Course Description
A comprehensive introduction to the design, administration, and management of volunteer programs. Students will work on a project that will involve consulting with local nonprofit organizations on designing and implementing a volunteer program.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to observe/volunteer on-site at
an existing nonprofit of their choice for a minimum of 10 hours
during the semester and submit a 4-5 page reflection analysis of
the experience applying concepts covered in course readings and
class discussions. The major written assignment, a Volunteer
Program Development Plan, will be required to be greater length
(10-12 pages) and at a more sophisticated level of analysis than
for undergraduates (6-8 pages).
Athena Title
Managing Volunteers
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in MNML 5320 or MNML 7320
Non-Traditional Format
This course will be taught 95% or more online.
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: • Develop and implement intervention strategies that enhance the organization’s volunteer management capacity. • Apply practice experience to inform research on designing volunteer management program components for different types of local nonprofit organizations. • Utilize knowledge and skills gained throughout the semester to formulate, design, and implement volunteer management programs for local organizations that address an array of social issues. • Gain appreciation for diversity of volunteers (motivation, class, gender, race, national origin, personality, professional background) and its centrality to designing an effective volunteer management program. • Analyze organizational activities to determine how and where volunteers can have an impact and develop appropriate job descriptions for volunteer positions. • Develop an operational structure for the volunteer program, integrated into the organization and incorporating all major elements of sound program design. • Elaborate viable strategies for recruitment and retention of volunteers based on their understanding of diversity of volunteers (motivation, class, gender, race, national origin, personality, professional background). • Apply risk-management concepts to the volunteer program. • Present appropriate techniques for evaluation of volunteer programs. • Examine methods for fostering collaboration between paid staff and volunteers.
Topical Outline
- Introduction to volunteer management - Planning a volunteer management program - Volunteer staff relationships - Recruitment, screening, selection of volunteers - Training volunteers - Supervising volunteers - Rewarding volunteers - Using information management tools in volunteer programs - Risk management - Board members as volunteers