This is a letter I have sent to someone today. Redacted out of courtesy.
Dear…
In response to your offer I came to XYZ last Monday to view the volunteering opportunities being listed with XYZ for the purpose of circulating them to other community groups. But it seems that you had second thoughts about sharing that information with me because, after your colleague tried to stall me by saying the folder was "being reviewed", you refused to show them to me and admitted quite candidly this was because; "then potential volunteers would go to those organisations directly and XYZ would be out of a job." After I protested at this, you then said that it would have to be a decision for XYZ’s trustees to allow this.
I appreciated you being so candid with me so I will be candid with you as well.
I would like to set out for you and the trustees my purpose and my position on this issue as it is quite disconcerting and unexpected that XYZ have adopted the role of selective 'gatekeeper' to this information and apparently consider someone else supporting local volunteering to be a threat to its interests.
Given the purpose for which you were established, this, quite frankly, is an absurd state of affairs as your charity registration states you must "act as an umbrella or resource body". As I only need to visit www.do-it.org.uk to find similar information on local volunteering opportunities being freely given and I presume voluntary organisations would expect you to market the positions they list with XYZ at every available chance, I can only draw the wholly unsatisfactory conclusion from your response that my purpose is being viewed with suspicion and distrust.
In my role as a Community Development Officer and in other involvement in the community we both serve, past and present, I have perceived a need for a complete calendar listing of local community activities. The listings in local media are never complete enough nor are their formats useful as a handy reference tool. Rather than see it as competition though, the community newspaper has welcomed the idea, as have several local organisations.
Also there is a need for 'live' directory of local agencies, services and so forth; one that is updated frequently, reliably listing where people can obtain help and advice on a wide range of issues, as for one reason or another, their provision is in a state of constant flux.
In response to your offer I came to XYZ last Monday to view the volunteering opportunities being listed with XYZ for the purpose of circulating them to other community groups. But it seems that you had second thoughts about sharing that information with me because, after your colleague tried to stall me by saying the folder was "being reviewed", you refused to show them to me and admitted quite candidly this was because; "then potential volunteers would go to those organisations directly and XYZ would be out of a job." After I protested at this, you then said that it would have to be a decision for XYZ’s trustees to allow this.
I appreciated you being so candid with me so I will be candid with you as well.
I would like to set out for you and the trustees my purpose and my position on this issue as it is quite disconcerting and unexpected that XYZ have adopted the role of selective 'gatekeeper' to this information and apparently consider someone else supporting local volunteering to be a threat to its interests.
Given the purpose for which you were established, this, quite frankly, is an absurd state of affairs as your charity registration states you must "act as an umbrella or resource body". As I only need to visit www.do-it.org.uk to find similar information on local volunteering opportunities being freely given and I presume voluntary organisations would expect you to market the positions they list with XYZ at every available chance, I can only draw the wholly unsatisfactory conclusion from your response that my purpose is being viewed with suspicion and distrust.
In my role as a Community Development Officer and in other involvement in the community we both serve, past and present, I have perceived a need for a complete calendar listing of local community activities. The listings in local media are never complete enough nor are their formats useful as a handy reference tool. Rather than see it as competition though, the community newspaper has welcomed the idea, as have several local organisations.
Also there is a need for 'live' directory of local agencies, services and so forth; one that is updated frequently, reliably listing where people can obtain help and advice on a wide range of issues, as for one reason or another, their provision is in a state of constant flux.
There have been many previous efforts to produce these but they have not been maintained on an ongoing basis. I have countless examples of information websites which list non-existent social care services (mostly victims of reorganisation or funding cuts) and on which I have spent many hours trying to correct. I have measured that 15% of the posters and leaflets displayed locally are out of date (3 out of 15 that I collected from your display rack on last my visit were expired by two years) while there are many barriers to accessing web or location-based information. Each of these methods has their place but there is a great need for better coordination between information portals and providers to serve their users, especially in bridging the 'digital divide'.
My work has been funded with the aim of improving access to information about local resources by working with voluntary groups and community organisations because the potential they have to inform their clients through social interaction is found to be very effective with the 'hard-to-reach' and this method is preferred by many kinds of people with needs. In the most simple terms: anything that can be done to improve 'word of mouth' about opportunity and local activity closer to people's homes and anything that would assist in making a useful referral on the spot when a client discloses a need will greatly benefit the community as a whole.
In order to achieve that, I consider that a comprehensive calendar of activities updated every month and carried in people’s pockets - in the format I previously showed you - would support that aim and, as I would have to do it anyway, I am prepared to freely share the information I gather. If others can provide information for me to fill in the gaps, it wouldn't be too hard for me to maintain the simple format I devised so when this project ends, it can be continued on my own time if necessary. I intend - as don't see a good reason to not - to also include any news of new volunteering opportunities that I can afford the time to compile. However, it does seem to be perceived by you that a few lines a month on the foot of a document could threaten the role of XYZ and I now have to expend a great deal of resources and will be delayed by obtaining your permission to do what should be offered by your organisation without question.
I do sympathise with your position. For example I am advising several local schemes who would like to recruit more volunteers and I have secured grant funding for them to do so but I am well aware that a successful campaign will recruit people who - not aware of the differences - may contact other schemes outside my remit and offer to become a volunteers with them. I have no intention to prevent that as their ambition is hopefully shared by those I am working for; that people's needs are met. But it is an unfortunate aspect of the culture in local government and Third Sector funding that we will be judged solely on the hard numbers of volunteers we can recruit and not the many soft outcomes our effort will undoubtedly have. We have no plans so far to structure the campaign so that we lock-in potential volunteers solely to our schemes, as that mind-set would limit our options considerably and enforcement of it would expend resources. It might also set our purpose in opposition to others, who could see our efforts as being in competition with them for the very limited resource of capable local volunteers. You can understand how easy that is. It is a great pity how organisations, because of the scarcity of resources, can fall into thinking they are in competition instead of cooperation with others, just as you acknowledged.
In an ideal world, XYZ would automatically forward to me and anyone else who asked the information you receive of local volunteering opportunity, in the way I previously described to you. It makes sense for me to look to XYZ to do that rather than have me subscribe to every local voluntary organisation - reinventing the wheel - as you are the ideal aggregator and portal and you are being funded to do this. Then I can direct any interest back to you, where you can screen and direct the volunteers as appropriate. I would like to list specifically the one-off opportunities, such as a recruitment evening, rather than listing the constant regular needs (a library can always use another volunteer) but I cannot start to model or map the current volunteer demand without access to the resources you are established to provide. It is always my intention that those seeking more information will be referred to the source, which can be you if you insist, but it makes no sense to squander a potential volunteer's precious time and fragile enthusiasm on needless rigmarole.
Your initial response to my request was to suggest that anyone interested in volunteering should just blindly contact you directly but it is common sense that without any kind of information to inspire or instigate their actions, people are unlikely to turn up asking "how can I help?", though some do. XYZ is not the first volunteer bureaux I have encountered to have this very narrow perspective of the potential volunteer and so limit their chances of successful recruitment but I remain hopeful you will, like others, be persuaded on the folly of that position.
You also missed the point I made several times that the list I will circulate is not for the end-user - the volunteer themselves - but for the intermediary who might be in a position to influence people to participate in the community. It will not suffice for them to say "just go to XYZ..." but if the intermediary could mention specific opportunities; that will have greater influence than directing people to merely drop-in. My purpose must be, as best as I can, to enable the marketing of services according to the situation of the people they are meant for, instead of unreasonably expecting those people to conform to the needs of the organisation.
I urge you to reconsider your decision and consider how my effort will serve you in us all better serving the public who employ us.
Kind regards,
Nat Bocking
My work has been funded with the aim of improving access to information about local resources by working with voluntary groups and community organisations because the potential they have to inform their clients through social interaction is found to be very effective with the 'hard-to-reach' and this method is preferred by many kinds of people with needs. In the most simple terms: anything that can be done to improve 'word of mouth' about opportunity and local activity closer to people's homes and anything that would assist in making a useful referral on the spot when a client discloses a need will greatly benefit the community as a whole.
In order to achieve that, I consider that a comprehensive calendar of activities updated every month and carried in people’s pockets - in the format I previously showed you - would support that aim and, as I would have to do it anyway, I am prepared to freely share the information I gather. If others can provide information for me to fill in the gaps, it wouldn't be too hard for me to maintain the simple format I devised so when this project ends, it can be continued on my own time if necessary. I intend - as don't see a good reason to not - to also include any news of new volunteering opportunities that I can afford the time to compile. However, it does seem to be perceived by you that a few lines a month on the foot of a document could threaten the role of XYZ and I now have to expend a great deal of resources and will be delayed by obtaining your permission to do what should be offered by your organisation without question.
I do sympathise with your position. For example I am advising several local schemes who would like to recruit more volunteers and I have secured grant funding for them to do so but I am well aware that a successful campaign will recruit people who - not aware of the differences - may contact other schemes outside my remit and offer to become a volunteers with them. I have no intention to prevent that as their ambition is hopefully shared by those I am working for; that people's needs are met. But it is an unfortunate aspect of the culture in local government and Third Sector funding that we will be judged solely on the hard numbers of volunteers we can recruit and not the many soft outcomes our effort will undoubtedly have. We have no plans so far to structure the campaign so that we lock-in potential volunteers solely to our schemes, as that mind-set would limit our options considerably and enforcement of it would expend resources. It might also set our purpose in opposition to others, who could see our efforts as being in competition with them for the very limited resource of capable local volunteers. You can understand how easy that is. It is a great pity how organisations, because of the scarcity of resources, can fall into thinking they are in competition instead of cooperation with others, just as you acknowledged.
In an ideal world, XYZ would automatically forward to me and anyone else who asked the information you receive of local volunteering opportunity, in the way I previously described to you. It makes sense for me to look to XYZ to do that rather than have me subscribe to every local voluntary organisation - reinventing the wheel - as you are the ideal aggregator and portal and you are being funded to do this. Then I can direct any interest back to you, where you can screen and direct the volunteers as appropriate. I would like to list specifically the one-off opportunities, such as a recruitment evening, rather than listing the constant regular needs (a library can always use another volunteer) but I cannot start to model or map the current volunteer demand without access to the resources you are established to provide. It is always my intention that those seeking more information will be referred to the source, which can be you if you insist, but it makes no sense to squander a potential volunteer's precious time and fragile enthusiasm on needless rigmarole.
Your initial response to my request was to suggest that anyone interested in volunteering should just blindly contact you directly but it is common sense that without any kind of information to inspire or instigate their actions, people are unlikely to turn up asking "how can I help?", though some do. XYZ is not the first volunteer bureaux I have encountered to have this very narrow perspective of the potential volunteer and so limit their chances of successful recruitment but I remain hopeful you will, like others, be persuaded on the folly of that position.
You also missed the point I made several times that the list I will circulate is not for the end-user - the volunteer themselves - but for the intermediary who might be in a position to influence people to participate in the community. It will not suffice for them to say "just go to XYZ..." but if the intermediary could mention specific opportunities; that will have greater influence than directing people to merely drop-in. My purpose must be, as best as I can, to enable the marketing of services according to the situation of the people they are meant for, instead of unreasonably expecting those people to conform to the needs of the organisation.
I urge you to reconsider your decision and consider how my effort will serve you in us all better serving the public who employ us.
Kind regards,
Nat Bocking
