News reporter/editor
Crisis communication consultant
FEMA DAE
TDEM instructor
Disaster response volunteer
Community volunteer organizer

• Pray for additional funding from state or feds
• Do what you can with what you have
• Cannibalize other departmental functions
• Get help from outside the department

• Generic strangers off the street
• Screened, trained, credentialed, experienced
• Disaster response veterans
• Professionals retired or on leave from jobs
• Person with skills or resources you lack

• Low-level work to free staff for emergency
• Support professionals to enhance productivity
• Expand professional manpower
• Do crisis-specific jobs you don’t normally do
• Bring skills and resources you don’t have
• Relieve staff as crisis mode fades

• Reservists are paid salary and expenses
• Core volunteers have expenses reimbursed
• Casual volunteers expect non-cash rewards
• All require the same thing as employees
– Good management
– Respect and appreciation
– Compensation of some kind

• Non-profits and faith-based work where government is less effective
• Resistance to church-state cooperation fading
• Government integration of volunteers is increasing

• Federal disaster funds must be matched
• Volunteer hours count against the match
– Current Texas rate is $23.40 per hour
– When work is for health and safety
– When work is planned and overseen
– When work is tracked documented
– Tracking systems already exist among some groups

• Legally restrictive work environment
• Educated, licensed workforce
• Strict confidentiality requirements
• Stringent security measures
• Expectation of personal accountability

• Groups able to help in a hurry
• Organizations with trained, vetted members
• Agencies with specific skills and resources
• Sources of volunteers in quantity
• Those with in-place administrative systems

• What do you want them to do?
• What qualifications will you need?
• When will you need them to do it?
• Where will it be done?
• How much time will you have to activate?
• How long will you need the help?
• How will you manage volunteers?

• Does the job require a credential or license?
• Does it require an existing skill?
• What work rules and conditions will apply?
• What special work practices will be involved?
• Involve legal & human resources in planning!

• Describe in detail the volunteer you need
• Decide the basis on which you take volunteers
• Requirements tell you where to hunt
• Recruit in clusters if you can
• Recruit individually if you must
• Tailor a motivational appeal
• How will you test their existing skills
• What training must you provide and how

• Benefit the community
• Personal benefit
• Recognition
• Affiliation
• Achievement
• Power
• Glory

• Delayed response to application
• Poor supervision
• Disorganized management
• Wasting their time
• Disrespect by staff
• Promises not kept
• Stuck in unrewarding niche

• No guarantee of availability
• No organizational or personal loyalty
• Lack of employee-type control
• Not instilled with corporate culture
• Not familiar with job, laws, regulations, system
• May cause problems through ignorance
• Unknown personal issues and liabilities

• Identify sources in advance of need
• Establish and maintain contact
• Establish MOUs and MOAs in advance
• Let groups do your recruiting for you
• Provide training in advance
• Integrate volunteers into activity

• Professional associations
• Non-profits
• Faith-based
• Community-based
• Volunteer Agencies Active in Disasters (VOADs)
• Community Organizations Active in Disasters
• Central Volunteer Reception Center

• Spontaneous, unaffiliated, convergent
• ALWAYS appear after a disaster
• Require most training, supervision, motivation
• May have valuable skills and resources
– May know local people, culture, resources
– Can commute in, be self-sustaining
• Can be used for unskilled work
• May need to be trained

• Get buy-in from the top
• Get buy-in from staff
• Integrate them into organization
• Assign “mother hens”
• Create opportunities for interaction
• Build familiarity, rapport, respect
• Show volunteers they are valued, appreciated

• Volunteers may feel they’re “rescuing” staff
• Volunteers may be unwilling to make decisions
• Staff may see volunteers as intruders
• Staff may ignore or bypass volunteers
• Need balance of
– Mutual respect
– Understand lines of authority and responsibility
– Understand each other’s value to success

• Involve legal, HR and risk management
• Even screened volunteers can disappoint
• Spontaneous volunteers are more problematic
• Have clear, enforceable liability boundaries

• Must have a volunteer manager
– Supervisor for every 7 workers
– Manager and supervisors can be volunteers
• Must have a volunteer budget
– Recruiting, screening, training, expenses, salary
– Ongoing program expenses
– Management expenses during incidents
– Cost of rewards and awards

• Past needs for volunteers
• Current needs for volunteers
• Current volunteer resources, if any
• Short-term future volunteer needs
• Long-term future volunteer needs
• Contingency volunteer needs

• As much notice as possible of deployment
• Handle travel logistics for volunteer
• Overlap with predecessor for job handoff
• Allow for check-in, paperwork, briefing, prep
• Make job, rules, chain of command clear
• Match skills and experience to job if possible

• Can work 24/7 for a week or two
• Allow time for personal maintenance
• The more you do for volunteer the better
• Designate a volunteer caretaker
• Arrange travel to job and on-site
• Provide housing for imported volunteers
• Plan for meals, laundry, telephone
• Monitor and address volunteer stress
• Maintain communication with volunteers

• Determine type and amount of supervision
– Will vary from individual to individual
• Supervisor can be an experienced volunteer
• Allow for complaints and appeals to decisions
• Do written evaluations at end of deployment
– By both supervisor and volunteer, with rebuttals

• Track time to apply to federal match
• Keep all volunteer’s paperwork in file
• Even without a federal declaration…
– May need to match other grants
– Legal issues
– Evaluate work process for improvements
– Tells you whom to thank at the end
– Builds a resource list for next time

• Plan as much for de-activation as for activation
• Keep volunteers in the loop
• Wind down work in orderly manner
• Collect work product, keys, equipment
• Have a checkout process
• After-action reviews immediately and later

• Keep good volunteers connected and engaged
• Solicit their ideas for improvement
• Provide ongoing training and development
– To keep existing skills sharp
– To add new skills
– To update skills as field and organization evolve
• Keep volunteers together in teams
• Use training to maintain volunteer interest

• Easiest volunteer to recruit is an existing one
• Regular positive contact is essential
• Update on changes, news, developments
• Include in planning, exercises, drills
• Use in non-emergency activities
• Publicize volunteer involvement
• Never lose contact with a volunteer

• Set up self-managed 501(c)3 organization
• Fund its own activities, equipment, supplies
• Provide its own training
• Grow volunteer leadership
• Perform public service work in your name

• Make volunteer team available to others
– Deploy through your agency
– Deploy independently through direct contact
• Borrowing entity funds, manages volunteers
• Gives you chits to call in in the future
• Gives volunteers real-life experience
• Exposes volunteers to other ways to do things