BIG Tip: With more and more people seeking to volunteer for various causes, make volunteer engagement a strategic priority in your organization.

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Can the nonprofit world handle a flood of helpers? That’s the question posed by The Chronicle of Philanthropy in the headline of its lead story (Oct. 15, 2009 edition).

 The article’s premise: More and more people are seeking opportunities to volunteer with charities, but the charities may not be ready, have the desire or the ability to engage them.

 The article reaffirms the core premise of Generation BIG: There is a rising tide of bold, innovative, and generous people who seek to change the world. But too many charities don’t understand the implications of this; or even if they do understand it, they’re still ill-equipped to engage BIG people who wish to serve their causes.

 The Chronicle article opens with this story: “Every time Erica Wissolik tried to volunteer she struck out. An AIDS clinic didn’t return her calls. A charity helping families displaced by the Balkan war gave her the cold shoulder. An employee at the Washington Chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters told her the group didn’t need any white women. She finally connected with an animal-rescue group in Northern Virginia that specializes in saving cats.”

Erica is not alone. A few months ago, I met a young entrepreneurial immigration attorney with a BIG vision to support organizations fighting cancer. He wanted to use his business connections to organize fund-raisers for some established charities. He approached several; all said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Undaunted, the entrepreneur is now thinking of starting his own foundation where he can set the rules and he can engage like-minded BIG people. The charities that turned him away (why?) gain nothing.

Wake up charities! You are surrounded by passionate, eager BIG people who long to serve your cause. You no longer can turn them away. You have to engage them.

More than one-third of charities surveyed in April by Deloitte, LLP say “they don’t have the infrastructure to effectively deploy volunteers, and that 57 percent could not make good use of a new influx of volunteers,” according to the Chronicle article.

So what should you do?

First, make engagement a strategic priority. Your goal should not be merely to raise money. Your goal should be to engage people who are passionate about what you do. Don’t view prospective volunteers as a burden or a resource drain — something your crumbling infrastructure can’t support. View volunteers as a vital resource to advance your organization — not just because they help get things done, but because they feed their passion and become more engaged when you let them help get things done. This requires a strategic commitment from your board

 At New City School in St. Louis, where I serve on the board, the administration changed the title of “development director” to “assistant head for advancement.” Leslie Peters, the woman who holds that position, explains: “The idea is to remind people that we all have a stake in advancing the institution in the present and for the future. People hear ‘development director’ and they think “fund-raiser.” We want them to be partners in advancing the school — by giving and by volunteering.”

Posted in BIG Blog, For BIG Organizations, Guidance