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A PROGRAM OF THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION
 

IOM Blog

January 31, 2020

Firing a Volunteer

This post was coauthored by Bob Harris, CAE and Candace Boothby, CCE.

Volunteering is a part of America’s culture. People step forward to help advance a cause or community.

There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit, exempt organizations in the US. Each has a board of directors and committee structure composed of volunteers. While every person intends to add value, there are some behaviors that should be the cause for dismissal. If coaching and guidelines don’t improve their efforts, firing might be the final straw. Candace Boothby, CCE, is the CEO and President at the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce in Georgia. She shares her experiences and advice about volunteer management.

Pink Slip

Think you can’t fire a board member, volunteer or even a member? Well think again. Giving the pink slip to a troublesome volunteer can sometimes be vital to the overall health of an organization.

While we always want to do our best to work with difficult people who create challenging situations, there’s nothing in the play book that says we must tolerate bad behaviors. The grin and bear it approach only goes so far. Our first priority should be to the well being of the organization and the culture we strive to create. Harboring negative or toxic volunteers undermines the very essence of what we work so hard to nurture day in and day out.

Don’t know what to do with the board member who misses most meetings? Activate the attendance clause described in the bylaws. For example, “Any director missing two consecutive meetings is considered to have resigned from the board.” That’s why you have it. Use it! Have a volunteer who consistently clashes with staff and is constantly critical? Don’t be afraid to suggest they go be successful somewhere else. Afterall, not everyone fits your customer profile.

Do you have a volunteer that refuses to pay for goods and services received even after you follow your collection policy and exhaust all your resources? Ask yourself, do the rules apply selectively? If not, then let them know that without payment you can’t continue their membership. Be polite. Be firm. Don’t apologize. Ever. And remember, it’s always a good practice to keep a volunteer between you and a problem when needed. Have a member who exhibits insulting behavior? Well don’t sweat it. It’s perfectly okay to refund their membership fee and explain that another organization might better meet their needs.

Redirect

Have you ever had a volunteer that’s disruptive in their current assignment? Try and redirect their passions. If that still doesn’t work, then suggest they apply their passions with another organization. Keep it friendly. Let them know you care, and because you care you want them to be happy. Just not with your organization. Living with bad behavior can make your life a nightmare. Who needs that? We have enough stress in our jobs keeping up with all the minutia, and a troublesome volunteer is the last thing we need holding us down.

Take charge of your situation and be proactive. Own it. Remember, you’re the caretaker for the organization. Embrace that honor. Giving an unhappy volunteer the freedom to go be successful somewhere else could be the best gift – to them and to you. So, take a deep breath and feel the freedom that comes with knowing you have choices, and you can indeed fire a volunteer.

# # #

Note: Bob Harris, CAE provides free governance tips and templates at www.nonproficenter.com. Candace Boothby, CCE, APR is the CEO and President at the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce and past president of the Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.

Bob Harris
Bob Harris, CAE
President
NonProfitCenter.com

There are more than one million nonprofit organizations in the USA. Bob has studied thousands of them to develop best practices. He started his career in Washington D.C. working with Presidential Classroom. He went on to build an association management company in Tallahassee, FL. He is on the faculty for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. He has worked in Amman, Jordan, Tokyo, Japan and Minsk, Belarus to help organizations. He received “Association Partner of the Year” award from Association Trends Magazine in 2012. He has authored books on association management. To improve management he created the Association Self-Auditing Process, used by more than 20,000 organizations. He believes that nonprofit organizations should be as efficient as any commercial business. He’s been dubbed the “Martha Stewart of association management” for providing tips and templates for making management easier. These are available free on his website at www.nonprofitcenter.com.

Note:  Bob Harris, CAE, provides free association and governance tips, articles and templates at www.nonprofitcenter.com

Comments

  1. Karim Shaaban says

    January 31, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    Firing a volunteer is one of those things that are often held as a sacred cow ideology that should be turned into hamburgers as, Bob always says. Remember though, always follow the rule volunteer to volunteer and staff to staff. So if you are having a problem with a volunteer and you are the executive director, be sure to not to try to handle the issue yourself and turn to your chair and executive committee. Be sure to also CONSULT your lawyer before any action.

    Reply

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