Figure Skating Club Volunteering: How Can We Make It Better?

I have to tell you, last Thursday’s post (Alright. Let’s Talk: Figure Skating Club Volunteer Hours) has worried me a lot. It’s not my objective to create an atmosphere where we all bash something. However, it’s clear that many figure skating parents are frustrated with the volunteer requirements in their clubs. The comments on that post read like a manifesto.

I really do believe that figure skating clubs need volunteers. They’re clubs, not businesses. If the figure skating club were a figure skating business instead, just imagine what your membership fees would look like. No, no, it’s a club and we don’t pay for a scheduler for our ice or a coordinator for our events.

Even though volunteers fill those positions for our clubs, it’s not fair for the volunteers to always be the same people. These workhorse volunteers start out as good people, but slowly the hours, the work, and the thanklessness eat away at their souls. Ever had a club treasurer snap at you for no reason? Imagine her at her kitchen table at 2 a.m. trying to read some chicken scratch on a check. That’s a woman who has had it.

Just as volunteers don’t like to be taken for granted, club members don’t like to be strong armed. We would like to be asked nicely to volunteer. We would like the requirements to be reasonable and attainable.

If you read the comments from last Thursday, it’s obvious that there’s a disconnect between figure skating club volunteer requirements and the volunteers themselves. Someone brought up a good point that required work hours aren’t really volunteer hours.

Volunteer hours, by whatever name, aren’t going away. So, how can they be made palatable? What recommendations can we offer to make volunteer hours feasible for those who don’t have a lot of money or time? How can we accommodate the adult skater? How can we accommodate the figure skating family who who has a soccer mom, a hockey dad, a band parent, and a figure skating parent?

Today on SynchroMom: Synchronized Skating and Fund Raising
Today on Ice Coach: Moves in the Field US Figure Skating Rule Change September 2010

Here’s what I’d like you to do: copy and paste the form below (including the weird HTML) into the comments. I, Ice Mom, will wave my magic wand and grant you one wish. Just one, so use it wisely. If you could change or add one thing to your club’s volunteer policy, what would it be?

Club Volunteer Hours, part II

Region, city, state, country (optional):

Volunteer hour requirement:

Volunteer hour payment penalty:

The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one):

My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club:

So, parents. It looks like we have a disconnect between volunteer expectations and volunteer realities. Let’s try to bridge the gap between the two and offer some solutions to what appears to be a widespread problem.

Do you have a question for Ice Mom or the Advisory Board? You guys have been really great about sending me in topics for the blog – thank you so much! I encourage you to keep sending me e-mails. If you have an idea for a guest post you’d like to write, let me know, too! Ask the Expert will be back next week, I hope. I’m taking my recording equipment to our studio director at work and I bet he’ll flip a switch and just fix it. In the meantime, send me a note! icemom.diane@gmail.com

Photo credits:
Come Together: h.koppdelaney on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Pulling My Hair Out!: Leeni! on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Magic: Bohman on Flickr.com Creative Commons

http://synchromom.net/2010/07/synchronized-skating-and-fund-raising/ Synchronized Skating and Fund Raising | Synchro Mom

[...] down. Just remember, the more events you work, the lower your fees could be! Today on Ice Mom: Figure Skating Club Volunteering: How Can We Make It Better? Today on Ice Coach: Moves in the Field US Figure Skating Rule Change September [...]
http://icecoach.net/2010/07/12/moves-in-the-field-us-figure-skating-rule-change-september-2010/ Moves in the Field US Figure Skating Rule Change September 2010 | icecoach.net

[...] skater is required to just complete one length or the rink (four or five lobes). Today on Ice Mom: Figure Skating Club Volunteering: How Can We Make It Better? Today on SynchroMom: Synchronized Skating and Fund Raising Pre-Juvenile Moves in the Field [...]
Maria

Region, city, state, country (optional): Southeast MI

Volunteer hour requirement: 40 hours per year

Volunteer hour payment penalty: $100

The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one):

My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club: Online registration and tracking would be wonderful!
Denise

Region, city, state, country (optional):Northeast. Cicero, NY (near Syracuse)

Volunteer hour requirement:10 hours. They can be spent working a booth, the ice monitor desk, helping with a show or competition, etc.

Volunteer hour payment penalty:$100

The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one):I don't personally have any issues with our volunteer policy as I think it's pretty lenient.

My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club: I agree with Maria. I would LOVE online registration. However, I do know for a fact that they have to pay a merchant fee to process these transactions so that would actually mean my dues would go up. So I think I'll stick with the in-person method.
sk8rmomp

No volunteer penalty.
I don't have any gripes about the volunteer policy at our club.

one wish: for us to communicate clearly and in a timely manner re: when we need volunteers, and for all seasoned volunteers and members to be welcoming to everyone who volunteers!!!

I used “and”, so does that count as one wish LOL.
Jozet at Halushki

Well we don't have a volunteer policy, but THE one thing I'd like to see:

Full disclosure of the club budget. In writing. Handed out to every member at the beginning of the year with quarterly updates. If people see where and how the club money is being spent and how it directly benefits them, they are more likely to volunteer or take part in fundraisers. Full stop.
Isakswings

I think this is a good thing to do. Our club actually does this at the end of the season. At our closing social in May, the treasurer gave a detailed report of what the club's costs our, how the money is spent and how well(or not well!) our fundraisers went for the year. They gave each member a paper with the proposed budget for this season on it. I haven't seen quaterly updates, but I kow I could go to the treasurer and she would tell me how things are going.

Anyway, I can see your point about if a parent/member can see how their time helping the club is worthwhile, they would be much more likely to find a way to help. Good point!
Isakswings

We live in Northern Utah, USA

15 hour volunteer requirement

Volunteer penalty/opt out fee: 100.00

No real problem that I can see.
SuperSkater

Region, city, state, country (optional): UGL

Volunteer hour requirement: was 10 hours per family, now 15

Volunteer hour payment penalty: was $20 now $75

The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one): No where near enough volunteer hours available for each family to be able to do 15 hours.

My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club: More organization, not having the Club decide that so many things “don't count” towards volunteer hours. (We have two ice shows per year that “don't count” for example!)

I totally agree with Jozet that Club's should be required to disclose where all the money is going and I also agree with sk8rmomp that Club's should be more welcoming of new volunteers and be more organized, not having to send out last minute desperate e-mails for help so often.
BuyMyStuff

Region, city, state, country (optional):
Canada
Volunteer hour requirement:
I am a member of two clubs. I get dinged twice. 10 hours at one, the other is 5 hours plus $200. The 5 hours also has a mandatory fundraising target, we have to sell $200 worth of stuff or pay $200. Want a chocolate bar?
Volunteer hour payment penalty:
$150 for the 10 hour one, there is no out for the 5 hour one, the penalty is the skater being put in poor standing and not being able to test or compete.
The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one):
We're in an affluent area and families consider the buy out cost as part of skating. The mandatory 5 is a result of people buying out. They also buy out the fundraising instead of doing it. Me included.
My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club:
Hire a volunteer coordinator, a professional, for a consultation. Both clubs need someone to evaluate what our volunteers need to be doing, how the free labor can help the club and offer jobs accordingly because we are wasting people's time. There are tons of people with tiny marketable skills, and someone's two hours of looking at our bookeeping by an accountant, is well worth someone else's 10 hours of watching the hot chocolate kiosk, and chatting mostly while doing it.
Sharon

Region, city, state, country (optional):
SW
Volunteer hour requirement:
25
Volunteer hour payment penalty:
$50 for not completing plus an $50.00 donation to the competition
$150.00 opt out for not volunteering at all
The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one):
we don’t have enough events to cover the hours for all families. And our club has over $100K in the bank, why the need for the high expenses on top of a $300.00 membership fee!
My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club:
Lower the fines, lower the volunteer hours and be nice to the people that do volunteer…they will come back!
Sharon

Region, city, state, country (optional):
SW
Volunteer hour requirement:
25
Volunteer hour payment penalty:
$50 for not completing plus an $50.00 donation to the competition
$150.00 opt out for not volunteering at all
The main problem with our volunteer policy (just one):
we don't have enough events to cover the hours for all families. And our club has over $100K in the bank, why the need for the high expenses on top of a $300.00 membership fee!
My one wish to fix the volunteer policy in my club:
Lower the fines, lower the volunteer hours and be nice to the people that do volunteer…they will come back!
Thomahawkenator

Great idea…you should volunteer to put that together for your club.
Thomahawkenator

Great idea…you should volunteer to put that together for your club.
Thomahawkenator

As a board member (who looks a lot like the woman in the picture above my one wish would be for EVERYONE in the club to participate in their club.
Thomahawkenator

As a board member (who looks a lot like the woman in the picture above my one wish would be for EVERYONE in the club to participate in their club.