"Dream-catcher" and professionalism – on volunteer coordinators in the light of international and Hungarian analyses
Anna Mária Bartal
Abstract
The position of the volunteer coordinator as an organisational function and responsibilities emerged about ten to fifteen years ago in the well-professionalised civil (non-profit) organisations of the Hungarian volunteer sector. However, this study arose from the problem that volunteer coordinators in Hungary still do not have an employment classification or accredited training. Even according to conservative estimates, twelve thousand civil-nonprofit organisations (about 50 percent of civil-non- profit organisations employing volunteers) have a volunteer, a colleague, a part-time or full-time employee – depending on their financial strength and professionalism – whom they call as a volunteer coordinator or who performs such work. Based on all this, the goal of the study was to describe and analyse the "definitional" characteristics of a volunteer coordinator, to identify their recruitment sources, role types, tasks, and skills. Another objective was to analyse the initial questionnaire completed by 43 applicants to the Volunteer Coordinator Network founded in 2024 and to present their formal and functional characteristics, motivations and expectations regarding network membership, as well as the professional and sector- specific problems they expressed in connection with the work of a coordinator. According to our results, the selected international "definitions" represent a responsibility-oriented definition of the tasks and profession of the coordinator, while in the Hungarian interpretations the skill- oriented definitions and descriptions of the volunteer coordinator are mixed or alternated with the task- oriented approach. Based on the literature, we identified the internal and external recruitment sources of the coordinators. In the absence of relevant Hungarian research, the study relied on empirical sources to suggest that Hungarian coordinators are selected more from internal than external recruitment sources, which is fundamentally influenced by the financial resources and level of professionalism of the organizations. Empirical sources also show that Hungarian coordinators correspond to a "classic" coordinator role type and that only a few larger organisations have strategic, HR or leadership development coordinators. The analysis also pointed out that Hungary lacks a unified manual, describing the professional framework of coordination work and discussing the required skills of a coordinator. The examination of the formal and functional characteristics of those applying to the Hungarian Volunteer Coordinator Network showed that most of them came from associations, mainly from those working in social, cultural, educational, and healthcare organisations. In terms of the number of volunteers, they represented all segments of the Hungarian volunteer sector well, and almost half of them were experienced coordinators. The main motivations to join the network were building relationships, finding a professional community, and sharing experiences, which largely coincided with the expectations related to network membership, but the search for new inspirations and the intention to build a community were prominent. Among the main problems of volunteer coordinator work, the emphasis was on motivating and recruiting volunteers (and their techniques), on retention and methods, as well as management (leadership, strategy, time management) issues, in addition to sector-level problems and deficits.
Keywords: volunteer coordinator, recruitment, role type, tasks, skills, Hungarian Volunteer Coordinator Network