September 1, 2015 | Read Time: 1 minute
Even if the committee planning your nonprofit’s event is made up of volunteers, their roles shouldn’t be taken lightly.
When people express interest in serving on the event-planning committee for the Salvation Army’s Kansas and Western Missouri chapter, Alexandra Kuebler, the organization’s director of leadership gifts and special events, gives them a job description to lay out expectations clearly from the start.
Committee members don’t apply for a position and aren’t vetted through interviews. However, the job description helps ensure they understand what they’ll need to do and follow through on their responsibilities.
“We get burned so often by people who just want to put their name on some charity,” says Ms. Kuebler, who created this job description for planning the annual Civic Luncheon, the chapter’s biggest event. “They feel like it’s a resume builder.”
Some organizations use a form like this as a contract and make people sign it, she says, but she’s found that just presenting the job description at the committee’s first planning meeting encourages the volunteers to take the position seriously.
The form notes the dates and times of the meetings and lists specific responsibilities, including the number of tables each member is expected to sell.
“I want to make it clear to everybody going into this that I’m going to hold them accountable, just like they’re going to hold me accountable,” Ms. Kuebler says. “I want to be proud of my volunteers, and I want to be sure that they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do.”
