Charities benefit from implementing ways to better manage volunteers

SINGAPORE – Data analyst Samuel Fong devotes about 60 hours a year to reading to children at Shine Children and Youth Services, where he has been a volunteer for the past seven years.

The Hougang-based charity serves approximately 6,000 students a year. Mr. Fong also provides academic tutoring to students who need it.

This is how Fong, 33, is trying to repay the kindness volunteers showed him when he needed help as a child after being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Mr Fong credits the charity group for adopting practices that helped him stick with it.

For example, Shine sets up volunteer roles that are “volunteer-friendly” and clearly explains what is expected of them.

The charity also carries out regular reporting and close supervision to “ensure that volunteers feel supported in their volunteering journey”.

“Shine uses volunteers to take on leadership roles and support staff in running the program. These volunteer leaders play an important role in helping others stay connected,” Mr Fong said.

He added that he is still involved in charity work because he is “quite satisfied with the work we do.”

Charities in Singapore such as Shine are adopting volunteer management practices developed by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), which have helped not only attract more volunteers, but also retain them.

Introduced in 2014 and revised in 2020, the NCSS volunteer management system advocates hiring volunteer managers, developing volunteer skills, and developing a culture in which volunteers are essential to the organization. Key strategies include setting clear role expectations for volunteers and communicating with them regularly to keep them engaged.

Over the past few years, St Luke’s ElderCare has nearly doubled its volunteer numbers to around 3,000 and helped the organization improve its services. The charity says it was able to achieve this by implementing NCSS volunteer management practices.

Its chief executive, Kenny Tan, said of volunteers: “As they serve our seniors, we are also committed to enriching their lives and are making a focused effort to holistically build our volunteer management capabilities.”

The charity, which specializes in services for older people such as home care and personal care at home, said the increase in volunteer numbers was the result of better management, including the hiring of dedicated volunteer managers.

The charity, which currently employs a team of five volunteer managers, said managers involve a variety of volunteer groups such as schools, corporate groups, communities, churches, interest groups and individuals.

The charity says this gives them more focus and incentive to increase their volunteer numbers, encouraging volunteers to serve more regularly and even turning some of them into volunteer leaders.