Webinar with Lucas Meijs: applause for volunteers

To our great pleasure, Lucas Meijs, Special Professor of Volunteerism and Strategic Philanthropy, spoke in an online masterclass. This webinar was organized in collaboration with the Volunteer Academy and was specifically intended to thank volunteers.“Just in times like these, we should celebrate that we don’t sit back and do nothing,” Lucas speaks to all present with infectious enthusiasm. He shares knowledge with us and engages in conversation with Henriette van der Meij and Karin Hanekroot. Would you like to watch the webinar again? You can do so at the bottom of this page!

In Amsterdam, there were already 250,000 volunteers active, and since the coronavirus crisis, at least 6,000 more have joined. It is quite a task to manage all that voluntary energy. Because many organizations were forced to close their doors to visitors and volunteers, there are many ‘unemployed’ volunteers.

Demand and supply

How can you ensure that people feel safe transferring money to someone who does their shopping for them? Or having their beloved dog walked by a stranger? It can be a challenge at times. There is talk of utilizing existing networks. In the WhatsApp groups of parents with school-going children, the necessary help was quickly organized in the past months. This is because those people know each other.

Reciprocity helps

We were excited about the search for solutions to connect voluntary energy with potential needs. Lucas talked about the art of offering help. Sometimes the recipient of help becomes anxious about what they should do to ‘repay’ the volunteer, to the point that they would rather not ask for help. An important value that Lucas wants to create in the interactions between volunteer and help-seeker is reciprocity.

Is there more to learn?

Next, we look at past crises which show that small-scale initiatives are often very valuable. “They will continue to exist as long as the people who do them are alive.” Try not to make everything large-scale and ask questions about sustainability; this comes at the expense of these small initiatives.

Volunteers who want to help for a short period or even just one day are also valuable. You can expect a volunteer to stick to their commitments. As a coordinator or organization, it is important to keep the process open and not to problematize. This maintains the voluntary energy. Another important factor is the equal treatment of volunteers and professionals: if one receives applause, so should the other.

According to Mr. Meijs, it is a gross scandal that when both have a contract, some volunteers do not receive compensation while non-working professionals do receive their salary. Protective measures in this crisis should also be made available to volunteers, and if there is insufficient availability, you should work together to find a solution. Otherwise, you can also ask volunteers if they can provide these precautions themselves, such as masks.

Finally, Lucas emphasizes once again how important it is that both volunteers and professionals receive applause. Today, especially voluntary efforts received applause from Lucas Meijs. “Voluntary energy is like a weed, the harder you push, the stronger it becomes.”

Nice news:

Lucas Meijs is giving two more webinars. The next one is on Thursday, May 25, about reciprocity. Do you want to attend? You are very welcome!Register on time!

Watch this webinar again?

That can be done here: