Volunteer Management Handbook, Chapter 11 – Volunteer and Staff Relations

Overview

The relationship between the paid staff and the volunteers is one key to achieving success in achieving the goals of the organization. Poor relationships can impact morale for both sides and eventually will impact clients served and the ability to recruit more volunteers. Volunteer and Staff Relations chapter aims to describing the healthy team, assessing the current state of relationships, identifying what contributes to poor relationships, and outlining a process to enhance the relationships between volunteers and paid staff. The chapter includes assessment tools.

Contributors

Nancy MacduffNancy Macduff
Nancy Macduff is an internationally recognized trainer, consultant, and author on volunteer management and administration. She served 14 years as executive director of a nonprofit agency and nine years as the coordinator of a government volunteer program. Nancy is currently the President of Macduff/Bunt Associates, a training and consulting firm, in Walla Walla, WA. She is also on the faculty at the Institute for Nonprofit Management, School of Public Administration at Portland State University teaching courses in the management of volunteer programs, at the basic and advanced level. All these are online courses.

She is the author of nine books on volunteer management, chapters on various aspects of volunteer administration in three different college textbooks, and numerous juried journal and magazine articles on volunteerism. Nancy is senior editor and publisher of the free online newsletter, “Volunteer Today.”