What do think about charging a tuition or asking for a minimum donation to check for commitment of the person?
Asked by Paul Falkowski
Before I get into responding to Paul’s question, let me share the context he sent me so you have some insight into where Paul’s question comes from:
Background: I have moved my volunteer training online. The people I am looking for will become “companion” volunteers something similar to “vigil” volunteers in hospice. They will make one-on-one visits to care communities and befriend people living there, particularly those people who may not have family or friends visiting them. I want to be careful about recommending people to a care community for safety reasons. I want to be sure that the person passes background checks, has some good references, (I ask for three) and then I charge of tuition of $49. The tuition is to check for commitment. The “companion” volunteer needs to be reliable and making weekly visits without the staff having to chase them or wonder if they will show up this week.
Recently, I formed the National Association of Long-Term Care, have a great team on the board and I’m getting push back on the tuition. Some have said it should be free, some have said we should ask for a minimum donation, and some think a tuition is ok. I started this onboarding process in 2010 and since then I’ve had several hundred people go through the training and they are awesome. I admit there is a high attrition rate right up front, about 60% but the 40% are commited, creative, and reliable. So, I’m not quick to abandon the tuition but at the same time, I want to hear the opinions of experts such as yourself.
Paul, my instinct is that volunteering should be freely entered into and there should be no financial barriers preventing people from doing so. This would include ensuring the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses and not requiring fees or charges to volunteer.
If there is a cost to volunteering then it immediately shrinks the pool of available volunteers and could erect barriers to engaging with groups who have traditionally and historically been marginalised in volunteering.
An alternative approach might be to only charge the tuition if someone completes the screening and training and then does not fulfil the requirement you have for their commitment and reliability. This is similar to what I suggest groups do instead of offering free training — make the training free but, if people don’t turn up (which they inevitably won’t if it’s free because in my experience many people don’t value no-cost events), then charge a no-show fee.
There is, however, a significant issue with applying this pay-later model in a volunteering context.
I don’t know about the USA where you live, but in the UK this approach may well fall foul of employment law. There is a famous case here of a volunteer counsellor who didn’t fulfil their minimum commitment to volunteer because the organisation told her that her English wasn’t good enough. She sued for racial discrimination and won. One of the deciding factors for the employment tribunal was that if the volunteer didn’t complete their required commitment they would have to pay a training fee to the organisation. This constituted the principle of ‘consideration’ in employment law and meant that the law viewed the person not as a volunteer but as an employee with all the associated rights.
Finally, if the role requires a high degree of commitment and reliability then perhaps it should be a paid role, not a volunteer one?
That isn’t to say volunteers are unreliable, or that paid staff are inherently reliable. I can give examples where volunteers have been more reliable than paid staff! And we can all look at certain roles where volunteers are relied upon in public life, especially those who work in emergency services and so turn up because of they didn’t people would die.
Rather, what I am pointing out is that volunteers can simply choose to stop turning up, but paid staff cannot, at least until the notice period is worked. So, if any role requires such reliability and commitment, a question needs to be asked whether this is something that should be done by paid staff, or by volunteers. Susan J Ellis and I talk about this in “From The Top Down” and that might be worth re-reading.
I hope that’s helpful Paul, and I encourage other Ask Rob Anything subscribers to chip in with their thoughts.
Now it’s over to you.
How would you answer Paul’s question?
Leave a comment with your ideas and don’t forget to ask your own question by emailing Rob now — rob@robjacksonconsulting.com, with the subject line “Ask Rob Anything“