Disaster Responders Strive to Cope with Spontaneous Volunteers

Statewide Florida group tries to educate Washington-area volunteer groups, yet its own mission and web site show that serious shortcomings remain in  volunteer management for major disasters. 

The Washington Post recently reported on efforts in suburban Fairfax county to come up with better ways to deal with the influx of well-meaning volunteers after large-scale disasters.  But the efforts are not very reassuring.  Volunteer Fairfax (EIN 23-7370759 Form 990), the story tells us, is recruiting volunteers for pre-training—along with five different county volunteer programs in Fairfax country, from Neighborhood Watch to the Medical Reserve Corps. 

As it turns out, Volunteer Fairfax is just one of eleven members of a Washington-area Coalition of Volunteer Centers (apparently not incorporated), a mix of government units (Arlington Volunteer Office) and nonprofit organizations (like Volunteer Fairfax and Greater DC Cares EIN 52-1625585 Form 990).  Each group has its own web site, showing a wide range of sophistication (and some aren't working—no surprise). 

All these groups got together in March for a presentation by Volunteer Florida (EIN 31-1467424 Form 990) about dealing with spontaneous volunteers in disaster situations.  Floridians have enough experience with this that they even conduct drills on staging mass volunteer registrations.  And as this story from the Palm Beach Post shows, the Red Cross has been particularly busy this season getting people prepared and conducting outreach to the local chapters of the NAACP (national headquaters EIN 13-1084135 Form 990) and to the hispanic community. 

But at the statewide level, even Volunteer Florida shows a lack of focus.  The group's mission stated in the Form 990 is to coordinate the development of community service programs.  Yet it is clear that the organization is also administering a number of grant funds for everything from literacy to hurricane relief, the latter running to the millions of dollars with hundreds of organizational recipients. 

The organization's web site directs visitors to another site to volunteer for help after tropical storm Alberto, but the links don't work for someone using a Firefox browser. 

Then at the national level, our Washington Post article tells us about a new web site by the Points of Light Foundation (EIN 65-0206641 Form 990) and Volunteer Center National Network (part of POLF, merged in 1992).  The helpindisaster.org site is up intermittently (wasn't there on June 22, but it's up on June 23) to encourage people to register now and wait to be contacted in the event of an emergency.  The sparseness of the site and numerous links to other sites doesn't engender a lot of confidence for the would-be volunteer.  The "don't call us we'll call you" attitude is just going to anger people in the event of an actual emergency. 

These aren't very promising approaches for responding to a Katrina-sized disaster.  There does need to be a national level approach (possibly statewide in the bigger states), but it needs serious infrasturcture (including a web site that works), real training, and substantial education of the public through mass media.  Maybe the big population states need to take more of a lead on this one.   

Comments

[Diana Rothe-Smith]

I am uncertain what point you are trying to make. Are you concerned that organizations are looking to work with community emergency managers to develop spontaneous volunteer plans? Or, are you concerned that there are not enough organizations focused on the issue? You seemed to be angered by both but offer no suggestion except to say that more training and more sophisticated plans need to be in place. I think those working on the issue are in agreement with you—but negativity without solution offers no opportunity for improvement.
There are a few points to your editorial that I wish to clarify. Firstly, the Metro Coalition of Volunteer Centers is a loosely organized coordinating body that allows the Volunteer Centers of the National Capital Region to meet to share best practices, resources, and offer a single voice when speaking on volunteer management and the community based volunteer movement. These Volunteer Centers serve their jurisdictions and are representative of the needs of each community. Some are nonprofits, some are internal to government; some have large operating budgets, and others rely on one staff member and volunteers for support. However, all are committed to their communities. These Volunteer Centers, in addition to their other programming, have taken up the issue of spontaneous volunteer management in times of disaster. They have developed coordinated intake systems for the placement of volunteers in effective opportunities that support the response and recovery of their communities. Though they are striving to make each volunteer’s experience the best possible, their role within the emergency management plan is to compliment and not complicate relief efforts. Their message is simple—Affiliate to a disaster based organization prior to a disaster to make the most impact. But for those that do not, contact the local Volunteer Center to get a list of opportunities before going down to the disaster site. They work with their respective offices of emergency management, VOAD chapters, Red Cross Chapters and Citizen Corps Councils to coordinate efforts.
Secondly, Volunteer Florida is a government agency. They serve as the Governor’s Commission of Volunteerism and Community Service (almost every state has one). You may have been researching the Volunteer Florida Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that does issue grants. Volunteer Florida coordinates efforts on a state level and serves as the Emergency Support Function for Volunteer and Donations Management. However, their experience has proven (as has most) that all disasters are local and all efforts must begin at the local level. It is for this reason that they work with local Volunteer Centers to manage spontaneous volunteers and coordinate need. The state of Florida has a system that works well for them and that is due specifically to Volunteer Florida and their partnership with local Volunteer Centers. To suggest otherwise is short sighted and misleading.
Lastly, the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, through its membership in National VOAD, has taken up the management of spontaneous volunteers on a national level. Many of the more than 350 community-based Volunteer Centers assume the critical role of managing the large number of spontaneous, unaffiliated volunteers that converge on a disaster eager to help. One of the tools created to assist in this role is www.helpindisaster.org. This is part of a national campaign to educate, pre-register, and affiliate volunteers before disaster strikes.
All of these organizations are committed to the betterment of their communities. There is constant reviewing of plans and sharing of best practices to improve upon these systems and make them the best possible. I invite you to offer your suggestions in a way that betters these plans. Only through real collaboration can we accomplish our shared goals.

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