Talk:Distributed Volunteer Support Network

Hi Seddon! You've asked me to comment on this, and to be frank, so here goes:

• This is a good idea, but it doesn't need a specific title. It's what we're doing as an organisation anyway!
• Prepayment cards are a good idea, but we'd need trustworthy volunteers who would be happy to sign an agreement. We'd also (possibly) need some policy changes approved by the board, and we'd need to ask how we recovered funds from volunteers who misspent.
• Email addresses are good... but again, we'd need trustworthy volunteers who would be happy to sign an agreement. We'd also need to ensure that volunteers didn't commit us to things without proper approval:
  • What if volunteer A agreed to hold an editathon at venue B for £500 - but without funding being available? Would we cancel the event? Would we do it anyway, and overspend?
  • What if volunteer B used their email address to "approve" a Wikimedian in Residence, without actually factoring it into any budgets? Things like this have happened in the past...
  • How do we discipline a volunteer if they take decisions they're not empowered to do?
• "We would like to see reporting" has to become "Reporting is required". This is really non-negotiable - we have to show impact for our spend.
• We already have several volunteers with business cards/email addresses/phones. Prepay cards are the next step forward there, but there has to be a need for them.
• All of these changes would result in an increase in non-charitable expenditure, and certainly an increase in staff time. Each card is a bank account that needs to be reconciled, each PrePay phone is an asset that needs tracking, and each email address/business card is a risk (however small, it is a risk) to the organisation that needs to be monitored. This is OK, but you need to be aware that it would turn us into a more admin-heavy organisation. Each volunteer would in effect be a member of staff, who, even if they don't claim expenses, would create an overhead. Again, this is OK, but it needs to be factored into any plans.

I think I have to ask, "what problem are you trying to solve?" You say, "much of this support already exists through expense reimbursement and grants however for our most active volunteers this can result in a significant outlay and a delay before reimbursement or a delay in a grant being processed" - but I'm not sure that's true. If there's a significant outlay, then it's purchased by the office (because volunteers can't spend on behalf of the charity, and even staff can't spend a great deal). If there have been unreasonable delays recently then that's the first I've heard of it... I think it's another problem you're trying to solve with this idea, and that's the problem of volunteers feeling disenfranchised or unempowered or similar. That's a real problem (for some volunteers, not for all), but is a whole different kettle of fish which I don't think will be solved by this plan. That's not to say it's a bad plan, but it's not going to solve the problem. Richard Symonds (WMUK) (talk) 17:56, 1 December 2014 (GMT)