Is this too much to expect?

What I do not want to hear at the end of this year are more sorry stories of people hired to ‘manage volunteers’, only to be pulled and pushed into a whole lot of different roles and tasks that end up making the job untenable.

Not good to be all steamed up so early in the year.  Not good to be hearing another sad-sack story of a manager of volunteers who resigned from a situation that amounted to workplace bullying and abuse, and ultimately a constructive dismissal.

Not good to find my most viewed post of 2011 is once again about a bad volunteer experience. It is almost worse to be writing now about organisations which lack basic understanding of employment law, let alone understanding how to apply best practice in HR management.

OK – the community and voluntary sector is a large amorphous collective. There are organisations that could be called corporations for their size and their budgets and their scale of operations.  There are local, regional and national organisations delivering services under contract to government.  There are many more organisations existing as small entities serving local community interests and particular social, political or cultural goals.

It is important to remember that more than 90% of 97,000+ NFP organisations in NZ do not employ staff. On one hand this statistic illustrates the miracle of volunteering, the power of the collective, and the strength of Civil Society. On the other hand there is the potential misery of good intentions going awry, perhaps from ignorance of the resources that are available to set an organisation on the best practice track.

There are opportunities out there for training in Governance.  There are guidelines and information and training programmes available online, much of it for free. You can get the basics from OCVS, and a bit more detail at CommunityNet Aotearoa.  For a really comprehensive (and lengthy) document on the Nine Steps to Effective Governance go to SPARC.  Occasionally Volunteer Centres can offer a workshop on governance in association with Unitec’s Graduate Diploma in Not-for-Profit Management.

The best immediate advice comes from American educator Betty Stallings.  Her recommendations for 12 Key Actions of Volunteer Programme Champions are based on research undertaken with Chief Executives, and there are some powerful messages in this short document.

On the flip side what I do want to hear about is employees finding courage to stand up for their rights, to show organisations there are other ways of managing work conditions and programmes, and to doing better in meeting the organisation’s mission and values.  Even if they have to take their case to the Employment Court – an option, please note, not available to discouraged volunteers.

So to all people out there engaged with volunteers and in organisations providing community sector services through volunteers, take heed of the message expressed in this proverb:

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!

What is the most important thing in the world?
It is people! It is people! It is people!

Now it is time to issue the report card.

• Access as of employment right to Professional Development –  I have not taken a measure on this wish, whether organisations have come to recognise the value of on-going training for their managers of volunteers; nor whether there has been an increase in taking up formal training, mentoring or supervision .  But I do know the Volunteering NZ’s Management of Volunteers Programme (MVP) is working on a Learning and Development Pathway, a range of options appropriate for small and large organisations, for entry-level up to advanced standard.
• Fewer managers floundering in their role, struggling to find help.  The ‘too busy, no time’ syndrome continues to prevail, despite the interest expressed by workshop participants for mentoring and peer support groups.  So I have to wonder if leaders need to improve their marketing skills, or to resort to leg-roping people so we can demonstrate just how much benefit there is in setting aside an hour every so often for chewing fat with colleagues, for problem-solving, learning new strategies and techniques.  As I have said before, “you cannot afford not to take time”.  On the plus side the MVP workshops held around the country have spawned a number of local ‘Leadership Groups’ and I expect to see some positive outcomes for managers of volunteers during 2012.
• During IYV+10 there should be some public and organisational recognition of Managers of Volunteers who keep Volunteering keeping on.  This wish has a flat-as-a-pancake outcome.  No formal government acknowledgement, no special funding, and no organisation (to my knowledge) doing a public demonstration of appreciation to their manager of volunteers.  Except for Heather Moore of Volunteering Waikato winning the AAVA Award of Excellence – a grand achievement.  Except there should be much more, and more widely publicised.  (Read earlier blogs on Honouring Local Heroes and The Year that Got Lost)  However, there is a big tick going to Volunteering NZ for the daily post, November 5 – December 5 offering biopics about volunteers and managers of volunteers – well worth a look for the range of organisations and activities, and achievements.
• Professional Status.  The Volunteering NZ Conference held in May was a big step forward, including ‘Developing the Leaders’ as a principal stream.  There was further consolidation at the Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management, also held inWellington following the VNZ Conference.  The biggest achievement of the year is for MVP to be included in VNZ’s work programme.  Those of us involved are seeing very clearly the ultimate advantage for the wellbeing and efficacy of volunteer services, for enhanced organisational performance, and for recognition of the professional standing of managers of volunteers.  Watch this space!

My last great wish a year ago was for a disaster free year.  Well that fell flat in Christchurch, as early as February 22, closely followed by the tsunami in Japan.  Floods, volcano eruptions, typhoons and cyclones, and more earthquakes pummeled the rest of the globe in varying degrees.  And an oil-spill off New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty continues to threaten environmental damage.  There is not much of an up-side in times of disaster, but 2011 has surely been the year for praising and rejoicing in the work of volunteers during times of crisis. I am not surprised – looking out for others in times of need, and offering service when no-one else is around – that’s what volunteers do, right?

In looking ahead, I draw on another manager’s wishes for 2012:

I want to continue to appreciate and support the great team of volunteers, to enhance the services we offer clients, to listen twice as much as I talk, and to get some ‘me’ time.

Amen, I say – that’s what managers of volunteers do, right?

So I missed out on functions celebrating International Volunteers’ Day where I might have dressed up to enjoy a mayoral reception and more.  What I got instead was the enthusiasm of a couple of volunteers at the Bird Hide willing to talk and to get me better informed about the environment and bird behaviour, and which bird was which.  They did well, balancing the wisdom of age with the enthusiasm of youth.  Well really, they were both enthusiastic.

We did not talk about volunteering, the importance of good management, nor the politics of the community sector and NGOs.  And I forgot to remind them to sit up with pride for the occasion of the day.

There were of course plenty of celebratory functions for the day, held for public and organisational recognition of volunteering and the contributions made to community well-being, societal infrastructure, and services to individuals and involvement in all sectors of the community.  And there were lots of public proclamations on Facebook and via press releases declaring appreciation of volunteers.  The one that caught my eye was a tribute to the volunteers who made up the governance of an organisation – that does not happen very often.

This year IV Day is also significant for being the wrap for IYV+10, and for the United Nations publication of State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2011. 

The report was launched by Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and now Administrator for United Nations Development Programme.  Her remarks to the UN General Assembly remind us of the universality of volunteering values: the desire to contribute to the common good, out of free will and in a spirit of solidarity, without expectation of material reward.  Indeed, the strength of volunteering is a sure sign of people power, the power to make a difference, to change the world.

The overview of SWVR is compelling reading, from the philosophic statement in the first paragraph:

Volunteerism is a basic expression of human relationships. It is about people’s need to participate in their societies and to feel that they matter to others. We strongly believe that the social relationships intrinsic to volunteer work are critical to individual and community well-being. The ethos of volunteerism is infused with values including solidarity, reciprocity, mutual trust, belonging and empowerment, all of which contribute significantly to quality of life.

Then we get a down-to-earth reality check.  I am not surprised that Helen Clark notes “the strong links between volunteering and peace and human development are still not adequately recognised”.  Turning high-flown ideals into action has always been a challenge.  The SWVR claims:

While recognition of volunteerism has been growing in recent times, especially since the United Nations proclaimed 2001 the International Year of Volunteers (IYV), the phenomenon is still misconstrued and undervalued. All too often, the strong links are overlooked between volunteer activity on the one hand and peace and human development on the other. It is time for the contribution of volunteerism to the quality of life, and to wellbeing in a wider sense, to be understood as one of the missing components of a development paradigm that still has economic growth at its core.

Volunteering ‘misconstrued and undervalued’?  The SWVR is taking a global perspective, yet even in my small corner of the world there are signs that volunteering is valued more for its economic contribution than as “a renewable resource and vital component of the social capital of every nation”.

Too often the functions for IV Day can turn into a gathering of those who rule and run volunteer organisations.  Too often the volunteers get patronised with pats on the head (tapu in many cultures): affirmations of ‘being wonderful’ that might polish a volunteer halo are of much lesser order than evidence that ‘what you did made X amount of difference’.

Volunteering has gained strength in the past ten years through internet communication, corporate volunteering, the self-help responses to environmental disasters and increased opportunities for people who want to ‘help’. Management of volunteers has been developed and enhanced through formal training programmes, establishing national and international associations.  There is also a huge increase in published research on volunteering, which means there is no end to learning, especially for managers and leaders of volunteers.

Volunteering will survive, because it is in our nature as social beings, though the future is uncharted territory. As yet there is no ordained IYV+20 to set goals for the next decade.  As the godwits fly the world in their annual migrations, so does volunteering go global.  And like the godwits we all need to travel a world that gives us due and safe passage.

………

This post is my sign-off for 2011.  Mid-January I shall review the wish-list I made at the beginning of the year.

“Get them while they’re young” is a line from the musical Evita,   interposed on a paean to ‘Santa Evita’ sung by a chorus of children.  It is also a line spun in a religious context and a strategy exploited by many a commercial and consumer enterprise.

So I should not be surprised to learn if you have not been exposed to volunteering by the time you are 15 you are not likely to get engaged as a volunteer either now or later.  That bit of hearsay gave me pause to think about my own history of volunteering and where it came from.

These days the evidence shows more and more young people are volunteering, in all sorts of spheres, and they are not always following the model of their parents as I did.

In Australia youth volunteering (aged 18-24) doubled in the ten years to 2006, to 32%.  A US report (2005) found the rate for ages 12-18 was 55%, more than one and a half times the adult rate of 29%.  In England only 24% of 16-24 year olds are engaged in formal volunteering, according to a 2009 review. The rate in New Zealand for the year ending March 2009 was just 27%, for the age group 15-24 years.

Statistics such as these offer bald information and clearly international comparisons on this data would be odious.  What needs to be noted is the increasing interest by youth in volunteering: in New Zealand this age group is anecdotally claimed to be the fastest rising volunteer demographic. Over the past six months Volunteer Wellington finds the number of volunteer seekers aged 14-29 have outnumbered other age groups more than 2:1, and 50% of these volunteers were students.

Alongside this burgeoning volunteer population there is a welter of related research, conferences, and reviews, national and international.  There are presentations from young people themselves on what they expect, where their interests lie and how they want to be engaged. There is also an ongoing blog written by young people for young volunteers.

They come with different strengths and expectations from older generations.  Being technologically-gifted they expect all information and communication to be available on-line.  Sometimes they prefer to work in groups or to be involved in time-limited, task-focused activities. They want opportunities to get work-related experience, something to put on their CVs.  Yet they can also have altruistic reasons for volunteering, and a sense of civic responsibility.

The volunteer work of young people can be as varied as programmes that engage older people. A study on student involvement showed nearly half worked as a mentor, coach, or counsellor with youth.  Sports and cultural activities attracted a significant proportion, and close behind were health and emergency services.

For the leader of volunteers and the manager of a volunteer programme here is another dynamic to add to the business of harnessing the skills and energies brought by volunteers to the organisation. Be warned, youth volunteers will not tolerate being patronised. There is much to admire in their enthusiasm and commitment, and in their achievements.  Organisations in New Zealand, like Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), CanTeen (supporting teenage cancer patients) and YouthLine, are obvious standouts, yet young people will be found volunteering in a whole lot of other places as well.

There is much to encourage and entice youth volunteers at Volunteering Otago, and a really great Wish List at Volunteering Hawkes Bay. What we want, they say, is: Flexibility, Experience, Incentives, Legitimacy and Variety; accessing volunteering needs to be Easy; like everyone else Appreciation and Support is important; and most of all we love to Laugh!  Go check out the details, and find how engaging young people as volunteers is pretty much the same as for other populations.

Get them while they are young, to open opportunities for learning skills and about self, about community, about service, and about the life-long gains that volunteering can bring.  Better still, get them to show you a thing or two about different ways of volunteering and new approaches to existing volunteer programmes.

[If you think I have tossed in too many hyperlinks here, it is simply an indication of the wealth of material and information available on engaging young people in your organisation.]

And have a great day celebrating the International Volunteers’ Day on December 5, whatever your age!

Yes, it is important to understand meanings and why we use particular words more than others.  But what are the subtle differences between engaging volunteers and recruiting them?  Aren’t we being a bit specious here?

Let’s start with the original statement:

“….. volunteers are ‘engaged’ rather than recruited. This terminology distinguishes between employing people in paid and unpaid activities.”

The on-line responses went in different directions, covering the following ground:

1. ‘Engaging’ is a more nurturing term, and it also gives a message to paid staff about the ‘engagement’ of volunteers.
2. Getting the wording right helps ensures structured support and guidelines to those who co-ordinate or manage volunteer services.
3. It’s both/and, isn’t it?  There is a formal process to follow in ‘recruiting’ volunteers, and ‘engaging’ volunteers is ongoing, a two-way relationship.
4. Well really, ‘engaging’ is a more attractive word than ‘recruiting’, more enticing for volunteers.
5. ‘Engagement’ can mean different things to different people: something done up front in the process in the process of ‘recruiting’; or it might be the formal act of making an appointment.
6. Come on, get real – the words can be used interchangeably.

My initial response:

Hmmm…. So volunteers really need to be distinguished from paid staff.  Therefore they are to be treated differently, implying they are a lesser breed of workers.  I thought we had dealt to this misconception.  We need structured support and guidelines, do we?  Which go as far as telling us what words to use?

My rational takes:

I am not sure there would be whole-hearted support for ‘engagement’ in terms of ‘nurturing’.  Managers and leaders of volunteers need to do more than be kind and caring, and their organisations would certainly expect more.

But I do like the idea of engagement as a mutually supportive relationship, building on work tasks, respect for and recognition of skills, and appreciation for each contribution to the organisation.  That’s the whole “spirit and culture” of volunteering, isn’t it?

My reflective conclusion:

Yes there is a degree of inter-changeability between ‘recruiting’ and ‘engaging’ volunteers.  A disciple of Human Resource Management will apply ‘recruitment’, and ultimately a volunteer (or paid staff) may be ‘engaged’ in working for the organisation.  If steeped in a community development approach of collective purpose and common interests, attracting volunteers will be an ‘engagement’ process, though I might have to organise a ‘recruitment’ policy and programme.   And if I am hiring paid staff I would like to think this could be a process of ‘engagement’ too – in the best interests of the organisation.

The argumentation on this topic might seem like splitting hairs, yet it is always good to figure out what we mean, and to mean what we say.

The Old Hands refer to Recruitment & Retention as MV101, one of the first steps in learning about management of volunteers.

The Newbies ask questions like:

• Why am I having trouble finding enough volunteers for our programme?
• What is the best way to recruit volunteers?
• Why do they go through all the screening and training and then drop out?
• Why do volunteers just disappear without giving notice?  They just don’t come back.

The Old Hands will ask:

• What sort of paper-work have you got for your programme?  Volunteer policy?  Job descriptions?  Rights and responsibilities statement, or a code of practice?  Screening Process?  Training programme organised?  Volunteer performance review?
• Do you have a budget to offer celebrations of volunteer achievement, rewards and appreciation?
• Do you have a bag of ways to appreciate volunteer contributions to your organisation?
• When volunteers leave can you catch up with them for an exit interview, even if it’s a fill-in form per e-mail?

And the Old Hands’ advice will be to get all this in place before you start thinking about recruiting volunteers.   Then they will add:

You want to get the best possible people to volunteer for your organisation?

• You make sure you spell out what is expected via a job description and all that organisational stuff, plus all the support systems available to volunteers
• You target the most likely resource population
• You go ask them (Simple, eh?)
• You get creative when a prospective volunteer offers skills not previously considered for your organisation – be innovative and enterprising.

You want to keep your volunteers engaged?

• Make sure they have a good experience!
• Say ‘thank you’ in as many ways as you can think of, and then some!
• Respect and value volunteer work, and make sure paid staff do too!
• Volunteers will stick around when you understand your role is more than nuts-and-bolts management, that you need to be a people-person, and how your leadership skills will ensure the best possible volunteer programme.

Now the Newbies cry “But how do we get there?”

Ummm…  The Old Hands pause.  They have to think about where they came from:

• The school of hard knocks
• The sink-or-swim school
• The long-and-winding trail of a varied employment history
• Training and education and professional qualifications in something completely different from managing volunteers
• Lots of experience as a volunteer, even plucked from the pool to be a manager
• Because it was added to a paid position when nobody else would do it

OK.  The Old Hands pause again.

You’re lucky, they say to the Newbies.  Training opportunities for managers of volunteers are available, in a sort of pick-and-mix way.  You can pick through

• Volunteer Centre forums / seminars / workshops
• Qualifications offered by industry or vocational programmes such as Tafe (Australia), NVQ (UK) or ITOs (NZ).
• Programmes like Australasian Retreat for Managers of Volunteers, or a raft of Webinars being offered in the UK and US
• On-line applied training through energizeinc.com or CVA and Volunteering NZ
• A ‘relevant’ University level Certificate / Degree / Post-Graduate Diploma
• And don’t forget learning from colleagues, getting into mentoring and peer supervision.

Beware!  The Old Hands have not quite finished.  We have not yet sorted what it takes to be a properly credentialed manager of volunteers.  Not the last word anyway.  You may have some ideas, and you need to go look at the current issue of e-Volunteerism to see what is going on, and to make sure you have your say.

Here ends a shorthand version of resolving the trials of Recruitment & Retention of volunteers.  Don’t let it put you off!

So let me give another plug for the virtue of networking as a tool of trade for a manager of volunteers.

It’s Network or Perish, like the book says.  Snappy title, evoking a parallel with the academic obligation to ‘publish or perish’.   Of course Network or Perish is written for all those Sales and Marketing managers, the lobbyists and PR people.  (Read a review here.)  Which sounds like networking fulfils the adage “it’s who you know, not what you know”.

Which is not quite how I see networking creating advantage for managers of volunteers.

Networking in MV-speak is what happens at local workshops and seminars, at Volunteer Centre lunchtime sessions, at the functions that recognise and celebrate volunteering and IMVDay.  Networking is what happens when you find allies within large institutions and organisations who know and understand volunteering and the importance of good management.  Networking is what happens through social media connections and subscribing to all those newsletters that stream to your in-box.

What you get from these occasions is opportunity to:

• exchange information, opinions and ideas
• learn from others
• discuss issues, so that “a trouble shared becomes a trouble halved”
• appreciate the presence of a collegial community, even a sense of solidarity with others for the role of manager of volunteers.

You can go further, by linking on-line with a global network of volunteer organisations, peak bodies, resource directories, research, training programmes, bloggers and newsgroups.  There is a virtual spider-web out there to take you as far as you want to go.

The pay-off for being a good networker is:

• personal and professional development
• potential to enhance volunteer contributions to your organisation
• learning new tricks to raise the level of competence (yours, and the volunteers)

There is another trick or two about networking to learn from this definition:

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another. 

Ignore the reference to business.  It’s the relationship that matters, being genuine and authentic. And even if you don’t like the reference to ‘advertisements’ think about this in terms of being in the same boat, belonging to a really important professional occupation.

Because great volunteer programmes do not fall out of the sky, and we need to hang in together to ensure the best possible management practice.

Here is a personal testimony supporting informal networking:

For me an invaluable experience is in seeking the opportunity to meet for a chat over a cup of coffee with volunteer managers/coordinators who work in similar organizations. It’s a great way of finding out about what you are doing right, or doing wrong and how you can do things better.  But, best of all there is always laughter or grumbles when there has been recognition of circumstances or behaviours that you realize you all share – and then discussion how these issues are best managed!

Or go find on-line discussion groups to see how they can offer instant information, or illuminate an issue and teach you heaps you had never thought about.

Why should networking be important for managers of volunteers?

• Because you are an entrepreneur, a mover-and-shaker (or a pusher-and-shover), in a social enterprise.
• Because you are in the business of community development.
• Which means that in between everything else you are promoting your organisation’s mission as well as attracting volunteers and running a great volunteer programme.
• Because you are a communicator par excellence.
• Because you know your community, and how to tap into community resources.

And if you are thinking “That’s not me” or “I can’t do this!”, take heart from some good advice offered to the introverts among us.

We are not likely to ‘perish’ from a lack of networking skills, but we sure have lots to gain.

You can read a brief summary of the event, but you really had to be there to get the full flavour, the spot-on comic timing, the bon mots and the audience appreciation in laughter and applause.

This poster introduces the context for interviewing short-listed applicants for a position in the Tree Rehab organisation – a rich source in itself for additional comedy.  All applicants are, in other lives, real leaders and managers of volunteer programmes, so they know their roles intimately.

What we get is a parody of management styles.  There is a humble ‘just a volunteer manager’ concerned with sharing muffins and warm fuzzies for ‘her’ volunteers.  The frenetic Fundraiser and the HR control freak speak in acronyms and refer to volunteers as ‘tools’ and ‘human capital’ like they are so many cogs in the efficiency machine.  The Executive Manager (the man in the suit) voices sexist opinions and is seeking a package that includes a car and a key to the executive bathroom as well as a hefty salary.

Like any good comedy there are moments of truth.  Teresa Green spoke about empathy, and its relevance to leading a ‘happy band of volunteers’.  H R (Hannah) Smith argued for protocols and policies that would protect both volunteers and the organisation.  Lottie Cash, when she could take the $$ signs out of her eyes and the wheeling-and-dealing with sponsors and the big-time funders, knew very well that without volunteers involved in fundraising there would be no organisation.  And Gary Gecko could climb down from his high horse long enough to point out previous experience as a volunteer could be an asset in his approach to management.

When invited to vote the audience is not really of a mind to make an appointment, though we have been given much food for thought in what does not make a good manager of volunteers.

But there is a clear X factor that emerges from the presentations we have witnessed. We need to add dramatic talent to the list of skills and attributes for managers of volunteers.

That capacity to project ourselves into other personae, to better understand what makes those volunteers (and paid staff) tick, to relate with them in ways that enhance the volunteer performance and the organisation’s real appreciation of volunteer contributions is a vital asset.  I do not mean we have to be drama queens – an introduction to models of personal styles or types is all it would take.

I’ll bet most of us already demonstrate that innate ability.  Maybe we just need to show it off a bit more often.

That is the educating up I get from Volunteer Wellington’s celebration on IMVDay 2011.

Why should Managers of Volunteers deserve a special day?  Here are ten good reasons:

• Because your organisation would not function without volunteers;
• Because your organisation would have trouble recruiting and retaining volunteers without a manager to get them on board;
• Because the manager of volunteers works wonders to make your volunteer programme add value to your organisation, to enhance your services;
• Because the manager of volunteers is an excellent communicator, ensuring the whole organisation knows what is happening and keeping volunteers involved;
• Because the manager of volunteers reminds you about why we involve volunteers and why volunteers are important;
• Because there is a training programme, and ongoing support for volunteers so they are never left floundering;
• Because the manager of volunteers is endlessly creative and innovative in finding new ways to involve volunteers;
• Because the manager of volunteers knows your community and how to tap into resources to benefit your organisation;
• Because we love our manager of volunteers, and so do the volunteers;
• And – just because managers of volunteers are worth it!

Most events will happen on Friday November 4.  At least we avoid the fireworks this time.  Have a look at what I wrote last year to remind you of the importance of the occasion.

And at the risk of repeating myself – except sometimes messages are worth repeating – please read again this volunteer paean to a manager.

Just so you know why this day is important.  Just so you can take pride in your achievements and in the wealth of favours you and volunteers contribute to your organisation.

No specific cause for the grounding has been made public and the blame-game is yet to be played out.  But here is an ironic footnote: an astrolabe was a navigational aid used by early oceanic explorers to calculate latitude.  It was never an instrument noted for its accuracy.

Of course there is outrage.   New Zealand’s 100% Pure reputation takes another hit.  And this happens when we are show-casing the country to an influx of tourists here for the Rugby World Cup.  More than that is the threat to traditional summer holidays and the freedom to swim, surf and fish this coastline.  Already local businesses are suffering.

People Power is a headline writ large in the newspaper some ten days ago.  The people are volunteers, and their power is in their good intentions and commitment and energy to ‘Do Something’.  Volunteers have dived in to the clean-up along the beaches, initially defying official warnings about health hazards.  And it’s not just the beach – there are birds and sea animals to be rescued.  Volunteers are there, boots ‘n’ all, and latterly with the right protective gear.  There are more than 5000 of them.

Twice in one year to demonstrate volunteer power is more than usual.  Two
emergencies to call on volunteer power are more than enough in one small country.

Twice in one year there are challenges to official prescriptions and policies, and frustration with delays in getting help where it is needed.  So volunteers take the lead with enormous effect. Think Student Army in Christchurch in February.  Think volunteers and Kiwi ingenuity that gets them on the beaches and getting the oil off the beaches.  Think about a community that wants to pull together any which way they can, for the common good.  Watch the video to see what they can achieve.

There is a dedicated page on Facebook.  Volunteer Centres in Western Bay of Plenty and Waikato are offering information for volunteers.  Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the place to go for registration and latest info.  Maritime NZ is another source of good information.  Surf Clubs are taking a lead coordination role, doing the orientation and training, managing the volunteer task-force in conjunction with other authorities.  And do not forget the Wild-life Rescue Centre, doing their damnedest to recover oil-smothered birds.  Volunteers are there too.

Volunteers are not only on the beaches.  The support teams have swung into action, uninvited, spontaneously.  One person organises a bus to transport volunteers from up north.  Local polytech students prepare and provide a soup kitchen for the beach workers. Ordinary people do extraordinary things to support the efforts of this massive clean-up.

There is still a long way to go.  Volunteer groups in Tauranga and elsewhere are keen to do more, and to speed up progress. Politicians do the smooth-talking, and experts offer the dinkum oil as they see it.

Volunteers will continue with their efforts for as long as it takes, led by their coordinators.  I hope these leaders, who are demonstrating the best what and how of managing volunteers, will get the recognition they deserve.