Volunteer Management

Volunteers are a big and essential part of many events. Festivals, sports and cultural activities all have a participatory aspect which in many cases means collaborating with volunteers – either directly or indirectly through different groups and associations.

Though volunteers have been a part of these fields for more than a hundred years, volunteers were for a long time seen merely as a resource. Later the understanding of i.e., the specific recruitment, leadership, motivation and commitment of volunteers has been seen as something to be understood in its own terms.

In this course, you will get an in-depth understanding of the processes surrounding volunteer management, from recruitment and organising to motivation, leadership and retention of the volunteers. We will explore the difference between the management of stable volunteers, who are in the organization for longer periods and the volunteers who are there briefly for an event. The course will, with a theoretical basis, also offer an understanding of the differences between volunteering in i.e., sports and festivals.

The purpose of the course is to give you an understanding of volunteer management and the particular set of skills and methods needed when working with volunteers.

The student will have:
• Knowledge of particular characteristics of volunteer management in different fields
• Knowledge of differences in managing long- and short-term volunteers The student will be able to:
• Make strategies for the recruitment, organizing and retaining of volunteers
• Critically reflect on the leadership and motivational work needed, when working with volunt The student will be able to:
• Demonstrate theoretical knowledge of volunteer management and account for the key theories and concepts of the field
• Demonstrate how theories and concepts are applied in practice and offer specific examples of this