Walking a Fine Line: Are We Over-formalising Volunteering?

The issue of how formal our styles of volunteer management have become is not a new one.  From conference workshops to training sessions to books and articles, volunteer resource managers are being told not to make volunteering too formal an experience for people whilst in the same breath being told to exercise due diligence on health and safety, the care of vulnerable clients, and more.

• Where do these contradictions leave us as volunteer resource managers? 
• To whom should we pay most attention: volunteers? the legal profession? board members of our agencies? the media? our own professional judgement? clients? 
• How do we get this most critical of balances right in our programmes?

Definitive answers to these questions are hard – if not impossible – to find.  In this Keyboard Roundtable, a panel of leaders, thinkers and practitioners from Australia, the USA, the UK, and the country of Georgia share their thoughts and opinions on this critical topic.