
empower and enhance everyone’s participation.
Any online search for statements regarding commitments to
inclusiveness or accessibility will lead you to more terrific
statements you can adapt for your own organization. And if you
lose potential volunteers, even board members, because the idea
of inclusiveness makes them uncomfortable, then consider it a
win: you've just allowed those who could not make the commitment
to accommodate a diversity of people to screen themselves out of
participation.
There is also this article, 4 tips on inclusive digital service design for
charities, where Charity Digital
News talks about what it means to embrace user-centric
service design principles to create more welcoming online
digital spaces. It's a good compliment to the page you are
reading now.
Also see:
- Making
certain volunteers feel unwelcomed because of your language
and Do
you welcome people with your language?, blogs I
wrote after I observed a volunteer recognition event description
on Facebook and a post on Facebook that implied something about
firefighters.
- People with disabilities & virtual
volunteering
Testimonials about how virtual volunteering allows people with
disabilities to volunteer online.
- Welcoming immigrants as volunteers at your
organization
There's so much you can do to welcome and accommodate immigrants
as volunteers at your nonprofit, charity, school or other
organization, bringing you an even greater pool of talent and
ideas.
- How Volunteers
Can QUICKLY Help Your Program To Be More Accessible Online
Most nonprofits, NGOs, charities, schools and other
mission-based organizations will never be able to afford a
professional web designer, let alone one that can build a fully
accessible web site. Yet, these organizations most certainly
want people with disabilities to access their online
information, just like any other donor, client, volunteer,
participant, activist or other potential supporter. This
resource talks about how volunteers can help any mission-based
organization have a more accessible, more welcoming web site.
- Screening
Volunteers for Attitude
When an organization involves volunteers in high-responsibility,
long-term roles, volunteer turnover can be a program killer.
Screening is vital to finding the right people for
high-responsibility, long-term volunteer roles, particularly
those where the volunteer will work with clients and the general
public, and to screen out people who may be better in
shorter-term assignments or assignments where they would not
work with clients or the general public, or who would not be
appropriate in any role at the organization.
- Recruiting Local Volunteers
To Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
Having plenty of volunteers usually isn't enough to say a
volunteering program is successful. Another indicator of success
is if your volunteers represent a variety of ages,
education-levels, economic levels and other demographics, or are
a reflection of your local community. Most organizations don't
want volunteers to be a homogeneous group; they want to reach a
variety of people as volunteers (and donors and other
supporters, for that matter). This resource will help you think
about how to recruit for diversity, or to reach a specific
demographic.
- Volunteering
to build community cohesion
Engaging volunteers isn’t always just to get a task done.
Sometimes, volunteering has much larger, more important goals –
like a group volunteering effort done to help demonstrate
solidarity and understanding between different groups.
Volunteers can help build community cohesion and better
community understanding. Volunteers can help change minds –
without ever asking volunteers to change their minds.
- Creating Group Volunteering
Activities
Details on not just what groups of volunteers can do in a
two-hour, half-day or all-day event, but also just how much an
organization or program will need to do to prepare a site for
group volunteering. It's an expensive, time-consuming endeavor -
are you ready? Is it worth it?
- Volunteering to
Address Your Own Mental Health (Depression, Loneliness,
Anxiety, etc.): Realistic advice on volunteering to
address your loneliness, depression, anxiety, etc., and to avoid
an experience that will make you feel worse instead of better.
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