Volunteerism can be rewarding and beneficial to both sides: the volunteer gets to meet new people, practice their skills and even learn new ones, and feel good about what they are doing; schools or other organizations can get cost-effective help, and reach a larger community. However, volunteer projects can also be frustrating and time-consuming. Additionally, working with technical volunteers involves additional issues which should be addressed:

General Guidelines for Volunteer Management:

People don't always know what they are getting into when they decide to volunteer. You should be aware of the following three issues, and even discuss them with your volunteer(s):

Accountability- Volunteers should understand that even though they are giving their time away, it doesn't mean they can blow things off, not show up, etc. Some schools or nonprofits have their volunteers sign letters of commitment, and others rely on buy-in about their cause from the volunteers to keep them interested and coming back.

Limit Setting- With accountability comes a lot of responsibility, and although volunteers should feel like they can "own" their work, they shouldn't be made to feel burdened with responsibility. Volunteers should know they are allowed say no, or "That's all I can do." Volunteers can burn out after one or two projects because they put in tons of hours but didn't know it was OK for them to set limits. Everyone needs to be as clear as possible about the project before-hand, maybe reinforcing the idea that after your first meeting the volunteer should re-evaluate the work and see if it looks realistic to him/her.

Time Management- Need it at home and at work, and both you and the volunteer need it in volunteer situations. Volunteers need a clear idea of how much time they have, and together you need to assess how much time the work will take, including the amount of time you need to set aside to supervise the project. The clearer you can get on these time issues, the better idea volunteers will have of whether this particular project will work for them.

Additional considerations for technical volunteers:

Limited Time- People with technical skills are usually in high demand, and have inversely less time available. Most technical volunteers are computer professionals who have regular full-time jobs and are volunteering in their spare time - and because of high demand, their spare time is probably rarer than other full-time workers. As such, technical volunteers will probably have a slower response times than paid consultants, even though they might be dong the same job. And as with any other volunteers, they may have other priorities and may not be able to respond whenever called.

Culture- Schools and nonprofits are used to working with volunteers who are committed to their mission, which may or may not be the case with technical volunteers; some may just want to get more computer experience, some may just want to meet new people.

Budgets- Many people working in the technical field are used to having substantial computer budgets. Even if they feel their budgets are constrained, technical volunteers are often surprised at how much less a school or nonprofit has budgeted for their computer systems.

Technology- Along with budgets, technical people are often used to dealing with first or second generation technology. If they walk into a school, for example, and discover a bunch of five year old machines, their first reaction might be to want to upgrade everything, even if those machines are doing the job they are supposed to.

Assessment process- Technical people are often called on to make recommendations about computer plans, upgrades, etc. You too will be asking them to do this, but the kinds of recommendations they are used to giving might be out of your budget or unnecessary, for the reasons explained above. It is a good idea to ask technical volunteers to give you at least two assessments: a "dream" assessment, i.e. if you had an unlimited budget, what would you do; and a "bare-bones" assessment, i.e. with the limited budget, what are the primary things you should do with this money. It's also a very good idea to let technical volunteers know about slow budget approval processes, so they don't get frustrated at an apparent lack of action.

Communication- Technical volunteers may not be good at interpersonal communication; conversely, clients may not be able to articulate their technical needs as clearly as mentors expect. As with any field, technical people tend to use language and vocabulary specific to their field, which can be confusing or frustrating to non-technical people. They also might be unclear about what you do, or how things work in your school or organization. Let them know that they might be talking over your head, but also be aware that you might be talking over theirs.